The Wizard of Earthsea part 1

“Now that they stood on Roke Knoll, hate and rage were gone, replaced by utter certainty. He need envy no one. He knew that his power, this night, on this dark enchanted ground, was greater than it had ever been, filling him till he trembled with the sense of strength barely kept in check.”

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wizard of Earthsea

Black Folktales part 5

Not too many minutes had passed before the young woman fainted once again. The man was almost upon her when the young witch doctor shouted, “Now!” and uttered a strange word. She, too, rose from the ground and, waving her arms like wings, she flew into the distance and out of sight.

This time the man with the whip knew who was responsible, and as he pulled back his arm to lash the young witch doctor, the young man yelled, “Now! Now! Everyone!” He uttered the strange word, and all of the Africans dropped their hoes, stretched out their arms, and flew away, back to their home, back to Africa.

That was long ago, and no one now remembers what word it was that the young witch doctor knew that could make people fly. But who knows? Maybe one morning someone will awake with a strange word on his tongue and, uttering it, we will all stretch out our arms and take to the air, leaving these blood-drenched fields of our misery behind.

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

Black Folktales part 4

They took him on out behind the jail where the gallows was built. Stagolee got up on the scaffold, and the sheriff dropped the rope around his neck and tightened it. Then the hangman opened up on the trap door, and there was Stack, swinging ten feet in the air, laughing as loud as you ever heard anybody laugh. They let him hang there for a half hour, and Stagolee was still laughing.

“Hey, man! This rope is ticklish.”

The white folks just looked at each other and realized that Stack’s neck just wouldn’t crack. So they cut him down, and Stagolee went back home and went back to bed.

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

Black Folktales part 3

“And that’s how the Snake got his rattles. By that time, though, almost everybody was so afraid of him anyway that hardly anyone ever came around to see him. When they did, though, he shook his tail right hard, and it rattled through the forest, letting everybody know: this is Mr. Snake here. You can’t step on me now.”

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

Black Folktales part 2

“The sky used to be very close to the ground. In fact, it wasn’t any higher than a man’s arm when he raised it above his head. Whenever anybody got hungry, all he had to do was to reach up and break off a piece of the sky and eat it. That way, no one ever had to work.”

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

In Watermelon Sugar Part 4

"Well, I've got to get back to work," Fred said. "The plank press calls. What are you going to do?"
"I think I'll go write," I said. "Work on my book for a while."
"That sounds ambitious," Fred said. "Is the book about weather like the schoolteacher said?"
"No, it's not about weather."
"Good," Fred said. "I wouldn't want to read a book about weather."
"Have you ever read a book?" I said.
"No," Fred said. "I haven't but I don't think I'd want to start by reading one about clouds."

Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar

In Watermelon Sugar Part 3

"What do you think of that?" Fred Said.
"Yeah," I said, staring at the bat.
"I found him there a few days ago. Doesn't that beat everything?" he said.
"It's got a head start," I said.

Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar

In Watermelon Sugar Part 2

"Finally I stopped thinking about the tigers and started back to Pauline's shack. I would think about the tigers another day. There would be many."

Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar

In Watermelon Sugar Part 1

"They stepped on the only board that makes any noise. They always step on it. I have never been able to figure this out. I have thought a great deal about why they always step on that same board, how they cannot miss it, and now they stood outside my door, knocking."

Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar

I, Robot

"'I may be able to prove him not a robot.'
'That's not the proof I want.'
'You'll have such proof as exists. You are the only one responsible for your own wants.'"

Isaac Asimov, I, Robot

Black Folktales part 1

“The Hawk thought it over for a while. He didn’t like the idea. He much preferred soaring in the upper reaches of the air away from everyone. He really didn’t like being around other animals or even being too close to the ground. In fact, if he could’ve had his way, there would’ve been food in the air for him to eat so that the only part of the earth he’d ever have to touch would be the top of a mountain.”

Julius Lester, Black Folktales

Tales of Pirates and Buccaneers part 2

Here the lady paused for a little as though to collect herself, and then continued: “You are doubtless aware that everyone, whether man or woman, is possessed of an enemy. In my own case I must inform you that I have no less than three…”

Howard Pyle, Tales of Pirates and Buccaneers

Tales of Pirates and Buccaneers part 1

“And now it was that Harry Mostyn’s romance came all tumbling down about his ears. For they had hardly come to anchor in the harbor when a boat came from a man-of-war, and who should come stepping aboard but Lieutenant Grantley (a particular friend of Harry’s father) and his own eldest brother, Thomas, who, putting on a very stern face, informed Harry that he was a desperate and hardened villain who was sure to end at the gallows, and that he was to go immediately back to his home again. He told the young pirate apprentice that his family was greatly upset by his wickedness and ungrateful conduct. Nor could Harry move him from his inflexible purpose. “What,” said Harry, “and will you not then let me wait until our prize is divided and I get my share?”

