Identifying a ruling class and state posed no such problem. The upper and usually senior ranks of the various corporate bodies, patricians and patriarchs or the merchant houses, administrators of cooperatives, guildmasters and latifundists, heads of religious orders and philosophical schools, retired courtesans, professors emeritus, and so on and so forth, formed what was blatantly called the Electorate, who just as blatantly elected the Senate and staffed its administration, and that was that. Volkov had no scruples about elites – having been part of one – and was surprised to find himself shocked by the sheer effrontery of the Republic’s lack of the forms of democracy. All his experience had been with people who insisted on at least the illusion of popular rule, and it was disquieting to encounter a people who seemed satisfied with the substance of self-government in everyday life while letting his politics and statecraft go on over their heads – as it almost always and everywhere did, of course. (Ken MacLeod)
Quotes
MacShane, Gifford: The Hedgerow Schools of Ireland (2015)
So on a sunny summer afternoon, it was not unusual to see a priest walking up and down on the edge of a field for an hour or so, his hands waving, his mouth working, extolling the tenets of Catholicism to children who were hidden from sight. (Gifford MacShane)
Hyndman, Jennifer Elizabeth: Grinch, Demon Slayer (2013)
Bryce didn’t see the string attached to a fishing hook which Noah had hid, with the direction of Samuel, under his drinking glass. He looked at Brooklyn and said, “You dipped your hair in your gravy again.”
Brooklyn squealed, looking down at her hair and examining it for food. When Bryce had his full attention on Brooke’s hair Noah quickly slipped the fishing hook into the wrist cuff of the head elf’s button up shirt. Bryce didn’t notice nor did anyone else.
“Well it looks like I was wrong.” Noah chuckled at his own genius. Well, technically it was Samuel’s genius. Keeping the string loose, he waited until Bryce was about to lift a spoonful of mashed potatoes to his mouth. That was when he held the string tight so that Bryce had to pull extra hard to lift his hand.
When Bryce pulled harder on his hand, confused at the resistance, the string broke and he quite literally punched himself in the face with a spoon of potatoes. He was not amused. Luckily, Noah was faster than Bryce. …
Sagara, Michelle: Cast in Silence
“It was not a terribly fine door. The frame that contained it was solid and blocky, one piece with the stone of the Tower. There were no letters above it, or, as was often the case in parts of Elantra, adorning the wall to either side. In fact, it looked as if the door had been added as an afterthought. Given that the door seemed flat, rectangular, and plain – the type of door behind which someone like Kaylin or Severn might live – it might have been. It had a doorknob. The hinges were on the inside. It seemed – at this distance – to lack a keyhole.”
Page 252
Jackson, Ros: Melody of Demons – Quote
“You chose Moreus over me,” she said. “Over all of us. You know what, the more I think about it, the easier it is to understand. That’s not so hard to forgive, after all.”
“It isn’t?” Gauce said, surprised.
“No, it isn’t. I mean, I’d choose Moreus over you any time.”
“You knew my brother?” Gauce asked, his shoulders slumping.
“Oh, no. Never met him.”
Location 6191 of 9046
Lewis, Gareth: Street of Lost Gods (Loc 148)
It’s not like you’ll find any gods of wisdom or thinking here. Not that there are many gods of thinking. It’s counter-intuitive. Plenty of gods of making noise and hitting things, but there’s plenty of mortals who do that. To be fair, I suppose the proportion of thinking gods to hitting gods probably matches the proportions among their worshippers.
McDermott, J.M.: We Leave Together – page 44
“She felt into the Unity for all the energy hidden in the air, where people live and love and the threads of life swell into one pattern.
In every room – every single room – her breaking heart was not alone.
A thousand upon a thousand snowfalls, and the city weeps in the dark, alone.”
Sullivan, Samuel and Justin: Darkroot (Rhyme of the Willow II) page 179
“The Blood Demon rushed at him, pure bloodlust in her eyes. Axton held out his scarred hand and envisioned the Green Witch’s vines.
To his astonishment, emerald vines sprouted from his palm, fast as the Darkblades from the skin of a Crow. The vines wrapped around the Blood Demon’s arm, and as Axton stumbled onto his back they flung her overhead. Aniva spun and whirled through the air until she ricocheted off a wall and came toppling behind the fleeing advisors.
