Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

Quotes and contexts. All but the last are by Mercedes Lackey.

“We honor the wisdom that comes with age.” The girls of the land of spring, to Demeter in her guise of old woman. “A Tangled Web” from Harvest Moon.

“What a mother feels for her child is not rational.” Hades to Persephone, understanding Demeter better then she does. “A Tangled Web” from Harvest Moon.

“The annoyance, of course, was because like rude boys, they had been caught.” The “heroes” responding to Rhadamanthus. “A Tangled Web” from Harvest Moon.

“For though I go from my beloved mother, I go to my beloved husband. Persephone’s words on parting from her mother. “A Tangled Web” from Harvest Moon.

“He saw what I wanted him to see, because I wanted him to send me far, far away.” Moira, thinking of how she had come to be schooled by the Countess. “Moontide,” from Winter Moon.

“Beauty had a hard time making itself plain.” Moira is grateful for her plainness. “Moontide,” from Winter Moon.

“His mother had told him about the sky, but he had never expected it to be this far away.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Roi is remembering the first time Derik ever took his slaves outdoors, and his first sight of the sky.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

Here are the contexts of a number of quotes. All but the last are from “A Tangled Web” by Mercedes Lackey, in Harvest Moon.

“They fought to keep ordinary folk from extraordinary harm.” From adventurers Leo and Brunnhilde have become protectors.

“This was a bit like being thrown into the deep ocean and told you have to reason your way to land.” Leo’s thought, as he finds himself trying to keep the Olympians from starving.

“This lot of ‘gods’ seemed to be as feckless as a lot of young squires.” Leo doesn’t think much of the Olympian gods.

“The good ones will wash their hands of you pretty quickly.” The attitude of the Fae toward the gods,

“Nothing lasts forever.” Leo to Zeus, regarding the hitherto endless summer of Olympia.

“Those who rule a land are responsible for it.” Especially when things go wrong.

“So we’re going to die, just as I should have died with everyone else, two centuries ago. “ Homecoming, by Sue Ann Bowling. This is Marna , speaking to one of her tinerals as she realizes that the life-support system of the satellite has failed. Tinerals resemble feathered monkeys with wings, can fly as juveniles but are ground-bound as adults, and after millennia of selective breeding sing in harmony with each other or with other singers.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between October 16 and October 22, 2014. All but the last are from “A Tangled Web” by Mercedes Lackey, a story in Harvest Moon.

“Having Aphrodite on your side was almost worse than having her as an enemy.” Persephone’s thought as she weaves (reluctantly.)

“Oh, the curse of being able to see clearly, both sides of everything!” Still Persephone, annoyed that she can see her mother’s side as well as her own.

“So much power seemed coupled with so little forethought.” Demeter’s reflection on the Olympian gods as a whole.

“If godmothers are so good at keeping things from getting out of hand, why are gods so bad at it?” Here the reference is to the gods of Olympus or Valhalla.

“Mortals, given the choice, would rather not think too far ahead, or even think at all.” Brunehilde to Leopold, suggesting that the reason these gods are as they are is because they owe their existence to the mortals who worship them – thus they have mortal failings.

“All mothers are like that, I think.” Brunhilde, after Persephone complains that her mother still considers her a child.

“A self-trained esper is always cause for worry.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Derry is just beginning to suspect what he may be facing in Roi.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

Here are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from September 11 through September 17, 2014. The first six are from Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey.

“Footwear was not exactly memorable.”  Well, not to some people! But in this case Bella is confident that Sebastian will not recognize that she is wearing a pair of his mother’s boots.

“It’s not just what you are good with. It’s what you’re good at.”  Sebastian to Bella, when suggesting she might be a better sorceress than a witch.

“A whistling girl and a crowing hen always come to some bad end.”  The housekeeper’s admonition when she used to catch Bella whistling.

“A whistling girl and a wise old sheep are two of the best things a farmer can keep.”  Bella’s retort to the housekeeper.

“War is never good for trade.”  Bella remembering her father when a war seems imminent. The arms trade is an unfortunate exception.

“Curses don’t die with their maker.”  The magical distinction between a spell and a curse.

“As long as there was a chance I could help you by staying with you, that’s what I had to do.” Sue Ann Bowling, Tourist Trap. Roi’s statement to Penny when she wonders why he didn’t save himself by teleporting away from the sailboat in the squall.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling from July 31 through August 6, 2014. All but the last are from Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey.

“I don’t hold with making a man desperate.” Eric, the gamekeeper, when taking Bella out to help him catch a poacher who is taking only skins, leaving the meat to rot.

“It took a good teacher to make a good teacher.” Bella, wondering who has taught Sabastian, who is teaching her.

“Women are more practical. And we have no problem with being called cowards.” Eric has asked what Bella would do if someone came at her with a knife, and her answer is “run.”

“No wonder he bullied people, if he had been bullied himself.” Eric has been giving Bella an edited version of his childhood.

“Children became what they lived with.” Bella’s thought, but true.

“You deserve to be more than anyone has allowed you to be until now.” Sebastian speaking to Bella, just after he has asked her to marry him.

“Nobody ever tells us anything.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Flame, after Roi has vanished and she doesn’t know why.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between July 10 and July 16, 2014. The first six are from Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey.

“What is wisdom, then, but knowing when it is best not to speak, and when it is best to hold one’s hand?” Bella quotes this to Sebastian when he tells her that he learned early not to try to do everything by magic.

“Escape into concentration is the only escape we have.” Bella explaining to the kitchen staff why she and Sebastian have been so engrossed hat they missed a meal.

