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37355ee Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it. writing fantasy inspirational Lloyd Alexander
c324a6c When I was your age, television was called books. humour fantasy William Goldman
4403452 Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. imagination fantasy inspirational creativity Albert Einstein
5984cf1 I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities. cat-in-the-hat fantasy inspirational Dr. Seuss
b1d844c "That's you," Wrath said. You shall be called the Black Dagger warrior Dhestroyer, descended of Wrath son of Wrath." "But you'll always be Butch to us," Rhage cut in. "As well as hard-ass. Smart-ass. Royal pain in the ass. You know, whatever the situation calls for. I think as long as there's an ASS in there, it'll be accurate." "How about bASStard?" Z suggested. "Nice. I feel that." fantasy nicknames sobriquet paranormal-romance vampires J.R. Ward
c30924c There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: and One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. reading books fantasy education jrr-tolkien children-s-literature ayn-rand real-world life-changing lord-of-the-rings John Rogers
3e45173 Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends. The lunatic, the lover and the poet Are of imagination all compact: One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name. lover words earth poetry reason imagination fantasy love devils egypt helen lunatic madmen poet Shakespeare William Shakespeare
950e1d4 If you want to write a fantasy story with Norse gods, sentient robots, and telepathic dinosaurs, you can do just that. Want to throw in a vampire and a lesbian unicorn while you're at it? Go ahead. Nothing's off limits. But the endless possibility of the genre is a trap. It's easy to get distracted by the glittering props available to you and forget what you're supposed to be doing: telling a good story. Don't get me wrong, magic is cool. But a nervous mother singing to her child at night while something moves quietly through the dark outside her house? That's a story. Handled properly, it's more dramatic than any apocalypse or goblin army could ever be. writing fantasy inspirational fantasy-books Patrick Rothfuss
7605254 When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever. pain suffering living fantasy life Alexandre Dumas
a481344 Because you are the superhero fledgling. I'm just your more attractive sidekick. Oh, and the herd of nerds are your dorky minions. young-adult romance fantasy zoey P.C. Cast
b19ed6b The cost of oblivious daydreaming was always this moment of return, the realignment with what had been before and now seemed a little worse. imagination fantasy dreams life Ian McEwan
c5ff541 What we think to be our greatest weakness can sometimes be our biggest strength. fantasy sarah-j-maas trilogy Sarah J. Maas
c30d5e4 Eragon asked. fantasy dragons brightscales dragon-riders shurtugal saphira eragon Christopher Paolini
f6eec2a I want to be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren. fantasy Éowyn lord-of-the-rings J.R.R. Tolkien
b888274 Into the sky to win or die. fantasy movie Christopher Paolini
d6629b0 There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire. fairy-tales fantasy Neil Gaiman
ae04872 The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history. universe history dream fantasy adoration expenses lord-god petulant preposterous prayers homo-sapiens ruler industry lord evidence flattery creation Robert A. Heinlein
67aaa1c Nothing is lost. . .Everything is transformed. fantasy entropy taoism Michael Ende
4f0f37d Everyone thinks that courage is about facing death without flinching. But almost anyone can do that. Almost anyone can hold their breath and not scream for as long as it takes to die. True courage is about facing life without flinching. I don't mean the times when the right path is hard, but glorious at the end. I'm talking about enduring the boredom, the messiness, and the inconvenience of doing what is right. courage fantasy life Robin Hobb
4e296f0 "It all goes back and back," Tyrion thought, "to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our steads." fantasy grrm asoiaf George R.R. Martin
c674a39 There are many kinds of joy, but they all lead to one: the joy to be loved. fairy-tales fantasy michael-ende Michael Ende
e3a05ed You are so... 11:59 fantasy midnighters science-fiction horror Scott Westerfeld
60e56fe There is no such thing as coincidence in this world. The only thing is hitsuzen. Hitsuzen...A naturally fore-ordained event. A state in which all other outcomes are impossible. fate fantasy Clamp
c4d6940 The great joy and honour of my life has been to know you. To call you my family. And I am grateful - more than I can possibly say - that I was given this time with you all fiction fantasy court-of-dreams rhysand new-adult rhys Sarah J. Maas
7faab10 Who would you be but who you are? fantasy individualism Terry Brooks
09daced If you sit down and think about it , you come up with some very funny ideas. Like: why make people inquisitive, and then put some forbidden fruit where they can see it with a big neon finger flashing on and off saying 'THIS IS IT!'? ... I mean, why do that if you really don't them to eat it, eh? I mean, maybe you just want to see how it all turns out. Maybe it's all part of a great big ineffable plan. All of it. You, me, him, everything. Some great big test to see if what you've built all works properly, eh? You start thinking: it be a great cosmic game of chess, it to be just very complicated Solitaire. fantasy religion humor life Neil Gaiman
4b0f220 if something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones. fiction reality imagination fantasy humor imaginary illusions on-fiction Norton Juster
