Quotes from book
Dreamsnake

Name: Dreamsnake
Author: Vonda N. McIntyre

Vonda N. McIntyre

Dreamsnake is a 1978 science fiction novel by American writer Vonda N. McIntyre. It was well-received, winning the 1979 Hugo Award, the 1978 Nebula Award, and the 1979 Locus Award. The novel follows a healer on her quest to replace her "dreamsnake", a small snake whose venom is capable of inducing torpor and hallucinations in humans, akin to effects produced by drugs such as LSD or heroin. According to the author, the world is Earth, but in the post-apocalyptic future and thus scientifically and socially much different from the present: a nuclear war has left vast swathes of the planet too radioactive to support human life, biotechnology is far more advanced than in today's Earth—genetic manipulation of plants and animals is routine—and alternate sex patterns and other-worldly tribalism appear.

““It’s impossible to protect anyone completely without enslaving them. I think that’s something you’ve never understood because you’ve always demanded too much of yourself. You blame yourself for your sister’s death—”
“I didn’t watch her carefully enough.”
“What could you have done? Remember her life, not her death. She was brave and happy and arrogant, the way a child should be. You could only protect her more by chaining her to you with fear. She couldn’t live that way, not and remain the person you loved.””

Vonda N. McIntyre book Dreamsnake

Source: Dreamsnake (1978), Chapter 4 (p. 74)