Vernor Vinge
He claimed that nearby gun thunder cleared the mind - but most everybody else agreed it made you daft.Collection: Gun
I have come to kill you."The death's heads shrugged. "You have come to try.Collection: Trying
The heart of manipulation is to empathize without being touched.Collection: Heart
Peregrine Wickwrackscar was flying. A pilgrim with legends that went back almost a thousand years-and not one of them could come near to this!Collection: Years
All his life he had lived by the law. Often his job had been to stop acts of revenge....And now revenge was all that life had left for him.Collection: Jobs
The illusion of self-awareness. Happy automatons, running on trivial programs. I'll bet you never guess. From the inside, how can you?Collection: Running
Pham Nuwen plunked himself down, stretching indolently.Collection: Stretching
Sometimes terror and pain are not the best levers; deception, when it works, is the most elegant and the least expensive manipulation of all.Collection: Pain