8a4ebc2 "Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere you've never been. Once you've visited other worlds, like those who ate fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you grew up in. Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different. And while we're on the subject, I'd like to say a few words about escapism. I hear the term bandied about as if it's a bad thing. As if "escapist" fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the foolish and the deluded, and the only fiction that is worthy, for adults or for children, is mimetic fiction, mirroring the worst of the world the reader finds herself in. If you were trapped in an impossible situation, in an unpleasant place, with people who meant you ill, and someone offered you a temporary escape, why wouldn't you take it? And escapist fiction is just that: fiction that opens a door, shows the sunlight outside, gives you a place to go where you are in control, are with people you want to be with(and books are real places, make no mistake about that); and more importantly, during your escape, books can also give you knowledge about the world and your predicament, give you weapons, give you armour: real things you can take back into your prison. Skills and knowledge and tools you can use to escape for real. As JRR Tolkien reminded us, the only people who inveigh against escape are jailers." reading fiction fantasy neil-gaiman escapism Neil Gaiman
cb94e1b The treacherous are ever distrustful. fantasy philosophy truth inspirational gandalf J.R.R. Tolkien
d8bae8f "So I find words I never thought to speak words travel poetry fantasy little-gidding visit shore streets mystery timelessness T.S. Eliot
04dcdd8 Here is a list of terrible things, The jaws of sharks, a vultures wings The rabid bite of the dogs of war, The voice of one who went before, But most of all the mirror's gaze, Which counts us out our numbered days. poem fear fantasy scary horror Clive Barker
18d51ff "V settled back against the pillows and measured the hard line of her chin. "Take off your coat." "Excuse me?" "Take it off." "No." "I want it off." "Then I suggest you hold your breath. Won't affect me in the slightest, but at least the suffocation will help pass the time for you." fantasy jane-witcomb vishous paranormal paranormal-romance vampires J.R. Ward
7ea4b21 "It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but ." Jace was looking at Simon as if he were some bizarre species of insect. "It's like what?" "It's a game," Clary explained. She felt vaguely embarrassed. "People pretend to be wizards and elves, and they kill monsters and stuff." Jace looked stupefied. Simon grinned. "You've never heard of Dungeons and Dragons?" "I've heard of dungeons," Jace said. "Also dragons. Although they're mostly extinct." Simon looked disappointed. "You've never killed a dragon?" "He's probably never met a six-foot-tall hot elf-woman in a fur bikini, either," Clary said irritably. "Lay off, Simon." "Real elves are about eight inches tall," Jace pointed out. "Also, they bite." reality fantasy Cassandra Clare
ea28667 May my heart be kind, my mind fierce, and my spirit brave. fantasy inspirational author Kate Forsyth
80decdd I well knew the rules to follow with our training Dogs: Speak when you're spoken to. Keep out of the way. Obey all orders. Get killed on your own time. fantasy Tamora Pierce
9ad91bc The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school. fiction funny fantasy intense Rick Riordan
01531b4 I try to deny myself any illusions or delusions, and I think that this perhaps entitles me to try and deny the same to others, at least as long as they refuse to keep their fantasies to themselves. fantasy religion illusions delusions Christopher Hitchens
3e807fb Maybe if I act well enough, I'll come to believe it myself. identity fantasy Garth Nix
0a8c1e8 There are no happy endings... There are no endings, happy or otherwise. We all have our own stories which are just part of the one Story that binds both this world and Faerie. Sometimes we step into each others stories - perhaps just for a few minutes, perhaps for years - and then we step out of them again. But all the while, the Story just goes on. story fantasy life Charles deLint
c573dbd I glanced at Derek. The boy wonder didn't melt into a pile of goo, although his gaze was glued to Rowena's chest. Avoiding eye contact. Good strategy. fantasy good-strategy derek magic-bites ilona-andrews rowena Ilona Andrews
670edd7 Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things. fantasy singing J.R.R. Tolkien
a13a626 I have met some highly intelligent believers, but history has no record to say that [s]he knew or understood the mind of god. Yet this is precisely the qualification which the godly must claim--so modestly and so humbly--to possess. It is time to withdraw our 'respect' from such fantastic claims, all of them aimed at the exertion of power over other humans in the real and material world. fantasy religion god inspirational arrogance belief humility atheism modesty respect power Christopher Hitchens
1d5dd82 "We're living in momentous times, Garion. The events of a thousand years and more have all focused on these very days. The world, I'm told, is like that. Centuries pass when nothing happens, and then in a few short years events of such tremendous importance take place that the world is never the same again." I think that if I had my choice, I'd prefer one of those quiet centuries," Garion said glumly. Oh, no," Silk said, his lips drawing back in a ferretlike grin. "Now's the time to be alive - to see it all happen, to be a part of it. That makes the blood race, and each breath is an adventure." fantasy David Eddings
d302876 I ended my first book with the words 'no answer.' I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against other words. fantasy religion inspirational C. S. Lewis
cc4f9ce " !" said Harry in a fierce voice. " -- --" "MUUUUUUM!" howled Dudley, "He's doing you know what!" magic fantasy humor J.K. Rowling
47cc083 this is a book about something fantasy c-s-lewis digory magician-s-nephew polly narnia christian C.S. Lewis
12150a7 Have you ever heard a blindfolded octopus unwrap a cellophane-covered bathtub? kids fiction fantasy bathtub silly hearing sound octopus nonsense Norton Juster
c890643 Accidents happen. Our bones shatter, our skin splits, our hearts break. We burn, we drown, we stay alive. accidents moïra-fowley-doyle staying-alive the-accident-season young-adult inspiration fantasy heartbreak life love truth inspirational life-goes-on hurt unique Moïra Fowley-Doyle
