More favourite opening lines

[Moriarty]

This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up again because last week I read this opening paragraph(*):

"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."

What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to share?

(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

-Moriarty

[David Goldfarb]

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to share?
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

"There are a number of smells one expects to encounter in a dungeon.
Fresh rosemary generally isn't one of them." -- Ursula Vernon, writing
as "T. Kingfisher", _Clockwork Boys_.

"I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module,
but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment
channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000
hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably,
I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays,
and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure."
-- Martha Wells, "All Systems Red".

"'There were unexpected difficulties,' said the dark gray blur."
-- Ann Leckie, _Provenance.

"Log entry: Sol 6. I'm pretty much fucked. That's my considered opinion."
-- Andy Weir, _The Martian_.

[Ahasuerus]

On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 1:00:04 AM UTC-4, David Goldfarb wrote:
[snip-snip]

Post by David Goldfarb
"I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module,
but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment
channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over
35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but
probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials,
books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I
was a terrible failure."
-- Martha Wells, "All Systems Red".

[snip]

I remember reading that paragraph and thinking "Ah, so that's the kind
of book this is going to be." Sure enough, it was and it was pretty good
at it.

[Titus G]

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to share?
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

Today.The opening line of Chapter 1 (*) (after the Prologue), read:

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

===
Safety devices that do not protect.

===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.

===
ON and on Coeurl prowled!

===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

===
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room.

===
Two thousand million or so years ago two galaxies were colliding;
or, rather, were passing through each other.

===
"...THE OCCUPANTS of each floor of the hotel must as usual
during the games form their own protective groups..."

===
"Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank
Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the
Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms
lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars -
Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired
women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry,
Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its
shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and
gold.

===
Originally the robot was intended to be a can opener.

[p***@hotmail.com]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

===
Safety devices that do not protect.
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.

_War of the Worlds_

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
ON and on Coeurl prowled!

_The Black Destroyer_ by A. E. van Vogt

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.
===
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room.

"There was a knock on the door."
_The Last Man_ by Frederick Brown

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Two thousand million or so years ago two galaxies were colliding;
or, rather, were passing through each other.

Common prologue to any of final book editions of the _Lensman_ series, except
for some editions of _Galactic Patrol_

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
"...THE OCCUPANTS of each floor of the hotel must as usual
during the games form their own protective groups..."

_The World of Null-A_ by A. E. van Vogt

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
"Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank
Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the
Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms
lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars -
Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired
women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry,
Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its
shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and
gold.

One of the Conan stories by Robert Howard

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Originally the robot was intended to be a can opener.

_The Proud Robot_ by Henry Kuttner

Peter Wezeman
anti-social Darwinist

[Juho Julkunen]

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
"Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank
Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the
Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms
lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars -
Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired
women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry,
Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its
shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and
gold.

One of the Conan stories by Robert Howard

The very first published Conan story, "The Phoenix on the Sword".

(A rewrite of an unpublished Kull story, "By This Axe I Rule!")

[a***@yahoo.com]

On Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at 7:31:10 PM UTC-4, ***@hotmail.com wrote:
Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room.

"There was a knock on the door."

"Come in, dear"

Post by p***@hotmail.com
_The Last Man_ by Frederick Brown

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by a***@yahoo.com
Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room.

"There was a knock on the door."

"Come in, dear"

There's the other version, too, by I forget whom. "The last man
on earth sat alone in a room. There was a lock on the door."

[Robert Carnegie]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

===
Safety devices that do not protect.
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.
===
ON and on Coeurl prowled!
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.
===
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room.
===
Two thousand million or so years ago two galaxies were colliding;
or, rather, were passing through each other.
===
"...THE OCCUPANTS of each floor of the hotel must as usual
during the games form their own protective groups..."
===
"Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank
Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the
Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms
lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars -
Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired
women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry,
Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its
shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and
gold.
===
Originally the robot was intended to be a can opener.

I think you overlooked the words "recent examples".
("Two thousand million or so years ago"?)

Ben Aaronovitch's _Rivers of London_ or _Midnight Riot_
doesn't have a zinging first line, but does build nicely
with the escalating attention of central London police
when one evening a body is discovered in the street,
and then, nearby and shortly afterwards, its head.

[David DeLaney]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
Safety devices that do not protect.

