One December / the Prince abandoned hunting, / tired of Old Kings with blind dogs, / and ugly daughters, selling their lands / with marriages.

Discerning readers will note that these are not, in fact, the standard rules for blackjack.

"I don't ever scare myself; I wish I did. I like being scared."

Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate, page 1 of 24. A serialized graphic novel.

"You love the way we're alone together, with whole worlds to ourselves. Whenever you start thinking about colonists following after us, changing the landscapes we've shared, you always get depressed."

The first ones, / those who built everything / worthy of the name,

A permanent manned outpost in space was seen as the logical successor to the first manned space flights as far back as the 1960s.

In the Year of the Rooster, Chen dreamed of a giant rooster with a beak as hard as stone and eyes the size of the moon at night. His nightmare bird pecked its way across the countryside destroying houses, uprooting trees, and killing the animals too slow to run from its massive clawed feet.

"There's nothing more powerful than a memory."

Yardwork used to be easier / before the Norns unionized.