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“As I look out at all of you gathered here, I want to say that I don't see a room full of Parisians in top hats and diamonds and silk dresses. I don't see bankers and housewives and store clerks. No. I address you all tonight as you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers.”
― Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Maybe i would become a mermaid... i would live in the swirling blue-green currents, doing exotic underwater dances for the fish, kissed by sea anemones, caressed by seaweed shawls. I would have a doliphin friend. He would have merry eyes and thick flesh of a god. My fingernails would be tiny shells and my skin would be like jade with light shining through it I would never have to come back up



”
― Francesca Lia Block

“Flowers lead to books, which lead to thinking and not thinking and then more flowers and music, music. Then many more flowers and many more books.”
― Maira Kalman

“absence can be present, like a damaged nerve, like a dark bird”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

“Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads.

I wonder which one YOU are.

I pragmatically turn my whims into principles!”
― Bill Watterson, It's a Magical World

“Do you know a better time than the present for igniting your dreams?”
― Carolyn Tody, Author and Artist, A Whimsical Holiday for Children

“Over his shoulder, she saw Skulduggery walk in. "Oh, hell," she muttered.
Wreath's smile reappeared. "It's Skulduggery, isn't it?"
Over his shoulder, she saw Skulduggery walk in. "Oh , hell," she muttered.
Wreath's smile reappeared. "It's Skulduggery, isn't it?"
"Please don't annoy him."
"Me? When have I EVER annoyed the great Skulduggery Pleasant?"
Skulduggery arrived at their table. Wreath smile up at him. "Hello."
"I will shoot you in the eye," Skulduggery said.
Wreath glanced at Valkyrie. "I think I've annoyed him.”
― Derek Landy, The Dying of the Light

“I have only known two men's souls in my life, one the devil, the other the the bird's wings which picked me up and carried me back to the freedom of being.”
― Wendy gibbins

“Besides, he loved his shop better than his house, and here on Sundays he could browse among his own books undisturbed, eat his lunch, doze, and answer at length some of the correspondence, erudite and whimsical, he received from people he had never seen but whom he felt he knew well. Booklovers: if you knew what kind of books a man wanted, you knew the man.”
― Patricia Highsmith , The Blunderer

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“A small white animal stands by his side. (Several of the older Symphony members have confirmed that this animal is a dog, but it isn’t like any dog Kirsten’s ever seen. Its name is Luli. It looks like a cross between a fox and a cloud.)”
― Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven

“Upon Evangeline and Jacks's initial return to the inn, the Hollow had actually been quite frosty. Doors often slammed shut. Windows stuck. Wardrobes refused to open. Faucets yielded only icy water.

'I think it's cross with us,' Jacks had said. 'Give it a few days. It will warm up.'

The walls had rattled then.

'If it doesn't, we'll leave,' Jacks added, tossing a dart up in the air as he spoke. 'We can build a new inn- a better one.'

Jacks caught his dart, then threw it, purposefully missing the board and sinking the dart's sharp tip into the wall instead.

Doors stopped slamming after that. Windows no longer stuck, and wardrobes were more eager to open.

As the days went on, the Hollow became friendlier and friendlier. Fresh flowers started to appear on tables. Evangeline found new logs in the fireplaces every morning at dawn, and whenever she drew a bath, the water was always perfectly warm.

The Hollow wanted them to stay.

(Indigo Exclusive Edition Alternate Ending).”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“With you, every day is a dance under the stars.”
― Rendi Ansyah, Beyond the Bouquet: A Symphony of Love in Fifty Movements

“Besides, he loved his shop better than his house, and here on Sundays he could browse among his own books undisturbed, eat his lunch, doze, and answer at length some of the correspondence, erudite and whimsical, he received from people he had never seen but whom he felt he knew well. Booklovers: if you knew what kind of books a man wanted, you knew the man.

