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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
53753bb "Having to amuse myself during those earlier years, I read voraciously and widely. Mythic matter and folklore made up much of that reading--retellings of the old stories ( ), anecdotal collections and historical investigations of the stories' backgrounds--and then I stumbled upon the books which took me back to and the like. I was in heaven when began the Unicorn imprint for Ballantine and scoured the other publishers for similar good finds, delighting when I discovered someone like , who still remains a favourite. This was before there was such a thing as a fantasy genre, when you'd be lucky to have one fantasy book published in a month, little say the hundreds per year we have now. I also found myself reading (the Cormac and Bran mac Morn books were my favourites), and finally started reading science fiction after coming across 's Huon of the Horn. That book wasn't sf, but when I went to read more by her, I discovered everything else was. So I tried a few and that led me to and any number of other fine sf writers. These days my reading tastes remain eclectic, as you might know if you've been following my monthly book review column in . I'm as likely to read as as as reading books fantasy book-genres recommendations sf science-fiction sci-fi influences Charles de Lint
4c8a5b3 "Contemporary writers use animal-transformation themes to explore issues of gender, sexuality, race, culture, and the process of transformation...just as storytellers have done, all over the world, for many centuries past. One distinct change marks modern retellings, however, reflecting our changed relationship to animals and nature. In a society in which most of us will never encounter true danger in the woods, the big white bear who comes knocking at the door [in fairy tales] is not such a frightening prospective husband now; instead, he's exotic, almost appealing. Whereas once wilderness was threatening to civilization, now it's been tamed and cultivated; the dangers of the animal world have a nostalgic quality, removed as they are from our daily existence. This removal gives "the wild" a different kind of power; it's something we long for rather than fear. The shape-shifter, the were-creature, the stag-headed god from the heart of the woods--they come from a place we'd almost forgotten: the untracked forests of the past; the primeval forests of the mythic imagination; the forests of our childhood fantasies: untouched, unspoiled, limitless. Likewise, tales of Animal Brides and Bridegrooms are steeped in an ancient magic and yet powerfully relevant to our lives today. They remind us of the wild within us...and also within our lovers and spouses, the part of them we can never quite know. They represent the Others who live beside us--cat and mouse and coyote and owl--and the Others who live only in the dreams and nightmares of our imaginations. For thousands of years, their tales have emerged from the place where we draw the boundary lines between animals and human beings, the natural world and civilization, women and men, magic and illusion, fiction and the lives we live." fairy-tales myth fantasy shape-shifting Terri Windling
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
e164143 I've stolen books. They're the only thing worth taking that don't belong to you. terry-pratchett fantasy sword-and-sorcery bookshops dragons Sully Tarnish
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
c94de3f Egg has the truth of it. Aerion's quite the monster. He thinks he's a dragon in human form, you know. That's why he was so wroth at that puppet show. A pity he wasn't born a Fossoway, then he'd think himself an apple and we'd all be a deal safer, but there you are. fantasy humor dunk-and-egg the-hedge-knight george-r-r-martin George R.R. Martin
88e200a We are in this fairyland on sufferance; it is not for us to quarrel with the conditions under which we enjoy this wild vision of the world. fantasy G.K. Chesterton
d7c212a Would you give up the craft of your hands, and the passion of your heart, and the hunger of your mind, to buy safety? fantasy fantasy-fiction passions safety Ursula K. Le Guin
1e354a9 He saw trust. Complete trust. It was a gift, a precious one, and it humbled him. I've got you, Emeline. I will always be with you. Dragomire to Emeline, Dark Legacy, Dark #27 romance fantasy dark-27 dark-legacy mystery crime paranormal vampires Christine Feehan
0ebe346 There is nothing so nice as supposing. It's almost like being a fairy. If you suppose anything hard enough it seems as if it were real. fairy-tales magic fantasy fairy-tale princess manifestation Frances Hodgson Burnett
f83aef9 "One of my favourite things to do when I write is to bring a sense of wonder to a normal everyday setting... Yes, there are magical elements, but there are also very down-to-earth elements and often what shines through isn't the magic, but the lanterns that the characters light against the dark... If you substitute the words "fairy tale" or "myth" for "fantasy," the reason I use these elements in my own work is that they create resonances that illuminate solutions to the real world struggle without the need for an authorial voice to point them out. Magic never solves the problems-we have to do that on our own-but in fiction it allows the dialogue to have a much more organic approach than the talking heads one can encounter in fiction that doesn't utilize the same tools. fairy-tales myth magic writing fantasy Charles de Lint
ba4215d I love the word 'fantasy'... but I love it for the almost infinite room it gives an author to play: an infinite playroom, of a sort, in which the only boundaries are those of the imagination. I do not love it for the idea of commercial fantasy. Commercial fantasy, for good or for ill, tends to drag itself through already existing furrows, furrows dug by J. R. R. Tolkien or Robert E. Howard, leaving a world of stories behind it, excluding so much. There was so much fine fiction, fiction allowing free reign to the imagination of the author, beyond the shelves of genre. That was what we wanted to read. writing fantasy Neil Gaiman
