Mark Hurst > Quotes

“I don't like it here,’ said Mathilda without really thinking. ‘It feels wrong.’ Bash knew what she meant. The woods looked fine, beautiful even, but there was something behind the normality of it all. A creeping feeling that made the hairs on his arms stand up and his stomach churn.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“he hadn’t seen anything like them before, but experience told him things like this usually had a fairly singular purpose when given the chance to eat soft flesh. As if on cue they attacked.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“main hall Bash and Mathilda fought on. The floor was littered with the fading corpses of Nasties that had been cut or speared by their efforts.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“In the background, like a low hum, Esther continued her now familiar speech on ‘recognising sadness’. Straight of out of the textbook, this one,”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“The rain came heavily now, suddenly, falling in grey sheets, thundering around her, blackening the hungry soil. It pooled in the empty eye socket of a crow, spilling like tears, bright on dull feathers. A rasping voice called her name again. Sophie screamed and ran back to the safety of her house.”
― Mark Hurst, The Long View

“Bernard was woken from a deep slumber by a knock on his door. Time had passed, it seemed, too much time. Twilight was kissing his bedroom window. His thoughts were slow and soupy.”
― Mark Hurst, In Winter’s Garden

“Sophie felt herself drop, whether into sleep or something else she wasn’t sure. The tree trunk swam in front of her eyes, the bark splitting open like a diseased scab, weeping pus over its gnarled edges which ran to the floor in sickly yellow rivers. Darkness blossomed within the broken bark, a throbbing darkness, expanding and contracting like a heartbeat. Hot breath seemed to pant in her ear.”
― Mark Hurst, The Long View

“The Beleth stirred in its quiet corner of the inter world, tucked away, a fold within the folds of time. It was a haven it had created for itself many centuries before, when the old Watchers had learned to hunt it within the veil. They had never found it here. It was a secret place where it could feed and recover.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“Beleth was within inches of victory, the child's throat finally free of flame and ready for its claws. Itching to bathe in the child's hot blood, it didn’t sense the presence of the ghostly figure that now stood carefully behind it.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“any police that might cruise by would just see another sleepy drunk wasted on grog.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“The police seemed less interested these days. When he had been brought to the hospital, most of the blood drained out of his broken body, the inspector in charge”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“The tortured ashes that remained of them were dispersed into the air, as lost as their souls.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“Charlie spun round this way and that. Shimmering shapes danced away at the edges of his vision. ‘Where are you?’ he cried. ‘Show yourself.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“I can help you, I will be in touch very soon, look after each other. No messing about, this is no game.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“No, please don't go, please, Dad...’ he cried. The faintest of touches guided him through and back to the cold floor. As the walls knitted together Charlie had one last glimpse of his dad. A silhouette outlined in the faintest of blue, and then he was gone.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“It’s over,’ Beleth whispered triumphantly, raising its claws above its head to strike the killing blow.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“as the first officer tripped over the shopping bags Valerie had left on the floor. He was a big man and wallowed amongst the broken jars and split bags like a turtle flipped on its back.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“Looking around you would be forgiven for thinking the soldiers had been fighting amongst themselves. Their bodies littered the dunes and burning buildings like discarded toys. A shattered helicopter burned”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“The pervasive sense of doom that spilled from the rip like sour milk was growing. It was difficult to ignore, sapping your spirit, whispering colourless words of misery into your ears.”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“The Beleth watched the scene unfold from the top of the trees by the path. It had seen the old man with his weapon and felt keenly the death of its spawn. The arrival of this old fool was unexpected, and anger and hatred boiled inside it. It had been wise”
― Mark Hurst, The Nasties

“He dreamt of tall trees whispering to each other in the night, speaking the special language of the old world.”
― Mark Hurst, In Winter’s Garden