“The night is a hand on the back of her neck, heavy, unwelcome, and she feels dizzy, unmoored, the world gone soft under her feet, her senses knocked off-kilter- like taking a nap in the afte…

“The first time Esther met Rin, they were a storm. While walking in the Modal Lands she was caught in a howling gale, and took shelter beneath one of the granite outcroppings that littered th…

“The journey was a nightmare, yet a nightmare painted on a background that stirred Terelle’s soul. The wide skies, the strange orange light of dawn, the burning white sun of midday and …

“But what is a Diviner, really? A foundling?” He looked me up and down. “The abbess strips you of name, face, clothes, distinction- cloisters you to the cathedral grounds, where y…

“That kind of sacrifice creates a debt, and there’s nothing magic likes better than the great hollow of a debt. And so magic nestled here, heedless of what the adherents of this particular re…

“You can’t stop a soldier from being frightened but you can give him motivation to help him overcome that fear. I have no such motivation. I can’t have. I’m a witcher: an ar…

“The night rushes past us, cool sheets of wind wending their way through the gaps in our clothing. As we leave the city behind and pick up speed, buildings fall away and spotlights grow spars…

“If we limited loving to just the sane, undamaged people, the next generation would have about three people in it and presumably humanity would die out shortly afterward.”-Paladin&#8217…

“This was a forest made for dreams, or nightmares. Made for a world where the balance of oxygen in the air was different, where things felt less constrained to growing low and close to their …

“The light unfurled toward the center of the glass again, softly warming like the horizon before the sunrise- a dramatic change from darkness, but not painful to look at. It drew tight toward…

“We fight neither to inflict pain nor to prolong suffering. We fight neither to mollify anger nor to satisfy vendetta. We fight neither to accumulate wealth nor to promote social standing. We…

“The minute I got home, I stalked to the kitchen and pulled out my mixer, some bowls, and a cupcake pan. Then I dumped the bag of low-carb flour, cocoa, baking powder and the carton of eggs o…

“The fantastic and the imaginative aren’t escapism . . . Good stories introduce the marvelous. The whole story, paradoxically, strengthens our relish for real life. This excursion sends…

“Do not deny yourself what little happiness you might find. For there are bound to be days in every lifetime dark enough to drown what little light we might gather.”The Lost Queen by Si…

“Weyward, they called us, when we would not submit, would not bend to their will. But we learned to wear the name with pride.”-Weyward by Emilia Hart This is a gorgeously moving, emotio…

“Neither of them had discussed when he was going to move home. It wasn’t as though having him there got in the way of Lila’s life (what life?), and Bill’s gentle presence ga…

“Yesterday, I sat by my window, watching glimmers of sunset from the surface dye the drop-off waters a stately purple. I do this sometimes when I feel most at odds with my Brain, you see, and find …

“I felt it before I saw it. My nerves twitched, and my flesh tingled as if at an enroaching storm. I was looking at myself. A far better version of me, of course: all changelings are more bea…

“Between the planes was the void, and the void was perfect; it flashed by in a fraction of a blink, and Siyon was through.It was like stepping into an open oven, snatched up in the Empyreal plane’s…