“Taken from Japanese folklore, the abumi-guchi is a type of tsukumogami or ‘animated object’”.
The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals, by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
“They say never to start a story with a waking, but when you’ve been hard asleep for thirty years it’s difficult to know where else to begin.”
Alien Clay, by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
“The headquarters of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, occupies an imposing edifice of concrete and green glass on the south bank of the River Thames, in London.”
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
My wife and I were both born without whatever brain part it is that enables people to decorate their homes.
Dave Barry’s Bad Habits by Dave Barry.
Washington, D.C.
Iron House
(Consolidated War Department–Navy Department Headquarters)
Situation and Maps Room
November 6th, AD 1916, 1916(B)
Point of Departure plus 4 years
President Theodore Roosevelt stood with his feet braced and one hand gripping the lapel of his morning jacket, the other thrust into a pocket and clenched into a fist, looking at the maps that showed the Great War’s fronts and alliances and disasters, scowling through his pince-nez with his mustache bristling.
Theater of Spies: A Novel of an Alternate World War I, by S M Stirling
“In conclusion, it is the view of Union Station embassy that ambassadors reaching the traditional Earth retirement age of sixty-five years should be allowed to hire an additional special assistant, or, if they currently employ a special assistant who does the work of three people, to double her compensation before she decides to return to her homeworld and resume her royal—do you think I’m being a little too transparent, Libby?” Kelly interrupted herself.
Swap Night on Union Station - E.M. Foner
“To begin to unravel the intricacies and details of the Galactic Empire it is impossible to begin anywhere but with the Emperor himself.”
-Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, Dr. Chris Kempshall
(Interesting concept novel, BTW - the author is a professional historian who specializes in WWI, and the book is an in-universe nonfiction history of Palpatine’s rise to power, how the Empire functioned politically, the Rebellion, and the First Order, complete with in-universe citations and an index.) Very World War Z-ish.)
“Often, when people talk about making more equitable technology, they start with ‘fairness’.”
More than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech, by Meredith Broussard
The worst thing about being part of an alien hivemind was that you had to act like thousands of insect feet crawling over your body–including your face, neck, ears–and possibly trying to burrow into your collar was just find.
Infinite Archive, by Mur Lafferty (This book is the third in the Midsolar Murders series, and the above sentence is a major spoiler for for the entire series.)
Washington, D.C.
Oval Office
White House
June 10th, AD 1917, 1917(B)
Point of Departure plus 5 Years
No, Mr. President, the decision to withdraw from France was sound."
Shadows of Annihilation: A Novel of an Alternate World War I, by S M Stirling
“It was a hospital bed, that much appeared certain, though certainty was coming and going.”
-- Playing for Pizza, by John Grisham
“They hired Agnes to nurse the child without asking for references.”
Sour Cherry, by Natalia Thodoridou
“Crouched on the surface of Io, the most tightly held of Jupiter’s major moons, you feel the rumble long before you see the cause.”
Daydreaming in the Solar System: Surfing Saturn’s Ring’s, Golfing on the Moon, and Other Adventures in Space Exploration, by John E. Moores and Jesse Rogerson
“Jordan Pearce had left the boat’s cabin just as his father had arranged it, as if Al might step in from the heat and tell him where to head next.”
Pearce Oysters by Joselyn Takacs
On a warm spring morning in 2008, a rumpled archaeologist named Eric Emery stood at the edge of a massive barge in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and glared down into the water.
Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II, by Wil S Hilton
In the spring of 1947 the bull-dozers moved down the cart-track beside Number Seventeen and deployed across the meadow to the fringe of Manor Wood.
The Dreaming Suburb, by R F Delderfield (fourth or fifth time I’ve read this one)
“Did he love her? He loved the way she looked at him–the way her bottom lip trembled and her foot quaked when she orgasmed.”
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
In a book about the history of Indigenous People in North America, it makes sense first to address some of the common stereotypes many harbor about them.
Native America: The Story of the First Peoples, by Kenneth L Feder
“If you plunge or plod through these pages, expect the unexpected.”
This Is Improbably Too: Synchronized Cows, Speedy Brain Extractors, and More WTF Research, by Marc Abrahams
“Staybehind’s body was moving before he woke up, driven by fear and algorithms.”
Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz
“Imagine for a moment if visitors from another planet observed humans buying, selling, and decorating billions of trees every year.”
Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America, by Trent Preszler
“‘Yesterday was surprising,’ wrote Emma Tupper.”
Emma Tupper’s Diary, by Peter Dickinson
“Many things will happen at once.”
From “For Such A Time As This: An Emergency Devotional”. A short powerful work. Much to ponder…
“The Strange Bird’s first thought was of a sky over an ocean she had never seen, in a place far from the fire-washed laboratory from which she emerged, cage smashed open but her wings, miraculous, unbroken.”
The Strange Bird by Jeff Vandermeer
“When people first meet, a predictable part of the interaction is, ‘So, what do you do?’”
Trope-ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind the Fiction, by Edward M. Lerner
“Call me Ishmael.”
Moby Dick by Herman Melville, adapted by David Rodriguez, graphic novel illustr. by Ignacio Segesso
“The satellite radio was playing soft jazz, a compromise.”
The Whistler by John Grisham
“None of the fifty or so guests wore shoes.”
-- Camino Ghosts, by John Grisham