554d468 A man inherited a field in which was an accumulation of old stone, part of an older hall. Of the old stone some had already been used in building the house in which he actually lived, not far from the old house of his fathers. Of the rest he took some and built a tower. But his friends coming perceived at once (without troubling to climb the steps) that these stones had formerly belonged to a more ancient building. So they pushed the tower over, with no little labour, and in order to look for hidden carvings and inscriptions, or to discover whence the man's distant forefathers had obtained their building material. Some suspecting a deposit of coal under the soil began to dig for it, and forgot even the stones. They all said: 'This tower is most interesting.' But they also said (after pushing it over): 'What a muddle it is in!' And even the man's own descendants, who might have been expected to consider what he had been about, were heard to murmur: 'He is such an odd fellow! Imagine using these old stones just to build a nonsensical tower! Why did not he restore the old house? he had no sense of proportion.' But from the top of that tower the man had been able to look out upon the sea. literature criticism fantasy beowulf critics J.R.R. Tolkien
2e9011e "There you are," Cardan says as I take my place beside him. "How has the night been going for you? Mine has been full of dull conversation about how my head is going to find itself on a spike." fantasy i-love-them sarcastic holly-black jude faeries Holly Black
65d12c9 Swords can't solve every problem. fantasy the-mark-of-athena rick-riordan the-heroes-of-olympus mythology Rick Riordan
2787839 I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid I'll never get a chance to live! diamond-eyes humour fantasy inspirational thriller science-fiction crime A.A. Bell
f07829c "I want to take my time with you - to learn ... every inch of you. And this apartment has very, very thin walls. I don't want to have an audience" he added as he leaned down again, brushing his mouth over the cut at the base of her throat, "when I make you moan, Aelin." -- romance fantasy love queen fae Sarah J. Maas
55a6e99 Unseen University had never admitted women, muttering something about problems with the plumbing, but the real reason was an unspoken dread that if women were allowed to mess around with magic they would probably be embarrassingly good at it... women fantasy humor Terry Pratchett
17e086c "Why should a man be scorned, if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using Escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter. just so a Party-spokesman might have labeled departure from the misery of the Fuhrer's or any other Reich and even criticism of it as treachery .... Not only do they confound the escape of the prisoner with the flight of the deserter; but they would seem to prefer the acquiescence of the "quisling" to the resistance of the patriot." fantasy inspirational J.R.R. Tolkien
4038110 It's a rare gift, to know where you need to be, before you've been to all the places you don't need to be. magic fantasy inspirational earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin
018cc60 Fancies are like shadows...you can't cage them, they're such wayward, dancing things. writing imagination fantasy shadows L.M. Montgomery
976d99d "It's a dirty way to fight, but I'm late for lunch." - Valek to Yelena" fantasy humor valek yelena fight Maria V. Snyder
c045e84 How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep. tolkien fantasy lotr J.R.R. Tolkien
2eb9e77 "Chaol," he said, looking over his shoulder. Dorian's eyes were frozen, his jaw clenched. "Treat her well." fantasy love ya-fiction chaol crown-of-midnight dorian throne-of-glass celaena-sardothien price princess ya Sarah J. Maas
74459f8 She had no time for sleep, with the weight of the world upon her shoulders. And she feared to dream. Sleep is a little death, dreams the whisperings of the Other, who would drag us all into his eternal night. death fantasy dreams dance-with-dragons high-fantasy other song-of-ice-and-fire melisandre wolves epic-fantasy dragons lions series George R.R. Martin
8e1843c I sometimes have moments of such despair, such despair ... Because in those moments I start to think that I will never be capable of beginning to live a real life; because I have already begun to think that I have lost all sense of proportion, all sense of the real and the actual; because, what is more, I have cursed myself; because my nights of fantasy are followed by hideous moments of sobering! And all the time one hears the human crowd swirling and thundering around one in the whirlwind of life, one hears, one sees how people live--that they live in reality, that for them life is not something forbidden, that their lives are not scattered for the winds like dreams or visions but are forever in the process of renewal, forever young, and that no two moments in them are ever the same; while how dreary and monotonous to the point of being vulgar is timorous fantasy, the slave of shadow, of the idea... time reality fantasy shadow Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1e7a5f6 The question is always the answer, provided you want the answer badly enough. fantasy Barbara Hambly
d2ea652 Because a sound tree doesn't have bad roots, Amara. No enterprise of greatness begins with treachery, with lying to the people who trust and love you fantasy amara Jim Butcher
1a5d2e4 He was walking into Faerie, in search of a fallen star, with no idea how he would find the star, nor how to keep himself safe and whole as he tried. He looked back and fancied that he could see the lights of Wall behind him, wavering and glimmering as if in a heat-haze, but still inviting. fairy-tales fantasy Neil Gaiman
0f1111a Can I be blamed for wanting a real body, to put my arms around? Without it I too am disembodied. I can listen to my own heartbeat against the bedsprings...but there's something dead about it, something deserted. solitude sex fantasy love arms lack body need desire dead Margaret Atwood
4c2be6c Why does anything cling to something? Maybe they love wherever they're going so much that it's worth it. Maybe they'll keep coming back, until there's only one star left. Maybe that one star will make the trip forever, out of the hope that someday--if it keeps coming back often enough--another star will find it again. fiction fantasy velaris rhysand feyre rhys Sarah J. Maas
