There are only so many ways to get a good look at a dead body.
- Nothing Left to Lose, by Dan Wells
---- *A Columbus of Space* by Garrett P. Serviss
The narrator sure as hell is – Edmund Stonewall is the inventor of an atomic-powered spaceship (in 1908!) and has a Scotty-esque ability to pull tech solutions out of his hat, but it really takes more to be a hero. I’d characterize this more as Frat Boys in Space. Stonewall’s blasé disregard for the well-being and the wants of others, especially the non-human natives of Venus, results in unnecessary death and danger
“The ground yielded easily under her blade, unlocking a black smell of earth.”
The City of Mirrors (The Passage, Book 3) -Justin Cronin
In the city of Chammur, on the eastern border of Stotat:
For centuries it had been called “fabled Chammur”, “Chammur of the Flaming Heights”, and “Mighty Chammur”.
The Circle Opens #2: Street Magic-- Tamora Pierce.
About that first sentence, I’m not sure if that’s not the first two sentences. In the book the italicized part is, in fact, italicized. It also ends in that colon and is it’s own paragraph. But it doesn’t pretend to be a complete sentence either. So. . . not sure if I did this right.
“In the early years of the twenty-first century, when it seemed like all the exploring had been done so long ago, and every conceivable piece of information was now available on a pocket phone, I heard about a river in Africa that no one had ever gone down in a boat before, or “explored” in the old-fashioned sense of the word.”
–Crazy River by Richard Grant
William Wheatley, the manager of Niblo’s Garden, has a problem.
Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now, by Mark Steyn.
I knew at once that the screamer was Susannah.
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth, by Tamar Myers.
You must have stopped wondering what happened to me a long time ago; I know it has been many years.
The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe
And finally:
“September 15th was Kevin’s birthday, and he got exactly what he wanted: a Sun.”
– The Sun Dog, the fourth and final novella in Stephen King’s collection, Four Past Midnight
The ones from what I’m reading now:
- Creatures of Light and Darkness. Roger Zelazney
- The Man Who Folded Himself. David Gerrold
- Magicians of the Gods Graham Hancock.
“The crowded career of George Washington afforded him little leisure to indulge his vanity or gratify his curiosity by conducting genealogical research into his family.”
– Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow
“There were five of us – Carruthers and the new recruit and myself, and Mr. Spivens and the verger.”
“To Say Nothing of the Dog”, which I’m reading for the third time. One of my favorite books. It’s amazing how funny Connie Willis can be in this and how devastatingly sad and soul-shaking she can be in her other works.
Epic
“By the spring of 1776 British and American troops had been killing each other at a robust rate for a full year.”–Revolutionary Summer, Joseph Ellis
Outstanding book about a real hero.
mmm
“Ballard and Jenkins rolled up on the house on El Centro shortly before midnight.”
– The Late Show, by Michael Connelly
“The dollar became America’s currency by historical happenstance. And then the murders began.” - Greenback Planet: How the Dollar Conquered the World and Threatened Civilization as We Know It by H.W. Brands
Thomas Hill was not much of a drinking man—half a bottle of claret or a couple of pots of ale might last him an hour or more—but two or three times a week he would close his bookshop and stroll down to the Romsey Arms.
The King’s Spy, by Andrew Swanston.
“Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have.” - Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“This is a book about writing.” – You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing (John Scalzi)