7cc8b21 Uh, Lunitaris idish, shirak, damen du! magic fantasy Margaret Weis
1f6390e Until recently the locus of sexual fantasy was peopled with images actually glimpsed or were sensations actually felt, or private imaginings taken from suggestions in the real world, a dream well where weightless images from it floated, transformed by imagination. It prepared children, with these hints and traces of other people's bodies, to become adults and enter the landscape of adult sexuality and meet the lover face to face. Lucky men and women are able to keep a pathway clear to that dream well, peopling it with scenes and images that meet them as they get older, created with their own bodies mingling with other bodies; they choose a lover because of a smell from a coat, a way of walking, the shape of a lip, belong in their imagined interior and resonate back in time deep into the bones that recall childhood and early adolescent imagination. sex feminism fantasy sexuality Naomi Wolf
3c09521 Thinking and planning is one side of life; doing is another. A man cannot be doing all the time. fantasy crystal-cave mary-stewart merlin tactics king-arthur planning strategy legend Mary Stewart
8982bb4 "Then Deborah stood at the wicket gate, the boundary, and there was a woman with outstretched hand, demanding tickets. "Pass through," she said when Deborah reached her. "We saw you coming." The wicket gate became a turnstile. Deborah pushed against it and there was no resistance, she was through. "What is it?" she asked. "Am I really here at last? Is this the bottom of the pool?" "It could be," smiled the woman. "There are so many ways. You just happened to choose this one." Other people were pressing to come through. They had no faces, they were only shadows. Deborah stood aside to let them by, and in a moment they had gone, all phantoms. "Why only now, tonight?" asked Deborah. "Why not in the afternoon, when I came to the pool?" "It's a trick," said the woman. "You seize on the moment in time. We were here this afternoon. We're always here. Our life goes on around you, but nobody knows it. The trick's easier by night, that's all." "Am I dreaming, then?" asked Deborah. "No," said the woman, "this isn't a dream. And it isn't death, either. It's the secret world." The secret world... It was something Deborah had always known, and now the pattern was complete. The memory of it, and the relief, were so tremendous that something seemed to burst inside her heart. "Of course..." she said, "of course..." and everything that had ever been fell into place. There was no disharmony. The joy was indescribable, and the surge of feeling, like wings about her in the air, lifted her away from the turnstile and the woman, and she had all knowledge. That was it - the invasion of knowledge. ("The Pool")" time dream secret death imagination fantasy innocence knowledge night creativity Daphne du Maurier
2ae14a3 Adventuring turned out to be boring. Zach thought back to all the fantasy books he'd read where a team of questers traveled overland, and realized a few things. First he'd pictured himself with a loyal steed that would have done most of the walking, so he hadn't anticipated the blister forming on his left heel or the tiny pebble that seemed to have worked its way under his sock, so that even when he stripped off his sneaker he couldn't find it. He hadn't thought about how hot the sun would be either. When he put together his bunch of provisions, he never thought about bringing sunblock. Aragorn never wore sunblock. Taran never wore sunblock. Percy never wore sunblock. But despite all that precedent for going without, he was pretty sure his nose would be lobster-red the next time he looked in the mirror. He was thirsty, too, something that happened a lot in books, but his dry throat bothered him more than it had ever seemed to bother any character. And, unlike in books where random brigands and monsters jumped out just when things got unbearably dull, there was nothing to fight except for the clouds of gnats, several of which Zach was pretty sure he'd accidentally swallowed. humorous reality fantasy Holly Black
0d11a8a "Years ago, when I was about to go on a book tour for writing fantasy interview mythic-fiction Charles de Lint
76d5a59 The part of the tradition that I knew best was mostly written (or rewritten for children) in England and northern Europe. The principal characters were men. If the story was heroic, the hero was a white man; most dark-skinned people were inferior or evil. If there was a woman in the story, she was a passive object of desire and rescue (a beautiful blond princess); active women (dark, witches) usually caused destruction or tragedy. Anyway, the stories weren't about the women. They were about men, what men did, and what was important to men. feminism fantasy bigotry tradition Ursula K. Le Guin
36d47ee I reached out my hands to them, suddenly: I put out my hand to Sergey on one side, and to Stepon on the other, and they put out their hands to me, and to each other, and we held tight, tight; we made a circle together, my brothers and me, around the food that we had been given, and there was no wolf in the room. fantasy retellings Naomi Novik
0736342 Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur's heir, out of the Paths of the Dead, borne upon a wind from the sea to the kingdom of Gondor. war fantasy middle-earth victory lotr king J.R.R. Tolkien
278d160 Being a geological formation gives you a lot of time to think. Also, I subscribed to a number of learned journals. fantasy humor Neil Gaiman
d1c4c7b She had not meant to name them, but she could not help herself; and having done so she thought, Let their names be symbols that their lives are worth the keeping. Let them struggle a little the harder, to keep their names. fantasy retelling Robin McKinley
