The Sword and Laser discussion

After watching the S&L interview with Trudi Canavan I looked up her first book, The Magicians' Guild. I'll have to read these simply because of the awesomeness of the first line: "It is said, in Imardin, that the wind has a soul, and it wails through the narrow city streets because it is grieved by what it finds there."

Evocative! Intriguing! Windy!

Another recent opening sentence that hooked me was from Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus: "The children were playing while Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squealing as only happy children do." That "climbed to his death" part is just sort of nonchalantly inserted there.

Possibly one of the greatest opening lines in all of science fiction comes from Orwell's 1984: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Wow. I'm in.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman starts, "Tonight we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man." Testosterone powers, activate! (Ha, joke's on you, sucker.)

John Scalzi's Old Man's War opens with, "On his 75th birthday, he visited his wife's grave for the last time and then joined the Army." Wait, what?

And of course, John Varley starts Steel Beach with the now-classic, "In five years the penis will become obsolete."

Laughed out loud for a good while at The Exploding Detective - "I suppose the first thing I should do is apologize for the billions of dead."

I have to go The Gunslinger "The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed."

Simple, but memorable. At least to me.

I have to cast the second vote for The Gunslinger.

I'll have to add The Night Circus: "The circus arrives without warning."

My favorite is from Fractured Melody: "On the last day of the third world’s third age, a mountain appeared in the sky."

Neil wrote: "Laughed out loud for a good while at The Exploding Detective - "I suppose the first thing I should do is apologize for the billions of dead.""

Haha, that's great! It made me want to check the book out right away. Thanks for sharing :)

Do I need to read the other books first or does it stand alone?

/P

Neil wrote: "Laughed out loud for a good while at The Exploding Detective - "I suppose the first thing I should do is apologize for the billions of dead.""

That's awesome.

They are stand alone. The main character in the books is the same but the events of the previous books has no impact on the next one. After the end of The Exploding Detective the billions of dead are forgotten about for the next book. :)

I need to find my novelization of Escape From New York by Mike McQuay. The first line is something like, "He was a cold iron fistload in a hard right hand." It's just so pulpy.

Oooh there's one more: "It all started when my cousin, Taj, ate butterflies the first time." (It's Google-translation, original is in polish) from Grillbar Galaktyka

"Dear you, The body you are wearing used to be mine."- The Rook

It's a comic rather than a book, and for all I know the line has been used elsewhere, but I really like the way Fray began, if I remember correctly: Bad day. Started bad, stayed that way.

Rob wrote: "I have to go The Gunslinger "The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed."

Simple, but memorable. At least to me."

A third for The Gunslinger. I love it for its simplicity. It says it all in just twelve words.

Kafka's Metamorphosis is always a classic too.

*As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.*

That's the whole point of Audible's Rip Off project. New stories are written based on the first lines of classic stories.

http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=45359

Another famous first line would be the first line from Neuromancer by William Gibson:
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

Surprised this one hasn't made it in there yet. It has got to be one of the best opening lined I have ever found:

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis

"Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her."

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Kevin wrote: "Another famous first line would be the first line from Neuromancer by William Gibson:
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.""

It's funny how that changed over time. It used to be a gray screen, but new TVs show a bright blue one.

I agree about Neuromancer and yeah it's funny how now you get a blue screen, just like a sky, not a clouded one.
I also agree about the Gunslinger,The Forever War, Old man's war,... these are classics.
I was about to add the nuclear mushrooms above Calcutta but then checked my book and it wasn't even in the first paragraph. Then again Song of Kali does begin with a strong sentence: "Some places are too evil to be allowed to exist".

Don't worry. Sf movies will always use analog tv's.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." That line has stuck with me for 35 years.

I'll add Chapter 1 of Savages to best opening lines.

>_>

It's been mentioned before but my vote would once again go The Gunslinger with:
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed."

(view spoiler)[ Incredible, simple, and then at the end of the books, where King uses it again, It's just...
I think It's a wonderful first line.
And use of the whole, referring back to the start of the book at the end, It's a style that often doesn't work, but King did amazingly with The Dark Tower Series. (hide spoiler)]
Everything ties in so nicely.

The only one that comes to mind at the moment is Elantris.

"When Prince Raodin awoke, he had no idea he had been damned for all eternity."

It was a dark and stormy planet.

@Jordan what you said is sort of spoilery. You may want to put the bulk of your post in spoiler tags.