c2cec0e "Each of the dancers took a partner, the living with the dead, each to each. Bod reached out his hand and found himself touching fingers with, and gazing into the grey eyes of, the lady in the cobweb dress. She smiled at him. "Hello, Bod," she said. "Hello," he said, as he danced with her. "I don't know your name." "Names aren't really important," she said. "I love your horse. He's so big! I never knew horses could be that big." "He is gentle enough to bear the mightiest of you away on his broad back, and strong enough for the smallest of you as well." "Can I ride him?" asked Bod. "One day," she told him, and her cobweb skirts shimmered. "One day. Everybody does." "Promise?" I promise." young-adult fantasy Neil Gaiman
589a13c "I can see time," whispered Mogget, so softly that his words were lost." young-adult fantasy Garth Nix
689ac41 So you want me to go to a human orgy, where I will not be welcome, and you want us to leave before I get to enjoy myself? ~Eric Northman romance fantasy mystery vampire paranormal Charlaine Harris
17612f9 Relate comic things in pompous fashion. Irregularity, in other words the unexpected, the surprising, the astonishing, are essential to and characteristic of beauty. Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony. The blend of the grotesque and the tragic are attractive to the mind, as is discord to blase ears. Imagine a canvas for a lyrical, magical farce, for a pantomime, and translate it into a serious novel. Drown the whole thing in an abnormal, dreamy atmosphere, in the atmosphere of great days ... the region of pure poetry. irony poetry writing fantasy grotesque novel writers creativity Charles Baudelaire
86d3604 Fanatics can justify practically any atrocity to themselves. The more untenable their position becomes, the harder they hold to it, and the worse the things they are willing to do to support it. prejudice fantasy religion truth Mercedes Lackey
d5c83fb The sound of the pages turning was the sound of magic. The dry liquid feel of paper under fingertips was what magic felt like. fantasy Emma Donoghue
300fdf0 I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun; and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a Shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren. fantasy Éowyn return-of-the-king healing J.R.R. Tolkien
347c1ec He felt in his heart cruelty and cowardice, the things which made him brave and kind. kindness fantasy T.H. White
6fd239b In a calm, clear voice, she suggested that the wyrsa in question could do several highly improbable, athletically difficult and possibly biologically impractical things involving its own mother, a few household implements, and a dead fish. fantasy malediction Mercedes Lackey
7dcf028 As Hagrid had said, what would come would come and he would have to meet it when it did. fantasy J.K. Rowling
de6aa49 "Her concern with landscapes and living creatures was passionate. This concern, feebly called, "the love of nature" seemed to Shevek to be something much broader than love. There are souls, he thought, whose umbilicus has never been cut. They never got weaned from the universe. They do not understand death as an enemy; they look forward to rotting and turning into humus. It was strange to see Takver take a leaf into her hand, or even a rock. She became an extension of it, it of her." nature fantasy the-dispossessed science-fiction Ursula K. Le Guin
6b86142 Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much. fantasy wicked Gregory Maguire
306bc31 "Westcliff thinks that St. Vincent is in love with you." Evie choked a little and didn't dare look up from her tea. "Wh-why does he think that?" "He's known St. Vincent from childhood, and can read him fairly well. And Westcliff sees an odd sort of logic in why you would finally be the one to win St. Vincent's heart. He says a girl like you would appeal to...hmm, how did he put it?...I can't remember the exact words, but it was something like... you would appeal to St. Vincent's deepest, most secret fantasy." Evie felt her cheeks flushing while a skirmish of pain and hope took place in the tired confines of her chest. She tried to respond sardonically. "I should think his fantasy is to consort with as many women as possible." A grin crossed Lillian's lips. "Dear, that is not St. Vincent's fantasy, it's his reality. And you're probably the first sweet, decent girl he's ever had anything to do with." fantasy friendship love lillian-bowman secret-desire sebastian-st-vincent innocence Lisa Kleypas
eed5be2 Now, there is a tendency at a point like this to look over one's shoulder at the cover artist and start going on at length about leather, tightboots and naked blades. Words like 'full', 'round' and even 'pert' creep into the narrative, until the writer has to go and have a cold shower and a lie down. Which is all rather silly, because any woman setting out to make a living by the sword isn't about to go around looking like something off the cover of the more advanced kind of lingerie catalogue for the specialized buyer. Oh well, all right. The point that must be made is that although Herrena the Henna-Haired Harridan would look quite stunning after a good bath, a heavy-duty manicure, and the pick of the leather racks in Woo Hun Ling's Oriental Exotica and Martial Aids on Heroes Street, she was currently quite sensibly dressed in light chain mail, soft boots, and a short sword. All right, maybe the boots were leather. But not black. women fantasy humor Terry Pratchett
d7ea681 "There wasn't a colloquial phrase, or curse, that went something like, "May your day be full of angry dragons" or, "May every dragon you meet today be pissed off." But, there should have been." fantasy humor Michelle Sagara
