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oxlin
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« on: January 21, 2009, 01:44:01 am » |
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What books do these come from?
1) There were four of us - George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency.
2) One day, Raven was bored.
3) Of course the house is haunted.
Now add your own!
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He invented the Fuse Box Dwarf, a little man who popped out at you from behind the paint cans in the cellarway and screamed, "Dreeb! Dreeb! I am the Fuse Box Dwarf!" Lewis was not scared by the little man, and he felt that those who scream, "Dreeb!" are more to be pitied than censured.
Bellairs
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Mattador
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« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2009, 11:38:26 am » |
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1) Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, I do believe.
And damn it all, I should know #3, too, I'm sure I've read it.
4) The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory.
5) A sea of mist drifted through the cloud forest: soft, grey, luminescent.
6) The primroses were over.
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2009, 12:26:53 pm » |
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6) The primroses were over.
My favorite first sentence in all of literature. Watership Down, Richard Adams. 7) He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead.  When Sean Devine and Jimmy Marcus were kids, their fathers worked together at the Coleman Candy plant and carried the stench of warm chocolate home with them. 9) About to die. |
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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ebony14
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« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2009, 03:28:47 pm » |
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4) The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. 10) That was when I saw the Pendulum. |
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hawkwing_lb
Laser Snark
Sr. Member
Posts: 448
No Dumping Dead Bodies Overboard In Harbour Area
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« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2009, 06:05:33 pm » |
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7) He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead.
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester. Strangely enough, I've never read the book past the first chapter, yet I remember the first line. 11) It's about sex, and cruelty, and forgiveness. |
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"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."
L. Annaeus Seneca, Epistles
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Ash
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« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2009, 10:59:06 pm » |
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7) He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead.
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester. Strangely enough, I've never read the book past the first chapter, yet I remember the first line.
Oh, this is one of my favorite books! Definitely worth at least trying again... really!
Guess I have to add one now?
12) The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
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jeffy
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« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2009, 05:22:49 am » |
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12) The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
Neuromancer by William Gibson 13) Zoe Domingo walked into my life in the back room of a casino on the edge of Crittertown. |
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2009, 03:05:33 pm » |
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12) The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
Neuromancer by William Gibson Except it's also the first line of Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. And he means something very different by it, technology having caught up with Mr. Gibson in the meanwhile. so. 14) Ilium, New York, is divided into three parts. |
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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jeffy
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« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2009, 03:56:18 pm » |
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12) The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
Neuromancer by William Gibson Except it's also the first line of Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. And he means something very different by it, technology having caught up with Mr. Gibson in the meanwhile. ? My copy of Snow Crash starts with a dictionary definition of snow (...2.b. The white specs on a television screen resulting from weak reception.), but the first line of the first chapter on page 1 is as in our #4 here. Were you thinking of another book? (I vaguely remember this now that you mention it, but I can't remember where it was...) |
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« Last Edit: January 22, 2009, 04:04:19 pm by jeffy »
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Elizabeth Bear
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« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2009, 05:54:06 pm » |
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Argh, i suck. Maybe it's Cory Doctorow? One of the post-punks did it, and I swear I thought it was Neal.
<--fail!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chaz: "As if puberty weren't stressful enough."
Todd: "See? That's why we're better than all those other law enforcement agencies. Correct use of the subjunctive."
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glinda_w
Laser Snark
Hero Member
Posts: 1499
Why, this is Hell, nor are we out of it.
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« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2009, 06:07:52 pm » |
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14) Ilium, New York, is divided into three parts.
Vonnegut. Um. Player Piano? 15) All theatrical London gossiped and speculated about the murder of Jonathan McCarthy when news of it first appeared in the papers. |
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Still will I harvest beauty where it grows... --Edna ST. Vincent Millay
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Mattador
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« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2009, 07:50:12 pm » |
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Argh, i suck. Maybe it's Cory Doctorow? One of the post-punks did it, and I swear I thought it was Neal.
<--fail!
My Google-fu suggests it was Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I'd double-check, but my copy disappeared (for the *second time!* I sort of suspect that they're being spirited away to Fargo Below (or, perhaps, Farwent?)). If there's another book that does it too, I don't know about it. |
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MadGastronomer
Guest
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« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2009, 09:20:51 pm » |
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Gaiman did play with it in Neverwhere, but his line was "The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel."
You can read his comment about the joke here. |
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jeffy
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« Reply #13 on: January 23, 2009, 07:26:16 pm » |
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Thinking I'm not the only one having a terrible time keeping track of which lines are still in play, I made a wiki page. http://wiki.shadowunit.org/index.php/First_line_gameI'll try to keep it up to date, but feel free to step in if I get behind. |
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hawkwing_lb
Laser Snark
Sr. Member
Posts: 448
No Dumping Dead Bodies Overboard In Harbour Area
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« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2009, 07:51:39 pm » |
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5) A sea of mist drifted through the cloud forest: soft, grey, luminescent.
Guess what I did this evening? I thought I'd re-read something by Lois Bujold. So I opened my copy of Cordelia's Honor... And there it was, looking at me. Coincidence, what? 15) You must and will suppose (fair or foul reader, but where's the difference?) that I suppose a heap of happenings that I had no eye to eye knowledge of or concerning. |
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"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."
L. Annaeus Seneca, Epistles
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