The Vortex Blaster, Smith's nonLensman Lensman story/novel.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

I should know this one but I don't?

Dave, it was a dark and cosmic-stormy galactic long night

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by David DeLaney

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
Safety devices that do not protect.

The Vortex Blaster, Smith's nonLensman Lensman story/novel.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

I should know this one but I don't?

_A Princess Of Mars_

(It's a bit of a cheat because I skipped the prolog by "Burroughs"
about how Uncle Jack was real and all, but I figure everybody does).

[Quadibloc]

Post by David DeLaney

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

I should know this one but I don't?

A Princess of Mars.

John Savard

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

===
Safety devices that do not protect.
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.
===
ON and on Coeurl prowled!

That's probably my favorite! Here are some others that have come to mind over the last few days:

The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries.

===
The bureaucrat fell from the sky.

===
Tonight, we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man.

===
It was a pleasure to burn.

===
Do not read this story. Turn the page quickly.

===
The room stank of demons.

===
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but 
she pitted her wits against them and she won.

===
He doesn't know which one of us I am these days, but they know one truth.

===
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.

===
This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.


Tony

[p***@hotmail.com]

Post by t***@gmail.com

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

===
Safety devices that do not protect.
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.
===
ON and on Coeurl prowled!

The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries.
===
The bureaucrat fell from the sky.
===
Tonight, we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man.

_Hero_. the first segment of _The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman

Post by t***@gmail.com
It was a pleasure to burn.
===
Do not read this story. Turn the page quickly.
===
The room stank of demons.

_The Broken Lands_ by Fred Saberhagen, also collected as _The Empire of
the East_

Post by t***@gmail.com
===
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but 
she pitted her wits against them and she won.

_The Ballad of Lost C'Mell_

Post by t***@gmail.com
He doesn't know which one of us I am these days, but they know one truth.
===
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.

_And He Built a Crooked House_

Post by t***@gmail.com
===
This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.

Peter Wezeman
anti-social Darwinist

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by t***@gmail.com

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

===
Safety devices that do not protect.
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.
===
ON and on Coeurl prowled!

The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries.
===
The bureaucrat fell from the sky.
===
Tonight, we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man.

_Hero_. the first segment of _The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman

Yep!

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by t***@gmail.com
It was a pleasure to burn.
===
Do not read this story. Turn the page quickly.
===
The room stank of demons.

_The Broken Lands_ by Fred Saberhagen, also collected as _The Empire of
the East_

Oh - maybe. I know it from "Black Easter" by Blish.

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by t***@gmail.com
===
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but 
she pitted her wits against them and she won.

_The Ballad of Lost C'Mell_

Yep!

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by t***@gmail.com
He doesn't know which one of us I am these days, but they know one truth.
===
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.

_And He Built a Crooked House_

Yep! Nicely done.
- Tony

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by t***@gmail.com
===
This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.

Peter Wezeman
anti-social Darwinist

[Kevrob]

Post by p***@hotmail.com

Post by t***@gmail.com
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but 
she pitted her wits against them and she won.

_The Ballad of Lost C'Mell_

Yep!

When I was in my 20s, and living in Milwaukee, I dated a
young lady who lived in the Bay View neighborhood. The
Linebargers were from MKE, and a street was named after
them: S Linebarger Terrace. "Our" Paul Linebarger's father
helped develop the neighborhood.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9933933,-87.8890951,17z

I passed by it every time I took the Rte 15 bus to her home,
or later, drove there.

I was a C Smith fan from my high school days, and the company
of the pretty young thing was worth the trip!

An appreciation of Smith and the Linebarger family was excerpted
in THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL last year:

https://preview.tinyurl.com/MJS-Smith-Linebarger OR

https://tinyurl.com/MJS-Smith-Linebarger

https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/books/2017/07/08/milwaukee-native-cordwainer-smith-surprising-distinctive-voice-science-fiction/436681001/ *

Kevin R

* written by Jim Higgins

https://www.jimhigginswi.com/books

[David DeLaney]

===
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but ???she
pitted her wits against them and she won.

EVERYONE should know this one by heart. (I know they don't.) Cordwainer Smith,
Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, you are not forgotten.

===
He doesn't know which one of us I am these days, but they know one truth.

Fondly Fahrenheit! All reet the heat.

