Actually, Steve isn't setting up that joke because he's already used it. I forget the exact circumstances now (probably when Vlad is going to meet Sethra for the first time in _Taltos_) but Vlad is asked "What if she turns you into a newt?" and he replies "I'll get better." Cracks and Shards, Mark Mandel's Dragaera site, has a jokes and allusions page that should list it and many others. http://www.speakeasy.org/~mamandel/Cracks-and-Shards/jokes.html