Edgar Cantero > Quotes

“No book is dangerous in and of itself, you know. But historically, reading a book in the wrong way has led to terrible consequences.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“The straw that breaks the camel's back always looks light enough, until it lands.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“A.: Whatever; you must know how it works. An artifact containing... raw feelings, unprocessed sights and sounds and pains that the brain interprets- is that too crazy?
DR. BELKNAP: No. It has existed for thousands of years. It's called a book.”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements

“All those pathetic lonely people fooling one another into their clumsy games of afterlife and cosmic relevance just to avoid noticing the nauseating sadness of their real lives.”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements

“And the sad truth is, I want to be all those people. I’d sooner die forked a thousand times in that house than wake up to a world without monsters or goddesses. I’d rather play the monster myself.”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements

“The night was cold but gentle like an X-rated metaphor.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“This silence here was somewhat heavier, lonelier than the preceding one. The former was an elevator silence; this one was a walking-through-the-woods-by-night silence.”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements

“The dead cannot give orders; they can only whisper.”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements

“I saw the whole thing! A dog and a penguin helped him escape!”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“"What?" The italics just flew out past the alcohol's guard.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“The radio played “Groove Is in the Heart,” which is a radio’s way of saying it couldn’t care less about the mood of a scene.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“Flying monkeys exist in literature, Nate,” Kerri said. “Horror writers who get laid exist in literature.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“I think I broke Kerri,” she said.
“Go fix her,” Al commanded, unfazed. “We’ve got enough broken parts.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“Andy kicked her way in, moonlit and angerstruck, doors shattering the decoration behind as she shouted at the shocked furniture: “Blyton Summer Fucking Detective Club! Anybody home?” Kerri and Nate came to flank her right after, rifles aimed at the horrified haunted house. Tim scurried between them, promenaded across the hall, stopped by a decorative suit of armor, and peed on it.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“How is that an excuse?!" Andy howled. "Why do all bullies think they can get away with 'I was a kid'? Guess what: I was a kid too, and I didn't make other people feel like shit! You were not a kid, you were a cunt!”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“It was the chuckle of ultimate truth, the smile of an actress right after the director says cut, the intimate joy of seeing the other's soul naked and acknowledging yours is naked too.”
― Edgar Cantero, This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us

“Tim curled up in a corner of the backseat, sheltering his penguin from the storm, all tensed up in “scandalized Maggie Smith” pose.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“This was different. It had synths droning and sending saltwater waves under my feet. It had drumbeats bursting like fireworks, rumbling the furniture out of place, and then a crazy, irregular, disharmonious, spiral crescendo of pure electric noise, like a typhoon dragging our bodies into it. It featured brass orchestras and choirs of mermaids and a piano in Iceland, all of them right there, visible, touchable, in Axton House. It shook us, fucked us, suspended us far above the reach of Help bouncing on his hind legs. It spoke of magenta sunsets and plastic patio chairs growing moss under summer storms rolling on caterpillar tracks. It sprinkled a bokeh of car lights rushing through night highways and slapped our faces like the wind at a hundred and twenty miles an hour. It pictured Niamh playing guitar, washed up naked on a beach in Fiji.”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements

“How confused they were when they saw how much I’d grown. Like, ‘Should we scorn her because she’s a kid? Or should we objectify her because she’s a woman? What kind of shit should we make her feel like?’ ”
― Edgar Cantero, This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us

“You're reversing causality. Dreams don't trigger events-events trigger dreams; our experiences feed our minds.”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements

“Peter sat as powerless as an overwhelmed female character in a Victorian drama.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“They walked out into the first morning after the apocalypse - a day that had just barged in sweaty and unkempt like a late commuter, asking, Anything happen while I was out?”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“Bad becomes unbearable only when contrasted to expectation;”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“The night was cold but gentle like an X-rated metaphor. It was crowded too—with owls and fireflies and distant galaxies.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“The remarkable thing now was emerging from the vortex, a thing for which no one had words and Nate was only able to punctuate with “Holy Satan’s crotch.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“She was courteous but not condescending, a treatment children welcome as unusual. Her bearing reminded Ursula of one of those women who are sometimes interviewed on TV, with a caption pointing out to younger audiences that they are magical and did great things in the past, like Julie Andrews or Madonna. Her waist was set high, and she had the kind of stance that said, I was a sexy blonde once, but also the wrinkled forehead and the glint of an intelligence never patronized by Bridget Jones or Carrie Bradshaw that added, And luckily, I got over it.”
― Edgar Cantero, This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us

“Ursula ta-daed back before their eyes, her noodle legs looking like Hellboy’s right fist, ending in heavy-armored sneakers.”
― Edgar Cantero, This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us

“Why do all bullies think they can get away with 'I was a kid'? Guess what: I was a kid too, and I didn't make other people feel like shit! You were not a kid, you were a cunt!”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“Kerri’s anxiety attack had not repeated; in her words, she was too anxious to afford one.”
― Edgar Cantero, Meddling Kids

“I did not hesitate to quit my courses and leave my apartment, feeling as detached from everything as only at twenty-three one feels, when all is temporary and settling down means to stagnate”
― Edgar Cantero, The Supernatural Enhancements