I had a minor in Russian history, and this was at the time when the big Cold War was going on.
I sold my very first novel when I was 24 or 25 years old.
If you look at the British royal family and take away the scandals and the goofy stuff that’s going on, people love to have this king to look up to – the royals are like celebrities.
Optimism is the best fertilizer.
We have failed to see that total peace can be as deadly as total war.
The best enemies are fabricated enemies for two reasons: one, we have nothing to worry about, and two, the populace falls in line.
A man like Zod is effective primarily in crisis situations. And so in order to hold on to his power, he has to create or maintain the state of emergency.
The small room was furnished with little more than odd smells and disappointment.
All of the stray asbestos fibers would certainly have been removed with meticulous care. The contractors were, after all, government employees. That thought sparked uneasiness in him all over again.
Women died in childbirth, just as men did on the battlefield, and in both cases it was easier to convince the young and foolhardy to do it, to use them up before they were so old that their bodies refused to do what was necessary.
The world was her oyster, except she didn’t care for oysters. Better yet, the world was her raspberry. She liked raspberries.
We say the poison is in the dose. The same herb that can relieve a condition can also kill a patient if the dose be too large. And sometimes the efficacious does is large, so near the lethal dose, we have to work by very small increments to avoid taking a life.
Trying to kill your own father, dueling with a clone of yourself, serving the Dark Side for the Emperor. If that’s what it takes to be a powerful Jedi, maybe I don’t want the job!
He didn’t say a word, but he grew coldly, murderously furious.
Each life is the sum total of its moments.
All life is a series of seemingly insignificant tasks and decisions, culminating in the definition of an individual and her purpose in life.
Mama was making a fresh pot of coffee. She’d make it weak and complain that it tasted funny being ground up right there on the spot instead of coming out of a can all ready to brew.
Dreamers have a hidden strength that is often mistaken for meekness by those who have power.” The.
He looked up. His mouth stayed where it was and noise quit coming out of it. Yes, Asil thought, the other’s awe soothing the feathers that had been ruffled by the wait, I am beautiful.
Rogues aren’t nice people, son. And if they don’t get their ransom, they might snip off one of your fingers or toes as an inducement.” Maurice is horrified. He flexes his pale soft hand. “Which finger?” “They’d start with the little one just to get warmed up. After that, it depends on how close it is to the weekend.” “What does the weekend have to do with anything?” “For a weekend special they might cut off your whole hand.” Maurice swallows hard and yanks his hood down over his messy hair.
I’ve seen too many writers derail their creative process by stopping the action to tweak a word or a sentence. If you write a few paragraphs, then go back and polish them, you destroy all the forward momentum you had. It’s like shifting gears – forward, reverse, forward, reverse. You could burn out your mental transmission. If you can train yourself to save the criticism for the second draft, you’ll actually finish writing and have something to polish.