Then again people who haven't read it may not realize that until I'm pointing it out. hmm.

I've not read it yet but I have been meaning to for a while so I picked up Jam to check the first line. It was "I woke up one morning to find that the entire city had been covered in a three-foot layer of man-eating jam."

It's bumped up a few places in my to-read list.

Neil Gaiman - Stardust

"There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire"

Although its a short story collection - Smoke and Mirrors

"Mrs Whitaker found the Holy Grail."

Rob wrote: "@Jordan what you said is sort of spoilery. You may want to put the bulk of your post in spoiler tags.

Then again people who haven't read it may not realize that until I'm pointing it out. hmm."

No, it was pretty obvious that was a spoiler.

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun.-H2G2

Same line of first lines as the Hobbit, but I love it.

Rob wrote: "@Jordan what you said is sort of spoilery. You may want to put the bulk of your post in spoiler tags.

Then again people who haven't read it may not realize that until I'm pointing it out. hmm."


I thought about if it was spoiler-y, I decided it wasn't, because, it wouldn't make full sense, unless you'd read the books, but my bad.
Thanks for letting me know.

I tend to error on the side of caution in the case of spoilers.

Thanks for updating your post.

Trike wrote: "Rob wrote: "@Jordan what you said is sort of spoilery. You may want to put the bulk of your post in spoiler tags.

Then again people who haven't read it may not realize that until I'm pointing it out. hmm."

No, it was pretty obvious that was a spoiler. "

Really? I'm very spoiler sensitive, but having only read the first book, I don't feel all that spoilt. But spoiler tags are often a smart idea. :)

Ohwell.
Either way, I put it under the Spoiler Tag now, and hopefully have not ruined anyone's future readings.

Adam wrote: "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun.-H2G2
..."

I agree that line from the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is great!

And I have to add the first line from The Light Fantastic:
"The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn't sure it was worth all the effort."

"A screaming comes across the sky."

A couple come to mind:

Samuel R. Delaney's Dhalgren "to wound the autumnal city."

and

R. Scott Bakker's The Darkness that Comes Before "One cannot raise walls against what has been forgotten."

I particularly like the Dhalgren partial sentence...it's a mystery (just like the book)...what came before? What's going on? Plus, the novel ends with the first part of that sentence, so you can go from the end of the novel right back to the beginning.

Rich wrote: ""A screaming comes across the sky.""

One of these days, I will make it past the first sentence of Gravity's Rainbow...or so I keep telling myself.

Joseph wrote: "Neil Gaiman - Stardust

"There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire"

Although its a short story collection - Smoke and Mirrors

"Mrs Whitaker found the Holy Grail.""

Um. Miyazaki for your profile photo, quoting two Gaiman first lines (including Chivalry, my favorite short story of all time). Are you sure you're not me?

I suppose that I should include the first line of my favoritist and most reread book ever:

There was a white horse, on a quiet winter morning when snow covered the streets gently and was not deep, and the sky was swept with vibrant stars, except in the east, where dawn was beginning in a light blue flood.

Dharmakirti wrote: One of these days, I will make it past the first sentence of Gravity's Rainbow...or so I keep telling myself."

Just be prepared to set aside a few months of your life.

I've always loved the opening line of one hundred years of solitude:
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
it's got a better ring in Spanish (I'm from Colombia) but still pretty good on its translation.

Lonnie wrote:

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

2nd'd! I love that! But my favorite is probably from
The Haunting of Hill House By Shirley Jackson
(First line is good, but first paragraph is GREAT):

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

Trike wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Another famous first line would be the first line from Neuromancer by William Gibson:
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.""

It's funny how that changed over time. It used to be a gray screen, but new TVs show a bright blue one."

Neil Gaiman references this in Neverwhere. A late chapter in the book opens with "The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel."

not sf or f but, "Imagine that you have to break someone's arm." - the gun seller. that whole first chapter pulled me in.

The Way of Kings one is pretty good as well. "Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king."

In another thread I mention Jack L. Chalker's A War Of Shadows, and when I went to refresh my memory of it, I discovered it has an awesome opening line:

"The shadow of death passed through Cornwall, Nebraska, but it was such a nice day that nobody noticed."

I was hooked by the first sentence of Stephen King's It - "The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years -- if it ever did end -- began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."

"It was time to whip the god."

From Scalzi's The God Engines. The only time I have ever read to first line of a book and immediately taken it to the cash register to buy.