Axton cursed while Aniva roused more violent than ever. The Blood Demon caught sight of him and roared, her lips curled back to reveal dozens of sharp yellow teeth.”
The Light Fantastic page 225 (omnibus)
“In the beginning was the word,” said a dry voice right behind him.
“It was the Egg,” corrected another voice. “I distinctly remember. The Great Egg of the Universe. Slightly rubbery.”
“You’re both wrong, in fact. I’m sure it was the primordial slime.”
A voice by Rincewind’s knee said: “No, that came afterwards. There was firmament first. Lots of firmament. Rather sticky, like candyfloss. Very syrupy, in fact -”
“In case anyone’s interested,” said a crackly voice on Rincewind’s left, “you’re all wrong. In the beginning was the Clearing of the Throat -” “-then the word -”
“Pardon me, the slime -”
“Distinctly rubbery, I thought -”
There was a pause. Then a voice said carefully. “Anyway, whatever it was, we remember it distinctly.”
(Picture found on Chris Brecheen‘s website – Paul Kidby artist)
McGuire, Seanan: Indexing page 1
“My day began with half a dozen bluebirds beating themselves to death against my window, leaving little bloody commas on the glass to mark their passing.”
(Picture by Lifllane)
Jemisin, N.K.: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (location 2317)
“It was very bad if the council had resorted to recruiting men. By tradition men were our last line of defense, their physical strength bent toward the single and most important task of protecting our homes and children.”
Watt-Evans, L & Friesner, E: Split Heirs page 353
“Princess,” Bernice corrected. “Nope. Not gonna do it. Once a princess has been rescued from the place of sacrifice by a sword-carrying hero willing to fight the dragon, she’s off-limits.” She turned to Antirrhinum. “Did I get that right?”
“Perfect.” He nodded approvingly.
“But-but aren’t you allowed to eat the hero who freed her?” Ubri demanded.
“Yeah. So?”
“So there’s your sword-carrying hero.” The Gorgorian jabbed a finger at Arbol. “Eat her!”
Bernice considered this option. “Mmmmnope. Can’t do it.”
“Why not?” Ubri’s face was crimsom.
“Because she’s the princess who was rescued from the place of sacrifice and you don’t eat a properly rescued princess.”
Hurtado, Aída: The Color of Privilege: Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism: Page 135
Trick Number 6: The Pendejo Game
When you, the outsider, come close to subverting my power through the sheer strength of your moral arguments or through organized mass protest, I will give you an audience. I will listen to you, sometimes for the first time, and will seem engaged. At critical points in your analysis I will claim I do not know what you are talking about and will ask you to elaborate ad nauseam. I will consistently subvert your efforts at dialogue by “claiming we do not speak the same language.” I will assert that many of our differences, if not all, are due to our different ways of communicating. I will ask you to educate me and spend your energies in finding ways of saying things so that I can understand. I will not do the same for you. Instead of using your resources to advance your causes, I will see you like a rat in a cage running around trying to find ways to explain the cage to me, while I hold the key to open the door. At the same time, I will convince you that I have no ill intentions toward you or those like you. I am simply not informed. The claim of ignorance is one of my most powerful weapons because, while you spend your time trying to enlighten me, everything remains the same. The “Pendejo Game” will also allow me to gain intimate knowledge of your psyche, which will perfect my understanding of how to dominate you.
Williams, Liz: Snake Agent – quote from page 199
Before Inari could protest, he slid his arms around her waist and lifted her up towards the ceiling. She grasped the edge of the opening and hoisted herself through, feeling uncomfortably exposed in the rags of her dressing gown.
“Please don’t look at me,” she said, embarrassed.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” the demon replied gallantly. She was sure he was lying,”…
Mortality Bridge quote, page 92
The stone wall crowded with huddled figures beautifully rendered in marble agony, damned souls locked in stone who huddle and teem and yearn toward the unfelt space denied them, groping from their anhedonic orgy for some dimly conceived paradise of emptiness. Though motionless they suggest motion, a surging wave of sculpted humanity impeccably rendered. The alabaster snarl carved on one wide-eyed face with crooked teeth. The flaring nostrils of one reaching figure always at the onset of a scream. Tension in the tendons of a reaching wrist.
humanitysdarkerside 