===
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.

There's good reasons for that, actually. I'm not sure _any_ of us are sane, and
culture and upbringing has a lot to do with it. Oh, And He Built A Crooked
House And Senate.

This one's technically cheating, but it IS part of the first sentence, which is
also the first paragraph:
===
'and what is the use of a book [...] without pictures or conversation?'

and of course
===
One thing was certain, that the WHITE kitten had had nothing to do with it: --
it was the black kitten's fault entirely.

===
James Quincy Holden was five years old.

===
"TheyÆre sending us a Rust, somebody who goes by Blossom, and Halt."

===
APPEARANCES are deceiving. A polished chunk of metal that shines like a
Christmas-tree ornament may hold ù and release ù energy to destroy a city.

===
"Then you mean to say there is no such thing as the _smallest_ particle
of matter?" asked the Doctor.

===
_The universe is steeped in voices._

(... needed to install DeDRM in my Calibre first. I paid for the book, this is
MY copy, not yours. Folding, spindling, and/or mutilating it is Allowed.)

===
Praxcelis dreamed.

===
Aánote from the author: The following is compiled from a number of sources,
including humans. It may therefore be inaccurate in a number of details.

===
Outside her dream it was winter, and night. But Sirronde wandered beyond the
gates of dream, straying a long while among the golden landscapes of long-dead
summers, until at last she came to the forges of evening.

===
I remember what it was like, being bathed in the radiance of the swan.
I remember being good.

===
All children, except one, grow up.

===
Perion afterward remembered the two weeks spent at Bellegarde as in recovery
from illness a person might remember some long fever dream which was all of an
intolerable elvish brightness and of incessant laughter everywhere.

===
Her hair was a brilliant green. So was her spectacularly filled halter. So were
her tight short-shorts, her lipstick, and the lacquer on her finger- and
toe-nails.

===
The one-man clopter was zipping over New Mexico when Kent Lindstrom's left hand
dropped its side of the book of Beethoven sonatas. Kent stared with annoyance
as the hand reached forward to fool with the manual control wheel.

===
One night when I had tasted bitterness I went out on to the hill.


Dave, some of these are admittedly more obscure than I'd like

[David Goldfarb]

Post by David DeLaney
'and what is the use of a book [...] without pictures or conversation?'

_Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, of course.

Post by David DeLaney
One thing was certain, that the WHITE kitten had had nothing to do with it: --
it was the black kitten's fault entirely.

And _Through the Looking-Glass_.

Post by David DeLaney
"TheyÆre sending us a Rust, somebody who goes by Blossom, and Halt."

Graydon Saunders, _The March North_.

Post by David DeLaney
Outside her dream it was winter, and night. But Sirronde wandered beyond the
gates of dream, straying a long while among the golden landscapes of long-dead
summers, until at last she came to the forges of evening.

One of Diane Duane's Sirronde stories, but I haven't looked up which one.

Post by David DeLaney
I remember what it was like, being bathed in the radiance of the swan.
I remember being good.

Jenna Moran, _The Fable of the Swan_.

Post by David DeLaney
All children, except one, grow up.

J.M. Barrie, _Peter Pan_.

[Michael Ikeda]

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
Outside her dream it was winter, and night. But Sirronde
wandered beyond the gates of dream, straying a long while among
the golden landscapes of long-dead summers, until at last she
came to the forges of evening.

One of Diane Duane's Sirronde stories, but I haven't looked up
which one.

Parting Gifts.

[Robert Carnegie]

Post by Michael Ikeda

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
Outside her dream it was winter, and night. But Sirronde
wandered beyond the gates of dream, straying a long while among
the golden landscapes of long-dead summers, until at last she
came to the forges of evening.

One of Diane Duane's Sirronde stories, but I haven't looked up which one.

Parting Gifts.

A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_; I don't recall the title being explained, dreams
don't have gates as far as I remember except for
_Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ (spoiler??),
perhaps it's a quotation? Maybe from that?

The main thing that Wikipedia says about the Carter
is that the first edition back cover tells you what
three stories are like that aren't in the collection.

[Michael Ikeda]

Post by Robert Carnegie

Post by Michael Ikeda

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
Outside her dream it was winter, and night. But Sirronde
wandered beyond the gates of dream, straying a long while
among the golden landscapes of long-dead summers, until at
last she came to the forges of evening.

