He should have recognised the danger when the king insisted on a formal introduction every time they met, forcing his sullen attendants to recite the diplomatic courtesies again and again, always with the pretense of never having heard them before, always with that same look of gleeful idiocy on his face. Beyond petty, beyond tedious, it was ridiculous. What kind of a king makes a mockery of himself? Melheret wished he'd seen the answer sooner... Only a king who was very sure of himself could afford to be laughed at. ['Melheret's Earrings, p.124]
A collection of short stories woven in and around the canon of the Queen's Thief series (which I have recently devoured and fallen in love with) plus maps, essays on archaeology and historical inspirations, and some beautiful illustrations. I'd read some of the stories and essays before, appended to the novels, but it is nice to have them all in one place. Even if that place is a hardcover book...
I was most intrigued by the last story in the book, 'Gitta': the protagonist is Princess Gittavjøre, a descendant of Gen and Irene, and she's reading the books that Pheris wrote about the life and times of Eugenides the Great. There are many hints about how matters played out in the Little Peninsula -- now Ephestalia - after the end of the series: some sad, some tantalising. If Turner ever decides to write a novel about Gitta, I'll definitely buy it.
Moira's Pen is not a long book, and most of the stories are quite slight: character studies or outsider viewpoints. It's as interesting for the insights into Turner's creative inspirations as for the extra glimpses of Gen, Helen and Irene. (And Laela!)