Margaret Owen

@what-eats-owls

doodler, demi, NYT, USA Today & Sunday Times bestselling author of LITTLE THIEVES, THE MERCIFUL CROW, & more ✨ She/her. Rep: Victoria Marini

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Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· 21d

(2/2)

The Lindworm -
The framing fairy tale of Holy Terrors is Prince Lindworm. A prince, born as a monstrous serpent called a lindworm, devours bride after bride on their wedding night, until a clever maiden thwarts him by wearing every dress she owns. When he demands she remove her clothing, she insists he shed a skin for every dress, and eventually he is stripped down to his true human form.
Lindworms are also a creature of myth; said to increase treasures they lay on, this is believed to be the origin of the myth of a dragon’s hoard. In Holy Terrors, we meet a version of Vanja who, under Irmgard’s influence, is warped into a ruby lindworm, while Prince Lindworm serves as the metaphor for the painful and vulnerable process of reconciliation for Emeric and Vanja.

HOLY TERRORS - We also see bits of other lore in the background:
• Seven League Boots, which have been commercialized as the League of Seven Leagues
• The Totentanz or Danse Macabre, a late medieval artistic allegory exploring how all are equal in death. Death was frequently depicted as a skeleton dancing with kings and beggars alike; Hans Holbein the Younger’s The Dance of Death portrays Death accosting everyone from peddlars to abbesses in their everyday lives. This is taken more literally in Holy Terrors as a ball where dancers of any rank attend, either in black for Death or white for ghosts.
• Death and the Maiden, a Renaissance motif derived from the Danse Macabre, featuring Death and a young woman in a more romantic context. We see echoes of this when Emeric briefly becomes Death at the end of Holy Terrors.

While I’m sure I’ve overlooked some nods to other stories, that’s the big hitters for the trilogy! How many did you recognize when you were reading?
And if you’re thinking Margaret, what about the kobolds? The Wild Hunt? What about the messed up horses?
Maybe check back soon!

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· 23d

Did you catch that when you read the books? I hope you enjoyed it either way, and there’s more to come!
See you soon!

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· 23d

Title: Little Thieves:
Under the Cover
secrets, research, and other particulars from the series
THE CHAPTER HEADERS

Chapter headers are an opportunity to help the reader feel the pressure of rising stakes, the dread of a mounting threat, the uncertainty of a shifting reality, and more. In each book, we used the header imagery to make the experience even more immersive.

WARNING:
This entry contains spoilers for the series as a whole, and Holy Terrors in particular.
Proceed with caution!

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Jul 6

Definitely light smoke in the rafters! The food vendors have all closed up! The tv is on mute! And yet the crowd remains unmoved!!

Photo of the rafters at the Seattle center armory, a large indoor structure, with very light smoke visibly catching light from skylights

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Jun 12

In my pursuit of soaking my balcony garden ahead of the baby heat wave this weekend, I… may have gone too far

Cluster of small brown mushrooms around a wooden dowel in a garden bed. Unacceptable!

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Jun 6

Good morning Bluesky, from my local subreddit I bring you an image with meme potential:

Side by side dumpsters, both painted with pride rainbows because: Seattle!

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Jun 3

HUH?!??!

Screenshot that reads:
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Young Adult Literature
K. Ancrum, The Corruption of Hollis Brow (‎HarperCollins 2025)
Amber McBride, The Leaving Room (Feiwel & Friends 2025)
Margaret Owen, Little Thieves series, consisting of Little Thieves (Henry Holt and Co. 2021), Painted Devils (Henry Holt and Co. 2023), and Holy Terrors (Henry Holt and Co. 2025)
Vanessa L. Torres, On the Wings of La Noche (Knopf 2025)

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· May 18

Okay bsky, enough of “show me your precious furbabies,” it’s time to put the little jerks on blast. Tell me how your cats bully you in your own home. I’ll start: This stinky menace hides in the shower curtains and tries to swipe at me whenever I get in.

Photo of a little black cat looking like he has never done anything wrong in his entire life. He is sitting in wait by the shower curtain, planning crime.

