You keep your rabbit’s foot safe in your pocket. I keep my Penguin safe in customised body armour.

Zoo City, Lauren Beukes

Nightmares are only horror movies in my brain and I love horror movies

Slights, Kaaron Warren

Ethnic cleansing, he was certain, was not a game played by little girls.

Jennifer Fallon, The Dark Divide

When he was telling the truth, Colmán was painfully conscious of his role as the chief bard charged with memorising the history of the Undivided, and being a traditionalist, he went to great pains to speak in rhyme. When he was lying, Darragh had told her with a laugh, the Vate was so busy concentrating on the lie, he forgot all about rhyme.

The Dark Divide, Jennifer Fallon

In my experience, nothing pleasant slithers.

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

‘Single Lifers are weird! Fancy seriously considering that you are only meant to have a normal one hundred twenty years or so lifetime and then die completely, no hiving, no relifing, not being uploaded into a chassis, just seeing out your days and then dying forever! Stuff that!’

From Burnt Ice by Steve Wheeler

‘You’re a good fighter then, are you?’ she asked, and prepared herself for some major bragging.

Ten minutes later she was still waiting for a break in the conversation to butt in.

Destiny of the Light by Louise Cusack

The early summer sky was the colour of cat vomit.

Of course, Tally thought, you’d have to feed your cat only salmon-flavoured cat food for a while, to get the pinks right.

Opening lines of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (review)

“I didn’t think there were real trolls.” I furrowed my brown, trying to remember what Finn had told me about trolls before. “I thought they were just myths.”

“Really? After everything that’s happened? So you pick and choose what mythology you believe in?”

Torn, Amanda Hocking (review)