Jean Johnson > Quotes

“Not everyone can look past an insult and continue to work with the person who slights them”
― Jean Johnson

“Kodan: “I had the good sense to win the hand of a woman as smart and kind as she is beautiful. If not more so.”

Tava: “You mean you had the wit to blackmail me into following you home, where you promptly stole my heart,” she teased.

Kodan: “That, too,” he agreed. “But I didn’t steal your heart. I merely exchanged it for mine.”
― Jean Johnson, Shifting Plains

“Stumped, Ia sat there and tried to comprehend her crew’s acceptance. It was possible; it had clearly happened, but . . . she had come here expecting protests, a struggle, a fight to get at least some of them to understand . . .

“Everything alright?” Harper asked her, leaning close.

“I . . . think so?” she said, looking up at him. “Actually, everything just went . . . really well. Too well. I think I may need to worry about this for a while.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Just accept it, Ia. If you said it’s necessary, this crew would follow you into Hell itself, no questions asked.”

“Excuse me, but I’d ask questions,” Helstead argued from his other side. “Like how many demons are we taking out, which ones we’re supposed to leave in place, and whether or not we’re taking over permanently or just visiting, and if so, for how long?”
― Jean Johnson, Damnation

“The question has been raised, General Ia, as to whether or not you already know the outcome of this tribunal. Do you?” he asked her. “Is that why you’re trying to avoid being here? To avoid being bored?”

“Sirs, I deal in percentages. There are eight possible outcomes to this tribunal which are greater than one percent in their probability, and fifty-two possible outcomes that are less than one percent, most being less than one-tenth of one percent. However small those minor possibilities are, I cannot rule them out as an outcome. I was shot in the shoulder with a handheld laser cannon on a less than three percent probability, which most people would consider to be a highly unlikely outcome. I was also elevated to the rank of a four-star General, never mind that I am now a five-star, on a less than one-hundred-thousandth of a percent, when the largest percentile, forty-seven percent, was that I should have been elevated only to the rank of Rear Admiral.

“As for being bored . . . I actually would prefer to be here because that means nobody would be attacking our colonies. But they are, and that means my preferences must take second place to my sense of duty. I will admit I have sat through this tribunal around eight or nine times in the timestreams, examining those eight largest percentiles,” Ia added candidly. “This has left me very familiar with the majority of all evidence the prosecution will be presenting against me . . . but again, the outcome is never one hundred percent certain, until it has actually come to pass. I do take this tribunal seriously, but I also take the ongoing threat to Terran civilians equally seriously, sirs.”
― Jean Johnson, Damnation

“Because I would rather be damned for something I do, rather than something I can do but don’t otherwise bother to try. Ia”
― Jean Johnson, Damnation

“He knew this could turn out to be a very dangerous ploy if it backfired, but he also knew he had his best friend firmly on his side. If nothing else, he knew he could let her take all the blame and she’d do it. He’d owe her majorly — what else were best friends for but blackmail opportunities and owing giant favors, anyway — but she’d do it.”
― Jean Johnson, Bedtime Stories: A Collection of Erotic Fairy Tales

“I stay sane because I am sane! I am sane because I am willing to stand up and fight, when others would lie down and die. I will stand before you right now, and swear by my Prophetic Stamp: No More! No more violence, no more bloodshed, no more ceaseless, needless death—not one pico more! By God, I will not stand still for rampant death, nor let it pass me by! Not at my post. Not on my watch! I will throw my own life into the danger zone and stand between our beloved homes and the war’s worst desolation—and no other life shall pay! For I am a soldier . . . and that place is mine!. Ia”
― Jean Johnson, Damnation

“But they were hers now. The Damned were solidly hers. If she said, “Jump,” they paused only to ask, “How high?” then did their best to hit that exact mark, no more and no less. Even Hollick’s replacement, Private Nesbit, was hers. He had asked plenty of questions among her crew, watched her actions and plans unfolding in combat after combat, and had developed a solid level of faith in his CO.

