Officially, it was not a battle at all.
The Blood Red City, by Justin Richards. (Sequel to The Suicide Exhibition.)
“Everyone’s got a pithy quip about history.”
Impossible Histories: The Soviet Republic of Alaska, the United States of Hudsonia, President Charlemagne, and Other Pivotal Moments of History That Never Happened, by Hal Johnson
“The station wagons arrived at noon, a long shining line that coursed through the west campus.”
-white noise don delillo
In the night there had been storm with great gusts of angry wind to batter ancient walls, aim spear-thrusts of rain at the window slits of the chamber.
Web of the Witch World, by Andre Norton
“The door of the train slid open and Ingrid stepped onto the platform in Grand Central Station.”
A Palette for Ingrid by Lois Hobart
I am no song-smith to forge a blade of chant to send men roaring into battle, as the bards of the Sulcar ships do when those sea-serpents nose into enemy ports.
Three Against the Witch World, by Andre Norton
“The United States adopted the bison as its national mammal in 2016.”
The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird by Jack E. Davis
“A mile across the lake, the horizon bare
or nearly so: a broken sentence of birches.”
Swimming Lessons: New and Selected Poems by Nancy Willard (Note that this is from the first, title poem.)
It has been an oft-told story of our birthing that our mother, the Lady Jaelithe (she who put aside her witchhood in Estcarp to wed the outland warrior, Simon Tregarth), did demand of some Power she served certain gifts for us, whom she bore in great and painful travail.
Warlock of the Witch World, by Andre Norton
“So… You’ll cut my head off.”
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
The freezing breath of the Ice Dragon was strong and harsh over the heights, for it was midwinter, and the dregs of a year which had been far from kind to me and mine.
Sorceress of the Witch World, by Andre Norton
“We come into the world without words.”
Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions, by Temple Grandin
“On the Night of May 6, 1915, as his ship approached the coast of Ireland, Capt. William Thomas Turner left the bridge and made his way to the first-class lounge, where passengers were taking part in a concert and talent show, a customary feature of Cunard crossings.”
– Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson
“There is a right way to do things and a wrong way, if you’re going to run a hotel in a smugglers’ town.”
Greenglass House, by Kate Milford
ALEPPO
Spring, 528 AD
Upon being awakened by his servant Gubazes, Belisarius arose instantly, with the habit of a veteran campaigner.
An Oblique Approach, by David Drake and Eric Flint
RANAPUR
Spring 530 AD
Belisarius watched the stone ball arching through the sky.
In the Heart of Darkness, by Eric Flint and David Drake
“I began with the idea that there are, essentially, two ways in which we might understand food in literary texts.”
Spilling the Beans: Eating, Cooking, Reading, and Writing in British Women’s Fiction, 1770-1830, by Sarah Moss.
“On rainy days, when the clouds drove across on a westerly wind, the signs of fine weather came from over the Railway Embankment at the bottom of the garden.”
The Fortnight in September, by R. C. Sherriff
“My Mother always says it’s common as pig tracks to go around with a run in your stocking,” Helen says, eyeing Billie’s ripped hosiery critically.
Killers of Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn
“This is the night the food industry salutes itself, it’s our Oscars, our Tonys, and our Grammys.”
Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D’, by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina.