White heterosexual male characters need not disappear from narratives. They need not stop being central focus of some stories. They just need to stop taking most of the narrative space, and make more rooms to other types of protagonists: persons of c...
One time I took my knife and sliced off the end of a hog’s nose, just like a piece of salami. The hog went crazy for a few seconds. Then it sat there looking kind of stupid. So I took a handful of salt and rubbed it on the wound. Now that hog reall...
Normally death came at night, taking a person in their sleep, stopping their heart or tickling them awake, leading them to the bathroom with a splitting headache before pouncing and flooding their brain with blood. It waits in alleys and metro stops....
I stopped right in front of him, personal space be damned, and asked, “Can we do this again?” He flashed me his gorgeous smile, dimples and all. “Yeah... I’d like that.” I smiled right back. I turned and pulled open the door, holding it for...
At first we had so much to catch up on we were talking a hundred words a second, barely even listening to the ends of one another's sentences before moving onto the next. And there was laughing. Lots of laughing. Then the laughing stopped and there w...
Delirium: You use that word so much. Responsibilities. Do you ever think about what that means? I mean, what does it mean to you? In your head? Dream: Well, I use it to refer that area of existence over which I exert a certain amount of control or in...
I ground my teeth. "Just when I thought I was getting a handle on this whole Dark One/demon lord/imp thing, you go and throw knockers into the mix. I'm going to have to request that you stop, Adrian. I'm about at my limit of how many impossible thing...
James hoped the newsletter would garner support from Bahana, or white people, to stop a town well that the Bureau of Indian Affairs wanted to dig and a tower it wanted to erect to store the water. The Hotevilla elders were willing to lay down their l...
We are all glorified motion sensors. Some things only become visible to us when they undergo change. We take for granted all the constant, fixed things, and eventually stop paying any attention to them. At the same time we observe and obsess over sma...
One noteworthy study suggests that people who suppress negative emotions tend to leak those emotions later in unexpected ways. The psychologist Judith Grob asked people to hide their emotions when she showed them disgusting images. She even had them ...
As women of the western world, we see our sisters in other lands being raped, maimed and even executed simply for trying to exercise the most basic freedoms, such as taking a bus alone or wearing a bright red sweater. And when we look at our own worl...
Remy shot to her feet, eyes blazing. Her hands were fisted at her sides. “Don’t be stupid, Creed.” “What did you say?” I asked slowly. “Don’t. Be. Stupid.” I opened my mouth, closed it. “Why do you even care?” I finally asked. Rem...
[first lines] Train Conductor: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. This train, originating from New York's Grand Central Station, is back in service. Next stop will be New Canaan, Connecticut. New Canaan, Connecticut next stop. Paul Hood: [narration] ...
[last lines] [in the waiting room, Betelgeuse is sitting next to a witch doctor, who is next in line] Beetlejuice: Pardon me. Did you do that? [points to explorer with shrunken head] Beetlejuice: That's very nice work. Let me ask you something. How d...
Hamilton Bartholomew: Stop, Mrs. Lampert, or I'll kill you! Adam Canfield: It won't get you the stamps, Dyle. You'll still have to come out, and I'm not likely to miss at this range. Hamilton Bartholomew: Maybe not, but it takes a lot of bullets to k...
Sheeta: [hugging her] Dola! Dola: Thank goodness you're alive! Pazu: So are you. This is great! Papa: No it's not! My poor little ship is gone forever! Boo hoo hoo hoo! Dola: Stop with the cryin', ya big baby! I'll get you another ship! Papa: [stops ...
[Murdoch opens the door to what should be Shell Beach and instead sees the same sign he saw earlier advertising it. Murdoch walks up to the sign, confused] Dr. Schreber: There is no ocean, John. There is nothing beyond the city. The only place home e...
Behrani: [to Kathy] You think you can frighten me? You think you can frighten me with your stupid deputy coming here telling me lies? [Grabs Kathy by the arm and frog-marches her down the path] Behrani: What do you think I am? Tell me that. Am I stup...
Christian: It's a little bit funny. Satine: What? Christian: This feeling inside. I'm not one of those who can easily hide. Is this ok? Is this what you want? Satine: Ah, poetry. Yes, this it what I want naughty words. Christian: I don't have much mo...
Devlin: I can't help recalling some of your remarks about being a new woman. Daisies and buttercups, wasn't it? Alicia: You idiot! What are you sore about, you knew very well what I was doing! Devlin: Did I? Alicia: You could have stopped me with one...
Jules: This was Divine Intervention! You know what "divine intervention" is? Vincent: Yeah, I think so. That means God came down from Heaven and stopped the bullets. Jules: Yeah, man, that's what it means. That's exactly what it means! God came down ...
