Zana > Recent Status Updates

“Afterwards, there was an orgy.

Prolonged, wild sexual celebrations as a form of cathartic emotional relief was, I was told, another fairly standard cultural aspect of the Nitashi, even – if not especially – in these times. Those few crew members who weren’t Nitashi were invited to participate, in much the same way as you might be invited for a cup of kol in another place.”

👁️👄👁️

“Enough time had passed for the Edge to weaken, and so on Cha-mdo the people would die from radiation sickness, over days, maybe weeks, depending on where they were relative to the poles, or how deep they managed to burrow beneath the planet’s surface. They would sicken slowly, their organs dissolving, their skin sloughing off like water, hair falling out, teeth falling out...”

Jesus Christ

“Here are some of the minds I have felt, Tryphon interfaced with my skull, strapped to a Pilot’s chair:

In a bunker made of sickness and stone, her name was Jaikyun...

All of them, all of them screaming, all of them calling out where are you, where are you, help me, I’m here, I’m here, I’m here where are you?”

Creepy AND cool

‘“Every Executive of every Venture inherited their Shine,” I snap. “They started their lives with wealth and promise, and used their wealth and promise to keep power to themselves. That is not the Shine of the first colonies, and you know it, so let’s not waste each other’s time.”’

It's giving nepo baby

‘“You are a creep, brother Bart. A weird pervert who doesn’t know what the real world is about. I bet you’re a virgin, or else gay!”’

I can't with this stupid book 💀

‘I could have slapped Cindy when I heard her say silkily, “Bart, darling, I was so sure you’d love this scarlet gown . . . since you think I’m a cheap, trashy thing, anyway, I’m just living up to your expectations—and playing the role you wrote for me.”

In one flashing bound he reached her. His open palm slammed against her cheek.’

Lmao omg

“I didn’t know where Cindy had found the shocking red dress she wore. It seemed the kind a hooker would wear to display her charms.”

Omg no 💀

“He’d always wanted birthday parties, like the ones we threw for Jory and Cindy, yet when they came around, he somehow managed to antagonize every guest so that many left early, and usually in a huff.”

Bart is outta control

‘“Have it your way,” answered Jory. In a moment he was swinging Cindy off her feet, whirling her around and around, making her blue skirt fly and reveal skimpy bikini panties. It amused me to see that Cindy still dressed from the skin out in one color.

[...]

“Like mother like daughter,” mumbled Bart from behind me.’

Bart not the incest dig 💀

‘“Oh, gosh, Momma, you do have two beautiful sons,” she whispered as she stared at their bronzed, strong bodies. “I never thought Bart would grow up to be just as handsome as Jory, not when he was such an ugly little brute.”’

👁️👄👁️

‘“...I knew you saved the best of your love for Jory. Then, after Cindy came, you gave your second best to her. You had nothing left to give me but pity—and I hate you for pitying me!”’

Bart take a chill pill Jesus

‘“Oh, God, Mother, I’ll never think of Cindy as my sister. She’s adopted, not truly one of us. I’ve read a few of those letters she writes to you. Can’t you see what she is? Or do you only read what she says, and not what she means? How can any girl be that popular and not be giving out?”’

Dude I CAN'T

“...I’m going to hate looking at Melodie when she’s bulging in the middle like some breeding cow . . .”

He's not even my brother and I want to go no contact

“I didn’t like what I saw in Bart’s dark, envious look, the desire that burned hotter by the hour. The world was full of unmarried women—he didn’t need Melodie, his brother’s wife!”

Oh no 😐

‘His brooding, morose, dark eyes studied me. “Don’t you realize yet that you and your brother have always managed with your incestuous relationship to ruin and contaminate my life? I used to hope and pray someday you’d leave him, but it never happens. I’ve adjusted to the fact that the two of you are obsessed with one another and perhaps enjoy your relationship more because it is against the will of God.”’

Oh

“Home to whoever’s there, to
the parking lot behind the drive-thru, back
seat,
bedroom floor with your best friend,
the one who slept with your ex and lied
but you forgave her because what does it
matter when
none of you matter?”

Oh no

“we don’t compete. Don’t have the funds.

Don’t have a school that cares, respects us.”

Damn relatable

I didn't realize this was novel in verse. Let's go

“If anything, a century of bio-treatments and genetic enhancements had left his skin mirror-bright, taut where it wrapped around the visible contours of hís skull....”

Mar a lago face

“Hís long silver braid still ran down hís back, and the scar across hís face had now been added to with a long scar carefully cut across the front of hís skull, slicing through hís hairline in a raised pale ridge. Five little cuts above hís artificial eye denoted hís genius for a deal; a white ridge through hís lower lip spoke of hís mastery at negotiation...”

Hello daddy

“I am assured that of the many, many people I killed that day, hearts ripped from chests, nerves from bone...”

Kinda scared, kinda turned on 🙊🙈

“Days of waking only to feel my flesh boil away again, my blood turn to gas within my veins, my skin bubble and burst as again and again and again I died....”

The MC can't stop dying

“...if you get a chance, there’s a wonderful exhibition on tour that allows you to sniff a number of aromas from various planets, without any likely ill-effects.”

Not sure if gross or cool

“In the heart of the orbital, set in a central plaza framed with running water in which silver fish danced beneath gentle trickling fountains, was a black cube, cool to the touch, impenetrable to even the most sophisticated of scans: the emissary of the Slow.

Some people left offerings at the base of the cube, whispered their prayers.”

What the helly

“...There’s trust, contentment, peace, happiness when you have genuine love. To be in love is like turning on a light in a dark room. All of a sudden everything becomes bright and visible. You’re never alone because she loves you, and you love her.”

Cathy out here waxing poetic about love 🙄

‘“I can’t imagine how it would be to devote myself to one woman when so many are beautiful and only too willing. I see a beautiful girl walk by, I turn and stare, only to find her turning and staring back at me. It’s so easy to get them into my bed. No challenge at all.”’

I forgot that Bart got redpilled 😮‍💨

‘“Afraid that your sins will be found out, Mother?” he asked without mercy.’

Don't fuck your stepdad and have his kid bc the kid will turn out to be a sociopathic asshole

‘“When you kissed me without permission. You also shifted without warning.”

“I kissed her gently, paternally, as a frog, not as a man. I did this because I sensed a libidinous desire in Miss Ghom directed toward my human male form. Understandable, in a pubescent girl without a father, to fixate on male authority figures....”’

HUH

“The sky was full of ships – hundreds, thousands of them, from great lumbering transports to tiny evacuation barges in final flight from the surface.”

Dunkirk in space

Tempted to DNF bc this whole thing feels like Gossip Girl x fairy tale character reincarnations x the Matrix and apparently I'm not into that