d8112da know a lot of people who hide out in fantasy because reality is too hard to cope with [...] Fantasy isn't about escape; it's a survival mechanism. It's a way to deal with things that are so much bigger than you are. So I think fantasy is special, something to be cherished and protected because it's a very fragile thing and without it, we're so defenseless, we're paralyzed fantasy David Gerrold
288e0f2 "Help me out," I pleaded. "You've left me alone to deal with this situation, and now we're being dealt the consequences." I swore I heard Tom growl. I actually pulled the phone from my ear to stare at it to make sure it hadn't turned into a tiny lion." -- young-adult fiction fantasy humor gabriella-moretti joseph-carter keepers timeless-series tom-morris novella ya Laura Kreitzer
78e681e Sorcerers believe that an action taken for the right reasons has an unreasonable chance of success. magic fantasy fairy-tales-fairytale middle-grade-fantasy adventure-travel lucky-people luck Gail Carson Levine
f447f72 Am I supposed to feel so much awe and so on about the Godking? After all, he's just a man ... He's about fifty years old, and he's bald. And I'll bet he has to cut his toenails too like any other man. I know perfectly well he's a god, too. But what I think is, he'll be much godlier after he's dead. fantasy earthsea kings fantasy-fiction Ursula K. Le Guin
a674013 Only a child expects life to be just; it's a man's part to stand by the consequences of his deeds. fantasy arthurian-legend merlin Mary Stewart
56bf2de He is mine, too. fantasy retellings Naomi Novik
6dd2b5e The only thing that had ever done me any good in my father's house was thinking: no one had cared what I wanted, or whether I was happy. I'd had to find my own way to anything I wanted. I'd never been grateful for that before now, when what I wanted was my life. fantasy retellings Naomi Novik
a4e5043 They have no gods. They work magic, and think they are gods themselves. But they are not. And when they die, they (...) become dust and bone, and their ghosts whine on the wind a little while till the wind blows them away. They do not have immortal souls. magic fantasy tombs-of-atuan ursula-k-le-guin sorcery Ursula K. Le Guin
381dc1a Swelter, as soon as he saw who it was, stopped dead, and across his face little billows of flesh ran swiftly here and there until, as though they had determined to adhere to the same impulse, they swept up into both oceans of soft cheek, leaving between them a vacuum, a gaping segment like a slice cut from a melon. It was horrible. It was as though nature had lost control. As though the smile, as a concept, as a manifestation of pleasure, had been a mistake, for here on the face of Swelter the idea had been abused. fantasy humor Mervyn Peake
3bc0ec8 For magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing. magic fantasy Ursula K. LeGuin
f8120df I know a charm that can cure pain and sickness, and lift the grief from the heart of the grieving. I know a charm that will heal with a touch. I know a charm that will turn aside the weapons of an enemy. I know another charm to free myself from all bonds and locks. A fifth charm: I can catch an arrow in flight and take no harm from it. A sixth: spells sent to hurt me will hurt only the sender. A seventh charm I know: I can quench a fire simply by looking at it. An eighth: if any man hates me, I can win his friendship. A ninth: I can sing the wind to sleep and calm a storm for long enough to bring a ship to shore. For a tenth charm, I learned to dispel witches, to spin them around in the skies so that they will never find their way back to their own doors again. An eleventh: if I sing it when a battle rages it can take warriors through the tumult unscathed and unhurt, and bring them safely back to their hearths and their homes. A twelfth charm I know: if I see a hanged man I can bring him down from the gallows to whisper to us all he remembers. A thirteenth: if I sprinkle water on a child's head, that child will not fall in battle. A fourteenth: I know the names of all the gods. Every damned one of them. A fifteenth: I had a dream of power, of glory, and of wisdom, and I can make people believe in my dreams. A sixteenth charm I know: if I need love I can turn the mind and heart of any woman. A seventeenth, that no woman I want will ever want another. And I know an eighteenth charm, and that charm is the greatest of all, and that charm I can tell to no man, for a secret that no one know but you is the most powerful secret there can ever be. fantasy neil-gaiman gods Neil Gaiman
c1c6347 "What would you here, unhappy mortal, and for what cause have you left your own land to enter this, which is forbidden to such as you? Can you show reason why my power should not be laid on you in heavy punishment for your insolence and folly?" Then Beren looking up beheld the eyes of Luthien, and his glance went also to the face of Melian; and it seemed to him that words were put into his mouth. Fear left him, and the pride of the eldest house of Men returned to him; and he said: "My fate, O King, led me hither, through perils such as few even of the Elves would dare. And here I have found what I sought not indeed, but finding I would possess for ever. For it is above all gold and silver, and beyond all jewels. Neither rock, nor steel, nor the fires of Morgoth, nor all the powers of the Elf-kingdoms, shall keep from me the treasure that I desire. For Luthien your daughter is the fairest of all the Children of the World." Then silence fell upon the hall..." fantasy luthien silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien
74e1728 The mind that thought of light, heavy, grey, yellow, still, swift, also conceived of magic that would make heavy things light and be able to fly, turn grey lead into yellow gold, and the still rock into a swift water. fantasy worldbuilding fantasy-fiction J.R.R. Tolkien
