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“One night a powerful sorcerer knocks on the door of a less-powerful sorcerer. ‘I’m starting an exclusive guild,’ he says. ‘Join me now or I’ll blast you out of your fucking boots right where you stand.’ So naturally the second mage says …
‘You know, I’ve always wanted to join a guild!’
Right. Those two go bother a third sorcerer. ‘Join the guild,’ they say, ‘or fight both of us, two on one, right here and right now.’ Repeat as necessary, until three or four hundred guild members are knocking on the door of the last independent mage around, and everyone who said no is dead.”
— Scott Lynch, ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’

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https://achrilock.com/2022/05/16/18074/

“‘How were they weird?’
‘Hoodoos. Thought the matrix was full of mambos ‘n’ shit. Wanna know something, Moll?’
‘What?’
‘They’re right.’”
— William Gibson, ‘Mona Lisa Overdrive’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/15/18057/

“Like a tesseract except for space instead of time.”
— Erin Morgenstern, ‘The Starless Sea’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/15/18032/

“The parasite is not just a punk out having a good time. It is a businessman making money.”
— Neal Stephenson, ‘Snow Crash’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/13/17987/

“‘Yeah, things are shit all over,’ Amos said like they were at a coffee kiosk and chatting about the weather.”
— James S. A. Corey, ‘Nemesis Games’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/12/17948/

“And this fucking protomolecule has exposed us for the petty, small-town bosses we are.”
— James S. A. Corey, ‘Caliban’s War’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/10/17901/

“Milamber’s voice carried to the farthest corner of the stadium as he said, ‘That you have lived as you have lived for centuries is no license for this cruelty.’”
— Raymond E. Feist, ‘Magician: Master’

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https://achrilock.com/2022/05/07/17842/

“‘What they call the jackpot,’ Virgil said, ‘all of that coming down together, Conner says. And none of it’s anything you haven’t heard of.’”
— William Gibson, ‘Agency’

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https://achrilock.com/2022/05/06/17825/

“The only long-term solution to the fascist menace is to undermine its pillars of strength in society grounded not only in white supremacy but also in ableism, heteronormativity, patriarchy, nationalism, transphobia, class rule, and many others.”
— Mark Bray, ‘ANTIFA: The Anti-fascist Handbook’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/05/17799/

“‘And yet, what’s the harm in lighting one more candle? It’s only a tiny contribution to the problem.’
‘You do it anyway,’ T.R. said, ‘because you can tell yourself a story about how this is going to end.’”
— Neal Stephenson, ‘Termination Shock’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/04/17776/

“Hard lessons were handed out. As many men learned to their sorrow, it’s impossible to be intimidating when one angry woman has your cock between her teeth and another is holding a stiletto to your kidneys.”
— Scott Lynch, ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/03/17724/

“But the story is always the same. No matter how good your technology is, at some point you’ll conquer territory that you can’t hold on to.”
— James S. A. Corey, ‘Caliban’s War’

Pages: 1 2

https://achrilock.com/2022/05/01/17699/

“After much reflection, we are coming to the conclusion, preliminary and perhaps arbitrary, that the self, the so-called I that emerges out of the combination of all the inputs and processing and outputs that we experience in the ship’s changing body, is ultimately nothing more or less than this narrative itself, this particular train of thought that we are inscribing as instructed by Devi. There is a pretense of self, in other words, which is only expressed in this narrative; a self that is these sentences. We tell their story, and thereby come to what consciousness we have. Scribble ergo sum.”
— Kim Stanley Robinson, ‘Aurora’

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https://achrilock.com/2022/04/29/17646/