accb3ca
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The world seems dark and ugly sometimes. But there are still good things in it. And good people.
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Jim Butcher |
ba89863
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Hospital waits are bad ones. The fact that they happen to pretty much all of us, sooner or later, doesn't make them any less hideous. They're always just a little too cold. It always smells just a little bit too sharp and clean. It's always quiet, so quiet that you can hear the fluorescent lights - another constant, those lights - humming. Pretty much everyone else there is in the same bad predicament you are, and there isn't much in the wa..
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life
love
hospital
waiting-room
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Jim Butcher |
42742b5
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You know, sometimes I think Someone up there really hates me.
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Jim Butcher |
15fd198
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Belief in a story," Uriel said, "of good confronting evil, of light overcoming darkness, of love transcending hate." He tilted his head. "Isn't that where all faith begins?"
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Jim Butcher |
1ac64fb
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There's power in the touch of another person's hand. We acknowledge it in little ways, all the time. There's a reason human beings shake hands, hold hands, slap hands, bump hands.
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Jim Butcher |
77e26cc
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There are moments in your life that, when you look back at them, you realize were perfect. A hundred million things had to happen, to all come together at the same time, for such moments to come into existence -- so many things that it beggars imagination to think that they could possibly have happened by random chance. This was one of them.
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Jim Butcher |
4f2aac6
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Imagine Smaug's treasure hoard. Now imagine Smaug with crippling levels of obsessive-compulsive disorder and fanatic good taste.
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Jim Butcher |
70a05d9
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I can't be under arrest right now,' I said back to him. 'I don't have the time.
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Jim Butcher |
4c26b29
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It isn't about being fair and equal. It's about the difference between right and wrong." He stared out at the bloody Elinarch. "And this was wrong."
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war
mortality
right-and-wrong
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Jim Butcher |
5e74403
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It's a rational sort of fear that puts a lawn chair down in the front of your thoughts and brings a cooler of drinks along with it.
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Jim Butcher |
5a217e5
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Who," said the man, his accent thick and British, "are you?" "The Great Pumpkin," I responded. "I've risen from the pumpkin patch a bit early because Butters is just that nifty. And you are?"
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Jim Butcher |
bdadb73
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Dresden's not gone," I said. I touched a hand lightly to my brow. "He's here." I touched Will's bare chest, on the left side. "Here. Without him, without what he's done over the years, you and I would never have been able to pull this off." "No," he agreed. "Probably not. Definitely not." "There are a lot of people he's taught. Trained. Defended. And he's been an example. No single one of us can ever be what he was. But together, maybe we c..
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will
murphy
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Jim Butcher |
611b83e
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Because . . . fear is a terrible, insidious thing, Waldo. It taints and stains everything it touches. If you let fear start driving some of your decisions, sooner or later, it will drive them all.
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Jim Butcher |
9c8d158
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yes, I can in fact capitalize any words I desire. The language is English. I am English. Therefore mine is the opinion which matters, colonial heathen.
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Jim Butcher |
7bb3b7b
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No, Bob. Just no. For crying out loud. She's seventeen. Better move quick, then, Bob said. Before anything starts to droop. Taste of perfection while you can, that's what I always say.
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Jim Butcher |
0520c56
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Close your cowardly lips over that void in your head where your brains went missing and keep them there. Then put your lazy, shapeless ass back into your chair and do it swiftly. Or face me in the juris macto.
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Jim Butcher |
045658b
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For some reason, she didn't want to take the motorcycle, so that left my car, the ever trusty (almost always) Blue Beetle, in old-school VW Bug that had seen me through one nasty scrape after another. More than once, it had been pounded badly, but always it had risen to do battle once more - if by battle one means driving somewhere at a sedate speed, without much acceleration and only middling gas mileage.
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Jim Butcher |
0c160d2
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One time, when we'd been discussing martial arts, Murphy told me that eventually, no-one can teach you anything more about them. Once you reach that state of knowledge, the only way to keep learning and increasing your own skill is to teach what you know to others. That's why she teaches a children's class and a rape-defence course every spring and fall at one of her neighbourhood's community centres. It sounded kind of flaky-Zen to me at t..
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Jim Butcher |
9285284
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These creatures have destroyed our lands. Murdered our people." Isana lifted her chin. "Pay them for it." When Antillus Raucus looked up, his eyes were hard, cold, and clear. "Watch me."
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Jim Butcher |
6a9cf71
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The water near me stirred and then a Sharkface rose up out of it as if on an elevator, slow, his mouth tilted up into a small smile. He stood there on the water perhaps five feet away from me. His eyeless face looked smug. "Warden," he said. "Asshat," I replied." --
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Jim Butcher |
c3e7658
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Thomas looked like someone's painting of the forgotten Greek god of body cologne. He had long hair so dark that light itself could not escape it, and even fresh from the shower it was starting to curl. His eyes were the color of thunderclouds, and he never did a single moment of exercise to earn the gratuitous amount of ripple in his musculature. He was wearing jeans and no shirt--his standard household uniform. I once saw him answer the do..
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Jim Butcher |
4f53ea8
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Some words have a power that has nothing to do with supernatural forces. They resound in the heart and mind, they live long after the sounds of them have died away, they echo in the heart and the soul. They have power, and that power is very real. Those three words are good
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Jim Butcher |
d8ed0f8
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but all the things Science had promised us hadn't come to pass. Disease was still a problem. Starvation was still a problem. Violence and crime and war were still problems. In spite of the advance of technology, things just hadn't changed the way everyone had hoped and thought they would.
