#OpeningSentence

The plastic awning of the café streamed with rain.

— The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Long after the House is gone, it’s there.

— Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Manny smiled at the way the British journalist’s face blanched as the old Toyota hit the pothole.

— After The Revolution by Robert Evans

For all the danger in that forest with its tumbling-down ruins, the beauty pulled me back one last time.

— Interference by Sue Burke (Semiosis Duology, #2)

There were not so many places to lurk in the scholars’ residence on Thanma Street.

— The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older (Mossa and Pleiti, #3)

The portable surgery unit hulked at the edge of a tract field, ringed by four-byfours and a lone Jeep.

— Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo

Damira followed the blood down the hill.

— The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

There was a vulture on the mailbox of my grandmother’s house.

— A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

At one point they tried to calculate when time began, when exactly the earth had been created.

— Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, Angela Rodel

A sentient space station should have perfect temperature, Mallory Viridian thought.

— Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty (The Midsolar Murders, #2)

Let’s go to the baths today, Miss Ikuko said, so we all got ready.

— Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi KAWAKAMI

Each year when Shesheshen hibernated, she dreamed of her childhood nest.

— Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

They asked me, “When was the last time you saw Doctor Fell?” and the memory hole I tripped into was ridiculous.

— Saturation Point by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There was a fly walking on Cordelia’s hand and she was not allowed to flick it away.

— A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher