Thamalsha Jay

“It was important, they'd told her, to know where her food came from, and to understand that not just one, but many deaths had enabled her survival. Therefore it was crucial that she use every part of the animal, as much as she could, and take no more than she needed. To kill under those circumstances, or to survive, was respectful. To kill for any other reason was monstrous.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became

“Only the bodegas stand open, sentinels of The City That Never Sleeps And Occasionally Needs Milk At Two A.M.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became

“He’s waiting for her to say it out loud and violate the unspoken contract that covers white people who are doing everything short of tossing around the n-word in public.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became

“Real gods aren’t what most of you Christians think of as gods. Gods are people. Sometimes dead people, sometimes still alive. Sometimes never lived.” She shrugs. “They do jobs—bring fortune, look after people, make sure the world works as it should. They fall in love. Have babies. Fight. Die.” She shrugs. “It’s duty. It’s normal. Get over it.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became