The Blunderer”
― Patricia Highwmith

“They wheeled in golden carts covered in snacks and treats as pretty as treasure in a chest. There were cookies shaped like castles, tarts topped in glistening pastel fruit, poached pears in a swirling golden sauce, candied dates wearing miniature crowns, and oysters on ice with pink pearls that glistened under the light.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“Rosie was a bright spot in all their lives. Even a decade ago, people would come to sit beside Herself at the roadside hoping for a chance to see the pretty, dreamy girl reading a book in the grass or walking slowly and lazily across the bridge from the island. If she talked back then, she talked about the characters in books, as though their adventures were real, or she'd say she saw a troll under the bridge.”
― Bonnie Jo Campbell, The Waters

“When he pulled up the nets, they contained only one kind of fishâ€� black pomfres, the flat diamonds of their bodies slick in the morning light. The uniformity did not surprise him; over the years, he'd learned that the waters here were temperamental. They could be relied upon for a good catch, but from time to time they threw up only praws or squid, and other times colorful varieties of fish that weren't even supposed to be found in this region. He'd grown to accept the unpredictability, embracing it as a game to be played, like the reading of tea leaves or the grooves of a palm (Heng 217).”
― Rachel Heng, The Great Reclamation

“Our chatter swarmed the heavens; our voices echoed from the stars.”
― Amael El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

“In Garden we belong to one another in a way that obliterates the term. We sink and swell and bud and bloom together; we infuse Garden; Garden spreads through us.”
― Amael El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

“I'm trapped in a Salvador Dali painting”
― Dan Brown

“I'm trapped in a Salvador Dali painting”
― Dan Brown, The da Vinci Code

“She had poofy, teased-out brown hair that bounced off her shoulders with every high-flying skip and on her t-shirt was a spiraled sun with little wavy lines jumping off it to match the little wavy distortions in the air that were jumping off her. It was pure, unbridled energy and the sound of it hummed in his ears like when standing dangerously near a power transformer. Or maybe he was witnessing the origin story of the world’s first real superhero, and if so, she was probably going to draw her powers from the electromagnetic field itself.”
― Casey Fisher, The Subtle Cause

“Joshua took another small sip from his wine glass as his gaze and his thoughts drifted away from the flat-screen television mounted above the marbled fireplace to ponder a roomful of sports jackets and pantsuits and in some cases cocktail dresses but only of neutral tones and minimal detailing if for no other reason than to avoid becoming the subject of the next petty scandal that would nevertheless send shockwaves through their haughty and insular world. The way they stood in their intimate clusters. Their drink glasses held in various poses of sophistication. And whenever they did bring glass to mouth in accordance with judiciously preset intervals it was also for show, as he believed was true of their subdued conversations, which, from where he was sitting, appeared to be nothing more than the unintelligible murmurings of barely moving lips. A whole list of observations came to mind. Not one of them flattering in any way. The atmosphere thick with that certain stuffiness and elitist redolence of an ivy league alumni fundraising gala. Of course, he readily admitted to himself that out of everyone in the room he was very likely the most materially bereft and least credentialed and that this stinging truth undoubtedly inflamed his plebeian impulse. But that’s not what was bugging him.”
― Casey Fisher, The Subtle Cause

“And then she landed, coming to a momentary rest. Just like that, she was done with the jumping and the skipping and the singing and the shouting and anything else to do with the superpowers that held all that was comprehensible into precarious alignment.”
― Casey Fisher, The Subtle Cause

“But one thing he did know. They were sure going to miss these days when the world and their lives in many cases nearly came to an end.”
― Casey Fisher, The Subtle Cause

“Chaos Cocktail by Stewart Stafford

Herky-jerky's hanky-panky,
Wakey-wakey, eggs n' bakey!
Cosmic Mercury's retrograde trick,
Nilsson's Brandy Alexander kick.

John heard Bermuda's jingle-jangle,
Storm surge in an Exorcist Triangle!
Sea shanties upending Behan's hive,
All stout hornets jigged and jived.

Yoko's "Oh, no!" on firmer ground,
Her ageing mariner didn't drown,
Lonely Ringo plays bingo bongo,
Paul, mugged down near the Congo.

© 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“The Penultimate Hotel by Stewart Stafford

Enter sluggishly into the lobby,
A banquet is in progress in the restaurant,
They’re regurgitating reality from within,
And then eating their young.

An apocalyptic porter has radioactive cubes in the lift,
Housekeeping will have ten thousand years of light,
But the sheets in the rooms,
Will all turn to cream cheese.

The cooks in the kitchen are breaking bones and rules,
Creating a cake that stretches to infinity,
Babel babble with protesting eggs,
All baked in a hellfire oven.

The concierge gives out tips,
And tells guests they are awful and to leave,
While simultaneously tattooing diabolical potion recipes,
Inside a willing bellhop’s eyelids.

© 2021, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Joyously solve and stay pure with resolve.”
― J.S. Mason

“All it takes is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust.”
― â€� Peter Pan

“It is better to be lost in a beautiful daydream then trapped in a dim reality.”
― Sydney J. Shields, The Honey Witch