“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” Stephen King
Talk about a hook! I can think of 5 obvious questions the reader will have from that simple sentence.
One of the most perfect shortest stories ever written, shame there were no sequels
Personally I think the first three novels are very strong and the fourth a good prequel too. It goes off the rails after that one though, like a crazy chu chu train so to speak.
I like them as standalone King stories, but hated how he tried to marry all his works (and others works…) into his ill-defined ego-centric universe.
I liked the last chapter of the last book as a continuation of the Gunslinger
I didn’t mind the connection between other books all that much, but the self-insertion, Dr. Dooms and Harry Potter snitches were a bit much and almost felt like parody.
don’t forget spiderman!
I don’t remember any Spiderman references, unless you’re thinking of Mordred.
was that the spider boy at the end, who added nothing to the overall plot?
deleted by creator
My favorite opening lines that I didn’t see yet are:
Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”
“When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed”
Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
And, Gibson’s “Neuromancer”
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
I especially like that line in Neuromancer because at the time he wrote it, his audience would’ve understood he meant TV snow. Meaning the sky was overcast, giving a gloomy mood. But younger people now will think of that featureless blue that modern TVs use, which indicates a beautiful cloudless day. Totally different mood!
Young people today will be puzzled by the TV scenes in Poltergeist as well. Time and tech marches on…
And, Gibson’s “Neuromancer”
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”absolute classic, came here to post it.
it hits differently these days, but: “The sky above the port was the color of a television, tuned to a dead channel” -William Gibson, Neuromancer
Neil Gaiman makes a reference to that in Neverwhere, using ‘TV tuned to a dead channel’ to describe a cloudless blue sky.
Lovely books, horrible human being, apparently. Such a shame
Never turn people into heroes, it’s an unearned pedestal. People who create works of art are expressing their ideals not their reality.
Separate the art from the artist, and if you do not wish to enrich the artist, then torrent their works
Which is why I only own one Gaiman book, and even that was a gift. Even streaming music made by cunts feels bad nowadays… but I remind myself that there’s thousands others out there… so I just block the cunts and move on. (Black metal especially has quite a bit of nazis, unfortunately)
Never turn people into heroes, it’s an unearned pedesta
My approach is similar, but I limit it to living people. Once they’ve passed it’s unlikely much of anything will come to light in the future that changes one’s perspective
Damn, this post honestly reminded me why I love reading. Thanks for that.
I knew I loved reading but it made me want to read even more. You’re welcome!
Call me Ishmael.
One of the all time greats.
“Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripity - good.”
Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia
(The context turns out to be the protagonist listening to his dad start the truck and drive away.)
I know it gets shit on but I legitimately like, “it was a dark and stormy night.” There’s a reason it became cliche. It’s very evocative.
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
“His name was Remo…”
The first line of Shirley Jackson’s Haunting Of Hill House is a banger, the complete first paragraph is incredible.
No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone
Spooky, I’m gonna add this to my list for this month. I like to make sure I get some spook in Oct.
“The small boys came early to the hanging.”
Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth
On hold at the library now, wow.
Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on his work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics.
Came looking for this, thanks
Best non-fiction opening that sounds like a threat.
Wait, I read this! Can’t remember the name of the book right now though.
Edit: Ok, I remember it from a screenshot in a thread about cheeky textbooks
Yeah, it’s an oldie.
Fun fact, Boltzmann hung himself while Ehrenfest shot his 15 year old son and then himself.
Fun fact,
You and I go to different parties
This one tops my list, probably followed by the opening to hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy.
The Hegemony Consul sat on the balcony of his ebony spaceship and played Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp Minor on an ancient but well-maintained Steinway while great, green, saurian things surged and bellowed in the swamps below.
One I’ve recently re-read. Not quite as catchy as some of the others here, but manages to capture the world and mood of the setting remarkably well in just one sentence.
In Germany, “Ilsebill salzte nach.” (“Ilsebill added more salt.”) from the novel The Flounder, written by author Günter Grass, has been voted the best opening line of all time.
yum
I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. First, I visited my wife’s grave. Then, I joined the army.
- John Scalzi, Old Man’s War
Ah damn how did I forget this one?! One of my absolute favorite books!
I ugly laughed a lot when I read it the first time.
“Dirk Moeller didn’t know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was ready to find out.”
-John Scalzi, The Android’s Dream