“A gilded and comfortable cage was still a cage.” Bella can’t help but resent her captivity.

“A failure is just the success of proving one way doesn’t work.” Bella quoting her father when Sebastian is a bit down about his failures to find an answer to his problem

“Let’s concentrate on what we can do something about.” Granny to Bella, when Bella is wishing for things she has no hope of changing.

“You need to start thinking like a sly old woman.” Granny advising Bella.

“I must have been crazy to think that all of the crossbreds would be alike.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Marna, when she discovers what has been happening to Roi—and that he is totally unlike Zhaim, the crossbred she met first.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotations tweeted from @sueannbowling between June 12 and June 18, 2014. The first six are from Beauty and the Werewolf by Mercedes Lackey.

“Most of us are only human, and far too often our only choices are between bad and worse.” Godmother Elena is speaking to Bella.

“No matter what we do, someone is going to suffer.” Still Godmother Elena.

“I am never going to be a proper lady. I will never choose style over comfort.” Bella, after she has insisted that the most impractical of her new gowns be removed.

“Men want a wife who will fit into society.” Bella, thinking over what she will – and can – do once she returns home after being bitten by a werewolf.

“The nurturing hand also held the knife.” Bella, forced to admit that even a good king must at times be ruthless.

“It was amazing what young men would say when they thought there were no parents or young women about.” Bella has done some wandering about and eavesdropping at the parties her stepmother insisted she attend.

“You want a demonstration of how we were doing without your help?” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Derik mind-talking to Roi after the first practice teleport of the day with Roi’s help. It’s also the first one that has left the teleported boxes intact.

Quotations from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling last week. All but the last are from Mercedes Lackey’s Beauty and the Werewolf.

“Mules were quiet and sensible.” Bella does not feel up to riding one of Sebastian’s hunters, but a mule sounds like a possibility.

“No amount of crying was going to change what had already happened.” Bella has plenty of reason to cry, but recognizes that it won’t do any good

“A child learns what he lives with.” Bella is beginning to get some feeling for why Eric is the way he is.

“The best magic is unobtrusive. It just makes life go a little smoother.” Sebastian’s philosophy of magic.

“I can’t absolutely promise you nothing would go wrong.” Sebasian, speaking to Bella after he proposes that she help him in his magic-working.

“Anything could happen when you had a world with green talking faces in mirrors in it.” Bella has seen magic before, but her first encounter with a mirror-servant (see Disney’s Snow White) is more than a little unsettling.

“Getting Roi to admit he’s having trouble isn’t easy.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Coryn is talking to Nebol, the Headmaster of their school, but Roi is still acting like the slave he was raised as.

Letter B: Beauty and the Werewolf: Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

This is the second day of the A to Z Challenge, and the first day I’ve tried to integrate my regular schedule with the alphabet. Today’s B was easy: Beauty and the Werewolf, a Beauty and the Beast-inspired book which is part of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series. As always on Wednesday I have given the contexts of the quotes tweeted each day of the previous week from @sueannbowling. (They are also shown on my facebook pages.) Today all except the last one are from Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey, and the final quote refers to the color blue.

The Five Hundred Kingdom books are all “modern re-tellings of classic myths and fairy tales,” but with a difference. In this series there is something called The Tradition which tries to force people’s lives into the nearest story trope, and it is the job of the Godmothers (originally Fairy Godmothers, but now more often human) to steer the Tradition to minimize the impact. Beauty and the Werewolf combines at least three fairy-tale tropes: Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood, and refers to several others.

“One should never equate shabby with dirty.” Bella’s thoughts on Granny’s attire.

“What’s magic but manipulation? Or politics, or diplomacy, for that matter?” Granny, speaking to Bella after she has calmed herself down and is starting to consider a rather manipulative way of getting back at Eric.

“A lone wolf in winter was generally a wolf with an empty belly.” Bella’s thought on hearing one wolf howl in the forest.

“I will not lose my temper. It won’t do any good.” Bella’s thought when she is introduced to the werewolf who bit her.

“She had to wonder how this particular werewolf managed to bite anyone.” Bella, faced with Sebastian’s diffidence.

“She’d never let an injury stop her from doing anything she wanted to before.” Bella is determined not to let an injured ankle stop her from exploring.

“The incredible blue followed her into her dreams.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Marna has descended into a glacier crevasse, and been captivated by its color.

Incidentally, this is my blogiversary. My first post was April 2, 2010. Seems like just yesterday.

Quotes from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted and on my facebook pages between February 27 and March 5, 2014. All but the last are from The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey.

“People see what they expect to see.” Siegfried to Leopold, when he is first expounding his theory that “queen Sable” is in fact the Godmother.

“There is something to be said for being happy in what you do.” Desmond to Princess Rosamund, while he is trying to court her.

“Nothing in life came without a cost.” Rosamund, recognizing that the bruises she gets in Siegfried’s training in self-defense are the cost of her learning.

“When you lived as long as the Fae did, there was a great deal to weep over.” “The fae did not cry often, and never in public, but oh, yes, they wept.” And Lily is about to collapse from all that needs doing in her Kingdom.

“When things were at their worst, if you had the space, let panic run out.” Rosa, finding herself a captive again, recalls Lily’s advice.

“Only a woman! She’s cleverer than both of you put together.” Rosa’s thoughts when her captors refer to Godmother Lily as “Only a woman.”

“You’ve worked out too much on your own not to be taught to use it properly.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Nik, speaking to Roi after Roi has almost killed Derry and Nik with an uncontrolled and unplanned show of his power.