Overweening Hubris

Simmons, Dan. Illium. New York: Harper Torch, 2003. 710-711.
The armies are assembled. The silence is uncanny—there is no noise from either side except for the slow hiss of distant waves rolling in to the pebbled beach, the occaisional whinny of a horse harnessed to a battle chariot, the soft sound of a Martian breeze through [...]

Bitch-Goddess

Simmons, Dan. Illium. New York: Harper Torch, 2003. 228.
I don’t believe in God with a capital G and, despite their obvious solidity, I don’t believe in the gods with their small g’s. Not as real forces in the universe. But I believe in the bitch-goddess Irony. She crosses all time. She rules men and gods [...]

All Three

Simmons, Dan. Illium. New York: Harper Torch, 2003. 135-136.
What was the second path he tried to follow to the answer of the puzzle of life? asked Mahnmut.
Love, said Orphu.
Love? repeated Mahnmut. There had been plenty of it in the more than 3,000 pages of In Seach of Lost Time, but it had all seemed so—hopeless.
Love, [...]

The Trouble

Cook, Glen. A Shadow of All Night Falling. 1-160. A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2007. 150.
Varthlokkur drew her to him again, offering comfort. This time she entered his arms, drawing support from his embrace.
“So. Even death does not end high treachery.”
Nepanthe and Varthlokkur jerked apart. Mocker [...]

Decisions, Decisions

Cook, Glen. A Shadow of All Night Falling. 1-160. A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2007. 84.
She began pacing. Slowly, as her anger grew, her face reddened. Long-forgotten tears dribbled from the corners of her eyes. “Damn-damn-damn! Why won’t they leave me alone? I don’t want anybody. [...]

A Fool

Cook, Glen. A Shadow of All Night Falling. 1-160. A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2007. 62.*
“You don’t understand,” said Elana, voicing the obvious. She gathered her wits. Discussing Nepanthe’s problems would help submerge her own. “When you meet the right man you’ll know what I mean. [...]

On the Outside

Cook, Glen. A Shadow of All Night Falling. 1-160. A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2007. 52.
Varthlokkur feared he was slowly going mad. In the midst of a raging, barbaric world where each man interacted with hundreds of others, living loving, laughing, weeping, dying, and giving birth, [...]

Chapter 2

Sorenson, Maxwell. A Darkest Night. Vasteras: Sorenson Press, 2008.
The computer is awake this time. Awake in a sort of bizarre way, awake in that its fans were whirring. Awake in that taps of the keyboard and circles of the mouse could evoke genuine response.
A portable fan also whispers, cutting into the deep silence that used [...]

The Story

Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin. New York: Anchor Books, 2001. 521.*
Then I’ll tell you a story. I’ll tell you this story: the story of how you came to be here, sitting in my kitchen, listening to the story I’ve been telling you. If by some miracle that were to happen, there would be no need [...]

Blind Gods

Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin. New York: Anchor Books, 2001. 497.*
I did believe, at first, that I wanted only justice. I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we’re about to do something harmful, to someone else. But as Mr. Erksine also pointed out, [...]