e207c5b When I was small, I never wanted to step in puddles. Not because of any fear of drowned worms or wet stockings; I was by and large a grubby child, with a blissful disregard for filth of any kind. It was because I couldn't bring myself believe that that perfect smooth expanse was no more than I thin film of water over solid earth. I believed it was an opening into some fathomless space. Sometimes, seeing the tiny ripples caused by my approach, I thought the puddle impossibly deep, a bottomless sea in which the lazy coil of a tentacle and gleam of scale lay hidden, with the threat of huge bodies and sharp teeth adrift and silent in the far-down depths. And then, looking down into reflection, I would see my own round face and frizzled hair against a featureless blue sweep, and think instead that the puddle was the entrance to another sky. If I stepped in there, I would drop at once, and keep on falling, on and on, into blue space. The only time I would dare walk though a puddle was at twilight, when the evening stars came out. If I looked in the water and saw one lighted pinprick there, I could slash through unafraid--for if I should fall into the puddle and on into space, I could grab hold of the star as I passed, and be safe. Even now, when I see a puddle in my path, my mind half-halts--though my feet do not--then hurries on, with only the echo of the though left behind. imagination fantasy time-travel science-fiction Diana Gabaldon
bcffe88 1. Italo Calvino 2. Gabriel Garcia Marquez 3. Jim Henson and Jorge Luis Borges - Labyrinths 4. The creator of MySpace 5. Richard Brautigan 6. J.K. Rowling 7. The inventor of the children's toy Lite-Brite 8. Ann Sexton 9. David Foster Wallace 10. Gaugin and the Caribbean 11. Charles Schulz 12. Liam Rector fantasy sadness Shane Jones
8e94385 "I would like [my readers] to better understand human beings and human life as a result of having read [my] stories. I'd like them to feel that this was an experience that made things better for them and an experience that gave them hope. I think that the kind of things that we talk about at this conference -- fantasy very much so, science fiction, and even horror -- the message that we're sending is the reverse of the message sent by what is called "realistic fiction." (I happen to think that realistic fiction is not, in fact, realistic, but that's a side issue.) And what we are saying is that it doesn't have to be like this: things can be different. Our society can be changed. Maybe it's worse, maybe it's better. Maybe it's a higher civilization, maybe it's a barbaric civilization. But it doesn't have to be the way it is now. Things can change. And we're also saying things can change for you in your life. Look at the difference between Severian the apprentice and Severian the Autarch [in for example. The difference beteween Silk as an augur and Silk as calde [in fiction fantasy optimism hope science-fiction horror Gene Wolfe
864f216 Sometimes a wild horse needs to feel that his rider is just a little bit wilder. fantasy ruby womanhood strength-through-adversity horse Francesca Lia Block
31df70d Garion,' she said very calmly, 'the universe knew your name before that moon up there was spun out of the emptiness. Whole constellations have been waiting for you since the beginning of time.' I didn't want them to, Aunt Pol.' There are those of us who aren't given that option, Garion. There are things that gave to be done and certain people who have to do them. It's as simple as that.' He smiled rather sadly at her flawless face and gently touched the snowy white lock at her brow. Then, for the last time in his life, he asked the question that had been on his lips since he was a tiny boy. 'Why me, Aunt Pol? Why me?' Can you possibly think of anyone else you'd trust to deal with these matters, Garion?' He had not really been prepared for that question. It came at him in stark simplicity. Now at last he fully understood. 'No,' he sighed, 'I suppose not. Somehow it seems a little unfair, though. I wasn't even consulted.' Neither was I, Garion,' she answered. 'But we didn't have to be consulted, did we? The knowledge of what we have to do is born into us. fantasy purpose David Eddings
e21fbe1 "Up and down," Meera would sigh sometimes as they walked, "then down and up. Then up and down again. I hate these stupid mountains of yours, Prince Bran." "Yesterday you said you loved them." "Oh, I do. My lord father told me about mountains, but I never saw one till now. I love them more than I can say." Bran made a face at her. "But you just said you hated them." "Why can't it be both?" Meera reached up to pinch his nose. "Because they're different," he insisted. "Like night and day, or ice and fire." "If ice can burn," said Jojen in his solemn voice, "then love and hate can mate. Mountain or marsh, it makes no matter. The land is one." "One," his sister agreed, "but over wrinkled." fantasy grrm asoiaf George R.R. Martin
da43138 And so they stood on the walls of the City of Gondor, and a great wind rose and blew, and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air. romance fantasy faramir J.R.R. Tolkien
30d2f69 Magic makes people dangerous. magic fantasy book-4 throne-of-glass queen-of-shadows sarah-j-maas Sarah J. Maas
467959f It is good for children to find themselves facing the elements of a fairy tale - they are well-equipped to deal with these fantasy m-is-for-magic fairytale neil-gaiman children Neil Gaiman
03e83ec The essence of wisdom is to know when to be doing, and when it's useless even to try fantasy wisdom arthurian-saga the-last-enchantment mary-stewart merlin Mary Stewart
4dc075b Zakath stared at the floor. 'I suddenly feel very helpless,' he admitted, 'and I don't like the feeling. I've been rather effectively dethroned, you know. This morning I was the Emperor of the largest nation on earth; this afternoon, I'm going to be a vagabond.' You might find it refreshing,' Silk told him lightly. Shut up, Kheldar,' Zakath said almost absently. He looked back at Polgara. 'You know something rather peculiar?' What's that?' Even if I hadn't given my word, I'd still have to go to Kell. It's almost like a compulsion. I feel as if I'm being driven, and my driver is a blindfolded girl who's hardly more than a child.' There are rewards,' she told him. Such as what?' Who knows? Happiness, perhaps.' He laughed ironically. 'Happiness has never been a driving ambition of mine, Lady Polgara, not for a long time now.' You may have to accept it anyway,' She smiled. 'We aren't allowed to choose our rewards any more than we are our tasks. Those decisions are made for us. fantasy happiness David Eddings
e3f2963 The day will come when you need them to respect you, even fear you a little. Laughter is poison to fear. war fantasy grimdark game-of-thrones middle-ages George R.R. Martin
2a07ad3 Even now, she wished she could write a note, push it across the table, and go away to her room. But she was no longer a Second Assistant Librarian of the Great Library of the Clayr. Those days were gone, vanished with everything else that had defined her previous existence and identity. identity fantasy Garth Nix
