Ian Lewis > Quotes

“The story was that Baird Wensum almost made it. He somehow snaked through to the outside, crossed the prison yard, and stole a car from the employee lot. Whether anyone would've caught up with him is arguable, because Wensum only got a quarter mile down the road before rolling the car in a ditch. His neck snapped somewhere between the shoulder and the corn field.”
― Ian Lewis, Beacon Road Bedlam

“The meaning behind the narrative, the story within the story, the ancient patterns of mythic resonance which constituted the only tales that could ever be told, were what mattered, and it was the artistry of the author’s way in which he masterfully wove such seminal ingredients into something unique and original that gave everlasting life to them.”
― Ian Lewis, Villains

“Tell our prey to despair of us like we despair of them.”
― Ian Lewis, Promptly Written: Volume 1

“Man-child” was a fitting nickname. There was nothing complex about the way Wilbert spoke, thought, or behaved. Without sufficient stimulus, he was content to simply shut down and glaze over, amused with nothing to fill his head at all except for the world passing by him in ways he could never understand. He’d only come alive when enraged, and then his mind would flood itself crimson awash in the stark and utter urge to destroy.”
― Ian Lewis, Villains

“I can’t force people to believe. They’re either searching or they aren’t. No matter what sense of misery grips someone, whatever depth of shame, there’s still some rebel independence coursing through their veins. We’re all guilty of that, of course.”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames

“I've lurked for centuries without blinking, walked without rest for longer, understanding everything and nothing. All things stand to fall. I can outlast you. Wear you down.”
― Ian Lewis, Promptly Written: Volume 1

“It doesn't matter how deep you bury it. It will always find its way back, clawing its way up to the surface with splintered, dirt-lined nails, ravenous for whatever part of your mind you'll let it have.”
― Ian Lewis, Promptly Written: Volume 2

“I’m choking on my own nothingness.”
― Ian Lewis, The Blinding End

“On the other end of the line, I grip the phone with deliberate pressure, as if to mimic the seriousness of the conversation. I don't worry about what "they" are just yet. It's Ray's tone which is concerning--the way he says "the end of the world," in a voice wavering on the fragile edge of self control.”
― Ian Lewis, Power in the Hands of One

“I was and would always be trapped in the phantom body of a child, without recourse and without dignity. I was wisdom superimposed upon a coloring book, maturity gracing a structure built with wooden blocks. I was the taste for a gourmet meal fed the blandness of cafeteria food. I was potential never realized.”
― Ian Lewis, The Blinding End

“You’d think I’d feel sorry for him and his sad existence, but I don’t. There just aren’t enough scruples there, not enough redeeming material in his makeup. The way he used to beat his ex-wife still echoes in his head. I can hear the meaty smack of his fists like it’s happening right in front of me.”
― Ian Lewis, Promptly Written: Volume 1

“All I know for sure is the past doesn’t always stay put. Maybe that’s one of life’s hard-knock lessons. Or maybe it’s just bad luck.”
― Ian Lewis, The Camaro Murders

“It’s a weary, sickening sensation to wander without the need for sleep and never find what you’re looking for. After a while you give up, either because you don’t care anymore or you know you don’t deserve it.”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames

“Some say we’re progressing as a society. Watch the news any night and you’ll see different. People kill each other for money. Little kids go missing. Government leaders end up in jail. We’re chopped up for feed and nobody cares.”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames

“The Upper Territory. It’s not Heaven, and time spent won’t keep you out of Hell. It’s somewhere in between, and it’s clear that none of us negotiate the terms of our existence.”
― Ian Lewis, The Camaro Murders

“The opulence was maddening; the sheer waste of materials in creating a city that was no less impregnable, no less permanent than a small settlement was almost laughable. For the doors had been left to rot, and Silas Belden’s original intent had been lost to the calming cadence of complacency.”
― Ian Lewis, From Legend

“I'm not stable.”
― Ian Lewis, From Legend

“...I imagine I'll have a reckoning. That’s what this is all leading to, and there’s no avoiding it. Every man has one whether he knows it or not. Sometimes he blows past it at speed. Sometimes he steps over it like an unmarked grave. And sometimes it’s a dire affair fraught with the type of stuff that delivers him afire, still smoking as he comes crashing down.”
― Ian Lewis, The Blinding End

“What then? Will you keep running? You keep running and I promise you whatever you’re running from will continue to chase you.”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames

“His resolve had withered to something weak and tenuous. The fabric of his mind felt stretched, pulled apart by conflicting desires. He was a sinking stone lost in the sea. There was nothing left to do but drift aimlessly to the bottom where he'd rest, lost and forgotten.”
― Ian Lewis, From Legend

“What’s more frightening? Hearing the door lock from the outside, or hearing it lock from within?”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames

“The Reeve. I've seen him only once before. I watched him leap off the edge of Brükenfeld Hall like he was daring gravity to flinch. It was magnificent. This man who had complete mastery of himself, this force who reckons with the evil-doer and the law-breaker is here in my midst.”
― Ian Lewis, From Legend

“The acknowledgement stung. Buried beneath layers of ignored remorse, he was as guilty as those monsters of human flesh who stabbed, bludgeoned, and hacked their way through life. Not because he was evil like them, but because he had crossed the same inviolable line: he had orchestrated the death of another man.”
― Ian Lewis, Beacon Road Bedlam

“There’s a small voice in the heart of everyone. If you don’t listen for it, you’ll never hear it. It’s underneath your feelings, deep down past the clutter in your head. This voice—it’s not a compass so much as a nudge. It’s a prod to awaken and renew your mind.”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames

“I bested other men, excelling both mentally and physically where they fell short. In a month, I'll begin my year-long study in the City Archives after which I'll be given the power to deputize. Then the city will be mine to protect.”
― Ian Lewis, From Legend

“Something gets them out of bed in the morning whether or not they acknowledge it. They have some small sliver of expectation—maybe even faith—that says tomorrow might be better. That’s what I’ve seen, anyway.”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames

“Self-imposed or otherwise, he was saddled with the idea that he was his father's son as much as he wanted to spurn it. There were glories to which he should aspire as well as failures to never forgive, but he didn't know whether the tangled mess of it was strangling him or weaving itself into something coherent.”
― Ian Lewis, From Legend

“The animal tang of combat was in her mouth, that unavoidable rush of death flirtation and promise of discomfort washing over her body tight and coiled for the expenditure of all her energy. Whether it came at her in twos or threes, the setup was enough to make one swoon at the potential peril of it all: a neighborhood overrun by madmen, the meek cowering, and the desperate incursion of a few brave souls of which she was one.”
― Ian Lewis, Villains

“Small towns usually have their share of petty larceny or domestic disturbances too. Graehling Station is no different. The repeat offenders make their rounds like the parking-lot carnivals that pass through in the stinking heat of summer.”
― Ian Lewis, The Camaro Murders

“There are many things that aren’t right; this world is topsy-turvy most of the time. But that’s where you find the beginning of an answer. Why do you think it makes you mad that things aren’t right?”
― Ian Lewis, Lady in Flames