“Owen used to like to tease me about how I lose everything, about how, in my own way, I have raised losing things to an art form.”
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave.
“In 1913, when Anthony Patch was twenty-five, two years were already gone since irony, the Holy Ghost of this later day, had, theoretically at least, descended upon him.”
– The Beautiful and Damned, by F Scott Fitzgerald
“The dead waitress had beautiful eyes.”
Hearse of a Different Color, by Tim Cockey
“As far as I am concerned, I feel complete, calm, and happy only when I am writing a poem.”
Moonlight Rests on My Left Palm: Poems and Essays, by Yu Xiuhua
“I know, I know–it seemed crazy that the alien had come to Toronto.”
Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer
“Even as other Civil War generals rushed to publish their memoirs, flaunting their conquests and cashing in on their celebrity, Ulysses S. Grant refused to trumpet his accomplishments in print.”
Grant, by Ron Chernow
“On June 17, 2001, three New York City firemen were killed while fighting a Sunday afternoon fire in a hardware store in Astoria, Queens.”
What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction, by Alice McDermott
“‘Ambassador Sarek, it is an honor to receive you,’ the Andorian said as he bowed his head and spread his arms in a gesture of respectful greeting, which the Vulcan diplomat returned in kind.”
Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Echoes and Refractions, by Geoff Trowbridge, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Chris Roberson (from the first of three novellas in the collection, The Chimes at Midnight by Geoff Trowbridge)
“The tourists crashed through the sheriff’s blockade so they wouldn’t miss the rumrunner special at a popular tiki bar.”
Mermaid Confidential, by Tim Dorsey
“It is cool in the tunnels, not cold as it was outside.”
Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape, by Cal Flyn
SCAdian, it seems to me like you have the whole Ring of Fire series. I do too. I recently read Flint’s wonderful tribute to Rick Boatright in one of his latest and was so touched, as I had known Rick in high school.
“Cleveland, Ohio, was a city transformed by the American Civil War.”
Cleveland and the Civil War by W. Dennis Keating
“When the Moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule to witness the joining of three Tides.”
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
“If, by the grace of God, I should live three years longer, I will be one hundred years old.”
All Sail Set by Armstrong Sperry
“Sixty-three miles of road streamed out before her like a black snake.”
Glorious, by Bernice L. McFadden
“The eyes behind the wide black rubber goggles were cold as flint.”
For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming (from the short story “From a View to a Kill”)
“To the uninitiated pedestrian, Diwan was just one of several shops behind the Baehler mansions’ ornate exterior.”
Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller, by Nadia Wassef
“When the Moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule to witness the joining of three Tides.”
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
“Click. The radio came on.”
This is the first sentence from the story “The Very Pulse of the Machine”, the first story in Tales of Old Earth by Michael Swanwick.
"Dear Harlowe,
Hi, my name is Juliet Palante."
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
"IAC HEAD WARNS ABOUT CUTS IN BUDGET
By JOHN W. FINNEY
Special to The National Times
Aug. 16, 1961—Horace Clemons, head of the International Aerospace Coalition, warned the United Nations today that any cuts in the “minimal” space budget would make a manned Mars landing in this decade impossible."
The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
“Cooperation is the crucial ingredient in cooking up life as we know it.”
The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World, by Nichola Raihani