Howard Pyle, Tales of Pirates and Buccaneers

Divided by Color part 3

“Wallace, Nixon, and Reagan, among others, helped to create and legitimize a new form of prejudice. They did not promote biological racism: they were not white supremacists; they did not allege genetic impairments; they did not promise a return to segregation; they did not imply that blacks were second-class citizens or that they should be treated differently than anyone else. Their message was subtle, rather than blatant: it was that blacks should behave themselves. They should take quiet advantage of the ample opportunities now provided them. Government had been too generous, had given blacks too much, and blacks, for their part, had accepted these gifts all too readily. Discrimination was illegal, opportunities were plentiful. Blacks should work their way up without handouts or special favors in a society that was now color-blind.”

Donald Kinder and Lynn Sanders, Divided By Color

Divided By Color part 2

“As it happens, white Americans express considerably more enthusiasm for the principle of racial equality than they do for policies that are designed to bring the principle to life…By the late 1970s, for example, most whites endorsed the idea that black and white children should attend school together, but only one in four said that the federal government should see to it that this actually happens.”

Donald Kinder and Lynn Sanders, Divided By Color

Divided By Color part 1

“To us, the most arresting feature of public opinion on race remains how emphatically black and white Americans disagree with each other…Political differences such as these are simply without peer: differences by class or gender or religion or any other social characteristic are diminuitive by comparison.”

Donald Kinder and Lynn Sanders, Divided By Color

The Tomb part 4

“Cursed the ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil the mind that is held by no head…the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnal clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws ; till out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.”

H.P. Lovecraft, The Tomb and Other Tales

The Tomb part 3

“Inside the hall were music, laughter, and wine on every hand. Several faces I recognized ; though I should have known them better had they been shriveled or eaten away by death and decomposition.”

H.P. Lovecraft, The Tomb and Other Tales

The Tomb part 2

“I have said that I dwelt apart from the visible world, but I have not said that I dwelt alone. This no human creature may do ; for lacking the fellowship of the living, he inevitably draws upon the companionship of things that are not, or are no longer, living.”

H.P. Lovecraft, The Tomb and Other Tales

The Tomb part 1

“In relating the circumstances which have led to my confinement within this refuge for the demented, I am aware that my present position will create a natural doubt of the authenticity of my narrative.”

H.P. Lovecraft, The Tomb and Other Tales

Kindred part 3

What had I done wrong? Why was I still slave to a man who had repaid me for saving his life by nearly killing me. Why had I taken yet another beating. And why...why was I so frightened now—frightened sick at the thought that sooner or later, I would have to run again?

I moaned and tried not to think about it. The pain of my body was enough for me to contend with. But now there was a question in my mind that had to be answered.

Would I really try again? Could I?

I moved, twisted myself somehow, from my stomach onto my side. I tried to get away from my thoughts, but they still came.

See how easily slaves are made? they said.

Octavia Butler, Kindred

Kindred part 2

“You know what’s going to happen to both of us if we get caught?” I asked him.

“You scared?” he asked.

“Yes. But that doesn’t matter. I’ll teach you. I just wanted to be sure you knew what you were getting into.”

He turned away from me, lifted his shirt in the back so that I could see his scars. Then he faced me again. “I know,” he said.

That same day, I stole a book and began to teach him.

Octavia Butler, Kindred

Kindred part 1

“I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.”

Octavia Butler, Kindred

Modern English Usage part 3

“ANALOGY… What does need pointing out is unfortunately…the deadly dullness of the elaborate artificial analogy favoured by journalists…The journalist has a view upon the reorganization of the War Office & the right relations between Parliament, the Secretary of State, the Commander-in-Chief, & the minor officials. He says what he can, directly, in favour of his view ; & then, lest ‘our people’ should miss the point, he goes on to transport them into a great household or estate, & explain what confusion would result if the owner did not arrange on a particular plan the relations of majordomo, buter, cook, & footmen, or of land-agent, tenants, grooms, & gardeners. ‘Our people’ is no more familiar with majordomos & land-agents than with Commanders-in-Chief, & so he finds it well to repeat with emphasized dullness about the type what he has argued dully enough about the antitype.”

H.W. Fowler, Modern English Usage