Robin Hobb’s fantasy fiction has repeatedly been noted for its nuanced treatment of complex issues, such as colonialism (Young 2014), honour culture (Caroll 2007), queer identity (Prater 2016; Melville 2018), and sexual violence (Borowska-Szerszun 2019). In my paper, I will use concepts from social psychology to analyse Hobb’s short story “Words Like Coins” (2009), in which Hobb makes use of fairy lore to probe the workings of xenophobia.

             “Words Like Coins” relates the encounter of two young women with a tribe of fairy beings known as pecksies, an encounter which is fraught with prejudice, and which very nearly ends in disaster for all. By providing a detailed account of the ways in which the pecksies are dehumanized by the human protagonist and her friend, Hobb’s story lays bare the mechanisms through which acts such as lynching and genocide are made possible, furthermore dismantling the conventional fantasy dichotomy between Good and Evil by depicting evil acts as caused by fear rather than malice.

            Moreover, as my paper will show, the narrative is constructed in such a way as to invite the reader to be complicit in considering these heinous acts. Through narrative devices such as limited point of view, the use of stylistic features borrowed from horror writing, and oblique allusions to fairy folklore, the reader is made to share the protagonist’s uncertainty and fear until the very end of the story. By thus making the reader complicit, Hobb’s story not only tells of, but demonstrates, the mechanisms through which “good” people can be induced to consider atrocities.