44c490d "Back in the "leather and lace" eighties, I was the fantasy editor for a publishing company in New York City. It was a great time to be young and footloose on the streets of Manhattan--punk rock and folk music were everywhere; Blondie, the Eurythmics, Cyndi Lauper, and Prince were all strutting their stuff on the newly created MTV; and the eighties' sense of style meant I could wear my scruffy black leather into the office without turning too many heads. The fantasy field was growing by leaps and bounds, and I was right in the middle of it, working with authors I'd worshiped as a teen, and finding new ones to encourage and publish." fantasy 80s 80s-nostalgia new-york nostalgia Terri Windling
b4f9295 I will lay my hand upon the flow of time, if need be, that you shall have however much of it you seek. fantasy rumpelstiltskin Naomi Novik
79aa403 I want to say to the literature teacher who remains wilfully, even boastfully ignorant of a major element of contemporary fiction: you are incompetent to teach or judge your subject. Readers and students who do know the field, meanwhile, have every right to challenge your ignorant prejudice. Rise, undergraduates of the English departments! You have nothing to lose but your A on the midterm! fantasy critics Ursula K. Le Guin
f2be045 Down through this verdant land Carter walked at evening, and saw twilight float up from the river to the marvelous golden spires of Thran. And just at the hour of dusk he came to the southern gate, and was stopped by a red-robed sentry till he had told three dreams beyond belief, and proved himself a dreamer worthy to walk up Thran's steep mysterious streets and linger in the bazaars where the wares of the ornate galleons were sold. Then into that incredible city he walked; through a wall so thick that the gate was a tunnel, and thereafter amidst curved and undulant ways winding deep and narrow between the heavenward towers. Lights shone through grated and balconied windows, and, the sound of lutes and pipes stole timid from inner courts where marble fountains bubbled. Carter knew his way, and edged down through darker streets to the river, where at an old sea tavern he found the captains and seamen he had known in myriad other dreams. There he bought his passage to Celephais on a great green galleon, and there he stopped for the night after speaking gravely to the venerable cat of that inn, who blinked dozing before an enormous hearth and dreamed of old wars and forgotten gods. dream fantasy lovecraft H.P. Lovecraft
a304bd8 By noon Carter reached the jasper terraces of Kiran which slope down to the river's edge and bear that temple of loveliness wherein the King of Ilek-Vad comes from his far realm on the twilight sea once a year in a golden palanquin to pray to the god of Oukranos, who sang to him in youth when he dwelt in a cottage by its banks. All of jasper is that temple, and covering an acre of ground with its walls and courts, its seven pinnacled towers, and its inner shrine where the river enters through hidden channels and the god sings softly in the night. Many times the moon hears strange music as it shines on those courts and terraces and pinnacles, but whether that music be the song of the god or the chant of the cryptical priests, none but the King of Ilek-Vad may say; for only he had entered the temple or seen the priests. Now, in the drowsiness of day, that carven and delicate fane was silent, and Carter heard only the murmur of the great stream and the hum of the birds and bees as he walked onward under the enchanted sun. fantasy lovecraft H.P. Lovecraft
e6a2f85 "Oh, Hank," Susan whispered, "their wings are furry." "Oh, James," Harriet whispered, "their hands are kind." kids compassion wonder fantasy friendship Ursula K. Le Guin
c2a8601 "I can't believe I have you here with me," she whispered and turned her face into his throat, nuzzling him. Inhaling. Tasting his skin with her tongue. "My life was pain and terror. You took away his voice. You gave me hope that my daughter would survive and others wouldn't shun her. I was terrified and alone, and you changed all that. You brought beauty and hope back into my life. Thank you for that, Dragomire. I swear I will spend every minute making you happy." Emeline to Dragomire, Dark Legacy, Dark #27" romance fantasy dark-27 dark-legacy mystery crime paranormal vampires Christine Feehan
20b358a *You are not yet in the Emerald Dream. First, you must remove your earthly shell...* the voice in his head instructed. *As you reach the state of sleep, you will slip your body off as you would a coat. Start from your heart and mind, for they are the links that most bind you to the mortal plane. See? This is how it is done...* - Chapter 4 fantasy spiritual other-worldly Richard A. Knaak
c847202 dJack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack forgot to check if the ice was thick. Emma was still, Emma was late, Emma's brother is now part of the lake. Time has passed, Time has gone, Time brought Jack back wrong. He was solemn, He was brave, He left his coat on Emma's grave. Emma was sad, Emma was scared, But she knew inside that Jack really cared. Jack was lost, Jack had forgot, That he had a story before the plot. Jack had wondered, Jack had fought, Jack had remembered what he had forgot. I hope you dream. I hope you wonder. I hope you have fun because this is done. Keep believing everyone. Jack be fearless, Jack be bold, Jack drowned when he was 17 years old. dream wonder fantasy fearless teen jack dead William Joyce
f0d6a10 You must never run from anything immortal. It attracts their attention. [...] Never run. [...] Walk slowly, and pretend to be thinking of something else. Sing a song, say a poem, do your tricks, but walk slowly and she may not follow. fantasy immortals Peter S. Beagle
235a3fd Your imaginary friend isn't the problem, Amanda. The problem is that you don't seem to have any real friends. death imagination fantasy friendship love imaginary-friend real psychiatry Rebecca McNutt
