Chet Williamson Quotes & Sayings

One minute, he thought, you're allowed the illusion that things are pretty much the way they've always been and always will be. Next time you turn around, some pinhead rips the world out from under you, and the weirdness starts pouring in from every direction ... — Chet Williamson

GHOST, n. The outward and visible sign of an inward fear. - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary — Chet Williamson

It's just that I think we should be responsible for our friends, is all. If we're not, why bother to have friends? — Chet Williamson

The customers were mainly people middle-aged or older, and they'd probably take a sledge hammer to anything that spewed out the top forty. This was Lawrence Welk country. A wild tune was a polka. — Chet Williamson

Hope springs eternal in the town of dreams...and so does despair and humiliation. — Chet Williamson

Now, Jasper, as a great man once said, 'A brave and steadfast heart can overcome any fear.' So don't worry. I'll be back with Benelaius shortly. In the meantime, look about for clues, only don't disturb anything.
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I knew only too well who that great man was whom he spoke of. Camber Fosrick. I had committed the quote to memory as well. So Lindavar, one of the War Wizards of Cormyr, was addicted to trashy literature too. I would have chuckled had I not been so scared. — Chet Williamson

October 31st dawned damp and cold, but by nine in the morning the misty rain had dissipated, and blue sky broke through. By eleven the sun had dried the leaves to crisp colors, and the world smelled of apples and burning wood smoke and candles and pumpkin innards. — Chet Williamson

You ever see that thing on old tombstones, that Momento mori? That's Latin. You know what it means?" The roommate gave a negative grunt. "It means something like, 'Remember you gotta die.' And that's what this whole thing is like, like one great big reminder that we're all gonna go sooner or later, so we better be damn good to each other while we're here. — Chet Williamson

Publishers love to compartmentalize, and 'Second Chance' was not an easy novel to define. — Chet Williamson

Abbie had learned a thing or two about hospitals during her three-day stay. She'd learned that when someone said, "This will only hurt a little bit," what he really meant was, "Nothing ever hurt this bad." She'd learned that the steel instruments they touched you with were cold, as if they kept them in the freezer. She'd learned that when you felt well enough for a soda, they brought you too little. She'd learned that there were rules for everything, including when people could come see you, and who could come see you, and what you could wear, and what time you had to get up. She'd learned that people in hospitals could Pass Away. — Chet Williamson

Garris had pet names for all of them. Mahler was the Mad Doktor. Franz Liszt was Son of Lovecraft. Mendelssohn was Santa Claus Meets the Hell's Angels. Beethoven was the High School Principal. — Chet Williamson

All he knew was that the rage was still there, eating inside him, not with the slow stealth of a cancer, but with the rapid, careless ravening of a weasel gnawing at his entrails, or the constant alimentary torment that drives on the shark to his incessant feeding until only death gives him rest. — Chet Williamson

Fay generously accepted this failing, and did without her brood, and tried not to overwhelm Robin with all the love she was meant to lavish on a houseful of kids. Her religion truly meant something to her, and she was ennobled by it. Her husband, on the other hand, dug into his Bible like a cave, burrowing away from life, which he hated. He wanted only one thing from life, and that was his Heavenly reward for having endured it. — Chet Williamson

Warriors in some cultures drink the blood of their enemies. Some people consume the blood of animals." "As a rule, here on Ice Island, they restrain themselves. — Chet Williamson

Kate had attended a Presbyterian church with her family in Norfolk; she'd heard how the God of Moses could flip out and go pretty damn nuts when things didn't turn out His way. — Chet Williamson

When I read a book, I like to be surprised. I don't want to read the same genre formula that I've read a hundred times before. — Chet Williamson

We'll find him, sir." "No you won't," Childermass said. "Because Peter has done it again." He then flew into a tantrum that lasted more than five minutes. He repeatedly kicked the side of a car. He snatched the machine gun from his bodyguard and shot out two searchlights. Grown men got in each other's ways trying to make themselves scarce. Childermass dropped the machine gun and hit himself in the face with his fist until they were able to subdue him and sit him down and pour whiskey into him. — Chet Williamson

As He rose from the dead at sunrise, so shall you rise from the dead at sunset. As He walked upon water, so shall you be unable to cross water unaided. As He died impaled upon wood, and as you have delighted in impaling others upon wood, so shall your destruction be possible only by the wooden stake. As He gave His blood to others on that last night before His crucifixion, when He shared bread and wine with His disciples, so shall you share your blood with others and curse them with your own undeath. As He was transfigured on the night when He met with Moses and Elijah, so shall you transfigure yourself at will and become bat and wolf and rat and mist and wind. And as He shed His blood for others, so shall others shed their blood for you. — Chet Williamson

Reverend Forbes did not talk about Jonathan Carlson at all. He railed against sinners everywhere, the tone of his voice showing clearly that he felt that everything beyond his own church in Friendly became steadily more evil, and that Satan's blood dripped down the sides of the mountain, infecting all of those below with his darkness. — Chet Williamson

If you got the chance, you acted. If you sat back and waited and hoped that something good would come along and save you, or fix what you were too frightened or weak or stupid to fix for yourself, you could wait a lifetime and still be trapped. — Chet Williamson

This is an age when men hide their deepest fears and instincts behind a mask of rationality. Mankind has become a herd of sheep which does not believe in the existence of wolves. — Chet Williamson

Dark is dark in the darkness. — Chet Williamson

Gossip? Me? How would I know about such things?" "Don't think of it as gossip. Think of it as rumor and innuendo. — Chet Williamson

You don't believe Hobbamock is invincible?" "No. My people centuries ago proved that. He is powerful - and gaining strength with each new child. But I do not think he is invincible . . . yet. Could he become invincible? Could he gain so much strength that nothing could stop him? This is a question that has kept me up nights." "But you're convinced he can be defeated?" "Absolutely." "By a kid carrying some kind of magic spear." "Yes," Charlie said softly. "I had . . . an experience, what Quidnecks call pniese. What your Bible calls a revelation or apocalypse. The pniese made everything clear. — Chet Williamson

The pickup bumped heavily over the worn and stony footpath. The up-down motion made Cliff belch. He hit the break and came to a full stop in order to take a pull from the bottle. This was one time he couldn't drink while driving. — Chet Williamson

He'd read that rage remained forever in a place that had once nurtured it. "The spirit of the place. — Chet Williamson

In Europe it was once commonly believed that beasts could be possessed by demons and controlled by the evil of Satan. So animals, even birds and insects, were tried by ecclesiastical courts, just like witches and heretics. They were excommunicated, tortured and condemned to death. — Chet Williamson

When you met people, they were on their best behavior, smiles and best manners. You couldn't tell what lurked beneath the surface — Chet Williamson

Good! Brad thought. Great! I can see the headline now: MORGANTOWN MYSTERY DISEASE FELLS ALL CHILDREN, BUT TOLL PALES IN COMPARISON WITH BLACK DEATH. CDC OFFICIALS GREATLY RELIEVED! — Chet Williamson

There's nothing like a headless corpse to bring a touch of excitement into one's life. — Chet Williamson

Don said, "By any chance did someone come in to confess while I was out, and just maybe you forgot to mention it?" Corrine said no one had. — Chet Williamson

Merridale was as self-centered as a Broadway star on opening night. — Chet Williamson

If I had stayed purely a horror writer or thriller writer, I might have more of a presence in those particular genres, and I'd certainly have more individual titles to market, since it's much easier to write pure genre fiction than it is to create something different. — Chet Williamson

Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one well worth taking. — Chet Williamson