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Kage Baker Quotes
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Kage Baker was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.

✵ 10. June 1952 – 31. January 2010
Kage Baker photo
Kage Baker: 79   quotes 0   likes

Kage Baker Quotes

“The Rogue Cyborg is doing serious Rogue Cyborg stuff. He’s crouched before a data terminal as though it were an ancient altar, and from the look on his face what he’s praying for is desperate and bloody revenge.”

Kage Baker book The Machine's Child

Source: The Machine's Child (2006), Chapter 13, “One Evening in 2318 AD” (p. 133)

Revenge

“His nation of liberty was founded on the backs of Negro slaves and at the cost of exterminating the aborigines. As far as I can tell, the Yankee’s idea of freedom is his right to carry a pistol with which he may shoot strangers in the street.”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 3 “The Island Out There” Chapter 1 (p. 287)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

Idea , Freedom

“Ah, Los Angeles. One disaster after another, always has been.”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 1 “Establishing Shot” Chapter 1 (p. 9)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

Angels

““Sight-seeing is the art of disappointment,” I quoted.”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 1 “Establishing Shot” Chapter 7 (p. 93)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

Art , Disappointment , Quotes

“I had a productive day, without the distraction of conversation.”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 1 “Establishing Shot” Chapter 8 (p. 105)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

““Sex,” Kiu said thoughtfully. “And Fear. Get that big old devil behind them with a stick, and my radiant beauty in front of them, and they’ll run right off a cliff, if I ask.”
“I’m a firm believer in Guilt, personally,” said Labienus.
“Works well on individuals,” Kiu conceded.
“Nothing like it for subtle motivation. Plant it deeply enough into a mortal’s psyche and it twists them endlessly.” Labienus sighed. “Get it in there young enough and it’ll do all your work for you. You’ll have only to prod the mortal along with a suggestion now and then.””

Kage Baker book The Children of the Company

Source: The Children of the Company (2005), Chapter 5, “The Angel of the Bottomless Deep” (p. 227)

Fear , Beauty , Sex , Motivation

““I will say this once.” Edward turned to the others. “I’m in command on this mission. Do not, at any time, attempt to wrest control from me. If what you see dismays you, avert your eyes.””

Kage Baker book The Machine's Child

Source: The Machine's Child (2006), Chapter 5, “Another Morning in 2302 AD” (p. 48)

Time

“They find us outlandish,” Lopez admitted. “Extravagant. Eclectic. Unfathomable.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 19 (p. 126)

“Religion has its place, certainly, in reinforcing ethical behavior amongst the masses, but any sufficiently enlightened secular laws will have the same effect. After all, most of the creeds of the world have essentially the same purpose, have they not? To enjoin men to be what we call moral, which is to say civilized. A civilized man obey the rule of law, he acknowledges that he must not injure his neighbors, and if injured by them, he must appeal to law for satisfaction rather than indulge in burning their houses over their heads as they sleep. Civilization is the ideal for which we strive, with so little perceptible success; yet we do succeed, in inches and over years.”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 3 “The Island Out There” Chapter 2 (p. 303)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

Men , World , Religion , Law

“Has there ever been a revolution that produced something better than what it overthrew? The only thing people learn from being oppressed is how to oppress others!”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 22 (p. 172)

People , Learning

“Is God a cruel bastard or what, to make love so painful?”

Kage Baker book The Graveyard Game

Source: The Graveyard Game (2001), Chapter 7, “London, 2026” (p. 65)

Love , God , Pain , Making love

“True believers aren’t real receptive to the idea that what they’re telling you is just mythology.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 29 (p. 251)

Idea

“I looked up at several pockmarks in the nearest wall; if they weren’t bullet holes, the place had damned big hailstones.”

Kage Baker book Mendoza in Hollywood

Part 1 “Establishing Shot” Chapter 5 (p. 72)
Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)

“He caught his breath, absorbing the impact of the scientific discoveries, the advances in scholarship, the inevitable dwindling into insignificance of issues that had mattered more than his life. He closed his eyes, turned his face away, but he couldn’t stop his understanding.
“You see?” said Edward. “They’re all happy pagans nowadays. When they take the trouble to worship at all. Enlightenment swept most of that nonsense away, and good riddance!””

Kage Baker book The Life of the World to Come

Source: The Life of the World to Come (2004), Chapter 20, “Alec Times Three” (p. 308)

Life , Understanding , Happiness

“When you hear a story, do you believe only the nice parts? Truth isn’t like a baked fish, where you can eat the flesh and leave the bones and skin. You have to eat it all.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 24 (p. 189)

Truth , Fish , Parting

“I’ve been in the entertainment industry ever since, in one capacity or another. It’s better than the Inquisition. Usually.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 35 (p. 287)

“The awful bottom line, of course, is that if you’re going to rule the world, you have to have absolute power, and everybody knows what absolute power does.”

Kage Baker book Sky Coyote

Source: Sky Coyote (1999), Chapter 26 (p. 213)

World

“You’ve no appreciation of high romance, that’s your trouble,” Lewis said, climbing in and starting the motor.
Joseph nodded somberly. “Boy meets girl, girl loses boy, everybody dies. I just don’t get it.”

Kage Baker book The Graveyard Game

Source: The Graveyard Game (2001), Chapter 10, “Yorkshire” (p. 82)

Girl , Boy

“Isn’t that a little hard on him? You’re not only making him feel bad about something he didn’t do, you’re making him feel bad about something that didn’t even shracking happen.”

Kage Baker book The Life of the World to Come

“I believe churches used to call it original sin,” Rutherford agreed, looking crafty. “But what does it matter, if it serves to make him a better man?”
Source: The Life of the World to Come (2004), Chapter 5, “Another Meeting” (p. 97)

Bad luck , Making love , Feeling

“Imagine being told that it hadn’t mattered whether the Christians or the Moors got Spain! I can still remember my shock. I got over it fairly quickly, though, because by that time I had learned enough history to know that in the long run it never mattered a damn where any particular race of people planted its collective ass.”

Kage Baker book In the Garden of Iden

Source: In the Garden of Iden (1997), Chapter 5 (p. 45)

Imagination , Time , History , People