e6e51cf The problem with the so-called bloody surveillance state is that it's hard work trying to track someone's movements using CCTV - especially if they're on foot. Part of the problem is that the cameras all belong to different people for different reasons. Westminster Council has a network for traffic violations, the Oxford Street Trading Association has a huge network aimed at shop-lifters and pickpockets, individual shops have their own systems, as do pubs, clubs and buses. When you walk around London it is important to remember that Big Brother may be watching you, or he could be having a piss, or reading the paper or helping redirect traffic around a car accident or maybe he's just forgotten to turn the bloody thing on. fantasy cameras police-procedural security-cameras surveillance-society mystery Ben Aaronovitch
ec0809d Ma al di sopra di tutto c'e l'amore. E se desideriamo essere piu che umani, e quella la stella che dobbiamo seguire. fantasy Jacqueline Carey
91ff06a "And so shall honor Morgant," Gwydion said, "for what he used to be, and Ellidyr Prince of Pen-Llarcau for what he became." fantasy honor Lloyd Alexander
3c650e9 Quando l'Amore mi ha scacciata, e stata la Crudelta ad avere pieta di me. fantasy Jacqueline Carey
d1e8f95 "I had this guy's file pulled this morning, along with the rest of your neighbors. His name is Desperado." Pause. A few seconds passed. He was waiting for my reaction. "Did you say Desperado?" I couldn't stop the snort of laughter that bubbled to the surface. "Yeah," the Director confirmed. "He changed his name when he turned eighteen. It was Melvin." I was still laughing. "'Cause Desperado is so much better than Melvin." fiction fantasy humor joseph-carter keepers timeless-series tom-morris novella ya Laura Kreitzer
7fd2139 Say rather that the Ring has no power over him. He is his own master. But he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others. And now he is withdrawn into a little land, within bounds that he has set, though none can see them, waiting perhaps for a change of days, and he will not step beyond them. fantasy tom-bombadil ring J.R.R. Tolkien
0d7be9f "I lived in New York City back in the 1980s, which is when the Bordertown series was created. New York was a different place then -- dirtier, edgier, more dangerous, but also in some ways more exciting. The downtown music scene was exploding -- punk and folk music were everywhere -- and it wasn't as expensive to live there then, so a lot of young artists, musicians, writers, etc. etc. were all living and doing crazy things in scruffy neighborhoods like the East Village. I was a Fantasy Editor for a publishing company back then -- but in those days, "fantasy" to most people meant "imaginary world" books, like Tolkien's . A number of the younger writers in the field, however, wanted to create a branch of fantasy that was rooted in contemporary, urban North America, rather than medieval or pastoral Europe. I'd already been working with some of these folks (Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, etc.), who were writing novels that would become the foundations for the current Urban Fantasy field. At the time, these kinds of stories were considered so strange and different, it was actually hard to get them into print. When I was asked by a publishing company to create a shared-world anthology for Young Adult readers, I wanted to create an Urban Fantasy setting that was something like a magical version of New York...but I didn't want it to actually New York. I want it to be any city and every city -- a place that anyone from anywhere could go to or relate to. The idea of placing it on the border of Elfland came from the fact that I'd just re-read a fantasy classic called by the Irish writer . I love stories that take place on the borderlands between two different worlds...and so I borrowed this concept, but adapted it to a modern, punky, urban setting. I drew upon elements of the various cities I knew best -- New York, Boston, London, Dublin, maybe even a little of Mexico City, where I'd been for a little while as a teen -- and scrambled them up and turned them into Bordertown. There actually IS a Mad River in southern Ohio (where I went to college) and I always thought that was a great name, so I imported it to Bordertown. As for the water being red, that came from the river of blood in the Scottish folk ballad which Thomas must cross to get into Elfland. [speaking about young-adult fantasy bordertown urban-fantasy ya young-adult-urban-fantasy Terri Windling
ba9f82a Where was his knife, upon which he relied? He had cut cheese for their noonday meal, and had packed the knife away with the cheese. Aillas said: 'Sir, before we continue with this matter, may I offer you a bite of cheese?' 'I care for no cheese, though it is an amusing concept.' 'In that case, allow me a moment while I cut a morsel or two for myself, as I hunger.' 'I have no time to spare while you eat cheese; prepare instead for death. humour fantasy Jack Vance
a959726 Therefore it seemed a dreadful injustice that these wise races should perish at the hands of creatures who were still little more than animals. It was as if vultures feasted on and squabbled over the paralyzed body of the youthful poet who could only stare at them with puzzled eyes as they slowly robbed him of an exquisite existence they would never appreciate, never know they were taking. injustice fantasy exquiste human-nature Michael Moorcock
c26b362 We pretended to be of mud instead of stars. We pretended not to fly. fantasy Shana Abe
8714cb8 If any man tries to stop us, cut him down. fantasy lady-catelyn men-and-women George R.R. Martin
47cc0cb Fear and work weren't all bad, as companions went. They were both better than loneliness, and the deeper fears, the worse ones that I knew would come true: that I wouldn't see my mother and father for ten years, that I'd never live again in my own home, never run wild in the woods again, that whatever strange alchemy acted on the Dragon's girls would soon begin to take hold of me, and make me into someone I wouldn't recognize at the end of it. fantasy mythology-fiction Naomi Novik
