Great moments in sf
Gene Ward Smith
* After rolling himself across the Martian landscape in a sandwich bag,
Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
* After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
More?
lclough
"Shopping."
--
---------
Brenda W. Clough
http://www.sff.net/people/Brenda/
Recent short fiction:
FUTURE WASHINGTON (WSFA Press, October '05)
http://www.futurewashington.com
FIRST HEROES (TOR, May '04)
http://members.aol.com/wenamun/firstheroes.html
myrme...@yahoo.com
lclough wrote:
>
> "Shopping."
If my wife ever brings something like *that* home, she had better leave
it on the front porch. I don't want the cat getting into the bag and
dragging *it* off.
For great moments, how about:
"If I knew, I would tell you. Same spiral, different arm, that's all I
know. We're talking memory numbers, man, we're talking geological
time."
Mike Schilling
"lclough" <clo...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:BcS6g.1254$IL2.461@trnddc04...
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>
>> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>>
>> * After rolling himself across the Martian landscape in a sandwich bag,
>> Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
>> words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
>>
>> * After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
>> out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
>> back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
>>
>> More?
>>
>
>
>
> "Shopping."
When Gilbert Gosseyn shaved Mr X to learn who he was.
And, come to think of it, when Brendan Doyle shaved himself and learned who
he was.
When Edith Fellows punctured Statis and the room was empty.
When Karellen showed himself to the people of the earth.
Gene Ward Smith
Mike Schilling wrote:
> And, come to think of it, when Brendan Doyle shaved himself and learned who
> he was.
Interesting. I actually thought of that one.
Wayne Throop
: * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
"Then the fit hit the Shan." ?
OK, so not that one. Hm...
For six days he had offered many kilowatts of prayer, but the static
kept him from being heard On High.
or perhaps
"You were -- the greatest -- to be raised up against me -- in all
the ages I can remember. . . . It is indeed a pity . . ."
or maybe better
"If someone asks you why you're oppressing a world and you reply with
a lot of poetic crap, no, I guess there can't be a meeting of minds."
or another book (approx),
"When I caught him, he looked as if the devil himself
was chasing him. Which I was."
or the the duel between wossname and
Shimbo of Darktree, Shrugger of Thunders.
or the Possibly Proper Death Litany
(sometimes miscalled "The Agnostic's Prayer").
(or several other possibilities in that book...)
or (approx) "I have always been fond of dogs, Karagee."
or (appox) "Congratulations, you've won a do-it-yourself hero kit,
complete with monster."
(and of course the difference between an pantheist and a primitive animist)
or (approx) "Was that an Awful Saying?"
"Yes."
"You said it very well."
Hm. I'm in a Zelazny rut (which is not an entirely bad place to be,
but still), so.... another author; for some reason I'm fond of
"Man, I don't think we had better hit that mountain again."
"Why not, Mike?"
"It's not there any longer."
and in a Zelaznyesque rut of another color...
Those who believe in her say she has lived ten thousand years
(some say twenty). Others say she is a myth.
Call her life unnatural, feel her undead breath,
color her black for sorcery, color her gray for death.
Alright, so now I'm going around in circles and am blocked. Hm.
Wayne Throop thr...@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw
art...@yahoo.com
The guy stepping on the butterfly in "A Sound of Thunder"
hmmm maybe:
Doctor, I'm sorry.....
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No. No. Be of good cheer. If science
teaches us anything, it teaches us to accept our failures, as well as
our successes, with quiet dignity and grace.
.......
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Son of a bitch! Bastard! I'll get you for
this! What did you do to me? What did you do to me.
(copied from IMDB)
Gene Ward Smith
art...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Son of a bitch! Bastard! I'll get you for
> this! What did you do to me? What did you do to me.
It's pretty hard to beat:
Henry Frankenstein: Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's
alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive,
IT'S ALIVE!
Especially if you add:
Victor Moritz: Henry -- In the name of God!
Henry Frankenstein: Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels
like to be God!
But then there's always Ed Wood.
Tim McDaniel
Gene Ward Smith <genewa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>* Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
Hmmm, I'll take the great liberty of mentioning the scene of a book
that I find the most moving of all, even though the bits I love are
scattered in 5 pages.
The Father of Winter favored her with a grave nod. "All gods
attend on all battlefields. What parents would not wait as
anxiously by their door, looking again and again up the road, when
their child was due home from a long and dangerous journey? You
have waited by that door yourself, both fruitfully and in vain.
Multiply that anguish by ten thousands, and pity me, sweet Ista.
For my great-souled child is very late, and lost upon his road."
...
His clear eyes fixed on her with penetrating intensity; she felt
targeted. "If this dy Lutez manages to die well tonight, let it
complete the set that was left undone so long ago. Let what
victory I may gain swallow up forever the old, cold dereliction.
And be you healed of the long wound that another dy Lutez dealt
you." ...
"I met Him on the stairs but now. It is this." She swallowed to
clear her voice.
"Your Father calls you to His Court. You need not pack; you go
garbed in glory as you stand. He waits eagerly by His palace
doors to welcome you, and has prepared a place at His high table
by His side, in the company of the great-souled, honored, and
best-beloved. In this I speak true."
I don't know what it is about this section, unless it be the high tone
and the eternal hopelessness of Arhys before this. Bujold *can* do
the highest of fantasy on occasion.
--
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tm...@panix.com
lubarsky
1.
There was no reason to delay. Rebma had already pronounced the
epitaph for Man: We did not have the time to learn everything we wanted
to know.
"So be it," Amafi said. He touched the button over his heart.
Creation began.
2.
"Far down in the rock, the segments of uranium began to rush together,
seeking the union they could never achieve. And the Island rose to meet the
dawn."
WEL
Jon Schild
art...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>
>>* Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>>
>>* After rolling himself across the Martian landscape in a sandwich bag,
>>Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
>>words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
>>
>>* After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
>>out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
>>back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
>>
>>More?
>
>
> The guy stepping on the butterfly in "A Sound of Thunder"
The original Bradbury story, not the execrable movie.
David Tate
>
> Hmmm, I'll take the great liberty of mentioning the scene of a book
> that I find the most moving of all, even though the bits I love are
> scattered in 5 pages.
[The Father of Winter's appearance in _Paladin of Souls_ snipped.]
I agree, Tim -- that's about as moving a passage as I have ever
encountered. Read in context, it brings tears every time I read it.
David Tate
Nyrath
presiding officer would sit there." He pointed to the dais.
But Kartr's torch beam fastened on the sign carved on the nearest of the
side chairs. As he read it he stood incredulous. Then he flashed the
light to illumine the marking on the next seat and the next. He began to
run, reading the symbols he knew-knew so well!
"Deneb, Sirius, Rigel, Capella, Procyon." He did not realize it, but his
voice was rising to a shout as if he were calling a roll-calling such a
roll as had not sounded in that chamber for four thousand years or more.
"Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, Pollux-"
"Regulus." Smitt was answering him from the other side of the hall, the
same wild excitement in his voice. "Spica, Vega, Arcturus, Altair, Antares-"
Now Rolth and Daigre began to understand in turn. "Fomalhaut, Alphard,
Castor, Algol-"
They added star to star, system to system, in that roll call. In the end
they met before the dais. And they fell silent while Kartr, with a
reverence and awe he had never known before, raised his torch to give
more light to the last of those symbols. That bright one which should
gleam in this place was there!
"Terra of Sol." He read it aloud and the three words seemed to echo more
loudly down the hall than any of the shouted names of the kindred stars.
"Terra of Sol -- man's beginning!"
(The Last Planet AKA Star Rangers by Andre Norton)
===
Alone, perhaps, of all the races in the Universe, her people had reached
the second crossroads-and had never passed the first. Now they must go
along the road that they had missed, and must face the challenge at its
end-the challenge from which, this time, they could not escape.
(Second Dawn by Arthur C. Clarke
===
Presently the ground trembled a little, but no sound disturbed the
solitude of the deserted shore. Under the level light of the sagging
moon, beneath the myriad stars, the beach lay waiting for the end. It
was alone now, as it had been at the beginning. Only the waves would
move, and but for a little while, upon its golden sands.
For mankind had come and gone.
(Transience by Arthur C. Clarke)
===
Once there had been men who had known such things, who had watched from
afar the flight of the great projectiles and had sent their own missiles
to meet them. Often that appointment had been kept, high above the Earth
where the sky was black and sun and stars shared the heavens together.
Then there had bloomed for a moment that indescribable flame, sending
out into space a message that in centuries to come other eyes than Man's
would see and understand.
