Unforgettable Opening Paragraphs

[Fist and Faith]

I don't know, but it reminds me of Earthsea:

"The sea's name is inien, well and good. But what we call the Inmost Sea has its own name also in the Old Speech. Since no thing can have two true names, inien can mean only 'all the sea except the Inmost Sea.' And of course it does not mean even that, for there are seas and bays and straits beyond counting that bear names of their own. So if some Mage-Seamaster were mad enough to try to lay a spell of storm or calm over all the ocean, his spell must say not only that word inien, but the name of every stretch and bit and part of the sea through all the Archipelago and all the Outer Reaches and beyond to where names cease. Thus, that which gives us the power to work magic, sets the limits of that power. A mage can control only what is near him, what he can name exactly and wholly." - Kurremkarmerruk, the Master Namer

[lucimay]

Mieville
The Scar

[I'm Murrin]

Touché.

[lucimay]

heh.

here's another somewhat obscure one...

One cannot raise walls against what has been forgotten.

[Sorus]

Reminds me of Glen Cook, though that's probably incorrect.

[lucimay]

not Cook, sorus...i actually haven't read any Cook. he's next on my list.

[Sorus]

He's awesome.

I think I've already posted this here somewhere, but:

The wind whines and howls with bitter breath. Lightning snarls and barks. Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone. Even shadows are afraid.

The scars of cataclysm disfigure a plain that has known only an age of dark perfection. A jagged fissure lies like a lightning slash across its face. Nowhere is that fissure so wide that a child could not step across but it seems bottomless. Trailers of mist drift forth. Some bear a hint of color. Any color clashes with the thousand blacks and greys.

At the heart of the plain stands a vast grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory. One ancient tower has collapsed across the fissure. From the heart of the fastness comes a great deep slow breath like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence.

Death is eternity. Eternity is stone. Stone is silence.

Stone cannot speak but stone remembers.

-From She Is the Darkness

(Also one of my favorite titles. )

[lucimay]

that seems really familiar, the stone remembers line.
i must have read it where ever you previously posted it.
it's lovely.

[I'm Murrin]

I'm sure I know the line you posted Lucimay, but can't put my finger on it... ... ... I'll get it eventually...

[lucimay]

oH-KAY you slackers....

it's R. Scott Bakker--first line from The Darkness That Comes Before
(book 1 in Prince of Nothing series)


and i STILL don't know sorus's


you guys have a short attention span, she pouts.

[Sorus]

oH-KAY you slackers....

it's R. Scott Bakker--first line from The Darkness That Comes Before
(book 1 in Prince of Nothing series)

That's on my list.

and i STILL don't know sorus's

I thought all of mine were answered. Which one?

[danlo]

I'm still three years behind on readings--you're to current for me Luuuuci!

[lucimay]

Stone cannot speak but stone remembers.


-From She Is the Darkness

whoa. you actually TOLD what it was and i was not paying attention.
that's diminished capacity (different than short attention span!)

[Sorus]

That just went with the Glen Cook comment, I wouldn't post a trivia question while yours was still open.

Speaking of which, whose turn is it?

[lucimay]

your turn sorus cause it was your turn but i took it...
so now, you can have it back

[Sorus]

Okay!

A bright plain without horizon. The plain is the color of raw, red gold. The sky is a faded purple. Two figures stand on the plain: a man and a woman. The man, dressed in dented armour, is tall with weary angular features. The woman is beautiful - dark-haired and delicate, clad in a gown of blue silk. He is Isarda of Tanelorn. The woman is nameless.

This is a book that has been published under two different titles - I will accept either one, and be quite impressed if anyone knows both.

[Avatar]

Phoenix in Obsidian / Silver Warriors by Moorcock.

(Too easy man...to be honest, I cheated...never read it, but the paragraph gave just one clue that made it easy to find...the name.)

--A

[Sorus]

I knew 'Tanelorn' at least would be a dead giveaway to anyone who had read almost anything by Moorcock. I'd considered cutting off the last couple of sentences, but I like the way the complete version sounds.

(Someone should change the name of the thread to 'Unforgettable Opening Paragraphs'!)

Not his best series, but John Daker/Erekose always reminds me a little bit of TC.

[lucimay]

i HAVE read Moorcock but i didn't get it!!! it's been a really really long time since i read any, tho so i forgive myself.

[Avatar]

I'm not taking a turn considering I cheated, so the floor is open...

--A