13413e6 Create or arouse such unbridled forces and you built carnal fantasies of enormous complexity. You could lead whole populations around by their desires, by their fantasy projections. myth politics fantasy drives urges projection power Frank Herbert
214e1fa Robert explained how much simpler it was to pay money for things than to exchange them as the people were doing in the market. Later on the soldier gave the coins to his captain, who, later still, showed them to Pharaoh, who of course kept them and was much struck with the idea. That was really how coins first came to be used in Egypt. You will not believe this, I daresay, but really, if you believe the rest of the story, I don't see why you shouldn't believe this as well. fantasy humor egypt E. Nesbit
9dc2c37 The same virtues, in the end, the same virtue (love), are required throughout, and fantasy (self) can prevent us from seeing a blade of grass just as it can prevent us from seeing another person. An increasing awareness of 'goods' and the attempt (usually only partially successful) to attend to them purely, without self, brings with it an increasing awareness of the unity and interdependence of the moral world. One-seeking intelligence is the image of faith. unity illusion good fantasy love self vision intellect Iris Murdoch
78d08d7 I will do anything to save Laurana, he swore beneath his breath, clenching his fist. Anything! If it means sacrificing myself or-- He stopped. Would he really give up Berem? Would he really trade the Everman to the Dark Queen, perhaps plunge the world into a darkness so vast it would never see light again? No, Tanis told himself firmly. Laurana would die before she would be part of such a bargain. sacrifice fantasy dragonlance-chronicles dragons-of-spring-dawning green-gemstone-man laurana margaret-weis tanis the-evermen tracy-hickman dragonlance price Margaret Weis
04f9233 But this was fancy; she was succumbing to fancy in a way she hadn't done before. fantasy fancy Gregory Maguire
287bdea "Stop tormenting Derian." "Me?" Edgar gaped at her with a clearly fake look of innocence. "Yes, you." "And what about you? When will you stop tormenting him?" Edgar moved past the young queen to approach the unmoving captain. He circled the man as though he were checking out a statue on display "I'm not tormenting him; why would you say that?" "You have the poor guy believing you actually intend to marry him." Edgar stopped to fix the captain's collar, raising it up high and stiff around his neck. "I intend to marry him." Eena followed her immortal watchdog and folded down the captain's collar, repositioning it as it had been. "Oh please," Edgar groaned. "You've had two opportunities to do so, and on both occasions you turned him down." Edgar elevated the captain's elbow--adjusting him like a mannequin--leaving it in an awkward position. "The council expressed a desire for you to marry, and you nearly hyperventilated over the mere suggestion. And just recently, due to his own paranoia, Derian all but begged you to marry him. Your refusal couldn't have been more swift or more adamant." Eena returned the captain's elbow to his side as she retorted, "I'm only seventeen, Edgar! I have no desire to marry anyone right now. But when I ready, Derian be my husband." Edgar took hold of the captain's outreaching arm and shoved it forcefully down. "He will not." "He will so!" Eena raised the arm back to where it had been and warned her rival, "Don't touch him again, Edgarmetheus!" "Fine, fine," the immortal ceded. Then with a smug grin he added, "If this had been Ian, you would never have let me touch him in the first place." romance fantasy eena edgarmetheus richelle-e-goodrich the-harrowbethian-saga richelle richelle-goodrich ian scifi Richelle E. Goodrich
7347608 "Let us consider Elfland as a great national park, a vast and beautiful place where a person goes by himself, on foot, to get in touch with reality in a special, private, profound fashion. But what happens when it is considered merely as a place to "get away to"? Well, you know what has happened to Yosemite. Everybody comes, not with an ax and a box of matches, but in a trailer with a motorbike on the back and a motorboat on top and a butane stove, five aluminum folding chairs, and a transistor radio on the inside. They arrive totally encapsulated in a secondhand reality. And then they move on to Yellowstone, and it's just the same there, all trailers and transistors. They go from park to park, but they never really go anywhere; except when one of them who thinks that even the wildlife isn't real gets chewed up by a genuine, firsthand bear. The same sort of thing seems to be happening to Elfland, lately." reality fantasy encapulsation Ursula K. Le Guin
c04d037 "The wise man," the dragon rumbled, "does not play games with dragons." fantasy banewreaker jacqueline-carey the-sundering high-fantasy wise dragons dragon Jacqueline Carey
90ed434 Non c'e appagamento che non sia reso piu dolce dal protrarsi del desiderio. fantasy desiderio rosa Jacqueline Carey
ed6e966 "Tolkien came to regard the tale of Beren and Tinuviel as 'the first example of the motive (to become dominant in Hobbits) that the great policies of world history, "the wheels of the world", are often turned not by the Lords and Governors, even gods, but by the seemingly unknown and weak'. Such a worldview is inherent in the fairy-tale (and Christian) idea of the happy ending in which the dispossessed are restored to joy; but perhaps Tolkien was also struck by the way it had been borne out in the Great War, when ordinary people stepped out of ordinary lives to carry the fate of nations." tolkien fantasy John Garth