(The Curse by Arthur C. Clarke)
===
Falk turned off the beam of his head lamp and looked up at the diamond
mist of the galaxy. Where would he be a thousand years from today?
Standing on that mote of light, or that, or that. . .
Not dust, at any rate. Not dust, unmourned, unworthy. He would be a
voyager with a destination, and perhaps half his journey would be done.
(Ticket to Anywhere by Damon Knight)
===
In a soundless concussion of light, Earth's core gave up its hoarded
energies. For a little while the gravitational waves crossed and
re-crossed the Solar System, disturbing ever so slightly the orbits of
the planets. Then the Sun's remaining children pursued their ancient
paths once more, as corks floating on a placid lake ride out the tiny
ripples set in motion by a falling stone.
There was nothing left of Earth. They had leeched away the last atoms of
its substance. It had nourished them, through the fierce moments of
their inconceivable metamorphosis, as the food stored in a grain of
wheat feeds the infant plant while it climbs towards the Sun.
Karellen raised his hand, and the picture changed once more. A single
brilliant star glowed in the center of the screen: no-one could have
told, from this distance, that the Sun had ever possessed planets or
that one of them had now been lost.
(Childhoods End by Arthur C. Clarke)
===
"We can't help you more than that. Too much for us to do, and too few of
us to do it. And our ways are too different. Your kind and my kind have
come to the parting of the roads, Brook, but we can at least say good-by
and shake hands."
(Brain Wave by Poul Anderson)
===
"Yes." He looked up at the arching sky.
"And there's a rocket up there in orbit with a warning message. Maybe
they'll discover us someday. But for a long time yet they'll hunt shy of
us like the plague they think we are."
"Yes. It's not fair they can't know-"
"That they are their own plague," he finished for her.
He kissed her tear-bright eyes and patted her head to rest again on his
shoulder.
(Hunter Come Home by Richard McKenna)
David Tate
> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>
> out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
> back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
>
> More?
===
A small voice spoke in Bigwig's mind.
"Your storm, Thlayli-rah. Use it."
[...]
Thlayli's reply, when it came, was low and gasping, but perfectly
clear.
"My Chief Rabbit has told me to defend this run, and until he says
otherwise I shall stay here."
===
"My name, too, is Ransom."
===
Pat Rin flung to his knees, face against the floor. Behind him, the
Terran slammed to a halt, openly shocked.
Val Con looked down at the exposed neck, at the dark hair curling
softly, several fingers longer than its accustomed length, and the
smooth, unmarred leather of the Jump pilot's jacket.
"As ill as that?" he murmured, and bent forward.
[...]
"A moment." He reached out and gripped Pat Rin's hand. "Duty," he
said. "Quickly now. Tell me the name of your lifemate."
"Inas Bhar," Pat Rin said softly. "Called Juntavas Sector Judge Natesa
the Assassin."
Val Con smiled. "The clan increases."
===
"My lords, peers of the Imperial Lily," he said in a ringing voice,
"know by this signet that we, Retief, by the grade of God Emperor, do
now claim our rightful throne."
===
David Tate
Default User
> More?
"Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."
Brian
--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)
Hoi-Polloi
* "You don't."
-- The end of a short by (Poul Anderson?) about some humans who
kidnapped some aliens to figure out how their technology works.
* "... if you ever again use the word honor in connection with my
name, I will kill you with my bare hands."
"Time to kill Tommy and Kyle!" That was my job, to kill Tommys.
-- Or really, any line from the last 50 pages of Fisherman's Hope
* "What are they waiting for?" "The Horse! They are waiting to see if
they are needed!"
-- Heck, any dialogue from The Phoenix Guards.
* How about the Red Wedding, in Martin's Song of Ice and Fire.
* The end of 1633, when Eddie's serial number is revealed. I can't
not grin whenever I think of that one.
* The scene in Atlas Shrugged where Hank smacks Francisco, and you can
see Francisco struggling to take it like a man and not murder Hank.
Or, if you're on a Rand kick, the Wet Nurse's death scene.
Jeff Stehman
genewa...@gmail.com says...
> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
I recall, upon reading that line, imagining what Sauron would have been
saying if he'd had a mouth to go with that eye. Not a happy dark lord.
I nominate Kane's "Thus died Abel!"
I also suggest "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable
end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded
yellow sun." It sets the stage for everything we read for the
Hitchhiker's Guide (the Guide in the novel, not the novel itself).
--Jeff Stehman
Mike Schilling
"Nyrath" <nyr...@projectrho.com.INVALID> wrote in message
news:TJWdnc2TGK2...@io.com...
> ===
> Falk turned off the beam of his head lamp and looked up at the diamond
> mist of the galaxy. Where would he be a thousand years from today?
> Standing on that mote of light, or that, or that. . .
>
> Not dust, at any rate. Not dust, unmourned, unworthy. He would be a
> voyager with a destination, and perhaps half his journey would be done.
>
> (Ticket to Anywhere by Damon Knight)
>
Which is clearly set in the same universe as _Hell's Pavement_. I don't
know of any if his other stories set there.
Mike Schilling
"Jeff Stehman" <je...@stehmanREMOVE.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1ec5f06e...@news.frontiernet.net...
> In article <1146874277.6...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>,
> genewa...@gmail.com says...
>> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>
> I recall, upon reading that line, imagining what Sauron would have been
> saying if he'd had a mouth to go with that eye. Not a happy dark lord.
He has no mouth, and he must ...
Tim McDaniel
Oh, thank you for reminding me: I forgot to mention crying.
Tim McDaniel
Nyrath <nyr...@projectrho.com.INVALID> wrote:
>(Second Dawn by Arthur C. Clarke
Hmmm, I agree that Clarke has rather a lot of them. _Against the Fall
of Night_ / _The City and the Stars_ has images that have stayed with
me, too. For _Childhood's End_, I was more moved by the scene of the
last human describing the end, but again, that's a scene rather than a
moment.
Ah, I thought of a real moment (from memory):
"Do you know what your son has *done*?!"
"Which one?"
From _A Civil Campaign_ by Bujold. Or Aral's words when asking Miles
whether Ekaterin was The One, including "Will she guide your son's
hands to light the pyre of my funeral?" Hmmm. Or (again from memory)
"You know, he's bisexual."
"Yes, I know," Cordelia gazed fondly across the room. "But he's
monogamous now."
However senseless the wording ("bisexual" does not imply "unchaste"),
that Unexploded Bomb Bit is a classic.
Nicholas Waller
Hoi-Polloi wrote:
> Great moments, hmm...
>
> * "You don't."
> -- The end of a short by (Poul Anderson?) about some humans who
> kidnapped some aliens to figure out how their technology works.
If I am thinking of the right one, this was not "technology" per se,
but the afterlife. The interstellar community of aliens had been
keeping a big secret from humanity, that there was an afterlife. When
they discovered what the big secret was, the humans were bemused.
Paraphrasing, cos it is decades since I read it, Man's representatives
ask "Why keep this wonderful news from us? That we all have a life
after death?" And basically the aliens say, sadly: "We do. You don't".
But I have forgotten the title.
--
Nick
Alexey Romanov
Agreed, but the context is wrong. It belongs not with "The Ring is mine",
but with the horns of the Rohirrim in the morning. And for some reason I
can't think of many great moments which are eucasastrophes as well...
Sea Wasp
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>
>> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>>
>> * After rolling himself across the Martian landscape in a sandwich bag,
>> Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
>> words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
>>
>> * After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
>> out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
>> back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
>>
>> More?
>>
>
>
>
> "Shopping."
"I don't believe this. You can't be STUPID enough to try this AGAIN!"
"WWWWWEEEEEEE ARRRRRRE HHHEEEEEERRREEE!"
(TV): "Just this once -- EVERYBODY LIVES!"
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/seawasp/
Sea Wasp
> In article <1146874277.6...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>,
> genewa...@gmail.com says...
>
>>* Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>
>
> I recall, upon reading that line, imagining what Sauron would have been
> saying if he'd had a mouth to go with that eye. Not a happy dark lord.
"D'OH!"
Sea Wasp
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>> More?
> "Shopping."
a few more:
"Hinder me? Thou fool! No living man may hinder me!"
Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed
that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel.
"But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund's
daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be
not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you
touch him."
The winged creature screamed at her, but the Ringwraith made no
answer, and was silent, as if in sudden doubt...
"I am Hari Seldon!"
"But... But I'm God!"
"Yes. But I am Man. Come."
Mark Blunden
> More?
" I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in
Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley,
and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for
you."
" Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me."
--
Mark.
