Ariel

“‘Different laws of physics,’” said Ariel, “and ‘supernatural’ seem synonymous to me.”

Nothing’s worth living for if there aren’t things you think are worth dying for.

“The National Hot Air Museum is just down the road a piece,” he added. “Better known by its branch names: the Capitol and the White House.”

Innocence is in many ways ignorance.

Don’t go looking for adventure; you might find it.

Tip: utopian and floral town names are inversely proportional to their hellholishness.

I don’t think I believe Evil exists. I believe selfishness does.

The end of the world turned out to be something I preferred to fantasize about rather than experience.

You had to be a virgin to touch a unicorn...

A flush crept up my neck. Okay, so I’d touched her. Being a virgin had some advantages after all. Hooray.

Language is a biggie, too. I utterly loathe fantasy novels in which characters stride thusly up yon hill. Walk up the damned thing, for the love of god. This Renaissance Faire lily-gilding has damaged the veracity of contemporary fantasy more than any single quality I can think of (though arguably the inability of many fantasy [and science fiction] writers to have the perspective to see how often they engage in what Freud called “projection” may be an equal culprit in the self-ghettoization of fantasy and science fiction as literary forms).

The Boyett Style Guide: (a) anything worth doing is worth overdoing (I can’t write a check if it isn’t in iambic pentameter); (b) anything worth saying is worth saying three times; (c) leave no literary stone unturned; (d) fill all cracks, paint all surfaces, and illuminate all dark corners; and (e) whenever two or more metaphors are suitable, use them all. I never metaphor I didn’t like.

“But we’ve got to be quiet. Understand?”

“I know how to be quiet. Even girls can do it, under pressure.”

Change implies cause, and cause implies source. Things don’t just happen.

A difference which makes no difference is no difference.

Life goes on, yes, and our capacity for self-deception accompanies it.