Quote of the Day

The main screen flickered, briefly showed an Italian striker getting his coif lightly rustled by an opposing player and then falling down and writhing on the grass, and then the image flipped to Admiral Prim in his ship’s stateroom. At Prim’s side was a woman with a politician’s face (supercilious, sanctimonious, vacuous, terrified, smarmy, disingenuous, small-minded, vengeful, coldhearted, opportunistic, petty, deceitful, evidence-ignoring, bullying, arrogant, smug, obnoxious, contemptuous, ignorant, reactionary, condescending, patronizing, blinkered, vacillating, corrupt, morally bankrupt, blackmailing, blackmailable, dodgy, wavering, backstabbing, bought, sold, stinking rich, unqualified, sleazy, teeth-capped, kneecapping, corporate-owned, hate-mongering, fear-mongering, button-pushing, deflecting, evading, brazening, hit-song-stealing, nostalgia-worshipping, distorting, no-tax-returning, tax-evading, offshore-holding, shady-business-partnering, election-stealing, arms-dealing, collateral-damage signing-offing, hypocritically family-value bleating but sexually deviant-ing, honest-forthright-honorable-a paragon-of-integrity [lying], spiteful, unreliable, Teflon-coated, Saran-wrapped, white-breaded, xenophobic, cynical, uncomprehending of irony-ing, witless, thin-skinned, insecure, unfulfilled, blindly ambitious, power-hungry, sadistic, self-righteous, incapable of contemplation-ing, prevaricating, privileged, pampered, Ivy League–educated [in something useless like political science, economics, or law], pompous, ego-centered, narcissistic, shallow, bullshitting, manipulative, backtracking, quote-denying, what-climate-changing?, alternate-truth-ing, prejudice-feeding, hate-inciting, racketeering, blame-shifting, warmongering, autocratic, megalomaniacal, possibly sociopathic, blathering, self-serving, unreliable, cliquey, cagey, crafty, cunning, daft, dull, ethically destitute, irredeemable, oil-burning, fracking [but NIMBY], self-pay-raising, self-congratulating, self-aggrandizing, but all that was just first impressions so who can say?).

“Captain Hadrian, what the fuck were you doing putting me on hold?”

“Technical glitch, Admiral. But here we are, sir.”

Prim frowned, but then nodded. “Whatever. Let me introduce you to Director Soma DeLuster, the initial point of contact for these accords with the Radulak. Director.”

“Captain Sawback, pleased to meet you. I’m sure there is no real need for me to emphasize once again the delicacy of these negotiations. The Klang Surrender has triggered an economic meltdown of galactic proportions right across the entire Affiliation. Markets have crashed, hyperinflation has crippled our industries, unemployment is sky-high, mortgages are defaulting everywhere, banks are getting bailed out and CEO bonuses reduced by as much as three percent following the slew of erroneous ill-considered fiscal transactions conducted within bubbles no one could have anticipated would ever pop, and under such circumstances, a protracted war with the Radulak could see our nonhuman allies exhibit the typical shortsighted nonhuman response of behaving no better that rats fleeing a sinking ship. No, we must all tighten our belts here and stay the course but as I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, keeping our allies with us is like herding diseased vermin-ridden rats but really, what choice do we have if we want to maintain our present position as the virtuous frontrunners of trickle-down universal prosperity? Hmm?”

- STEVEN ERIKSON, Willful Child: The Search for Spark (Canada, USA, Europe)

:P