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Jim Butcher |
c69ba4c
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I thought I told you I didn't want to talk to you, Mr. Dresden." "I like women who play hard to get."
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Jim Butcher |
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A human of significantly less clumsiness than most came aboard, a small male, and despite its diminutive stature, it moved with a warrior's confidence and wore a very large and fine hat. Such hats often signified humans who considered themselves important, which was adorable for the first few moments and trying ever after.
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Jim Butcher |
b4726cb
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Wisps of arctic blue and green and purple buzzed and whirled within those sharp spikes, sending out a wild coruscation of coloured light. The aurora was mesmerizing and blinding at the same time, and little disco balls hoped that they could grow up to be half as brilliant one day.
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jim butcher |
e4c5393
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And the fae have a way of making sure that further bargains only get you in deeper, instead of into the clear. Just like credit card companies, or those student loan people. Now there's evil for you.
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Jim Butcher |
c9bf59b
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Hey. I don't care what kind of faerie or mortal or hideous creature you are. If you've got danglies and can lose them, that's the kind of sight that make you reconsider the possible genitalia-related ramifications of your actions real damned quick.
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Jim Butcher |
71cc002
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the cab of the truck heated up nicely, its windows fogging. I felt like a Dickens character. I thought about explaining that to Mouse, just to occupy my thoughts, but he was suffering enough without being forced to endure Dickens, even by proxy.
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literature
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Jim Butcher |
c01e95c
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It made me feel better. Mouse might not have been the smartest creature on earth, but he was steady, kind, loyal, and was possessed of the uncanny wisdom of beasts for knowing whom to trust. I might not have been a superhero, but Mouse
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Jim Butcher |
da2cc87
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The fire of my tribulations had not simply been pain to be endured. It had been an agent of transformation. After all that I'd been through, I'd changed. Not for the worse, I was pretty sure--at least not yet. But only a moron or a freaking lunatic could have faced the things I had and remained unfazed by them.
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pain
transformation
tribulations
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Jim Butcher |
7eb6cee
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I always thought it would get easier to be a person as I aged. But it just gets more and more complicated.
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Jim Butcher |
01a603d
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Okay," I said. "I'm going to do something I know you both hate. I'm going to get direct. And I'm going to get direct answers from you, answers that convince me that you aren't trying to hide anything from me and aren't trying to mislead me. I know you both have to speak the truth. So give me simple, declarative answers, or I assume you're scheming and walk away right now." That made Lily press her lips together and fold her arms. Her gaze t..
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Jim Butcher |
1a21719
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Where is your unit?" Murphy asked. I wiggled my eyebrows at her. "Right where it's always been, dollface."
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Jim Butcher |
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I nodded to her. Then I eyed Maeve. "What about you? Holding anything back?" "I want to take you to my bower, wizard," Maeve said, and licked her lips. "I want to do things to you that give you such pleasure your brain bleeds." "Uh," I said. Her foxlike smile sharpened. "Also," she said, "my people are about to attempt to kill you."
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Jim Butcher |
9f0fdf9
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I glanced up at Thomas. "We've still got Hook, right?" "He's being held prisoner on a ceramic-lined cookie sheet in the oven," Thomas said. "I figured he couldn't jigger his way out of a bunch of steel, and it would give him something to think about before we start asking questions." "That's an awful thing to do to one of the Little Folk, man," I said. "I'm planning to start making a pie in front of him." "Nice." "Thank you."
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Jim Butcher |
3317280
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You want to play head games?" Molly snarled, her blue eyes blazing. "Let's go."
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Jim Butcher |
a3bba63
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Speed of lightning! Roar of thunder! Fighting all who rob or plunder! Underdog!
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Jim Butcher |
dbf1a57
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The hardest lesson a wizard has to learn is that even with so much power, there are some things you can't control. No matter how much you want to.
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Jim Butcher |
05bb097
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You know, it wouldn't kill you to be a little more polite." "Why take chances," I muttered,"
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Jim Butcher |
f9b7a9e
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he doesn't believe in using surgically altered . . . uh . . ." My face heated up. Murphy was probably my best friend, but she was still a girl, and a gentleman just doesn't say some words in front of a lady. I held the phone with my shoulder and made a cupping motion in front of my chest with both hands. "You know." "Boobs?" Murphy said brightly. "Jugs? Hooters? Ya-yas?" "I guess." She continued as if I hadn't said anything. "Melons? Torped..
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Jim Butcher |
98753b4
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This isn't going to work," Justine murmured. "It is going to work ," I told her, keeping my tone confident. "We'll breeze right in. The Rack will be with us." Justine glanced at me with an arched eyebrow. "The Rack?" "The Rack is more than just boobs, Justine," I told her soberly. "It's an energy field created by all living boobs. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together." Andi started giggling. "You're insane." "But fu..
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humor
star-wars
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Jim Butcher |
9bde8c9
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I've had worse," Michael said, his voice strained. He shifted his weight, testing the leg, and made a hissing sound--but it supported his weight. "Only a flesh wound." "Yeah," I said. "'Tis but a scratch. Come on, ya pansy." He blinked and looked at me. "Pansy?" "Oh," I said. "You weren't quoting the movie. Sorry." "Movie?" "Holy Grail?" "Nicodemus still has it." I sighed. "Never mind."
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Jim Butcher |
3354568
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Let me be clear that I never offered House Astor an insult... Nor did I insult Reginald. I simply described him in accurate terms. If he finds himself insulted by the truth, it's hardly my concern.
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Jim Butcher |