Quotes from book
Stations of the Tide

Name: Stations of the Tide
Author: Michael Swanwick

Stations of the Tide is a science fiction novel by American author Michael Swanwick. Prior to being published in book form in 1991, it was serialized in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in two parts, starting in mid-December 1990.

“A tension went out of the air. Their business here was over then, and they all knew it; the magic moment had arrived when it was understood that nothing more would be established, discovered, or decided today. But the meeting, having once begun, must drag on for several long more hours before it could be ended. The engines of protocol had enormous inertial mass; once set in motion they took forever to grind to a stop.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 8, “Conversations in the Puzzle Palace” (p. 141)

“The bureaucrat was sensitive to this kind of friction. It arose wherever the moving edge of technology control touched on local pride.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 1, “The Leviathan in Flight” (p. 14)

“Tyranny always has its rationale.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 2, “Witch Cults of Whitemarsh” (p. 26)

““I am playing a game called Futility,” she said. Are you familiar with it?
“How does one win?”
“You don’t. You can only postpone losing. I’ve managed to keep this particular game going for years.””

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 3, “The Dance of the Inheritors” (p. 46)

“The announcers sounded giddily excited. Their faces flushed, their eyes bright. Natural disasters did that to people, made them feel significant, reassured them that their actions mattered.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 12, “Across the Ancient Causeway” (p. 223)

“Be grateful. I’ve taught you a valuable lesson. Most people never do learn exactly how much they will do to stay alive.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 13, “A View from a Height” (p. 232)

“A magician does not send messages, you know—he orchestrates reality.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 7, “Who Is the Black Beast?” (p. 119)

“You don’t hide information by destroying it. You hide it by swamping it with bad information.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 8, “Conversations in the Puzzle Palace” (p. 139)

“I would appreciate it if just this once you would make the effort to curb your negativism.”
“I have to say what I think. That’s what I’m being paid for, after all.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

“A very common delusion.”
Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 1, “The Leviathan in Flight” (p. 10)

““It was none of your foul science. I am an occultist.”
“A distinction in terminology only. Our means may differ, but we employ identical techniques. First, render the brain open to suggestion. We use magnetic resonance, while you employ drugs, ritual, sex, terror, or some combination thereof. Then, when the brain is susceptible, imprint it with new behavior patterns. We use holotherapeutic viruses as the message carriers; you eat a rat. Finally, reinforce the new pattern in your daily life. Our methods are probably identical there. The skill is extremely old; people were being reprogrammed long before machines.””

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 13, “A View from a Height” (p. 235)

“Everyone dies—the rearrangement of when is a matter of only statistical interest.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 13, “A View from a Height” (p. 238)

“I trust I have not grown so gullible as to consult a doctor,” the bureaucrat said with dignity. “If I want medical attention, I hall employ the qualified machinery or, in extremis, a human with proper biomedical augmentation. But I will not swill down fermented swamp guzzle at the behest of some quasi-literate, uneducated charlatan.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 7, “Who Is the Black Beast?” (p. 108)

“Money can always be traced. It leaves a trail of slime behind it wherever it goes.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 2, “Witch Cults of Whitemarsh” (p. 26)

“Time was a flickering gray fire constantly consuming all things, so that what appeared to be motion was actually the oxidation and reduction of possibilities, the collapse of potential matter from grace to nothingness.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 6, “Lost in the Mushroom Rain” (p. 105)

““Did you experience hallucinations or illusions?”
“What’s the difference?”
“An illusion is a misreading of actual sensory data, while a hallucination is seeing something that isn’t there.””

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 7, “Who Is the Black Beast?” (p. 109)

“It was a scream straight from the toad buried at the base of the brain, that ancient reptile that wants everything at once, delivered to its feet and set ablaze.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 6, “Lost in the Mushroom Rain” (p. 92)

“You will study bioscience control, that ought to be useful—it will teach you the folly of thinking you can go against your genetic inheritance, for one thing.”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 13, “A View from a Height” (p. 236)

“Indeed, what is magic but impossible science?”

Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 8, “Conversations in the Puzzle Palace” (p. 130)

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