Mike Stone
"Hoi-Polloi" <terr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1146893243....@y43g2000cwc.googlegro
ups.com...
> Great moments, hmm...
>
> * "You don't."
> -- The end of a short by (Poul Anderson?)
about some humans who
> kidnapped some aliens to figure out how their
technology works.
And maybe "What have we done?" at the end of
_After Doomsday_
But the ending of Asimov's _The Dead Paast_ which
is more of a "What have _you_ done?_ might be even
more so, and there's always the Freric Brown one
about the ;loaded revolver and the idiot.
-
Mike Stone - Peterborough, England
It is so stupid of modern civilisation to have
given up believing in the
Devil, when he is its only explanation.
Ronald Knox.
>
Jeff Stehman
@stehmanREMOVE.com says...
> I nominate...
I'm not positive which of the Vlad Taltos series it is, and I'm not
finding at the moment, but to paraphrase:
Vlad: "I'm going to have to hurt you."
[Many heavies enter room, surrounding Vlad.]
Villain: "I don't think so."
Vlad: "You're right. I'm going to kill you."
This is really bugging me. Which novel is this from?
--Jeff Stehman
Joseph T Major
news:1146874277.6...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
>
> More?
>
"Most righteous judges," he exclaimed, "you have heard recited all that is
known of John Carter, Prince of Helium--the good with the bad. What is your
judgment?"
Then Tars Tarkas came slowly to his feet, unfolding all his mighty, towering
height until he loomed, a green-bronze statue, far above us all. He turned a
baleful eye upon me--he, Tars Tarkas, with whom I had fought through
countless battles; whom I loved as a brother.
I could have wept had I not been so mad with rage that I almost whipped my
sword out and had at them all upon the spot.
"Judges," he said, "there can be but one verdict. No longer may John Carter
be Prince of Helium"--he paused--"but instead let him be Jeddak of Jeddaks,
Warlord of Barsoom!"
As the thirty-one judges sprang to their feet with drawn and upraised swords
in unanimous concurrence in the verdict, the storm broke throughout the
length and breadth and height of that mighty building until I thought the
roof would fall from the thunder of the mad shouting.
Now, at last, I saw the grim humor of the method they had adopted to do me
this great honor, but that there was any hoax in the reality of the title
they had conferred upon me was readily disproved by the sincerity of the
congratulations that were heaped upon me by the judges first and then the
nobles.
Presently fifty of the mightiest nobles of the greatest courts of Mars
marched down the broad Aisle of Hope bearing a splendid car upon their
shoulders, and as the people saw who sat within, the cheers that had rung
out for me paled into insignificance beside those which thundered through
the vast edifice now, for she whom the nobles carried was Dejah Thoris,
beloved Princess of Helium.
Straight to the Throne of Righteousness they bore her, and there Tardos Mors
assisted her from the car, leading her forward to my side.
"Let a world's most beautiful woman share the honor of her husband," he
said.
Before them all I drew my wife close to me and kissed her upon the lips.
--- The Warlord of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Joseph T Major (thanks to Project Gutenberg for the e-text)
Dorothy J Heydt
Even more so, at the end of "The Road Less Traveled."
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
Tapio Erola
*"You don't understand quite what you're up against. You see, I
believe every word you say. *But I just don't care*. I'm going to
kill you anyway." --Della Lu's response to Christian Gerrault's threat
of human extinction. _Marooned in Realtime_.
*"The Sun just went out." ... "That's temporary. Something has to
power this maneuver." _A Fire Upon the Deep_
--
Tapio Erola
"Being broke is a temporary situation. Being poor is a state of mind."
--Mike Todd
David Mitchell
From a short story (which also has the extra benefit of making me cry :-)
"They called him Frost. They called her Beta."
--
=======================================================================
= David --- If you use Microsoft products, you will, inevitably, get
= Mitchell --- viruses, so please don't add me to your address book.
=======================================================================
Mark L. Fergerson
defense (a laser bigger than worlds). I had to put the book down and
internalize it for a while.
In _Soul Music_, when Death shatters His scythe, grabs a sliver and
threatens to strum the Stone Guitar with it; I realized What Would
Happen before Pratchett laid it out. Shivers up me spine, I tell ye.
"No, _I_ am your father." (Vader to Skywalker)
Mark L. Fergerson
Christopher J. Henrich
David Tate <dt...@ida.org> wrote:
> ===
>
> "My name, too, is Ransom."
>
> ===
"Myself." ... "Myself." ... "Myself."
===
"Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be
good to one another."
===
--
Chris Henrich
http://www.mathinteract.com
God just doesn't fit inside a single religion.
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Nicholas Waller <test...@aol.com> writes
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Forrest
> Hm. I'm in a Zelazny rut (which is not an entirely bad place to be,
> but still)
"... I IS THIS ?hearers wounded-wonder like stand them makes and stars
wandering the conjures sorrow of phrase Whose. . ."
Rejnold Byzio
"Afermath" is a sure teardropper for me:
| "Don't be afraid," she said. "The dead cannot hurt you. They give you
| no pain, except that of seeing your own death in their faces. And one
| can face that, I find."
|
| Yes, he thought, the good face pain. But the great--they embrace it.
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Mark Blunden <markATmarkdb.plus.?.com@address.invalid> said
I remember "Open the Pod bay door, HAL" much better than that. And the
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" iirc.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Google may be your friend, but groups.google.com posters definitely aren't.
John Pelan
<genewa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>* Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>
>* After rolling himself across the Martian landscape in a sandwich bag,
>Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
>words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
>
>* After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
>out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
>back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
>
>More?
"For the Red Brain was mad." - Donald Wandrei
Cheers,
John
Daniel Silevitch
> Bitstring <4c3ppmF...@individual.net>, from the wonderful person
> Mark Blunden <markATmarkdb.plus.?.com@address.invalid> said
>>Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>>
>>> More?
>>
>>" I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in
>>Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley,
>>and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for
>>you."
>>
>>" Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me."
>
> I remember "Open the Pod bay door, HAL" much better than that. And the
> "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" iirc.
For me, the most vivid memory of that was the transition between the
opening sequence with the cavemen and the spaceplane docking at the
station.
Another great moment in visual SF was the first scene in Star Wars, when
the Star Destroyer appears and just fills the screen with BIG SHIP.
-dms
Mark Blunden
> Bitstring <4c3ppmF...@individual.net>, from the wonderful person
> Mark Blunden <markATmarkdb.plus.?.com@address.invalid> said
>> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>>
>>> More?
>>
>> " I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant
>> in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was
>> Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear
>> it I can sing it for you."
>>
>> " Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me."
>
> I remember "Open the Pod bay door, HAL" much better than that. And the
> "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" iirc.
That's more memorable, perhaps - but the "Daisy, Daisy" moment stands out
for me. It's the deactivation of a computer - a malfunctioning, dangerous
computer - and yet, HAL's voice in those final moments manages to make it a
poignant death scene.
--
Mark.
lal_truckee
> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>
> * After rolling himself across the Martian landscape in a sandwich bag,
> Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
> words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
>
> * After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
> out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
> back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
>
> More?
>
When Baslim buys Thorby.
When the ship rises from the sands outside the walls of Diaspar.
When the construct awakes in the Shelly campfire story.
When the rats threaten to eat Winston's face.
lal_truckee
A couple more:
The ship making an emergency stop and the decks coming apart as
independent disks; in The Mixed Men - Van Vogt
"Let there be Light" in that great seminal fantasy work ...
GSV Three Minds in a Can
wonderful person lal_truckee <lal_t...@yahoo.com> said
>
>A couple more:
>
>The ship making an emergency stop and the decks coming apart as
>independent disks; in The Mixed Men - Van Vogt
Interesting, since I recalled/envisaged it as coming apart more as a
pile of needles. (Also available under numerous other titles - _The
Storm_ is probably the best known).
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Dorothy J Heydt
David Mitchell <da...@edenroad.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Great moments:
>
>From a short story (which also has the extra benefit of making me cry :-)
>
>"They called him Frost. They called her Beta."
Yes. I like that one a lot.
David Goldfarb
Sea Wasp <seawasp...@obvioussgeinc.com> wrote:
>"But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund's
>daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be
>not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you
>touch him."
Oh, yes. Yes, of course.
A couple others that come to my mind:
The sending of the chair, and the discovery of just who made it, in
_Use of Weapons_.
"I am Anti-Life, the Beast of Judgement. I am the dark at the end of
everything. The end of universes, gods, worlds... of everything. Sss.
And what will you be then, Dreamlord?"
"I am hope."