c553aa1 "And not only the world but humanity itself does need dragons" "And why is that?" Chade demanded disdainfully. "To keep the balance," the Fool replied. He glanced over me, and then past me, out of the window and his eyes went far and pensive. "Humanity fears no rivals. You have forgotten what it was to share the world with creatures as arrogantly superior as yourselves. You think to arrange the world to your liking. So you map the land and draw lines across it, claiming ownership simply because you can draw a picture of it. The plants that grow and the beasts that rove, you mark as your own, claiming not only what lives today, but what might grow tomorrow, to do with as you please. Then, in your conceit and aggression, you wage wars and slay one another over the lines you have imagined on the world's face." "And I suppose dragons are better than we are because they don't do such things, because they simply take whatever they see. Free spirits, nature's creatures, possessing all the moral loftiness that comes from not being able to think." The Fool shook his head, smiling. "No. Dragons are no better than humans. They are little different at all from men. They will hold up a mirror to humanity's selfishness. They will remind you that all your talk of owning this and claiming that is no more than the snarling of a chained dog or a sparrow's challenge song. The reality of those claims lasts but for the instant of its sounding. Name it as you will, claim it as you will, the world does not belong to men. Men belong to the world. You will not own the earth that eventually your body will become, nor will it recall the name it once answered to." humanity fantasy fitzchivalry-farseer the-fool dragons fool Robin Hobb
9d07045 Everybody has magic, it's just that most people either don't know it, or don't believe it. magic fantasy wizardry sorcery talent powers Rebecca McNutt
d1563b4 Some people spend their whole lives in a fantasy world, and that's not a good thing! good world imagination fantasy fantasy-world recluse mental-illness psychology Rebecca McNutt
c373359 Fantasy is unconstrained by truth. fantasy truth spring-dec-1530 thomas-cromwell henry-viii Hilary Mantel
bc13ebd Her silent singing wrapped around the story she was telling herself, which she extended further every night on the deck. (Averill often told herself stories-- the activity seemed to her as unavoidable as dreaming.) Her singing was a barrier set between the world in her head and the world outside, between her body and the onslaught of the stars. story fantasy music inner-world singing story-telling Alice Munro
e49c8a4 Why did everyone like that story so much when it wasn't true? Why was everyone so eager to believe it? Was it because, in real life, ever after's generally stink? romance reality fantasy love truth fairytale façades made-up happy-ever-after Margaret Peterson Haddix
b935718 The well-intentioned mothers who don't want their children polluted by fairy tales would not only deny them their childhood, with its high creativity, but they would have them conform to the secular world, with its dirty devices. The world of fairy tale, fantasy, myth, is inimical to the secular world, and in total opposition to it, for it is interested not in limited laboratory proofs but in truth. myth fantasy truth Madeleine L'Engle
5e3060f Understand something people, we will be hated by many in the name of Christ, ridiculed, mocked, stoned, slaughtered. We will be fined, jailed and killed for our love for Christ. You are supposed to see better with your eyes today, how close this is happening, just prepare your heart and soul to be braver than Peter and not deny Christ in the moment your life might be in jeopardy for Him and what you believe. Apostle Pauls says to live is Christ to die is gain. money words time pain love-quotes literature marriage mind grief feminism loss history reading prayer nature world depression people women freedom dream joy future politics friends leadership quote work inspirational-quotes life-quotes living motivation family destiny imagination fantasy dreams sadness positive-thinking strength music friendship motivational spiritual heart endtime fiction-food-for-though humanity-humour intelligence-is-attractive life-and-living-life-philosophy magic-spirit meditation-men passion-peace patience-johnson pentecost reality-relationship trust-war earning motivational-quotes repentance wisdom-quotes society purpose quotes forgiveness self-improvement power self-help soul patience psychology Patience Johnson
a3efe44 "Know this, sivamet-this child will be mine. I will take Vadim's blood from you and exchange it for mine. Eventually, over time, she will be ours. My child and yours. My blood will change her cells. her organs, reshaping and repairing any damage. 'The healer-" - Dragomir to Emeline" romance fantasy christine-feehan dark-27 dark-legacy mystery crime paranormal vampires Christine Feehan
087ddfb Guilt is a strong motivator, sometimes even stronger than love. young-adult family fantasy portal-fantasy young-adult-fantasy brothers guilt Cornelia Funke
232fdaa Truth or lie... he had always chosen the lie, to spare his little brother any unpleasant truth. lies family fantasy truth-or-lie young-adult-fantasy brothers siblings liar Cornelia Funke
878a1d2 It was as if I had been following a narrow trail, and had suddenly realized that at any time I could leave it and strike out cross-country. fantasy inspirational Robin Hobb
095abe7 A medida que un hombre adquiere mas poder y sabiduria, se le estrecha el camino, hasta que al fin no elige, y hace pura y simplemente lo que tiene que hacer... fantasy Ursula K. Le Guin
f73ce59 In my stubborn youth, I believed that I could stand alone, that I was strong enough to conquer my enemies with sword and with principles. Arrogance convinced me that by sheer determination, I could conquer helplessness itself. Stubborn and foolish youth, I must admit, for when I look back on those years now, I see quite clearly that rarely did I stand alone and rarely did I have to stand alone. Always there were friends, true and dear, lending me support even when I believed I did not want it, and even when I did not realize they were doing it. fantasy friendship forgotten-realms principles R.A. Salvatore