One of Diane Duane's Sirronde stories, but I haven't looked
up which one.

Parting Gifts.

A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_;
I don't recall the title being explained, dreams don't have
gates as far as I remember except for _Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland_ (spoiler??), perhaps it's a quotation? Maybe from
that?
The main thing that Wikipedia says about the Carter
is that the first edition back cover tells you what
three stories are like that aren't in the collection.

The story is "Parting Gifts" by Diane Duane. As David mentioned,
it is one of her Sirronde stories. My copy of the story is from
Lin Carter's 1981 anthology Flashing Swords #5.

[Robert Carnegie]

Post by Michael Ikeda

Post by Robert Carnegie

Post by Michael Ikeda

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
Outside her dream it was winter, and night. But Sirronde
wandered beyond the gates of dream, straying a long while
among the golden landscapes of long-dead summers, until at
last she came to the forges of evening.

One of Diane Duane's Sirronde stories, but I haven't looked up which one.

Parting Gifts.

A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_;
I don't recall the title being explained, dreams don't have
gates as far as I remember except for _Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland_ (spoiler??), perhaps it's a quotation? Maybe from
that?
The main thing that Wikipedia says about the Carter
is that the first edition back cover tells you what
three stories are like that aren't in the collection.

The story is "Parting Gifts" by Diane Duane. As David mentioned,
it is one of her Sirronde stories. My copy of the story is from
Lin Carter's 1981 anthology Flashing Swords #5.

Right-o. In 1969, Diane Duane was 17.

[David DeLaney]

Post by Robert Carnegie
A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_; I don't
recall the title being explained, dreams
don't have gates as far as I remember

Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is made of horn
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.

Dave, and they are both larger than Halt's ivory table

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by David DeLaney

Post by Robert Carnegie
A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_; I don't
recall the title being explained, dreams
don't have gates as far as I remember

Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is made of horn
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.
Dave, and they are both larger than Halt's ivory table

They'd have to be, unless they were limited to sending out the
dreams of mice. IIRC Halt's table is *tiny.*

[Panthera Tigris Altaica]

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by David DeLaney

Post by Robert Carnegie
A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_; I don't
recall the title being explained, dreams
don't have gates as far as I remember

Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is made of horn
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.
Dave, and they are both larger than Halt's ivory table

They'd have to be, unless they were limited to sending out the
dreams of mice. IIRC Halt's table is *tiny.*

Halt's table is as big as it needs to be, the same way that Halt's chair is always there when needed.

[David Goldfarb]

Post by David DeLaney

Post by Robert Carnegie
A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_; I don't
recall the title being explained, dreams
don't have gates as far as I remember

Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is made of horn
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.

You do recall that he was stealing from Homer, right? (Probably
you do, but I can't tell.)

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney

Post by Robert Carnegie
A Lin Carter collection of 1969 is _Beyond the Gates of Dream_; I don't
recall the title being explained, dreams
don't have gates as far as I remember

Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is made of horn
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.

You do recall that he was stealing from Homer, right? (Probably
you do, but I can't tell.)

If not Hesiod.

[David Goldfarb]

Post by David DeLaney

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is

made of horn

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.

You do recall that he was stealing from Homer, right? (Probably
you do, but I can't tell.)

If not Hesiod.

Gaiman stole from Hesiod for the parentage of his Endless, but if
Hesiod refers to the gates of horn and ivory, Wikipedia does not
mention it. Their source is Odyssey 19 560-69.

[Quadibloc]

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is

made of horn

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.

You do recall that he was stealing from Homer, right? (Probably
you do, but I can't tell.)

If not Hesiod.

Gaiman stole from Hesiod for the parentage of his Endless, but if
Hesiod refers to the gates of horn and ivory, Wikipedia does not
mention it. Their source is Odyssey 19 560-69.

The only reference I noticed to continued use of the image in Ancient Rome was
by Virgil in the Aenid, also in that Wikipedia article. But not having read
"Works and Days" from beginning to end, I can't be certain it isn't there.

John Savard

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
Sure they do; Neil Gaiman reminded us of that, for example. One is

made of horn

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by David DeLaney
and the other of ivory; one lets true dreams through, the other false ones.

You do recall that he was stealing from Homer, right? (Probably
you do, but I can't tell.)

If not Hesiod.