Very mild spoiler ahead for Robert Charles Wilson's novel _Spin_:
The bit after the nuke goes off, when the night sky is alive with
writhing light instead of just dark. Something about that scene
felt to me like it was the core image of the book -- the thing that
Wilson thought of, and then invented the rest of the novel to justify.
--
David Goldfarb |"Why, look, Ted, it's a meeting of the new
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | community leaders."
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | "Oooh! A town meetin'! Does we gits'ta vote?
| I jes' loves ta vote!" -- _Bone_ #5
Joe Bernstein
selection, focus on moments of great emotion, not of great
objective impact; while I don't hesitate to acknowledge, for
example, the final line of "The Nine Billion Names of God", it
would't even have occurred to me to cite it. This tends to confirm
an impression I already had of a difference between me and many readers
of this group, which I take as *partly* reflecting a difference
between how science fiction and fantasy (often) work.
My fourth choice below is an exception.
Separately, I note, in case it needs noting, that I'm not assuming
a "great moment" has to come from a great *work*. The majority
of those below *do* come from works whose greatness I'd defend,
but I could have matched them in number from the Fionavar books
alone, if I'd had those handy, and that certainly doesn't mean
Fionavar is worth as much as all the books quoted below put
together; at some level, "too many intense moments" is to me
another way of saying "manipulative". (I avoided such books
that *were* handy, by Kay and Donaldson at least, by looking for
moments that *stood out* within stories, that were way more
effective than whatever had gone before or came after.)
Titles/authors omitted, for fear of spoilers, which in some cases
will happen anyway. E-mail with any questions.
Joe Bernstein
In article <1146874277.6...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>,
Gene Ward Smith <genewa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> More?
"Sea, I unhex you!"
(I'd rather have quoted the whole paragraph, but my copy is lent out.)
...
"Then what is magic for?" Prince Lir demanded wildly. "What use
is wizardry if it cannot save a unicorn?" He gripped the magician's
shoulder hard, to keep from falling.
Schmendrick did not turn his head. With a touch of sad mockery
in his voice, he said, "That's what heroes are for."
...
"But what - " Her voice broke away from her, echoed off the high
stones. "Corleu, what have you been searching for?"
"The heart of the - " He paused. His eyes widened on her face,
as all the threads of the tale they had made among them wove into
place. She wavered under his sudden, burning tears. He whispered,
"Your heart."
...
Tell them ... *the winters grow*.
...
Then she gave him their bridestone.
...
"I've had enough of Valde to last me the whole rest of my life.
I like words, and silence between. I'd like," she reflected
slowly, "to learn to read."
...
Don't bite the sun, you'll burn your mouth. I'd bitten ceaselessly,
hopelessly, and I was burned, I was burned. I was a cinder.
I knew what was happening to me, and repeated aloud:
"The pet has officially cut me out of its circle." After which
I knew I had obeyed the rules and was free to weep.
...
When Lancelot was kneeling in front of Urre, he said to King Arthur:
"Need I do this, after everybody has failed?"
"Of course you must do it. I command you."
"If you command me, I must. But it would be presumptuous to
try - after everybody. Could I be let off?"
"You are taking it the wrong way," said the King. "Of course
it is not presumptuous for you to try. If you can't do it, nobody
can."
Sir Urre, who was weak by now, raised himself on an elbow.
"Please," he said. "I came for you to do it."
Lancelot had tears in his eyes.
"Oh, Sir Urre," he said, "if only I could help you, how willingly
I would. But you don't understand, you don't understand."
"For God's sake," said Sir Urre.
Lancelot looked into the East, where he thought God lived, and
said something in his mind. It was more or less like this: "I
don't want glory, but please can you save our honesty? And if
you will heal this knight for the knight's sake, please do." Then
he asked Sir Urre to show him his head.
Guenever, who was watching from her pavilion like a hawk, saw
the two men fumbling together. Then she saw a movement in the
people near, and a mutter came, and yells. Gentlemen began
throwing their caps about, and shouting, and shaking hands. Arthur
was crying the same words again and again, holding gruff Gawaine
by the elbow and putting them into his ear. "It shut like a box!
It shut like a box!" Some elderly knights were dancing around,
banging their shields together as if they were playing Pease Pudding
Hot, and poking each other in the ribs. Many of the squires were
laughing like madmen and slapping each other on the back. Sir Bors
was kissing King Anguish of Ireland, who resented it. Sir Galahault,
the haut prince, had fallen over his scabbard. Generous Sir Belleus,
who had borne no grudge for having his liver cut open on that
distant evening beside the pavilion of red sendal, was making a
horrible noise by blowing on a grass blade held edgewise between
his thumbs. Sir Bedivere, frightfully repentant ever since his
visit to the Pope, was rattling some holy bones which he had
brought home as a souvenir of his pilgrimage: they had written
on them in curly letters, "A Present from Rome." Sir Bliant,
remembering his gentle Wild Man, was embracing Sir Castor, who
had never forgotten the Chevalier's knightly rebuke. Kind and
sensitive Aglovale, the forgiver of the Pellinore feud, was
exchanging hearty thumps with the beautiful Gareth. Mordred and
Agravaine scowled. Sir Mador, as red as a turkey cock, was making
it up with Sir Pinel the poisoner, who had come back incognito.
King Pelles was promising a new cloak all round, on him. The
snow-haired Uncle Dap, so old as to be absolutely fabulous,
was trying to jump over his walking-stick. The tents were being
let down, the banners waved. The cheers which now began, round
after round, were like drumfire or thunder, rolling round the
turrets of Carlisle. All the field, and all the people in the
field, and all the towers of the castle, seemed to be jumping up
and down like the surface of a lake under rain.
In the middle, quite forgotten, her lover was kneeling by
himself. This lonely and motionless figure knew a secret which
was hidden from the others. The miracle was that he had been
allowed to do a miracle. "And ever," says Malory, "Sir Lancelot
wept, as he had been a child that had been beaten."
...
It was too bad. The eisenstadt take great pictures. "Even
you'll forget it's a camera," Ramirez had said in her spiel,
and that was certainly true. I was looking straight into the
lens.
And it was all there, Misha and Taco and Perdita and the look
he gave me on the way to the vet's while I stroked his poor head
and told him it would be all right, that look of love and pity
I had been trying to capture all these years. The picture of
Aberfan.
(And what does it say that I chose *not* to include here the
*final* paragraph of the story?)
...
"Remember Syl. She's the real stuff, she's doing this for Humans.
For an alien race. She could have stopped me, believe it. Bye, all."
...
"On Wednesday she played the Mozart."
(From memory; I don't own this book.)
--
Joe Bernstein, writer j...@sfbooks.com
<http://www.panix.com/~josephb/> "She suited my mood, Sarah Mondleigh
did - it was like having a kitten in the room, like a vote for unreason."
<Glass Mountain>, Cynthia Voigt
David Mitchell
> In article <pan.2006.05.06...@edenroad.demon.co.uk>, David
> Mitchell <da...@edenroad.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>Great moments:
>>
>>From a short story (which also has the extra benefit of making me cry :-)
>>
>>"They called him Frost. They called her Beta."
>
> Yes. I like that one a lot.
Any idea what it's called, or who wrote it?
Nyrath
>>In article <pan.2006.05.06...@edenroad.demon.co.uk>, David
>>Mitchell <da...@edenroad.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>From a short story (which also has the extra benefit of making me cry :-)
>>
>>>"They called him Frost. They called her Beta."
>
Roger Zelazny: "For a Breath I Tarry"
David Mitchell
> David Mitchell wrote:
>> Any idea what it's called, or who wrote it?
>
> Roger Zelazny: "For a Breath I Tarry"
Wonderful. Thank you.
Jaimie Vandenbergh
<da...@edenroad.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>On Sun, 07 May 2006 05:34:28 +0000, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
>> In article <pan.2006.05.06...@edenroad.demon.co.uk>, David
>> Mitchell <da...@edenroad.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>>Great moments:
>>>
>>>From a short story (which also has the extra benefit of making me cry :-)
>>>
>>>"They called him Frost. They called her Beta."
>>
>> Yes. I like that one a lot.
>
>Any idea what it's called, or who wrote it?
Zelazny, "For A Breath I Tarry"
Cheers - Jaimie
--
He has a woman's name and wears makeup. How original.
-- Alice Cooper on Marilyn Manson
Dahak
Tapio Erola <t...@localhost.localdomain> write:
>*"The Sun just went out." ... "That's temporary. Something has to
> power this maneuver." _A Fire Upon the Deep_
Oh... that's just ducky!
I've tried reading that book at least three times and always bail
on it somewhere before chapter three, never to continue.
That quote makes me want to try it again.
Dorothy J Heydt
David Mitchell <da...@edenroad.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>On Sun, 07 May 2006 05:34:28 +0000, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
>> In article <pan.2006.05.06...@edenroad.demon.co.uk>, David
>> Mitchell <da...@edenroad.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>>Great moments:
>>>
>>>From a short story (which also has the extra benefit of making me cry :-)
>>>
>>>"They called him Frost. They called her Beta."
>>
>> Yes. I like that one a lot.
>
>Any idea what it's called, or who wrote it?
Oh, of course. "For a Breath I Tarry," by Zelazny. I have
somewhere about the pages of its first appearance, in an
otherwise unmemorable magazine.
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?58656
(_Fantastic,_ as it turns out.)
Mike Stone
"lal_truckee" <lal_t...@yahoo.com> wrote in
message
news:NH97g.12018$Lm5....@newssvr12.news.prodigy.c
om...
>
> A couple more:
>
> The ship making an emergency stop and the decks
coming apart as
> independent disks; in The Mixed Men - Van Vogt
You sure?
Iirc, that was Brian Aldiss' _Non-Stop_ (aka
_Starship_)
Another memorable one is John Wyndham's
_Survival_.
"Food! Lovely food!"
--
Mike Stone - Peterborough, England
It is so stupid of modern civilisation to have
given up believing in the
Devil, when he is its only explanation.
Ronald Knox.
aramael
> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
The scene the made me weep and put on a hair shirt was a bit later --
and I wish I had the book handy to get an exact quote, but anyway,
Hamfast says to Frodo: So, was Sam OK? and Frodo replies, Yep.
It's a wonderful example of what the Dutch tell me is an Anglo-Saxon
obsession with understatement.
Coincidently, I'm listening to the Indigo Girls singing Romeo and
Juliet, which has the line "You and me babe. How about it?"
A.
Mike Schilling
"aramael" <ara...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1147018482.5...@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
That's originally a Dire Straits song, and, much as I like the Girls' in
general, their version of it isn't a patch on the original.
aramael
Mike Schilling wrote:
> That's originally a Dire Straits song, and, much as I like the Girls' in
> general, their version of it isn't a patch on the original.
You don't think so? I find the two versions different enough that I
don't really think of them as the same song, and I love both.
A.
Dorothy J Heydt
aramael <ara...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>> * Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>
>The scene the made me weep and put on a hair shirt was a bit later --
>and I wish I had the book handy to get an exact quote, but anyway,
>Hamfast says to Frodo: So, was Sam OK? and Frodo replies, Yep.
Do you mean "And I hope my Sam's behaved himself and given
satisfaction." "Perfect satisfaction, Mr. Gamgee." ?
>It's a wonderful example of what the Dutch tell me is an Anglo-Saxon
>obsession with understatement.
Excuse me? Frodo goes on to say, "Indeed, if you will believe
me, he's now one of the most famous people in all the lands, and
they are making songs about his deeds from here to the Sea and
beyond the Great River." Which is stating the case rather over
than under, but "Sam blushed, but he looked gratefully at Frodo,
for Rosie's eyes were shining and she was smiling at him."
Aramael Musitello
> Do you mean "And I hope my Sam's behaved himself and given
> satisfaction." "Perfect satisfaction, Mr. Gamgee." ?
That's it. Thank you.
> Excuse me? Frodo goes on to say, "Indeed, if you will believe
> me, he's now one of the most famous people in all the lands, and
> they are making songs about his deeds from here to the Sea and
> beyond the Great River." Which is stating the case rather over
> than under, but "Sam blushed, but he looked gratefully at Frodo,
> for Rosie's eyes were shining and she was smiling at him."
Ah. Memory is a funny old thing. The idea that the things Sam did --
walking into hell with Frodo, taking the ring when there was no hope,
giving it back when there was, everything else -- could be summarised
in two words "Perfect satisfaction" really stuck with me.
I forgot the rest.
A.
Erol K. Bayburt
<seawasp...@obvioussgeinc.com> wrote:
>lclough wrote:
>> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>
>>> More?
>
>> "Shopping."
>
>
> a few more:
>
>
> "Hinder me? Thou fool! No living man may hinder me!"
>
> Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed
>that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel.
>"But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund's
>daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be
>not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you
>touch him."
>
> The winged creature screamed at her, but the Ringwraith made no
>answer, and was silent, as if in sudden doubt...
Tolkien seems to have a number of them. My favorite:
And then wonder took him, and a great joy; and he cast his sword up in
the sunlight and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze,
and behold! up on the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the
wind displayed it as she turned toward the Harlond. There flowered a
White Tree, and that was for Gondor, but Seven Stars were about it and
a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for
years beyond count.
>
>
> "I am Hari Seldon!"
>
>
> "But... But I'm God!"
> "Yes. But I am Man. Come."
I'll second or third whoever nominated the appearance of the Father in
_Paladin of Souls_
Also:
"I die, and at the moment of my death let go the change I have
held over the world."
Also also:
The Boskonian War was over.
and a bit later on:
"all shall be well; with us, with you, and with all
Civilization."
Finally, the answer to "The Last Question":
And AC said "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
And there was light.
--
Erol K. Bayburt
Ero...@aol.com
Chris Thompson
Mike Stone <mws...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>"lal_truckee" <lal_t...@yahoo.com> wrote in
>message
>news:NH97g.12018$Lm5....@newssvr12.news.prodigy.c
>om...
>>
>> A couple more:
>>
>> The ship making an emergency stop and the decks coming apart as
>> independent disks; in The Mixed Men - Van Vogt
>
>You sure?
>
>Iirc, that was Brian Aldiss' _Non-Stop_ (aka
>_Starship_)
There's a mix-up between two stories here. In _Non-Stop_ the
ship breaks up into *decks*, but it's not the result of an
emergency stop (it's in Earth orbit already), but of a fire
on board.
In "The Storm" (aka "The Mixed Men") the ship breaks up into
*needles*, as suggested by a previous poster:
Striking that mass of gas at half a light-year per minute
was like running into an unending solid wall. The great ship
shuddered in every plate as the deceleration tore at her
gigantic strength.
In seconds she had run the gamut of all the recoil systems
her designers had planned for her as a unit.
She began to break up.
And still everything was according to the original purpose
of the superb engineering firm that had built her. The limit
of unit strain reached, she dissolved into her nine thousand
separate sections.
Streamlined needles of metal were those sections, four hundred
feet long, forty feet wide; sliverlike shapes that sinuated
cunningly through the gases, letting the pressure of them slide
of their smooth hides.
Aaaaah... no-one could lay on the pseudo-science with a trowel
like van Vogt!
--
Chris Thompson
Email: cet1 [at] cam.ac.uk
Lawrence Watt-Evans
I'm with Mike. The Dire Straits version is one of the most beautiful
things ever recorded.
--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
Mike Schilling
"Lawrence Watt-Evans" <l...@sff.net> wrote in message
news:oggs52pi2al97avk2...@news.rcn.com...
And I'm with LWE. I bought the original LP back in 1980-mumble, not long
after a truly devastating break-up, and while I don't recall Mark Knopfler
coming over while he was writing the song and asking me how I was feeling,
I'm almost convinced he did.
art...@yahoo.com
Jon Schild wrote:
> art...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >
> > The guy stepping on the butterfly in "A Sound of Thunder"
>
> The original Bradbury story, not the execrable movie.
execrable? I guess I should avoid stepping in it then?
(I haven't seen it) I did see The Butterfly effect though.....
Konrad Gaertner
- - -
"The ways of the gods are mysterious."
"Don't be sarcastic."
"Why not?"
- - -
"And when they build their statues, they will build none for me."
- - -
"Don't tell them I meant well."
- - -
And this, too, was happiness. Of a sort.
- - -
"and... and the music's stopped..."
- - -
"Don't mess with mortals."
- - -
"Look at me! Just look at me! I'm a *queen*!"
"It happens to the best of us."
- - -
"A cry. A prayer. A warning. A demon's dying word."
--
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - - - email: gae...@aol.com
http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/
"I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface."
-- James Nicoll
Gene Ward Smith
Konrad Gaertner wrote:
> "I'm not left-handed either."
>
> - - -
>
> "The ways of the gods are mysterious."
> "Don't be sarcastic."
> "Why not?"
>
> - - -
>
> "And when they build their statues, they will build none for me."
>
> - - -
>
> "Don't tell them I meant well."
>
> - - -
>
> And this, too, was happiness. Of a sort.
>
> - - -
>
> "and... and the music's stopped..."
>
> - - -
>
> "Don't mess with mortals."
>
> - - -
>
> "Look at me! Just look at me! I'm a *queen*!"
> "It happens to the best of us."
>
> - - -
>
> "A cry. A prayer. A warning. A demon's dying word."
Why has this thread turned into guess that quote? Could people possibly
cite what it is they are quoting from, and maybe even say why they like
it?
Mike Schilling
"Konrad Gaertner" <kgae...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:445E727A...@worldnet.att.net...
>
> "And when they build their statues, they will build none for me."
Very obscure, but, yes, a good one.
Mike Schilling
"Gene Ward Smith" <genewa...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1147041623.7...@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
>
> Why has this thread turned into guess that quote?
Imitating you, I think. At least, you didn't cite author and work.
Konrad Gaertner
>
> Why has this thread turned into guess that quote? Could people possibly
> cite what it is they are quoting from, and maybe even say why they like
> it?
If you don't recognise the quote, you either haven't read the story or
at least didn't find that line very memorable. Trying to explain the
greatness would (IMO) destroy it. I personally found that long King
Arthur quote to be extremely dull.
If you're really curious about one, plug it into Google or Amazon.
Though I'll say right now that my quote about sarcasm is from a
scene that's a HUGE spoiler for the Vlad Taltos series.
Nyrath
And the screen scrambled and cleared.
To show a fuzzy, low-quality, long-range video frame.
Of Earth. Unmistakenly of Earth. The planet lived.
Tears sprang into Larry's eyes. Raphael turned to him,
and the two men flung their arms around each other.
Earth. Earth was still there, surviving in a strange
and frightful Universe. The homeworld lived, surrounded
by peril.
But that had always been true.
THE RING OF CHARON by Roger MacBride Allen
Wayne Throop
: If you're really curious about one, plug it into Google or Amazon.
The ones I tried didn't yield to such a method.
Is it really so horrible to just name title and author?
On the other hand, I must apologize for the trend towards
guess-the-quote-ness; I deliberately chose quotes and authors
I thought would be essentially universally recognized.
I should have been less coy.
FWIW, the last one is from "The Lost Steersman".
"A cry. A prayer. A warning. A demon's dying word."
"All of the above." I'm rather fond of it, though MMV.
OTOH I think the forced march in "The Outskirter's Secret" was probably
the best episode in that series. Um. Kirstein, the Steerswoman series.
And also from that series:
"He's not going to kill your people, or my people."
"Then who?"
"Everyone else."
(this last also from The Lost Steersman, quote only vaguely approximate,
and the puzzler is... Rowan's people and Bell's people are the only
people Bel is aware of in the whole world (well... wizards, but they
don't count))
Wayne Throop thr...@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw
Sean Eric Fagan
>Is it really so horrible to just name title and author?
If they do that, they don't get to feel smug and superior. And what's the
point of publicly posting your favourite quotes if you don't get to feel smug
and superior to everyone else?
Gene Ward Smith
I mentioned Frodo in my first quote, which many people would take to be
a clue, but if you really don't know you can google for it. I mentioned
the title of the book and named three characters in the second quote,
and set the scene. I give the name of the character and set the scene
in the third quote. Moreover, all three of my examples are from very
well known books, and in all cases I give enough information that
googling would easily turn up more, if needed. Other people have been
playing quess-the-quote with quotes where this won't work.
So no, not imitating me.
Konrad Gaertner
>
> : Konrad Gaertner <kgae...@worldnet.att.net>
> : If you're really curious about one, plug it into Google or Amazon.
>
> The ones I tried didn't yield to such a method.
> Is it really so horrible to just name title and author?
Hmm, I guess mine may have been a bit cryptic... (though I know the
second Brust can be Googled, since I did recently)
In order:
William Goldman, _The Princess Bride_
Steven Brust, _Orca_
Isaac Asimov, "'In a Good Cause -- '"
Steven Brust, _Five Hundred Years After_
Terry Pratchett, _Eric_
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/gg101.cgi?date=20060310
Steven Erikson, _Deadhouse Gates_
Diane Duane, _The Book of Night with Moon_
Rosemary Kirstein, _The Lost Steersman_
Hoi-Polloi
Hmm ... maybe I'm OD'ing on the good ol'-fashioned Christian charity,
it being Sunday and all, but I see a different explanation. I think
that most of
these quotes and brief cites are just what instantly pop into the
people's heads,
and the quoter types in the quote and says, "Yeah. Oh yeah." with the
expectation that *obviously*, *everyone* will see it immediately.
That said ...
In "Conan the [something]", some young bravo maintains in front of the
big
C, now much older, who says essentially, "I was slaying better men
while
you were still spitting up your mother's sour milk". Then when the
bravo
attacks, Conan (deliberately) takes the rapier in the arm and flexes,
* breaking the slim blade in half *
and then, of course, chops the youngster into little tiny pieces.
That, my friends, is classic.
H-P
P.S. This is almost certainly a Guy Thing. Mrs. H-P, upon hearing the
story, rolled her eyes, instead of (reasonably) saying "Dude! Conan
Is. Bad. Ass." Heh.
Sea Wasp
Why anyone would stop reading that one I don't know, but you are
missing one hell of a lot of Kewl Stuff if you do.
And since that part comes from the grand finale, you have to stick
with it all the way to the end.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/seawasp/
Dorothy J Heydt
Sea Wasp <seawasp...@obvioussgeinc.com> wrote:
>Dahak wrote:
>> On 06 May 2006 19:35:44 +0300, an orbiting mind-control laser made
>> Tapio Erola <t...@localhost.localdomain> write:
>>
>>
>>>*"The Sun just went out." ... "That's temporary. Something has to
>>>power this maneuver." _A Fire Upon the Deep_
>>
>>
>> Oh... that's just ducky!
>>
>> I've tried reading that book at least three times and always bail
>> on it somewhere before chapter three, never to continue.
>>
>>
>> That quote makes me want to try it again.
>
> Why anyone would stop reading that one I don't know, but you are
>missing one hell of a lot of Kewl Stuff if you do.
>
> And since that part comes from the grand finale, you have to stick
>with it all the way to the end.
I also couldn't get past the first couple chapters of that book.
The humans were in Horrible Trouble that made me wince, and I
didn't give a hoot about the doggies. There was never any moment
when book hit wall, but somewhere there was the moment when I put
the book down and declined ever to pick it up again.
And to say that one has to read it all in order to get the Kewl
Stuff and grand finale, well, that sounds kind of like what
people have been saying about Jordan for years: the difference
being that in this case the end actually does exist, but I still
don't feel motivated.
Dorothy J Heydt
Hoi-Polloi <terr...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Sean Eric Fagan wrote:
>> In article <11470...@sheol.org>, Wayne Throop <thr...@sheol.org> wrote:
>> >Is it really so horrible to just name title and author?
>>
>> If they do that, they don't get to feel smug and superior. And what's the
>> point of publicly posting your favourite quotes if you don't get to feel smug
>> and superior to everyone else?
>
>Hmm ... maybe I'm OD'ing on the good ol'-fashioned Christian charity,
>it being Sunday and all, but I see a different explanation. I think
>that most of
>these quotes and brief cites are just what instantly pop into the
>people's heads,
>and the quoter types in the quote and says, "Yeah. Oh yeah." with the
>expectation that *obviously*, *everyone* will see it immediately.
Well, it depends on your definition of "everyone" -- I think I
recognized two of that string.
Dorothy J Heydt
Konrad Gaertner <gae...@aol.com> wrote:
>Wayne Throop wrote:
>>
>> : Konrad Gaertner <kgae...@worldnet.att.net>
>> : If you're really curious about one, plug it into Google or Amazon.
>>
>> The ones I tried didn't yield to such a method.
>> Is it really so horrible to just name title and author?
>
>Hmm, I guess mine may have been a bit cryptic... (though I know the
>second Brust can be Googled, since I did recently)
>
>In order:
>William Goldman, _The Princess Bride_
>Steven Brust, _Orca_
>Isaac Asimov, "'In a Good Cause -- '"
>Steven Brust, _Five Hundred Years After_
>Terry Pratchett, _Eric_
>http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/gg101.cgi?date=20060310
>Steven Erikson, _Deadhouse Gates_
>Diane Duane, _The Book of Night with Moon_
>Rosemary Kirstein, _The Lost Steersman_
OK, that explains much. The Brust and the GG are the ones I've
read.
