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There was no warning, not even a knock. The door flew open, and he forgot his present aches and pains in anticipation of what lay in store. The figure that stood in the door was not that of an enemy. It was worse. It was his mother.

Barbara Mertz

Husbands do not care to be contradicted. Indeed, I do not know anyone who does.
BARBARA MERTZ

Care Contradicted Husband
Reputations are shaped not by facts but by prejudices.
BARBARA MERTZ

Facts Prejudice Reputation
To argue without knowledge is like trying to weave without thread.
BARBARA MERTZ

Arguing Thread Trying
There is nothing sadder than the cheerful letters of the dead, expressing hopes that were never fulfilled, ambitions that were never achieved, dreams cut off before they could come to fruition.
BARBARA MERTZ

Ambition Cutting Dream
I do, however, think it would be difficult to write books I don’t like to read.
BARBARA MERTZ

Book Thinking Writing
Children, I feel, are as much entitled to privacy as human beings.
BARBARA MERTZ

Children Feel Privacy
In the silence I heard Bastet, who had retreated under the bed, carrying on a mumbling, profane monologue. (If you ask how I knew it was profane, I presume you have never owned a cat.)
BARBARA MERTZ

Bed Cat Silence
The way to get on with a cat is to treat it as an equal – or even better, as the superior it knows itself to be.
BARBARA MERTZ

Cat Treats Way
The approval of a cat cannot but flatter the recipient.
BARBARA MERTZ

Approval Cat Flatter Recipient
Another dead body. Every year it is the same. Every year, another dead body.
BARBARA MERTZ

Another Body Every Year Years
It was hate at first sight, clean, pure and strong as grain alcohol.
BARBARA MERTZ

Hate Sight Strong
Your trousers are on fire. I would have told you, but you so dislike advice.
BARBARA MERTZ

Advice Fire Trouser
Sometimes the characters develop almost without your knowing it. You find them doing things you hadn’t planned on, and then I have to go back to page 42 and fix things. I’m not recommending it as a way to write. It’s very sloppy, but it works for me.
BARBARA MERTZ

Character Knowing Writing
kissing someone out of pity is always a mistake.
BARBARA MERTZ

Kissing Mistake Someone
I don’t think she realized how much she cared for him, or he for her, until the end. Hasn’t someone said a woman may be known by the men who love her enough to die for her? (If they haven’t, I claim the credit myself.)
BARBARA MERTZ

Credit Men Thinking
Sekhmet crawled onto Ramses’s lap and began to purr. ‘The creature oozes like a furry slug,’ said Ramses, eyeing it without favor.
BARBARA MERTZ

Favors Lap Slugs

There was no warning, not even a knock. The door flew open, and he forgot his present aches and pains in anticipation of what lay in store. The figure that stood in the door was not that of an enemy. It was worse. It was his mother.

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There was no warning, not even a knock. The door flew open, and he forgot his present aches and pains in anticipation of what lay in store. The figure that stood in the door was not that of an enemy. It was worse. It was his mother.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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