89e6722 "Some years ago I had a conversation with a man who thought that writing and editing fantasy books was a rather frivolous job for a grown woman like me. He wasn't trying to be contentious, but he himself was a probation officer, working with troubled kids from the Indian reservation where he'd been raised. Day in, day out, he dealt in a concrete way with very concrete problems, well aware that his words and deeds could change young lives for good or ill. I argued that certain stories are also capable of changing lives, addressing some of the same problems and issues he confronted in his daily work: problems of poverty, violence, and alienation, issues of culture, race, gender, and class... "Stories aren't real," he told me shortly. "They don't feed a kid left home in an empty house. Or keep an abusive relative at bay. Or prevent an unloved child from finding 'family' in the nearest gang." Sometimes they do, I tried to argue. The right stories, read at the right time, can be as important as shelter or food. They can help us to escape calamity, and heal us in its aftermath. He frowned, dismissing this foolishness, but his wife was more conciliatory. "Write down the names of some books," she said. "Maybe we'll read them." I wrote some titles on a scrap of paper, and the top three were by Charles de lint - for these are precisely the kind of tales that Charles tells better than anyone. The vital, necessary stories. The ones that can change and heal young lives. Stories that use the power of myth to speak truth to the human heart. creates a magical world that's not off in a distant Neverland but here and now and accessible, formed by the "magic" of friendship, art, community, and social activism. Although most of his books have not been published specifically for adolescents and young adults, nonetheless young readers find them and embrace them with particular passion. I've long lost count of the number of times I've heard people from say that books by Charles saved them in their youth, and kept them going. Recently I saw that parole officer again, and I asked after his work. "Gets harder every year," he said. "Or maybe I'm just getting old." He stopped me as I turned to go. "That writer? That Charles de Lint? My wife got me to read them books.... Sometimes I pass them to the kids." "Do they like them?" I asked him curiously. "If I can get them to read, they do. I tell them: myth fantasy charles-de-lint power-of-stories troubled-backgrounds magical-realism childhood mythic-fiction folklore urban-fantasy Terri Windling
9878ddf "Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everybody.' I said, 'Are you a monster? Like Ursula Monkton?' Lettie threw a pebble into the pond. 'I don't think so,' she said. 'Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, Some of them are things people are scared of. Some of them are things that look like things people used to be scared of a long time ago. Sometimes monsters are things people should be scared of, but they aren't.' I said, 'People should be scared of Ursula Monkton.' 'P'raps. What do you think Ursula Monkton is scared of?' 'Dunno. Why do you think she's scared of anything? She's a grown-up, isn't she? Grown-ups and monsters aren't scared of things.' Oh, monsters are scared," said Lettie. "That's why they're monsters. And as for grown-ups...' She stopped talking, rubbed her freckled nose with a finger. Then, 'I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world." fear fantasy truth adults age inside outside children childhood monsters scared Neil Gaiman
b99c19f Sharpen your heart. young-adult dark fiction fantasy hollow-hall elfham prince-cardan jude faerie Holly Black
4fc67d2 The Lord of Rags and Tatters. young-adult fantasy dialogue Megan Whalen Turner
21f92ee No enemies had ever taken Ankh-Morpork. Well technically they had, quite often; the city welcomed free-spending barbarian invaders, but somehow the puzzled raiders found, after a few days, that they didn't own their horses any more, and within a couple of months they were just another minority group with its own graffiti and food shops. fantasy comedy discworld Terry Pratchett
5f0145f It simply isn't an adventure worth telling if there aren't any dragons. fantasy J.R.R. Tolkien
bcfffb9 Sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger. harry-potter fantasy hp order-of-the-phoenix sirius-black J.K. Rowling
5b59ef9 Nanny Ogg was an attractive lady, which is not the same as being beautiful. She fascinated Casanunda. She was an incredibly comfortable person to be around, partly because she had a mind so broad it could accommodate three football fields and a bowling alley. humour fiction women fantasy Terry Pratchett
426892f The tales of Elfland do not stand or fall on their actuality but on their truthfulness, their speaking to the human condition, the longings we all have for the Faerie Other. fantasy Jane Yolen
95c4c9d A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain - a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space .... Therefore we must judge a weird tale not by the author's intent, or by the mere mechanics of the plot; but by the emotional level which it attains at its least mundane point... The one test of the really weird is simply this - whether or not there be excited in the reader a profound sense of dread, and of contact with unknown spheres and powers; a subtle attitude of awed listening, as if for the beating of black wings or the scratching of outside shapes and entities on the known universe's utmost rim. fantasy weird fantastic horror supernatural H.P. Lovecraft
37495d0 Just my luck, if I believed in luck. I only believe in the opposite of luck, whatever that is. fantasy wicked Gregory Maguire
cca01cc Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker. fantasy j-r-r-tolkien fiction-writing J.R.R. Tolkien
5523867 She didn't fear the night, though she found little comfort in its dark hours. It was the time when she slept, the time when she stalked and killed, the time when the stars emerged with glittering beauty and made her feel wonderfully small and insignificant. fantasy Sarah J. Maas
d951452 "Will you miss him Holly?" he asked suddenly. fantasy Eoin Colfer