After more than two years of open war, two and a half if one counted their preliminary strikes, and after enduring three to four times as many fights as any other crew, they had lost only one soldier from their Company. There was no doubt that Ia’s Damned were the finest fighting force available to the war. Two things made them that way: Ia’s trust in them to be the right people for the right job at the right point in time, and their trust in her to let them know what the right job was.”
― Jean Johnson, Hellfire

“You may struggle to turn your Fate into your Destiny, but the Future is inescapable; it will drag you forward kicking and screaming.”
― Jean Johnson, A Soldier's Duty

“Just don’t go so far into a sense of humor that you start laughing as you lop off heads out there. You might start lopping off the wrong heads, and that would be bad.”
― Jean Johnson, An Officer's Duty

“Kinky was only okay if it didn't lead to a broken neck, in his book.”
― Jean Johnson, An Enchanted Season

“One day, I will be a father. Herding our guests is like herding children, yes? Easier than cats . . . but only by so much.” That”
― Jean Johnson, The Terrans

“but Ia’s universe had changed. It was an uncomfortable, unhappy realization, acknowledging that her parents were no longer the center of that universe.”
― Jean Johnson, An Officer's Duty

“Do I at least get to know your real name before we make love? It might kill the mood a little if I shout out 'Steelhand' mid-lovemaking."
"It's Rio Sanchez." His smile turned into a smirk. "But don't worry, it won't kill the mood on my end if you call out my team name. I want you so much, I'm not going to give you time to think about anything once we're alone."

How to Date a Superhero”
― Jean Johnson, The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

“Besides, Marines don’t faint. We engage the floor in mortal combat.”
― Jean Johnson, A Soldier's Duty

“It didn’t matter which fork she chose, the flow of Time itself dragged her inevitably to the end.”
― Jean Johnson, A Soldier's Duty

“You booped me!” Jackie exclaimed in a near whisper.”
― Jean Johnson, The Terrans

“You’re not here to make friends, are you?”
― Jean Johnson, Hardship

“I am not teleporting her if she’s going to,” Helstead quickly asserted. “That gives a whole new meaning to projectile vomiting, sir, and you do not want to go there.”
― Jean Johnson, Damnation

“budgets are budgets, particularly when it comes to intergovernment budgets, and budgets don’t budge very much.”
― Jean Johnson, A Soldier's Duty

“Welcome to Hell, soldier!” Helstead snarled, her words echoing off the bulkheads and alcoves as Ia left the bay. “They only call it a war to make it sound better!”
― Jean Johnson, Hellfire

“It’s a failing of genius, and of supposed genius,” she murmured. “If you start believing in your own successes too much, you start believing in the hype and forget the hard work and careful thought that went into building that kind of reputation.”
― Jean Johnson, Hardship

“As the Scadians themselves say, ‘An armed society is . . .’?” “‘A polite society,’” Kardos finished for her when she let the old saying trail out expectantly. “But . . . only when the rules are codified and implemented. Right.”
― Jean Johnson, Damnation

“didn’t live before I met you. I didn’t breathe before I kissed you. I couldn’t think before I knew your name,”
― Jean Johnson, The Sword

“Back then, the transgendered woman had advised her”
― Jean Johnson, Damnation

“Your request for round rocks we have processed,” the Principal Nestor of Jul II stated. She dipped her head, with its multilensed eyes, and uncurled a clawed hand-thing. The gesture finished somewhere beyond the pickup range of the commscreen. “But this peet-zah thing I am uncertain. Datafiles indicate it is a Human food. We do not available have this Human food.”

Ia smirked. She was taking this call in the briefing room forward of the bridge after a good night’s sleep. “That’s because you are fat, and covered in velvet.”

The Nestor lowered her head farther, eye-skins puckering a little. “I do not…Ah. Illogic. You are courting me?”

“I’m declaring war on you,” Ia countered calmly. “I think you’re too purple, and you smell when you sneeze.”

The Principal Nestor blinked a sideways-sliding membrane over her compound eyes. “Dlmvla do not sneeze. Regrettable it is, you cannot breathe with us. I think you are…metal foot garment. With lactations. For a Human. Anything else?”

Ia dipped her head in turn. “Nothing else. I look forward to firing upon your people in unprovoked madness, then inviting you into my home. Thank you for handling my extra request, Principal Nestor. I hope you like the vidshows I used for payment. They’re more than old enough, copyright doesn’t apply.”

“Comedy entertainment transcends madness between our species. Copyrights are madness to exist at double the artist’s life. Another point of similarity. Feathery secretions upon you,” the Nestor added. “End transmission.”
― Jean Johnson, Hellfire