From Tina Connolly’s story, One Ear Back, in which our human protagonist finally becomes human, after many years in the body of a cat.
I feel strangely hollow these days. Lost between worlds; I can’t curl up with my pack of cats, nor can I feel at ease with these large-souled humans. Osvif and Ingy overflow with generosity to me. But I seem to have used up my humanity in my quest to become one.
Ridiculous longings! The dreams of a kitten. I knew where my soul was, once. It fit right between the ears, in a little fuzzy body.
Once I had a right-sized soul, the soul of a cat.
“First, you must understand that Soothing is about more than just Allomancy. It’s about the delicate and noble art of manipulation.”
“Noble indeed,” Vin said.
“Ah, you sound like one of them,” Breeze said.
“Them who?”
“Them everyone else.” Breeze said.
Mistborn: the Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Scenes from the beautiful animated short, I Lived on the Moon, by Yannick Puig with music by Kwoon. I first discovered it several years ago and it’s stayed with me. Visit the official website to learn about the animator’s process and see some of his inspirations. I recommend watching it on his vimeo webpage. Here are the lyrics to the music. Via the I lived on the Moon Official Website.
“When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I’m in the book.”
Harry is being detained by a rookie cop. Sorta.
“Uh, hey…?”, he said feebly. “Maybe you should sit down. You don’t look so good and you’re sort of under arrest still.”
“I can’t be under arrest now.” I said back to him. “I don’t have time.”
So, because your granny can’t find the time to put pen to paper and assure me that you two will be educated, I had to get on a 5am train and sit next to a man who sniffed his own armpits over and over again for 2 hours!
Ms Smirt, caseworker for the Sisters Grimm.
The Sisters Grimm: The Unusual Suspects by Michael Buckley
Centurion Giraldi finds himself in one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations.
“Mutiny”, he muttered, “Assaulting a senior officer, abducting a senior officer, misrepresenting the orders of a senior officer…”
“What’s that, centurion?”
“I’m counting how many ways I’ll be executed, your Ladyship.”
“Look at it this way”, Amara said, “If you live to be hanged, we’ll all be very fortunate.”
Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
La Balade des Gnomes is a fantastical Belgian b&b designed and built by architect and hotelier Mr Noël in Belgium. The rooms are located in a farmhouse, with a Trojan Horse suite nearby. You’ll need to lower the drawbridge to gain access to that horse.
Sleep in a boat floating in a pool with the stars above—on the third foor of the farmhouse. Or in a wine cellar with vines, barrels and wine press furniture. Or on a spaceship in a lunar landscape. My personal favorite is the trolls habitat, with a goldfish filled stream running through.
(via La Balade des Gnomes)
No matter how many times you see the dead walk, you always forget just how rubbish they are when they really get moving. Sure, they look okay when they first break through the wall. They get points for shock value; their gaping sockets and gnashing teeth. And sometimes, if the reanimation spell is really up to scratch, there are disembodied screams.
But then they start pursuing you clumsily around the temple; pelvises jerking, femurs high kicking, holding out their bony arms in a way that’s meant to be sinister but looks more as if they’re about to sit down at a piano and bash out a honky tonk rag.
And the faster they go, the more their teeth start rattling and the more their necklaces bounce up and get lodged in their eyeholes. And then they start tripping over their grave clothes and tumbling to the floor and generally getting in the way of any nimble footed djinni who happens to be passing. And as is the way with skeletons never once do they come out with any really good one-liners, which might add a bit of zest to the life-or-death situation you’re in.
“Oh, come on” I said, as I hung from the wall. “There must be someone here worth talking to.”
Bartimaeus from The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud. Just telling it like it is.
“Well, nothing’s going to kill us in these next ten yards. That’s a sensation that isn’t going to last, believe me, so enjoy it while you can.”
Bartimaeus in The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
