This item is devoted to interesting opening lines.  For example, John Varley's
newest novel, _Steel Beech_, begins with a sentence that goes something like
"Within 5 years the penis will be obsolete."

Ever notice the opening line to Madeline L'Engle's _A Wrinkle In Time_?
"It was a dark and stormy night."

What opening lines stick in *your* mind?

36 responses total.

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned
to a dead channel."   Neuromancer, William Gibson

Well, my two favorites have already been used ("A Wrinkle in Time"
and "Neuromancer")

"West of Arkham the hills rise wild."

"It was starting to end, after what seemed most of eternity to me."
"It is a pain in the ass waiting around for someone to try to kill you."

Is that one quote Joe or 2 seperate quotes?

 re #3:  Dunwich Horror?

re: 5, It's two quotes.  The second is the Beginning of
Zelazny's "The Trumps of Doom"

Hm... the second quote in #5 sounds very familiar to me, maybe John Varley,
but i've never read Zelazny's "The Trumps of Doom".  Unless it's an Amber
book from early in the series, in which case i've probably already forgotten
the whole plot....

     The Trumps of Doom is the first book in the second series that
follows and focuses on Merlin.

Yep.

All hail Bill Gibson
All hail Bill Gibson
All hail Bill Gibson

Aujourdhui, maman est morte.  Ou peut-etre hier, je ne sais pas.

And tomorrow she'll be alive again?  Where'd you get this line, anyway?

Once upon a time there was a martian named valentine Michael Smith.
The first human expidition to mars was selected on the theory that the greatest
danger to man was man himself. At that time, eight terran years after the
founding on the first human coliny on Luna, an interplanetary trip made by
humans had to be made in free-fall orbits-- from terra to mars, two
hundred-fifty-eight Terran days, the same for return, plus four hundred
fifty-five days waiting at mars while the planets crawled back into the
positions for the return orbit. Only by refueling at a space station could evoy
make the trip. Once at mars she might return-- if she did not crash, if water
could be found to fill her raction tanks, if a thousnd things did not go wrong.
ound in each combination. and thus the scene was set for RAH's Stranger in A
Strange Land

Listen:
   Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.

some text from my favorite opener were lost, but the first sentence is the
important one.

I just moved, so I had a chance to go thru the twenty odd boxes of books
that I have laying around.  When I got to the new apartment, I pulled a
couple of my favorite books that I want to reread.  These are three that I
think have great openings.

  "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." 
      -Stephen King, _THE DARK TOWER: The Gunslinger_

  "Irene hadn't always been dead."
      -George Alec Effinger. _Heroics_

  "Chiriga's night club has right in the middle of the Budayeen, eight
   blocks from the eastern gate, eight blocks from the cemetery."
      -George Alec Effinger, _When gravity Fails_

My quote was from _L'Etranger_ by Albert Camus

I love opening quotes.  Here are two i found on the spur of the moment:
        "In its last days, the Republic must have strangled itself to 
death on paper"  from Eldrie the Healer  by Claudia J. Edwards

sorry just one.  i just liked it.

Gaaaaaar!  I think I'm living with the strangler of the Republic!

problems kami?  :)
is the paperwork getting to you?

no, not muhc....I just ended up going to Brighton and then nearly to Detroit
to pick up a copier in Novi, because my bloody directions weren't clear
enough, and all I could think of was the work waiting at home...
Sigh!

"Marley was dead, to begin with."

Sounds like Dicken's _A Christmas Carol_. 

How abot this one:  A beginning is a time to make sure the balances are correct
or something like that.

        Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the western spiral arm of the
galaxy, lies an unregarded yellow sun.  Orbiting this sun at a difference of
roughly 93 million miles was an utterly insignificnt blue-green planet.
        This planet was so amazinglyh primitive that those who inhabited it
        still thought digital watcches were a pretty neat idea.. This planet,
        has, or rather had a problem, which was this,  the majority of the
        people who inahbited it were miserale.

Re #26: I hope we weren't s'possed to spend ages figgering out where that
came from Shawn..*chuckles*

Ok...my fav opening line at the moment is very short and sweet...:
'Feet.'
Thats it.. :)

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances a
the balances are correct.
Not necesarily a favorite openin line, but I thought it was a good one.

        No, it SHOULD be obvious....
        As should this one....
        The Galactic Empire had existed for nearly 30,000 years...

matthew, that sounds neat.  where does it come from?

It's from the opening 'quote' in the first chapter of Dune.

ah, I should go back and re-read that.

        Unless I am missing something someone has got Dune and the Foundation
series mixed up.

        And it looks like  I have.

The bridge was silent.

resp:3, resp:6 "The Colour out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft

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