Here’s a collection of my favorite phrases/sentences/paragraphs from last month that I haven’t already used for something. (I will skip most audiobooks, my transcription skills aren’t what they should be. But when I try, the punctuation is just a guess).
Madam Tulip and the Rainbow’s End by David Ahern
Derry heard herself laugh lightly, in the way you do when a delightful compliment is paid you by a handsome Frenchman with eyes to die for. Any moment now, she would simper; she could feel one coming on. Thankfully years of actorly training allowed her to clamber back from the brink of inanity.
Jacko grinned happily as he pulled a pint of Guinness. He surveyed the place magisterially and winked at Derry. ‘I have found my true vocation,’ he announced loudly. ‘Art you may take or leave, and literature has outlived its usefulness. But here, assisting these good people in imagining themselves witty and wise, I am making the world a better place.’
‘But now, as you say, I am gainfully employed,’ continued Jacko. ‘Not in a mere job, but as a vocation. As a barman, I am playing my small part in saving the planet from seeing itself clearly.’
…Tulip felt the peace of knowing that the future could be befriended but never tamed.
Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones
Tomás parked and we walked into the urinal cake and vomitorium that is Taffy’s (Nowhere Near to Being) on the Lake.
Summer freeway traffic in Detroit is enough to turn the Pope into a road-rage maniac.
As a former Marine and ex-cop, I was trained to effectively multitask even if there was a single mission with a single expected outcome. Because honestly: When has Plan A ever actually worked?
The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson
I always have a hard time telling the difference between a pitchfork being raised in anger and one being raised in joy.
“I’m not entirely sure they have running water in this… this… well, I was going to say backwater, but that would sort of undermine my point.”
“It’s funny,” I interjected, “and I don’t mean like ha- ha funny, but, like, interesting funny how you never hear about adventurers standing at the edge of a swamp trying to figure out exactly what disgusting smell it most resembles when bards are singing legendary tales.”
Spelunking through Hell by Seanan McGuire
… when you’re already talking about people who have twenty-eight words for “wound” but only two for “friend,” you don’t want to deal with them when they get cranky.
The universe is full of giant snakes. Earth got off easy, since most of our snakes are too small to swallow people, but not everywhere has been that lucky. And some snakes are very nice people, not interested in eating anyone they can carry on a conversation with.
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
It’s so much easier to lie when you’re telling the truth.
He’d obviously wanted to tell someone about it for a long time and I was a convenient here.
I get that a lot. Stephanopoulos calls it my secret weapon.
“It’s that vacant expression,” she’d said. “People just want to fill the empty void. “
Nightengale gave me a narrow-eyed look. “If needs must,” he said, “but I want you to be cautious.”
“Hey,” I said, “‘Cautious’ is my middle name.”
“But your first name is ‘Never-Knowingly’,” said Stephanopoulos.
Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund
The only reason they hadn’t drummed him out of the service was that the UNSC needed every man and woman they could get their hands on.
While on the Gorgon, he and the rest of Admiral Cole’s fleet had sped among the Outer Colonies chasing, and being chased by, the Covenant. After four years’ space duty, Lovell had seen a dozen worlds glassed . . . and billions murdered.
He had simply broken under the strain. He closed his eyes and remembered. No, he hadn’t broken; he was just scared of dying like everyone else.
Payback is Murder by Nick Kolakowski
Who knew what terrible things someone with a ventriloquist’s doll was capable of?
Miller sighed. Yet another band of hipsters refusing to die with the song still inside them. He applauded the effort, but why did they always choose his street corner for these late- night jam sessions?
Scott buried his head in his hands. “We’re so doomed.”
“Cheer up. There’s a lot of opportunity in doom.”
Beside him, the gray- haired woman boasted cheekbones sharp enough to slice glass. Her expression suggested malice, boredom, or a special mix of both.
A traitorous part of his brain tried bringing up all the ways he had failed over the past few days, until he forced it into silence. If you wanted to live through a job, you needed proceed without doubt. Especially if the plan was flawed.
…maybe he had this thievery thing all wrong. Give someone a gun, and they can rob a bank—but give someone a job in banking or government, and they can rob the whole world.
(Image by DaModernDaVinci from Pixabay)
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