All the Devils Are Here, Louise Penny
This was what modern devils looked like. Not the writhing creatures captured by Rodin, but good, decent, silent people.
Young Mungo, Douglas Stuart
After that, it didn't take long to drown St Christopher.
Devil House, John Darnielle
But few things, at any rate, are more powerful than expectations. Blunt force, maybe. Firepower, certainly. Sword and steel. But even those have their limits. The imagination has none.
The Madness of Crowds, Louise Penny
"If it comes out, you'll be fired," Beauvoir said.
"I've been fired before," said Gamache. "I suspect by now they're tired of changing the name on the door."
The Unspoken Name, AK Larkwood
"You think of magic as a sort of toolbox, don't you?" said Oranna. "Do you have any idea how much study, how much negotiation, how much prayer and sacrifice...I have dominion over the hungering dead, over the whole kingdom of death. I am an extremely accomplished necromancer. I cannot make you invisible."
Star Wars: Dark Disciple, Christie Golden
By this point Obi-Wan was not just alarmed by Ventress's single-minded and inexplicable distrust of Vos, but growing profoundly exasperated.
Winter's Orbit, Everina Maxwell
Jainan had half smiled, but it faded almost as soon as it appeared. Kiem still couldn't quite read him. It sometimes felt like a song playing just out of earshot, or a step on a staircase in the dark.
Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
"No have oxygen, question?" he asked.
"No oxygen."
"Oxygen dangerous." He's been a little edgy since his internal organs caught fire.
A Master of Djinn, P Djeli Clark
"When humankind sought to overthrow Ra, his daughter Hathor didn't take too kindly. In her anger, she became Sekhmet--the fiery lioness. Then broke some things."
Hadia frowned. "Didn't she almost wipe out the world?"
"The goddess really gets into her work."
Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger
"Don't rush stories," Vivian chided. "That's sacrilegious."
How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu
I am sure I've glorified our brief moments together, all our late-night video chats, for so long it's easy to forget, standing over your body, that maybe I never really knew you at all.
Flying Solo, Linda Holmes
It was really happening: She was in a closet, with her high school boyfriend, listening to a man talk to another man about an ill-gotten duck.
The School of Essential Ingredients, Erica Bauermeister
Lillian's mother collected exquisite phrases and complicated rhythms, descriptions that undulated across a page like cake batter pouring into a pan, read aloud to put the words in the air, where she could hear as well as see them.
The Violets of March, Sarah Jio
I wondered how I would have sounded on the phone with the 911 dispatcher: "Hi, I'm calling to report the murder of my grandmother--in 1943."
The Past is Red, Catherynne M Valente
I laughed, but not because it was funny. I laughed because it was holy and a body doesn't know how to make the right sound for holy so it shrugs and picks laughing or crying.
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, Melissa Bashardoust
"There are worse things in the world to be than delicate. If you're delicate, it means no one has tried to break you."
The Bodyguard, Katherine Center
He said," Can we just have a do-over?"
"On what?"
"The date."
"The date?" I asked. "The one that almost got me killed?"
Jack nodded, like Yup.
"No thanks," I said. "I'm good."
Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor was right: She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.
Elder Race, Adrian Tchaikovsky
I feel sad for Lynesse Fourth Daughter, trying to be something that never existed in the world, and failing because it's impossible, and trying again.
A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix, CB Lee
"Everyone should be afraid of those who can embroider. We have the patience to keep stabbing the same thing over and over again."
Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard
"Did you not learn patience in Yosolis?"
Thanh has had enough of games. "What I learnt in Yosolis is that even the oldest stone can burn."
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers
"I didn't choose impermanence," Mosscap said. "The originals did, but I did not. I had to learn my circumstances just as you did."
"Then how," Dex said, "how does the idea of maybe being meaningless sit well with you?"
Mosscap considered. "Because I know that no matter what, I'm wonderful," it said.
Colors of the Immortal Palette, Caroline M Yoachim
"That is the thing you must learn--to depict the universal truths."
"Your truths are universal but mine are not," I say, and he nods as though I am agreeing with him.
L'esprit De L'escalier, Catherynne M Valente
Orpheus strips Eurydice of Eurydice and transforms her into a song so perfect death gives up and life buries him in laurels.
The song of them, that she never hears. He simply never thinks to play it for her.
Unseelie Brothers, Ltd., Fran Wilde
A necklace dangled from a nearby hanger, sharp, like Sera's hunger.
That Story Isn't the Story, John Wiswell
Walter asks, "What made you think you could survive without him?"
"That story is not the story I'm telling today."
Bots of the Lost Ark, Suzanne Palmer
"There are four bot glom PACKARDs, currently trying to reduce themselves to only one. Unlike the other gloms, rather than trying to claim sole ownership of an identity via the expediency of violent physical contest, these three appear to be attempting to argue each other into yielding."
"That sounds a lot like the real Packard, actually," Frank said.
O2 Arena, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
When I saw her fight, I called her fearsome, horrifying, a raging animal in a world too delicate to cage her. When others saw her fight, they called her "brave."
It was easy then to see why she told just me.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo
It wasn't like chocolate, Lily thought. It was like finding water after a drought. She couldn't drink enough, and her thirst made her ashamed, and the shame made her angry.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
"I thought you were worried I was going to die," Sam said.
"No. You'll never die. And if you ever died, I'd just start the game again," Sadie said.
"Sam's dead. Put another quarter in the machine."
"Go back to the save point. Keep playing, and we'll win eventually." She paused. "Are you scared?"
Upgrade, Blake Crouch
"We are not rational beings. We seek comfort rather than a clear-eyed stare into reality. We consume and preen and convince ourselves that if we keep our heads in the sand, the monsters will just go away. Simply put, we refuse to help ourselves as a species. We refuse to do what must be done."
A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger
To her, the emptiness and silence were home. This wasn't a ghost town. Not when the heart of her family still beat within the land.
No comments:
Post a Comment