Gaiman stole from Hesiod for the parentage of his Endless, but if
Hesiod refers to the gates of horn and ivory, Wikipedia does not
mention it. Their source is Odyssey 19 560-69.

The only reference I noticed to continued use of the image in Ancient Rome was
by Virgil in the Aenid, also in that Wikipedia article. But not having read
"Works and Days" from beginning to end, I can't be certain it isn't there.

Well, I have. But it's been a while. I used it as a reference
for several of the Cynthia stories, e.g. things you mustn't do
lest you be cursed.

[David Mitchell]

Post by David DeLaney
===
Her hair was a brilliant green. So was her spectacularly filled halter. So were
her tight short-shorts, her lipstick, and the lacquer on her finger- and
toe-nails.

The Galaxy Primes?

[Lee Gleason]

Post by David DeLaney
===
The one-man clopter was zipping over New Mexico when Kent Lindstrom's left hand
dropped its side of the book of Beethoven sonatas. Kent stared with annoyance
as the hand reached forward to fool with the manual control wheel.
===

It's a Mack Reynolds story published in Analog in the late 60s/early 70s,
about a musician who had his corpus callosum cut to treat a brain disorder.
He developed two personalities, one of which, "Pard", became a secret agent
unbeknownst to the other personality in the other half of his brain. You’d
think I'd remember the title if I recall this much...

--
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
***@gmail.com

[p***@hotmail.com]

"David DeLaney" wrote in message

Post by David DeLaney
The one-man clopter was zipping over New Mexico when Kent Lindstrom's left hand
dropped its side of the book of Beethoven sonatas. Kent stared with annoyance
as the hand reached forward to fool with the manual control wheel.
===

It's a Mack Reynolds story published in Analog in the late 60s/early 70s,
about a musician who had his corpus callosum cut to treat a brain disorder.
He developed two personalities, one of which, "Pard", became a secret agent
unbeknownst to the other personality in the other half of his brain. You’d
think I'd remember the title if I recall this much...

_Duplex_(AKA as _Partner_) by Howard L. Myers. He is possibly best known
for his "Econowar" stories.

Peter Wezeman
anti-social Darwinist

[Lee Gleason]

"David DeLaney" wrote in message

Post by David DeLaney
The one-man clopter was zipping over New Mexico when Kent Lindstrom's
left
hand
dropped its side of the book of Beethoven sonatas. Kent stared with annoyance
as the hand reached forward to fool with the manual control wheel.
===
It's a Mack Reynolds story published in Analog in the late 60s/early 70s,
about a musician who had his corpus callosum cut to treat a brain disorder.
He developed two personalities, one of which, "Pard", became a secret agent
unbeknownst to the other personality in the other half of his brain. You’d
think I'd remember the title if I recall this much...

_Duplex_(AKA as _Partner_) by Howard L. Myers. He is possibly best known
for his "Econowar" stories.
Peter Wezeman

Ah, thanks for the correction - guess I didn't remember as much as I
thought I did.

--
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
***@comcast.net

[D B Davis]

Post by Lee Gleason

Post by David DeLaney
===
The one-man clopter was zipping over New Mexico when Kent Lindstrom's left hand
dropped its side of the book of Beethoven sonatas. Kent stared with annoyance
as the hand reached forward to fool with the manual control wheel.
===

It's a Mack Reynolds story published in Analog in the late 60s/early 70s,
about a musician who had his corpus callosum cut to treat a brain disorder.
He developed two personalities, one of which, "Pard", became a secret agent
unbeknownst to the other personality in the other half of his brain. You'd
think I'd remember the title if I recall this much...

A different author wrote _Healer_ (Wilson). The Wilson has a parasitical
creature called "Pard" enter into symbiosis with the protagonist's
brain. Pard has a mind of its own, so a lot of internal dialogue takes
place within the protagonist's mind.

✍

Thank you,

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by David DeLaney

===
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but ???she
pitted her wits against them and she won.

EVERYONE should know this one by heart. (I know they don't.) Cordwainer Smith,
Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, you are not forgotten.

Yep!

Post by David DeLaney

===
He doesn't know which one of us I am these days, but they know one truth.

Fondly Fahrenheit! All reet the heat.

And 'yep' again!

Post by David DeLaney

===
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.