eaeb2b4 That night she dreamed about the King again. She stood in a riverside meadow between greenwood and castle. Overhead the sun shone gilt in a sky like powdered lapis and struck golden sparks from the King's blood-red dragon banner. fantasy pendragon-s-heir king-arthur mythology legend Suzannah Rowntree
4878c45 Magic is always impossible. It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That's why it is magic. fantasy illustrations Kate DiCamillo
8cf3ce3 Fostering magical thinking, the chivalric romance yields a space-time in which the marvelous co-exists at all times with mundane routines. Its magic is able to envision the invisible, to endow the amorphous with palpable shape, and to place illusion and reality on the same level. Concurrently, the romance reminds us that it is essential to value the magical realm's irreducible alterity and inscrutability, rather than attempt to tame it by rationalizing its wonders. fantasy chivalric-romance Dani Cavallaro
666e41e Just think of it as a picnic with guns and monsters instead of mosquitoes and ants. Do we have fun or what? fantasy humor Laurence Yep
995796d The Fourth Crown Princess of the blue Cresent Islands had sixteen rituals to observe from the moment of waking to when she broke her fast. romance fantasy julia-golding ram tashi ya-novel Julia Golding
bf5e248 Tanelorn had taken many forms in her endless existence, but all those forms, save one, had been beautiful. fantasy Michael Moorcock
6fd3f90 "Arren vide sempre meglio i draghi che si libravano nella brezza mattutina, e il suo cuore trasali di gioia nell'assistere a quel volo. Vi era racchiusa tutta la gloria della mortalita. La bellezza dei draghi era fatta di una forza terribile, della piu totale ferocia e nel contempo della grazia della ragione. magic fantasy ged Ursula K. Le Guin
8cd4ef4 I think it's the whole 'bad boy who's so good but destined to break your heart' fantasy. Which doesn't sound like much of a fantasy when you put the broken heart part in the picture, but it is. It so is. fantasy heart broken-heart running dangerous Lisa Renee Jones
dc7d00d Therese of Austry would have made a great treasure hunter if she hadn't been born the daughter of an Emperor. young-adult fantasy strong-women treasure-hunting portal-fantasy young-adult-fantasy leaders royalty queen Cornelia Funke
9a3940c "I need to kiss you. I know. I feel it too. romance fantasy paranormal Christine Feehan
0a5a820 "I want to marry Gino," Zara admitted. "I'm crazy in love with him. I can't stand it when he isn't close to me, but I don't know the first thing about relationships, being a wife, making him a home and making him happy." romance fantasy paranormal Christine Feehan
1669cfa I'm not just a brain to you. I'm a person. romance fantasy paranormal Christine Feehan
7387074 "Nice girl. Wears too much makeup." "Most chicks hate her." "Most chicks wish they looked like her. And they wish they had her money and boyfriend." I stop and regard her in disgust. "Burro Face?" "Oh, please, Alex. Colin Adams is cute, he's the captain of the football team and Fairfield's hero. You're like Danny Zuko in Grease. You smoke, you're in a gang, and you've dated the hottest bad girls around. Brittany is like Sandy ... a Sandy who'll never show up to school in a black leather jacket with a ciggie hangin' from her mouth. Give up the fantasy." hate fantasy colin-adams danny-zuko sandy brittany-ellis grease compare wish Simone Elkeles
82c8536 In this state, the club was The Wizard of Oz made obvious: All the magic that went on here night after night, all the buzz and excitement, was really just a combination of electronics, booze, and chemicals, an illusion for the people who walked through the front doors, a fantasy that allowed them to be whatever they weren't in their day-to-day lives. fantasy J.R. Ward
77b49c1 Solo en el silencio la palabra, solo en la oscuridad la luz, solo en la muerte la vida; el brillo del halcon brilla en el cielo vacio. fantasy Ursula K. Le Guin
b823f05 Encender una vela es proyectar una sombra... fantasy Ursula K. Le Guin
c02c23b ..There were two undeniable truths in the Realms: It was very easy to overestimate a drow and even easier to underestimate a dwarf. fantasy drow dungeons-dragons-rpgs elf dwarf R.A. Salvatore
6574ce4 After the third [San Miguel], I am likely to announce that all writing is fantasy anyway: that to set any event down in print is immediately to begin to lie about it, thank goodness; and that it's no less absurd and presumptuous to try on the skin of a bank teller than that of a Bigfoot or a dragon. writing fantasy authorship Peter S. Beagle
65a4be1 They stared into the distance as though they were being absorbed into an alternate space-time reality. Perhaps they were. But probably they already had been. fiction fantasy serio-comic Amy Tanner
07bacfa The Dark Fairy touched her chest. No heart, like her sisters. So where did the love come from? fairy-tales young-adult fantasy love fairytales heartless-love portal-fantasy young-adult-fantasy Cornelia Funke
eef25af Hentzau saw the Jade Goyl just as clearly as the Fairy had in her dreams. The pale green stone ran through his human skin like a promise. fantasy fantasy-worlds fairytales portal-fantasy young-adult-fantasy fairy Cornelia Funke
bd09341 You make peace with one sister only to declare war on the other. It's always like that with peace, isn't it? Always to someone's detriment, already sowing the seed for the next war. fairy-tales war young-adult fantasy war-and-peace portal-fantasy young-adult-fantasy peace Cornelia Funke
1f1e95d "They came with hardly a warning," Moya said. "Hundreds pouring over the chasm, both beautiful and terrible, wearing shining gold and shimmering blue. With them came whirlwinds and giants. Nothing can stop them. They're coming still." fantasy Michael J. Sullivan
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