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· May 16

Screenshot from Sailor Moon depicting, from left to right, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, Sailor Chibimoon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars, posing on the guide rails of a path, because this show was peak. Technically they’re all Super Sailors at this point, which is its own gender.

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· May 10

And to be absolutely clear about what kind of wealthy we’re talking about here: these are the area houses listed on Zillow

Screenshot of the Zillow house listings for Laurelhurst. The visible ones range from 1.4 million dollars at the low end, to 18.8 million dollars at the high. One cluster obscures a couple listings for a house (3 bed 2 bath, 2000 square feet, for 950k) and the additional unit they’ve squeezed into the back of the lot (2 bed 2 bath, 1000 square feet, 895k.)

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Apr 22

ICYMI yesterday :)

fromsoft meme depicting the cover of Holy Terrors with the text overlay of "LODESTAR NOMINATED", I am a professional

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Apr 21

Ooh a second post, I can use the fancy graphic now. (This is ya girl’s first nomination. I am Mrs Bennet levels of excitable today.)

Fancy graphic announcing Holy Terrors’ lodestar nomination. It depicts the cover of holy terrors except the main figure has been photoshopped to be holding a clip art trophy and is standing front of a pile of stolen trophies. I did not photoshop out the shutterstock watermark because I’m a professional.

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Apr 18

Update: I haven’t identified it with 100% certainty, but I think it might be a discontinued Meyda Tiffany Laburnum replica! The base looks like a much more detailed version of the lamp on the left, and the shade has the shape/palette as the shade on the right.

Screenshot of a Tiffany lamp replica by Meyda with a very similar base to the mystery lamp

Screenshot of just the lampshade of a Meyda Tiffany replica, which has similar green/gold foliage against a purple background

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Apr 18

Friends, an immensely low-stakes mystery for the day. While out thrifting yesterday, I found this purported Tiffany lamp. What do we think, legit or nah?

Colorful stained glass lampshade made of an elaborate mosaic of glass pieces, creating the image of yellow and green leaves against a backdrop of blues and browns.

Base of the lamp, seemingly cast in bronze in the likeness of a tree with a fan of roots. My incredibly pale hand is grasping the tag, which reads "vintage Tiffany Lamp, $885" which is a significant number of smackeroos

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Apr 2

I've been terribly remiss in mentioning this, but I will be at Norwescon this weekend, including moderating a panel this very evening! If you're attending, please feel free to say hi!

Graphic detailing my Norwescon schedule, which is as follows:

THURSDAY:
Professional IP Writing vs. Fanfic, 7pm - 8 pm, in Cascade 11

SATURDAY:
Autograph session, 10 am - 11 am, Grand Ballroom
YA Is for Everyone?, 12 pm- 1 pm, Cascade 6

SUNDAY:
Not Instagram Ready: YA Protagonists That Aren’t Always Perfect, 11 am - 12 pm, Cascade 7 & 8

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Mar 28

This was pretty damn cool:

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Mar 24

I rotate ROOTBOUND and the HOLY TERRORS paperback into preorder position (with code PREORDER25 at B&N until March 26)

an extremely dumb graphic featuring my books and, you know, yugioh

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Mar 13

Once again nudging my work out onto the ice floe:

graphic detailing my eligibility for SFF awards in 2026:
Best Series: Little Thieves
Best Young Adult Novel/Andre Norton/Lodestar: Holy Terrors
Best artist: yours truly

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Mar 4

There was rustling. The clerk mentioned pigeons getting rowdy. I awkwardly assumed it was a bit, because we were on a busy city street, then THE COOING CRESCENDOED. And that was when I saw:

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Mar 1

Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just southwest of Tacoma, WA, has seven

screenshot of map showing seven elementary schools within the grounds of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state

Margaret Owen@what-eats-owls· Feb 16

For the HOLY TERRORS special edition, we naturally had to end with purple. My personal favorite detail is the assassin's (ruby-)red hands that fade to bare/clean arms, while the figure above them has blood-red fingerless gloves/sleeves and immaculate hands. Listen, I just love sneaky details, okay!!