There's good reasons for that, actually. I'm not sure _any_ of us are sane, and
culture and upbringing has a lot to do with it. Oh, And He Built A Crooked
House And Senate.

Nice!
- Tony, snipping the rest just for brevity and stuff

[David Goldfarb]

Post by t***@gmail.com
The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries.

Vernor Vinge, _A Deepness in the Sky_.

Post by t***@gmail.com
The bureaucrat fell from the sky.

Michael Swanwick, I think _Stations of the Tide_ but it might
be _Vacuum Flowers_ instead.

Post by t***@gmail.com
It was a pleasure to burn.

Ray Bradbury, _Fahrenheit 451_.

Post by t***@gmail.com
Do not read this story. Turn the page quickly.

Cordwainer Smith, "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal".

Post by t***@gmail.com
This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.

William Goldman, _The Princess Bride_.

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by t***@gmail.com
The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries.

Vernor Vinge, _A Deepness in the Sky_.

Bingo!

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by t***@gmail.com
The bureaucrat fell from the sky.

Michael Swanwick, I think _Stations of the Tide_ but it might
be _Vacuum Flowers_ instead.

Indeed - it is the former.

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by t***@gmail.com
It was a pleasure to burn.

Ray Bradbury, _Fahrenheit 451_.

Yep!

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by t***@gmail.com
Do not read this story. Turn the page quickly.

Cordwainer Smith, "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal".

Yep again!

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by t***@gmail.com
This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.

William Goldman, _The Princess Bride_.

Yep - nicely done!
- Tony

[Quadibloc]

Post by t***@gmail.com
It was a pleasure to burn.

Fahrenheit 451

Post by t***@gmail.com
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but 
she pitted her wits against them and she won.

The Ballad of Lost C'mell?

John Savard

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by David Goldfarb

Post by t***@gmail.com
It was a pleasure to burn.

Fahrenheit 451

Post by t***@gmail.com
She was a girlygirl and they were true men, the Lords of Creation, but 
she pitted her wits against them and she won.

The Ballad of Lost C'mell?

Yes to both!
- Tony

[Quadibloc]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.

It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...

With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little
affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible
that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to
dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to
recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men
fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and
ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects
vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
century came the great disillusionment.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

And this one.

Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I have never
aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I
have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some
day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet
I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.

It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little
affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible
that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to
dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to
recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men
fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and
ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects
vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
century came the great disillusionment.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

And this one.
Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I have never
aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I
have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some
day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet
I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...

Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.

They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
it; Hollywood just grew."

The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

John Savard

[J. Clarke]

On Fri, 19 Nov 2021 18:09:12 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.

It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little
affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible
that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to
dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to
recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men
fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and
ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects
vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
century came the great disillusionment.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

And this one.
Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I have never
aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I
have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some
day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet
I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.
They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
it; Hollywood just grew."
The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

The sooner it all drops into the Pacific, the happier the world will
be.

Maybe Elon Musk _knows_ something.

[[e-mail]]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.

It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little
affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible
that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to
dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to
recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men
fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and
ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects
vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
century came the great disillusionment.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

And this one.
Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I have never
aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I
have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some
day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet
I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.
They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
it; Hollywood just grew."
The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

When Heinlein wrote that, he lived on Laurel Canyon Drive. IIRC, the next
paragraph alludes to him.

Pt

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
and multiply in a drop of water.

It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about

their little

Post by Quadibloc
affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is

possible

Post by Quadibloc
that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of

them only to

Post by Quadibloc
dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is

curious to

Post by Quadibloc
recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most

terrestrial men

Post by Quadibloc
fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to

themselves and

Post by Quadibloc
ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish,

intellects

Post by Quadibloc
vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
century came the great disillusionment.

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
===
I am a very old man; how old I do not know.

And this one.
Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I

have never

Post by Quadibloc
aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can

recollect I

Post by Quadibloc
have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever;

that some

Post by Quadibloc
day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still

alive; but yet

Post by Quadibloc
I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...
Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.
They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
it; Hollywood just grew."
The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

That's a good one.

Along with

He doesn't know which of us I am these days....

and

The doorknob opened a blue eye and looked at him.

[Moriarty]

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

Mark Lawrence certainly has a way with words that draws the reader in. Or repulses them, depending on grimdark tolerances. Light and fluffy, he isn't.

