Quotes from A. Lee Martinez

To all the usual folks: Mom, Sally, Nik, Russell, the DFWWW, my agent, my editor, Orbit Books, the people who buy the books, Optimus Prime, and the rest. You're still just as important as you ever were and this is a lot easier because of you. To Atomic Robo, for keeping my love of comic books alive and well. And to Victor Von Doom.

It's all well and good to set reasonable goals, but when unreasonable goals are your only choice, you should always strive for them. Because it's not really a choice at all.

He'd discovered that most of the terrors that stalked the night weren't really terrors at all. They were mostly like regular folks, just trying to live their lives. As long as they were left alone they were perfectly harmless except for the occasional bite on the neck. Humans were the real terrors, always getting worked up and looking to kill something.

Self-preservation was a basic directive, but there wasn't a robot functioning that prioritized it at the top of the list. Like biologicals all robots were seeking a purpose. Autos and drones were lucky enough to have that built into them. A bot had to find his own way and I'd figured out that functioning for function's sake was pointless. The real question was finding a directive worth getting scrapped for.

All things exist in as simple a form as necessity dictates. When a thing is labeled 'complex,' that's just a roundabout way of saying you're not observant enough to understand it.

The ninth circle was where Hell did its accountancy. The demons within were ruthlessly efficient. All they cared about were profit and cost-effectiveness. Everything was a debit or credit, a gain or a loss. Their ultimate goal was to reduce the universe to a calculation, a final heartless equation in which every soul, living and dead, divine and damned, would serve in the Glorious Ultimate Dividend.

Are you a monster?" she asked. Helen smiled. "No, sweetie. I'm just an Enchanted American.

Legends are always better from afar.

Dreams are rarely founded on truth.

We Venusians are sturdier than that. One can't even become part of the Protectorate until we've survived, naked and unarmed, in the harshest jungles of Venus. Only after a warrior crawls into civilization wearing the pelt of the fearsome screeching five-horned fiend do they pass the test.

Life isn't about the things you can't have... It is about those blessings you do find along the way.

I wanted to glance one last time over my shoulder, but there was no reason to. Looking behind would only show me the things I'd seen, and everything of importance I could always see

Judy went back to Paulie's place, but either he wasn't home or he wasn't answering his door. After banging on the door for four minutes, then waiting another ten, she decided she'd probably have to find someplace else to crash today She wished she'd taken the time to actually have a few friends.

You know I was never very good with violence." "But you're a ninja," said Tia. "Ninja-slash-thief," he replied. "Not ninja-slash-assassin. Similar basic training, but entirely different specializations. I don't fight my way out of trouble. I disappear." "That's probably why they sent a ninja-slash-assassin to keep you from doing that

Might I ask you a question, sir?" Ned groaned. "Yes, I was dead last night. And yes, I know they call me Never Dead Ned. But I guess that's only because Occasionally Dead Ned isn't nearly as catchy. Does that answer your question?" "It's true then. You can't die." "Actually, I die very well. In fact, I dare say I'm the undisputed grand master at perishing. It's the staying-dead part that I'm not very good at.

Let me get this straight." Gabel paced in a small circle. "Never Dead Ned may actually be a secret wizard because secret wizards don't go around showing off their power in public, except to convince people that they aren't really secret wizards, which very few people suspect even exist in the first place." "It's a very clever ploy," said Frank. "Ingenious," agreed Regina.

Duke tossed them over the roof. Earl was about to ask Duke to sit in back when he did so without prompting.

I calculated the possible responses. 52 percent probable: She'd nod knowingly, tap her pen against her pad, and make some vaguely disapproving noise. 46 percent: She'd nod knowingly, tap her pen against her pad, and make some vaguely approving noise. 2 percent: She'd nod knowingly, tap her pen against her pad, and howl like a coyote. I attributed that last possibility to a bug in my calculations.

Nessy had never believed that fear and respect were the same thing. Nor did she believe that the castle's manners were beyond redemption, for although her accursed home was mostly bad it was at least a little bit good. She hoped it would be good enough.

I'll take hope over hopelessness everyday.

What is it that demands an answer but never asks a question?

The women kept their smiles, although both their thumping hearts dropped from their throats to land hard back in their rib cages. For Miriam at least, this was less a metaphor, as siren hearts wandered a bit through their bodies depending on their mood. But to be accurate, hers hadn't risen all the way to her throat, stopping as high as her sternum before sliding its way down and resting on her bladder, thus adding a need to urinate to her disappointment.

No man was worth dying over. But she was beginning to think some just might be worth killing over.

You're unlikely to find death anywhere near a tomb.  Everyone there is already dead. Death's business is among the living.