Garth Nix
Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, to the sound of the Salvation Army band outside playing 'Hail the Conquering Hero Comes' or possibly 'Roll Out the Barrel'. Garth left Melbourne at an early age for Canberra (the federal capital) and stayed there till he was nineteen, when he left to drive around the UK in a beat-up Austin with a boot full of books and a Silver-Reed typewriter.
Despite a wheel literally falling off the Austin, Garth survived to return to Australia and study at the University of Canberra. After finishing his degree in 1986 he worked in a bookshop, then as a book publicist, a publisher's sales representative, and editor. Along the way he was also a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve, serving in an Assault Pioneer platoon for four years. Garth left publishing to work as a public relations and marketing consultant from 1994-1997, till he became a full-time writer in 1998. He did that for a year before joining Curtis Brown Australia as a part-time literary agent in 1999. In January 2002 Garth went back to dedicated writer again, despite his belief that full-time writing explains the strange behaviour of many authors.
He now lives in Sydney with his wife, two sons and lots of books.
“Don't look, part of his mind said. If you don't see trouble, it doesn't exist.But it does, thought Arthur, fighting down the fear. Keep breathing slowly. You have to confront your fears. Deal with them.”
“Five Great Charters knit the landTogether linked, hand in handOne in the people who wear the crownTwo in the folk who keep the Dead downThree and Five became stone and mortarFour sees all in frozen water.”
“When the dead do walk seek water's run,for this the Dead will always shun. Swift river's best or broadest laketo ward the dead and have and make.If water fails thee, fire's thy friend, if neither guards it will be thy end.”
“Hear, hear," said the Dog, raising her head. "It's always better to be doing, Prince. Besides, you don't smell like a coward, so you can't be one.”
“Touchstone watched, suddenly conscious that he probably only had five seconds left to be alone with Sabriel, to say something, to say anything. Perhaps the last five seconds they ever would have alone together.I am not afraid, he said to himself."I love you," he whispered. "I hope you don't mind.”
“Death and what came after death was no great mystery to Sabriel. She just wished it was.”
“Time plays tricks between here and home," said Mogget sepulchrally, frightening the life out of the telephone operator.”
“Just like the Perimeter! It never rains but it pours," declared the Major.”
“I am not going to change who I am. I am human and I know how to love, and be kind, and be compassionate to those who are weaker than me. Just because I have power doesn't mean I have to use it!”
“Well met, Mistress Lirael. This ragamuffin, as your servant so aptly described him, is His Highness Prince Sameth, the Abhorsen-in-Waiting. Hence the bells. But on to more serious matters. Could you please rescue us? Prince Sameth's personal vessel is not quite what I'm used to, and he is eager to catch me a fish before my morning nap.”
“Who or what are you? Besides insufferably rude?”
“He was obviously a very arrogant ragamuffin, and younger than she was, to boot. And he was wearing a necromancer's bells! Apart from that, he was quite handsome, which was another black mark as far as she was concerned.”
“Clearly the Old One had the capacity to kill - or easily deliver some sort of final ending that sounded remarkably like death.”
“Bee stings are very educational”
“Please," said Lirael..."I think I would like to work in this Library.""The Library," repeated Sanar, looking troubled. "That can be dangerous to a girl of fourteen. Or a woman of forty, for that matter.”
“If only Sam could have stayed just like the Dog, she thought. A comforting friend without the complication of romantic interest.There had to be something she could do to completely discourage him, short of throwing up, or making herself totally unattractive. "I'm thirty-five," she said at last.”
“VIDEO ARCHIVE-INTERVIEW 24768 . GOLD-EYEI like trees… grass… only birds in sky. People walking safe. FamilyNo Creatures. Sleep all night safe. Walk under sun in own place.Grow plants. Build.Be father with mother. Have Children. A place like Petar told me. Home.After Change goes back…I want home.”
“A Kiss," said Mogget sleepily. "Actually, just a breath would do. But you have to start kissing someone sometime, I suppose.""A breath?" she asked. She didn't want to kiss just any wooden man. He looked nice enough, but he might not be like his looks. A kiss seemed too forward.”
“Be careful..you're all I've got left, to remind me who I really am.”
“Sometimes it is easier to see the light when you stand partly in the darkness.”
“Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?”
“Charity is a very labour-intensive virtue.”
“My parents are going to kill me!""That seems rather harsh...”