ea6ee2c Far more beguiling than the idea that evil can be destroyed by throwing a piece of expensive jewelry into a volcano is the possibility that evil can be defused by talking. The fantasy of justice is more interesting than the fantasy of fairies, and more truly fantastic. humanism fantasy the-one-ring talking justice Terry Pratchett
4e34b4b It was a Guild of Assassins, after all. Black was what you wore. The night was black and so were you. And black had such style, and an Assassin without style, everyone agreed, was just a highly paid arrogant thug. fantasy humor discworld Terry Pratchett
8e10953 But think of how much worse it would be to sit here, not knowing. Until the Dead choke the Ratterlin and Hedge walks across the dry bed of the river to batter down the door. fear fantasy Garth Nix
f0d36b8 "He'd spent the night in the boat. Next to the spaghetti queen. William glanced at the hobo girl. She sat across from him, huddled in a clump. Her stench had gotten worse overnight, probably from the dampness. Another night like the last one, and he might snap and dunk her into that river just to clear the air. She saw him looking. Dark eyes regarded him with slight scorn. William leaned forward and pointed at the river. "I don't know why you rolled in spaghetti sauce," he said in a confidential voice. "I don't really care. But that water over there won't hurt you. Try washing it off." She stuck her tongue out. "Maybe after you're clean," he said. Her eyes widened. She stared at him for a long moment. A little crazy spark lit up in her dark irises. She raised her finger, licked it, and rubbed some dirt off her forehead. Now what? The girl showed him her stained finger and reached toward him slowly, aiming for his face. "No," William said. "Bad hobo." The finger kept coming closer." romance fantasy paranormal Ilona Andrews
980044c It felt like he'd been dragged through the nine circles of hell -- by his testicles. fantasy humor m-m-paranormal m-m-romance erotica Kay Berrisford
4081167 "I hope I never smell the smell of apples again!" said Fili. "My tub was full of ut. To smell apples everlastingly when you can scarcely move and are cold and sick with hunger is maddening. I could eat anything in the wide world now for hours on end - but not an apple!" fantasy humor J.R.R. Tolkien
f32ba0e "You think I don't deserve him," I say to Cardan. He smiles slowly, like the moon slipping beneath the waves of the lake. "Oh no, I think you're perfect for each other." fantasy fair-folk tcp holly-black the-cruel-prince jude Holly Black
7b0b19c Where do you get dreams like this? imagination fantasy Stephen R. Donaldson
d7dfe12 Pam. Listen.' 'The phone is pressed to my ear. Speak.' 'Appius Livius Ocella just dropped in.' 'Fuck a zombie!' - Sookie & Pam, Dead in the Family, Charlaine Harris fantasy sookie-stackhouse paranormal vampires Charlaine Harris
95b7703 Guard your mortal heart. young-adult dark fantasy cruel dangerous prince-cardan jude locke Holly Black
58ff084 Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Hurin cried: 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive... fantasy silmarillion hurin J.R.R. Tolkien
f0cb4b4 I am smiling a big adopted-orphan smile as I write this ... I still love scribbling the word - WRITER - any time on a form, questionnaire, document asks for my occupation. Fine, I write personality quizzes, I don't write about the Great Issues of the Day, but I think it's fair to say I am a writer ... ('Adopted-orphan smile', I mean, that's not bad, come on.) lies writer writing reality fantasy compulsive-lying crazy-bitch out-of-touch-with-reality wannabewriter superiority-complex self-righteous egotistical vainity vain pretending wannabe ego smile smiling liar lie Gillian Flynn
db8ec27 There came a time near dawn on the eve of spring, and Luthien danced upon a green hill; and suddenly she began to sing. Keen, heart-piercing was her song as the song of the lark that rises from the gates of night and pours its voice among the dying stars, seeing the sun behind the walls of the world; and the song of Luthien released the bonds of winter, and the frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold earth where he feet had passed. Then the spell of silence fell from Beren, and he called to her, crying Tinuviel; and the woods echoed the name. fantasy luthien silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien
bb455a9 The darkness isn't so frightening with Ryan. With him I can believe that I am a princess with a wreath of flowers and ribbons crowning my head and he is my prince sworn to protect me from the evils in the night. fantasy love Katie McGarry
c1fb030 The idea of fairyland fascinates me because it's one of those things, like mermaids and dragons, that doesn't really exist, but everyone knows about it anyway. Fairyland lies only in the eye of the beholder who is usually a fabricator of fantasy. So what good is it, this enchanted, fickle land which in some tales bodes little good to humans and, in others, is the land of peace and perpetual summer where everyone longs to be? Perhaps it's just a glimpse of our deepest wishes and greatest fears, the farthest boundaries of our imaginations. We go there because we can; we come back because we must. What we see there becomes our tales. fantasy dreams mermaids fairyland Patricia A. McKillip
d7ddfb6 Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. harry-potter humour fantasy J.K. Rowling
3f41039 He sighed and opened the black box and took out his rings and slipped them on. Another box held a set of knives and Klatchian steel, their blades darkened with lamp black. Various cunning and intricate devices were taken from velvet bags and dropped into pockets. A couple of long-bladed throwing tlingas were slipped into their sheaths inside his boots. A thin silk line and folding grapnel were wound around his waist, over the chain-mail shirt. A blowpipe was attached to its leather thong and dropped down the back of his cloak; Teppic picked a slim tin container with an assortment of darts, their tips corked and their stems braille-coded for ease of selection in the dark. He winced, checked the blade of his rapier and slung the baldric over his right shoulder, to balance the bag of lead slingshot ammunition. As an afterthought he opened his sock drawer and took a pistol crossbow, a flask of oil, a roll of lockpicks and, after some consideration, a punch dagger, a bag of assorted caltrops and a set of brass knuckles. Teppic picked up his hat and checked it's lining for the coil of cheesewire. He placed it on his head at a jaunty angle, took a last satisfied look at himself in the mirror, turned on his heel and, very slowly, fell over. fantasy humor dungeons-and-dragons discworld Terry Pratchett