Kurt Montandon
<kgae...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>Steven Erikson, _Deadhouse Gates_
That book, too? Becuase I know it was in _Bonehunters_ (one of the
best scenes in a book full of good scenes), but don't remember it from
_Deadhouse Gates_.
As far as this thread is concerned, if I just went with scenes from
the Malazan books -
1. Aren Way, at the end of _Deadhouse Gates_. Just ... not what you'd
expect. Period.
2. Much of the Chain of Dogs, really.
3. Itkovian at the council, after the Siege of Capustan.
4. Trull weeping for Onrack, at the end of _House of Chains_.
5. Rhulad vs. Brys Beddict.
6. The opening paragraphs of Chapter One of _Midnight Tides_, before
we see Trull running through the woods.
Non-Erikson, the only moments that come to mind in my inebriated state
are Bujoldian, namely ...
*"Fountains keep nothing for themselves."
* Mark takes down Ryoval and whispers some not-so-sweet somethings in
his ear.
* Miles cascades in _Mirror Dance_.
* Oser looks to be recruited.
* Bothari executes Vordarian. "You can't do th-"
* Gregor interrogates Haroche.
* "Which one?"
* "If an Emperor's Voice so ordered, they'd shoot _themselves_."
Hmm ... and I suppose the moment where the bandit recognizes his
Prince in _Tigana_.
Similarly, where Arthur finds Merlin in _Last Enchantment_, beset by
bandits, comes to his rescue, and only then recognizes him.
--
..."I'd kill the mule."
Kurt Montandon
Wayne Throop
: I also couldn't get past the first couple chapters of that book.
: The humans were in Horrible Trouble that made me wince, and I
: didn't give a hoot about the doggies. There was never any moment
: when book hit wall, but somewhere there was the moment when I put
: the book down and declined ever to pick it up again.
:
: And to say that one has to read it all in order to get the Kewl
: Stuff and grand finale, well, that sounds kind of like what
: people have been saying about Jordan for years: the difference
: being that in this case the end actually does exist, but I still
: don't feel motivated.
Well, there's Kewl Stuff all the way through, including a bit I happen
to really like right at the start, with the description of the Flowering
of the Blight, and surrounding goings-on. But yes, if you just yawn
about the tines ("I don't care what happens to those doggies"), then
cost/benefit may be too high. Further... it's possible to have it
strike you as a huge horrid pointless tragedy; there's hte plaintive
"Is anybody out there? Anybody know what the *hell* happened to usenet?"
bit at the very end.
Maybe read the short story, "The Blabber".
Glenn Dowdy
>* Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
I'm in Taipei away from my books, but the moment that moves me every time I
read it is at the end of _Prince of Sparta_ where the leadership of
Falkenberg's Legion beard Prince Lysander in his office not to demand
bonuses or titles but rather to offer him the Emperorship of civilization.
"Ave, Imperator".
Glenn D.
David Tate
> Sean Eric Fagan wrote:
> > In article <11470...@sheol.org>, Wayne Throop <thr...@sheol.org> wrote:
> > >Is it really so horrible to just name title and author?
> >
> > If they do that, they don't get to feel smug and superior. And what's the
> > point of publicly posting your favourite quotes if you don't get to feel smug
> > and superior to everyone else?
>
> Hmm ... maybe I'm OD'ing on the good ol'-fashioned Christian charity,
> it being Sunday and all, but I see a different explanation. I think
> that most of these quotes and brief cites are just what instantly pop into the
> people's heads, and the quoter types in the quote and says, "Yeah.
> Oh yeah." with the expectation that *obviously*, *everyone* will see it immediately.
In my case, I figured that anyone who recognized the quotation enough
to agree or disagree about it would already know what work it was from,
while anyone who didn't recognize it would not have read that work, and
so wouldn't understand why I thought it was such a wonderful moment.
Saying what work it was from wouldn't change that.
David Tate
Lawrence Watt-Evans
>In "Conan the [something]", some young bravo maintains in front of the
>big
>C, now much older, who says essentially, "I was slaying better men
>while
>you were still spitting up your mother's sour milk". Then when the
>bravo
>attacks, Conan (deliberately) takes the rapier in the arm and flexes,
>
>* breaking the slim blade in half *
>
>and then, of course, chops the youngster into little tiny pieces.
>
>That, my friends, is classic.
Oh, hell, that's not even close to being the best bad-ass Conan scene!
In "A Witch Shall Be Born," Conan's been crucified in the desert, and
the vultures are circling hungrily.
One gets too close and Conan rips its throat open with his teeth and
drinks its blood, which gives him the strength to rip his hands off
the nails...
bm2...@eve.albany.edu
Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
>
> Oh, hell, that's not even close to being the best bad-ass Conan scene!
>
> In "A Witch Shall Be Born," Conan's been crucified in the desert, and
> the vultures are circling hungrily.
>
> One gets too close and Conan rips its throat open with his teeth and
> drinks its blood, which gives him the strength to rip his hands off
> the nails...
>
One wonders why they didn't do that in the "Conan" movie rather than
have Conan/Schwarzenegger's buddies show up to save his sculpted ass.
Perhaps intervention from the ASPCA?
best,
Bruce
Sean Eric Fagan
Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>I also couldn't get past the first couple chapters of that book.
It's not my favourite of his. It's full of grand ideas, but I had lots of
problems with it -- there were parts where the only reason I kept reading was
because the UseNET pastiche was hilarious.
(That said: his next book was *much* better-written, and I liked it a heckuva
lot more. And the one after that -- which I guess is the current one,
RAINBOWS END -- is even better-written than DEEPNESS. Less my cup of tea, but
I'm happy I got it now.)
Sean Eric Fagan
Kurt Montandon <kurtmo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>Non-Erikson, the only moments that come to mind in my inebriated state
>are Bujoldian, namely ...
>
>*"Fountains keep nothing for themselves."
>* Mark takes down Ryoval and whispers some not-so-sweet somethings in
>his ear.
>* Miles cascades in _Mirror Dance_.
>* Oser looks to be recruited.
>* Bothari executes Vordarian. "You can't do th-"
>* Gregor interrogates Haroche.
>* "Which one?"
>* "If an Emperor's Voice so ordered, they'd shoot _themselves_."
The Bujoldian ones that come to me, righ tnow, are from A CIVIL CAMPAIGN.
Immediately: Nikolai son locking himself in his room, making a call, and
coming out with a "*harumph* take *that*" attitude.... and the very imposing
officer who comes in response, who will only deal with him.
Similarly themed, in Lee & Miller's PARTNERS IN NECESSITY, when Our Heroine
gets the Liaden equivalent of a civil hearing, and orders her nemesis to be
quiet.
Hoi-Polloi
>Oh, hell, that's not even close to being the best bad-ass Conan scene!
>
>In "A Witch Shall Be Born," Conan's been crucified in the desert, and
>the vultures are circling hungrily.
If it's Conan moments you want...
* In "A Witch Shall be Born" ... Conan turns down the young, nubile
queen's proposal, and the Kingship, because *he doesn't want to be
King unless he ripped the crown off the incumbent's bloody brow
himself*! Now THAT is B.A.
* "Conan! What is good in life?"
* Conan, having lost his sword (long story), goes up against the
most feared strangler in the city of Zamboula. While strangling
him, Conan comments "Break the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull
before you call yourself strong"
* "Seven cannot be divided by two"
And, of course, if you're just going by lifetime stats, I doubt there
is a hero who can match him in:
* thrones gained (& later lost (mostly))
* ruthless allies-of-convenience thrown to wolves
* battles he's the last survivor of. Conan goes through armies like
Liu Pang (real guy).
* wenches won (& later lost (mostly))
* fortunes won (& later lost (mostly))
* commanding officers overthrown
* towns hightailed out of with stolen artifact/fortune/gem
Basically, he's the Wayne Gretzky of the hero trade.
H-P
Elio M. Garcia Jr.
> Steven Brust, _Five Hundred Years After_
I've read this one, but can't quite place the quote. Who speaks the line,
and in what context?
--
[Upon a Dzurlord learning of the murder of a critic by a painter]
"And it was well done, too. I'd have done the same, only-"
"Yes?"
"I don't paint." (Steven Brust, _The Phoenix Guards_)
Paul Colquhoun
But it would give us a chance to go and *read* *it* and experience for
ourselves.
--
Reverend Paul Colquhoun, ULC. http://andor.dropbear.id.au/~paulcol
Asking for technical help in newsgroups? Read this first:
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#intro
David Allsopp
Ward Smith <genewa...@gmail.com> writes
>* Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>
>Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
>words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
>
>* After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
>out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
>back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
The revelation of just exactly who the Princess Of Birds is, the
construction of the eponymous Bridge Of Birds, and the whole subsequent
bit flying back on the Hawk with the Queen Of Ginseng, for the children.
Brings a tear to the eye every time I re-read.
Cordwainer Smith has far too many to mention[1]. I'm particularly fond
of "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul" (another tear-jerker) and "Alpha
Ralpha Boulevard". Oh, and "Think Blue, Count Two". And "Drunkboat".
And...well, what I said.
(Movie) When E.T.'s chest lights up in the coffin.
The very last sentence of Banks' "Feersum Endjinn".
And, while we're on the very end of books:
"Quite well. Deflated, perhaps. I have been deserted by my enemies.
Treesong is dead. The affair is over. I am done."
(Vance, "The Book Of Dreams")
And, of course: "Well, I'm back."
[1] I say this every time I mention him, but it bears repeating. If you
don't have every word he's ever written, just go out, buy the
collections, and read them. Especially the shorter ones.
--
David Allsopp Houston, Tranquillity Base here.
Remove SPAM to email me The Eagle has landed.
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Fagan <s...@kithrup.com> said
>In article <IyxF2...@kithrup.com>,
>Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>>I also couldn't get past the first couple chapters of that book.
>
>It's not my favourite of his. It's full of grand ideas, but I had lots of
>problems with it -- there were parts where the only reason I kept reading was
>because the UseNET pastiche was hilarious.
I actually think it's my favourite book of his, although I must admit
that the first time I read it I got to about CH3, and then went back and
started over .. too much going on to get on one pass.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Google may be your friend, but groups.google.com posters definitely aren't.
Anthony Nance
David Allsopp <d...@tranquillity-software.ltdSPAM.uk> wrote:
>In article <1146874277.6...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com>, Gene
>Ward Smith <genewa...@gmail.com> writes
>>* Frodo turns to the dark side, and announces "The ring is mine!"
>>
>>* After rolling himself across the Martian landscape in a sandwich bag,
>>Jack Brennan meets up with Lucas Garner and Nick Sohl, and his first
>>words are, of course, "Take me to your leader."
>>
>>* After being abandoned in space, Gully Foyle makes a promise: "I get
>>out of here, me. I follow you, 'Vorga'. I find you, 'Vorga'. I pay you
>>back, me. I rot you. I kill you, 'Vorga'. I kill you filthy."
>
>The revelation of just exactly who the Princess Of Birds is, the
>construction of the eponymous Bridge Of Birds, and the whole subsequent
>bit flying back on the Hawk with the Queen Of Ginseng, for the children.
>Brings a tear to the eye every time I re-read.
>
>Cordwainer Smith has far too many to mention[1]. I'm particularly fond
>of "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul" (another tear-jerker) and "Alpha
>Ralpha Boulevard". Oh, and "Think Blue, Count Two". And "Drunkboat".
>And...well, what I said.
>
>
>"Quite well. Deflated, perhaps. I have been deserted by my enemies.
>Treesong is dead. The affair is over. I am done."
>(Vance, "The Book Of Dreams")
>
Oh, this is very neat, David. I saw Gene's post late Friday and
decided to think on it, planning to post today if my choices hadn't
been mentioned over the weekend.
As coincidence would have it, your post is the very last one in the
thread (on my newsreader), and you just nailed three of my top four[1]
(specifically, TLWSTS, of Smith's).
Tony
[1] My fourth was the climax in Curse of Chalion, specifically
Cazaril losing his "tumor".
Sea Wasp
>
> And, of course: "Well, I'm back."
>
Surprisingly, in that vein (Tolkienian moments), I haven't noticed
(though I could have missed): "YOU CANNOT PASS!"
Stephen Donaldson, Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant:
"NOM."
Doomfarers of Coramonde: The moment when Reacher faces down an entire
army by himself.
And if people will forgive the self-indulgence... well, actually,
even if they won't... the one moment in my own writing that sticks
with me, even though it's not even close to being either (in my
opinion) the best or the most important scene in that book). This is
still the only one that I read and it somehow *hits* me.
Ryk E. Spoor, Digital Knight:
"It raised one arm, and the three men on that side were suddenly
slapped aside, sent spinning through the air as though hit by a
runaway train. The other arm lifted, the other three men flew away
like rag dolls. The intruder came forward, into the light at the
stairway that led up to the front door, and now there was no mistaking
it.
Verne Domingo had come calling."
Gary R. Schmidt
[SNIP]
> Cordwainer Smith has far too many to mention[1]. I'm particularly fond
> of "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul" (another tear-jerker) and "Alpha
> Ralpha Boulevard". Oh, and "Think Blue, Count Two". And "Drunkboat".
> And...well, what I said.
> The very last sentence of Banks' "Feersum Endjinn".
It's in storage, could you recount them, please?
Cheers,
Gary B-)
--
______________________________________________________________________________
Armful of chairs: Something some people would not know
whether you were up them with or not
- Barry Humphries
David Tate
> On 7 May 2006 21:06:33 -0700, David Tate <dt...@ida.org> wrote:
> |
> | In my case, I figured that anyone who recognized the quotation enough
> | to agree or disagree about it would already know what work it was from,
> | while anyone who didn't recognize it would not have read that work, and
> | so wouldn't understand why I thought it was such a wonderful moment.
> | Saying what work it was from wouldn't change that.
>
> But it would give us a chance to go and *read* *it* and experience for
> ourselves.
But if you haven't already *read* *it*, the snippets and citations
here, out of context, are generally not going to provide any compelling
reason to go do so. They are great moments because what came before
and led up to them. If you want recommendations for what to read,
given your general tastes and preferences, there are lots of other
threads that address that more credibly.
However, since you ask, mine were:
>From WATERSHIP DOWN, Richard Adams --
===
A small voice spoke in Bigwig's mind.
"Your storm, Thlayli-rah. Use it."
[...]
Thlayli's reply, when it came, was low and gasping, but perfectly
clear.
"My Chief Rabbit has told me to defend this run, and until he says
otherwise I shall stay here."
===
>From PERELANDRA, C.S. Lewis --
===
"My name, too, is Ransom."
===
>From I DARE, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller --
===
Pat Rin flung to his knees, face against the floor. Behind him, the
Terran slammed to a halt, openly shocked.
Val Con looked down at the exposed neck, at the dark hair curling
softly, several fingers longer than its accustomed length, and the
smooth, unmarred leather of the Jump pilot's jacket.
"As ill as that?" he murmured, and bent forward.
[...]
"A moment." He reached out and gripped Pat Rin's hand. "Duty," he
said. "Quickly now. Tell me the name of your lifemate."
"Inas Bhar," Pat Rin said softly. "Called Juntavas Sector Judge Natesa
the Assassin."
Val Con smiled. "The clan increases."
===
>From "Diplomat-at-Arms", Keith Laumer --
===
"My lords, peers of the Imperial Lily," he said in a ringing voice,
"know by this signet that we, Retief, by the grace of God Emperor, do
now claim our rightful throne."
===
David Tate
Rob Kerr
>
> More?
"For I was Ilmarinen."
Rob Kerr
--
"It's impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making
some other Englishman despise him."
-- G.B.S., "Pygmalion"
Erol K. Bayburt
wrote:
>In article <7pdt52tdr7k2i7eru...@4ax.com>,
>Kurt Montandon <kurtmo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>Non-Erikson, the only moments that come to mind in my inebriated state
>>are Bujoldian, namely ...
>>
>>*"Fountains keep nothing for themselves."
>>* Mark takes down Ryoval and whispers some not-so-sweet somethings in
>>his ear.
>>* Miles cascades in _Mirror Dance_.
>>* Oser looks to be recruited.
>>* Bothari executes Vordarian. "You can't do th-"
>>* Gregor interrogates Haroche.
>>* "Which one?"
>>* "If an Emperor's Voice so ordered, they'd shoot _themselves_."
>
>The Bujoldian ones that come to me, righ tnow, are from A CIVIL CAMPAIGN.
>Immediately: Nikolai son locking himself in his room, making a call, and
>coming out with a "*harumph* take *that*" attitude.... and the very imposing
>officer who comes in response, who will only deal with him.
Another Bujoldian one that struck me is from *Memory* when Ivan first
sees Miles' Auditor's Seal.
"Is that *real*?"
"You want to try to peel off the foil wrapping and eat the
chocolate inside?"
And a little later on when Haroche first encountered it.
"Vorkosigan. I told you not to come back here."
"Try again."
--
Erol K. Bayburt
Ero...@aol.com