One thing I’m finding in Nancy Kress stories is really good portrayals of jerks. In “Clad in Gossamer”, her take on The Emperor’s New Clothes, you know everyone’s a jerk, so it works well.
Prince Jasper, the hulking, loutish, jealous brother of Prince Florian knowingly hires the two mountebanks. He thinks he can exploit the well-known properties of invisible clothes, but he gets so caught up in his scheme, before long, he’s not sure what’s going on anymore. Be warned, it gets a little explicit toward the end.
Collected in Silver Birch, Blood Moon, or you can listen to it on Podcastle.
Writing Every Day 