9cfb678 Romance is finding your fantasy in people who don't have it. romance fantasy love Andy Warhol
893f7ba I am not Cugel the Clever for nothing! fantasy vance dying-earth Jack Vance
6d2a50d I propose to speak about fairy-stories, though I am aware that this is a rash adventure. Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold. fantasy worldbuilding fantasy-fiction J.R.R. Tolkien
9231bdd I just think the world ought to be more sort of organized.' 'That's just fantasy,' said Twoflower. 'I know. That's the trouble.' Rincewind sighed again. humour fantasy life Terry Pratchett
1ed1305 "How can so many (white, male) writers narratively justify restricting the agency of their female characters on the grounds of sexism = authenticity while simultaneously writing male characters with conveniently modern values? The habit of authors writing Sexism Without Sexists in genre novels is seemingly pathological. Women are stuffed in the fridge under cover of "authenticity" by secondary characters and villains because too many authors flinch from the "authenticity" of sexist male protagonists. Which means the yardstick for "authenticity" in such novels almost always ends up being "how much do the women suffer", instead of - as might also be the case - "how sexist are the heroes". women writing fantasy femlae-agency male-privledge writing-femlae-characters sf genre authenticity sff sexism Foz Meadows
dfaff56 "Look at me!" he would shout as he ran laughing through the halls of Storm's End. "Look at me, I'm a dragon," or "Look at me, I'm a wizard," or "Look at me, look at me, I'm the rain god." The bold little boy with wild black hair and laughing eyes was a man grown now, one-and-twenty, and still he played his games. Cressen thought sadly." fantasy renly-baratheon asoiaf george-r-r-martin got a-song-of-ice-and-fire game-of-thrones kings games childhood George R.R. Martin
68c4ad1 "I can't be yours forever, Mab," I told her, the words flying into my mouth as if by magic. "I already belong to someone else. I belong to Alice!" romance fantasy mab-mouldheel tom-ward horror Joseph Delaney
2db576b - Niama drugo miasto kato moreto, gospoda. Tezi, koito tsial zhivot izkarvat na sushata, nikoga niama da go razberat. Moreto e p'rvichno, poniakoga e zhestoko, drug p't - nezhno, i nikoga - predskazuemo. magic fantasy life българия bulgaria riftwar bulgarian feist raymond амос война моряк разлом реймънд фийст живот more saga master български magician sea night Raymond E. Feist
7e7a09d Harden your heart. dark fantasy dangerous elfham prince-cardan jude faerie Holly Black
9587212 "We want to fight." "And I want J.K. Rowling to keep writing in the Potterverse, but I know that's never going to happen," I said blithely." fiction fantasy humor fallen-legion laura-kreitzer potterverse timeless-series j-k-rowling paranormal Laura Kreitzer
0c14b43 "Regweld is really a fine wizard," he continued, patting the shoulder again. "And his ideas for crossbreeding a horse and a frog are not without merit; never mind the explosion! Alchemy shops can be replaced!" fantasy humor icewind-dale r-a-salvatore frog horse wizards R.A. Salvatore
a09a7ba Not , but ! fantasy twig Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
4705943 Faey lived, for those who knew how to find her, within Ombria's past. Parts of the city's past lay within time's reach, beneath the streets in great old limestone tunnels: the hovels and mansions and sunken river that Ombria shrugged off like a forgotten skin, and buried beneath itself through the centuries. fantasy faey enchanted-heart page-14 Patricia A. McKillip
e6cda8d If we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love because we fear the pain of loss, then our lives will be empty, our loss greater. fantasy tanis-half-elven dragonlance-chronicles tanis Margaret Weis
930afe5 It was like when we were little kids and we played games on the ivy-covered hillside in the backyard. We were warriors and wizards and angels and high elves and that was our reality. If someone said, Isn't it cute, look at them playing, we would have smiled back, humoring them, but it wasn't playing. It was transformation. It was our own world. Our own rules. reality fantasy playing-games playing pretending pretend fantastic games fantasies game children childhood Francesca Lia Block
31fc4f5 Well did the traveler know those garden lands that lie betwixt the wood of the Cerenerian Sea, and blithely did he follow the singing river Oukranos that marked his course. The sun rose higher over gentle slopes of grove and lawn, and heightened the colors of the thousand flowers that starred each knoll and dangle. A blessed haze lies upon all this region, wherein is held a little more of the sunlight than other places hold, and a little more of the summer's humming music of birds and bees; so that men walk through it as through a faery place, and feel greater joy and wonder than they ever afterward remember. fantasy lovecraft H.P. Lovecraft
d064e33 While my chosen form of story-writing is obviously a special and perhaps a narrow one, it is none the less a persistent and permanent type of expression, as old as literature itself. There will always be a certain small percentage of persons who feel a burning curiosity about unknown outer space, and a burning desire to escape from the prison-house of the known and the real into those enchanted lands of incredible adventure and infinite possibilities which dreams open up to us, and which things like deep woods, fantastic urban towers, and flaming sunsets momentarily suggest. fiction wonder fantasy weird-fiction lovecraft H.P. Lovecraft
33c0823 Why should their pain produce such marvelous beauty? he wonders. Or is all beauty created through pain? Is that the secret of great art, both human and Melnibonen? fantasy elric-of-melnibone fantasy-fiction Michael Moorcock
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