Echoes in a Hollow Space

Random quote of the day:

“I am far from denying the destructive and disintegrating forces of passion. I will go so far as to agree that apart from the reproductive function, men have hitherto used love, on the whole, as an instrument of self-corruption and intoxication. But what do these excesses prove? Because fire consumes and electricity can kill are we to stop using them?”

—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “The Evolution of Chastity” (tr. René Hague)

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Lucy and Ethel, Justin Bieber, or the Kardashian Klan. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“Everything in excess is opposed to nature.”

—Hippocrates, quoted in Catholic Morality: Selected Sayings and Some Account of Various Religions by E. Comyns Durnford

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

 

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”

—William Blake, “Proverbs of Hell,” The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Quote of the day:

"Nothing to excess. Yet God employed brushstrokes of glory. In the hands of greatness, was excess quite different?"

—Tanith Lee, Saint Fire


Bookiness of the day:

The Company Novels (and stories) by Kage Baker

Kage Baker's Company Novels and the legions of supporting short stories, novelettes, and novellas set in the Company universe are really one vast work. Fortunately for those who didn't subscribe to Asimov's for years in order to get the latest Kage Baker stories (such as certain correspondents who shall remain nameless), most of these wonderful stories have been collected in two Company books: Black Projects, White Knights and the "novel" Children of the Company, which is really a compilation with original bits of writing stitching them together. I can highly recommend both these collections because they contain some of Kage Baker's finest work, layering in the lives of characters like Kalugin, Lewis, and others who thread in and out of the novels. If you want to explore the Company, these two books will bring it home to you, in all its rich absurdity and melancholy.

That's one of the things I love most about Ms. Baker, her ability to make you laugh and cry in the same story. Her books are deeply felt, more than a little jaded about mankind, but ultimately about the triumph of the individual human spirit. Her cyborgs move through time, accumulating wealth and "lost treasures" for the Company coffers, often seeming more human then the mortals they interact with, when they're not being cold-blooded monsters. Mendoza is the Company botanist whose joy and heartbreak through time comprises the heart of the grand story arc. But oh the supporting characters! I've come to love and worry about so many of them.

The novels (unspoiled):

( And sanitized behind a cut for your protection. )