DameRuth's Corner

"The difference between a writer and a lit teacher/critic is rather
like the difference between a mother and a coroner. Both valuable
skill-sets, but not doing the same task at all."

-- Lois McMaster Bujold (from a mailing list discussion on theme, writing and literary analysis)


"There's this strange tendency . . . to assume that the fall of the Roman empire plunged the world into darkness for over a thousand years, and in that time we all ate dirt and waited patiently for the renaissance."

-- Daniel Myers, from a "Medieval Cookery" blog entry.


"There's nothing trivial about telling stories with your friends — even if the stories themselves are trivial. The act of telling stories to one another is practically sacred — and it's unquestionably profound."

-- Cory Doctorow, "In Praise of Fanfic"


"Love is a dangerous angel."

--Francesca Lia Block, Weetzie Bat


"I spend all my time being shocked and delighted at how beautiful things can be - light, waves, rocks, faces, architecture, stories, music, whatever. All this beauty makes me feel vulnerable, because it's perfection far beyond what I can ever hope to render, but it also makes me burn to try."

-- John Howe, in John Howe: Fantasy Art Workshop


"Ha, ha! You see? It’s the final victory! It’s the final victory of spoddy kids like me, who grew up not understanding football and liking Doctor Who, and being ridiculed and seen as geeky, and finally . . ."

-- David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, on learning that a Doctor Who-related broadcast got more viewers than the FA Cup match on ITV.


"Time doesn't so much fly, as plummet, with a terminal velocity that's never really been determined."

-- John Kovalic, in a LiveJournal post.


". . . I'm not in the message business; I'm in the 'Once upon a time' business."

-- Philip Pullman, quoted from his website.