“Regweld is really a fine wizard," he continued, patting the shoulder again. "And his ideas for crossbreeding a horse and a frog are not without merit; never mind the explosion! Alchemy shops can be replaced!”

“Was he supposed to let Fiona cry on his shoulder now? He hated being the shoulder. He never knew what to say or do.Pat, pat, there, there. What the f--k?”

“Piper patted his shoulder. “Trust me, Valdez. Beautiful people never lie.”

“« What about tonight’s show?”Griffin immediately remembered where he was. “Fuck!” His eyes bored into mine. “You know our songs. You play for me.”“I can barely strum a guitar!”Griffin patted me on the back as he walked past me. “You’ll do fine. Good luck!”I watched him walk away, wondering if I’d really just become the replacement bassist for the D-Bags »”

“Monotheism generally allows for no greys. Ideas are either true or false. Hence, although science develops out of the alchemy of the medieval Christian milieu (derived from Arabic alchemy, which was stimulated by the much earlier Chinese alchemy), science is not understood by the nonscientific monotheistic population. The general Western public mistakenly thinks science presents unalterable truth, as does their religion, rather than theories to be tested and continually discarded to be replaced by new hypotheses, which is the actual scientific method.”

“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy.”