-Moriarty

[Titus G]

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army
of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano
Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to

share?

Post by Moriarty
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.

No child truly believes they will be hanged. Even on the gallows
platform with the rope scratching at their wrists.......

Mark Lawrence certainly has a way with words that draws the reader in. Or repulses them, depending on grimdark tolerances. Light and fluffy, he isn't.

I thought Joe Abercrombie's grimdark adult novels were brilliant fun so
your opening line from the prologue, the word grimdark and your
recommendation tempted me to look at Red Sister. So far, so good. The
immediate comparison (for me) was the brilliant first book of Rothfuss'
two book trilogy where gifted peasant falls out with spoilt privilege at
training establishment although the worlds and authors tone are far
apart. I really enjoy the old wise person skilled at interpreting and
manipulating motive, attitude, behaviour (Ann Leckie's Ancillary series
did this well as does Vernor Vinge) and the Abbess is a delight.

[Mike Dworetsky]

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an
army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent,
Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to share?
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.
-Moriarty

"In five years, the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.

John Varley, Steel Beach.

[Peter Trei]

Post by Mike Dworetsky

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years. I bring it up
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an
army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent,
Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to share?
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.
-Moriarty

"In five years, the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.
John Varley, Steel Beach.

Lets not forget the obvious:

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984.

Of course, the image that evokes has changed 180 since it was written.

pt

[Harold Hill]

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years.

Bill never realized that sex was the cause of it all.

[Steve Dodds]

Post by Harold Hill

Post by Moriarty
This topic has been done periodically over the years.

Bill never realized that sex was the cause of it all.

Bill the galactic hero. Harry Harrison

[D B Davis]

Someone parked their TARDIS in front of my house (not that there's
anything /wrong/ with that). They left its blue door unlocked and
cracked open. They obviously wanted me to take a joyride in it.
A short trip to future seemed safest. Because any messes made can be
easily undone when you return to the present.
My plan was simplicity itself. Set the TARDIS for a short jaunt one
year into the future, take a look around the inside of my future house,
and then return to the present...
The front door of my house one year into the future still opened and
allowed me access to the living room. Everything looked about the same,
except for the copy of _A Rambling Wreck Update_ (Schantz), which sat on
the coffee table. It began with a great opening line:

It was Angus McGuffin's last day on earth, but he didn't realize it
until too late.

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/14826596-a-rambling-wreck-update

✍

Thank you,

[Quadibloc]

Here's one:

Nikki stepped into the conical field of the ultra-sonic cleanser, wriggling so
that the unheard droning out of the machine's stubby snout could more effectively
shear her skin of dead epidermal tissue, globules of dried sweat, dabs of
yesterday's scents, and other debris; after three minutes she emerged clean,
bouncy, ready for the party. She programmed her party outfit: green buskins,
lemon-yellow tunic of gauzy film, pale orange cape soft as a clam's mantle, and
nothing underneath but Nikki -- smooth, glistening, satiny Nikki.

John Savard

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Moriarty
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to share?
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.
-Moriarty

"It was time to whip the God."

Lynn

[Moriarty]

<snip, bump>

"One upon a time on a small, watery, excitable planet called Earth, in a small, watery, excitable country called Italy, a soft-spoken, rather nice-looking gentleman by the name of Enrico Fermi was born into a family so overprotective that he felt compelled to invent the atomic bomb."

So opens "Space Opera" by Catherynne M Valente.

-Moriarty

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by Moriarty
<snip, bump>
"One upon a time on a small, watery, excitable planet called Earth, in a small, watery, excitable country called Italy, a soft-spoken, rather nice-looking gentleman by the name of Enrico Fermi was born into a family so overprotective that he felt compelled to invent the atomic bomb."
So opens "Space Opera" by Catherynne M Valente.

Valente can put on a wonderful half-dream-sequence, half-Douglas-Adams
style when she wants to. Splendidly adept writer (although I called the
ending of Space Opera by about 30% through).

Cheers - Jaimie

[Butch Malahide]

Post by Moriarty
"It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent, Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men."
What a hook! Another other recent examples that people would care to share?
(*) Mark Lawrence "Red Sister". Highly recommended.
-Moriarty

When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure clarified your attitude toward him.
You have given a definite answer to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively.
In a way, the next move is up to him.