#OpeningSentence

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

The world roared.

— Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Here is what I remember most about the months I spent searching for dark matter: there are some things in the universe you can only find by looking away from them.

— In Universes by Emet North

I’d thought the jungles of the eastern Empire to be oppressively hot, but as I sat in the prow of the little canal boat and felt the sweat slip down my brow, I decided the north was, without question, far worse.

— A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)

Abe Kalotay died in his front yard in late February, beneath a sky so pale it seemed infected.

— Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

Why do you feed the cats, othala?

— The Tomb of Dragons by Sarah Monette

I want to feel everything, the light, the noise, the dark, even the cold and fear.

— Dual Memory by Sue Burke

We call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other.

— Bunny: A Novel by Mona Awad

The other day, we’re standing in the repository; it’s evening already, nothing left to do but dump the lab suits, then I can head down to the Borscht for my daily dose of booze.

— Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

The trick is remembering that it’s all a game.

— Atlas Alone by Emma Newman (Planetfall, #4)

By all accounts, I should be scared.

— The Dragonfly Gambit by A. D. Sui

The protesters outside are getting louder.

— Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes