Pick up the book nearest to you ...

"It helps decrease sympathetic nerve arousal, yet excites the vagus nerve."


Knocking at the Gate of Life - and other healing exercises from China - by Edward C CHANG, PHD.

"The maxim 'Show don't tell' comes to us from the late nineteenth century."

The Practice of Poetry - Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach
Edited by Robin Behn & Chase Twichell
(from page 58 since page 59 is the Part Three divider page)

"She [Penelope Urbain] felt a thrill -- partly from the roaring engine, from the speed of the car (she was moving fast, too fast, on a suburban street, and she liked the speed too much)."

Atlanta Nights by Travis Tea

In the near future, I will post page 59, 5 lines down of the book I'm working on right now. Unfortunately, the book needs to be printed (in book form) before I can post it.

They talked of many other things as they dug their slow way towards the foundations of the House of Lords; of the need for money and horses, the number of Catholic peers - or those favourably disposed towards toleration - who should be warned to stay away from Parliament on February the 7th.

Intended Treason (What really happened in the Gunpowder Plot)

Paul Durst

"I'll kill you if you touch her, you bastard," she heard Ian mutter to Ry, but that oath was spoken far too softly for the others to hear. - Vengeance of Dragons (The Secret Texts, Book 2), Holly Lisle

"No, I really think it would be very bad form to play hot cockles. We must leave such puerile amusements to the good bourgeois of the Rue Saint-Denis -- but in the case of Chaussee-d'Antin --"
Edmond and His Cousin; Edmond, ETC., Charles Paul de Kock

"The basic formula for drama is setup, buildup, and payoff--just like a joke."

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

In a modern story that ends with a response to theme, the author also steps forward to comment on matters in the narrative.

The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing by Meg Leder, Jack Heffron, and the editors of Writer's Digest

The Argos Catalogue. Anybody want a lawn-mower?

"Christmas was going to just be me this year and pretty lonely."

"The Witness" by Dee Henderson

Only when there was a small residual spin, enough to ward off suspicion, were the ion rockets quietened and the installations removed from the surface.

Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds

Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER--" he thundered, "--INSULT -- ALBUS -- DUMBLEDORE -- IN -- FRONT -- OF -- ME!"

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Manuscripts don't count? Drat.

"It wasn't a decision Elspeth had ever needed to make, and she hoped it was one nobody in Valdemar would be forced to face."

Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey

Sure as hell a damn sight better woman than her mom.
~The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner

Lyra knew one of them, a sixteen-year-old she admired because could spit further than anyone else she'd ever heard of, and she went and waited humbly for him to notice her. The Golden Compass Philip Pullman

This is my third visit, since I flew back from Jersey, using up all my savings in the process; and I will leave after the operation, not to fly away again, but to return to the hills which have always called me back.

~ The Best of Ruskin Bond (1994 edition) by Ruskin Bond

I have two books, one by my left hand, and one by my right. I shall hereby post from both of them, and thus reveal my true nature.

On my right hand, the sheep:

'Then Hal can't have seen one,' said Ted. There was some laughing and clapping: the audience seemed to think that Ted had scored a point.


(You can guess the novel, if the next reference doesn't give it away...)

On my left, the goats:

(Lines 4-6 from Page 59)

Tolkien's. None other. The culpability rests solely with him.

Well, him and those elves. Mm-mmh!

"If you give a girl a hobbit," by Esther M. Friesner, in Meditations on Middle Earth, Karen Haber, Editor.

"As a physician I have seen the devastating effects that physical pain can have on people's lives."

The Four Things That Matter Most. A Book about Living
by Ira Byock, MD

"At the corner, he looked around once more, then set off east on Frank, heading for Sandy Hill."

-- Moonheart, by Charles de Lint

"That's far from comforting," Seren said in a tone she was sure Morgen and the others couldn't hear.

--Sword of Darkness: Lords of Avalon, by Kinley MacGregor

I just finished this book and have it on my desk to remind me to take it to the library as a donation when the others are due. The rest of the books on my desk are all reference books.

This dim uneasiness needs careful handling.
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis.

Sometimes he was gone before his closest friend-in-arms even knew he had been hit.

Achilles in Vietnam
Jonathan Shay

They go the rounds of all the respectable houses, and receive contributions every Christmas, and we esteemed it a first-rate treat to hear them.

--Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The gasoline smell had grown pungent.
Castleview by Gene Wolfe

"Founded for ferde for to fle, in fourme þat þou tellez,
I were a knyȝt kowarde, I myȝt not be excused."
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. J. R. R. Tolkien, E. V. Gordon and Norman Davis eds.