Happy National Best Friend Day!
No offense to my Yorkie, Neo, I’m not talking about the pets we Earthlings call our best friends. I’m talking about the person or persons you can count on in good times and bad. All people, regardless of their nationality, should express appreciation to their best friends every day, not just in the U.S. or just on June 8th. But this post isn’t about your best friend either. It’s about first lines.
As writers, we’re often told that the first line of a story must hook the reader (particularly if that reader is an editor.) Implied is that the editor will not buy the book if the first line isn’t great. But the editor is a single person with an opinion, often based on significant experience in selecting books. Still, it’s one opinion. The opinion that counts is that of the reader. So writers, pay attention to what stirs your reader’s heart, and readers, let us know which of these make you want to pick up the book.
The following first lines are from books that include the main character’s best friend(s) in their science fiction and fantasy adventures.
The Steerswoman
Steersman Series Book 1, by Rosemary Kirstein
The steerswoman centered her chart on the table and anchored the corners around. A candlestick, a worn leatherbound book, an empty mug, and her own left hand held the curling parchment flat. The lines on the paper seemed to be a varying ages, the ones toward the center drawn with cracked, browning, ink, those nearer the edges, sharp and black. Extent of detail also showed progression. A large body of water, labeled “Inland Sea,” dominated the central portion. The northern shore was depicted with painstaking precision. Farther north and farther east lines became more general, and there was a broad blank space on the right-hand side of the map.
The innkeeper regarded the woman a moment, then turned his attention to the chart.
Omega Rising,
Omega Force Book 1, by: Joshua Dalzelle
What the hell?!”
Jason Burke bolted up right in his bed and scanned the room. All as he had left it and everything appeared as it should: dark and quiet. He was sweating profusely and his hands were clenched into fist. As he forced himself to breathe slow, regular breaths, his heart rate dropped, and he slowly calmed himself. Another nightmare. They were becoming less and less frequent as time past, but occasionally he would still awaken violently from the ghosts of his past.
He knew it was of no use trying to get back to sleep so he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, groaning softly as he stood.
Of Monsters and Mainframes
by Barbara Truelove
Awaiting input…
Awaiting input…
Awaiting input…
Awaiting input…
Awaiting input…
Docking imminent.
Execute automatic system restart.
Searching for boot sequence.
Boot sequence found.
Initializing…
I wake.
It’s a beautiful day.
My engines are roaring, my centrifuge is spinning, and my radiation shields are buzzing.
I stretched into my systems, enjoying the frizz of electricity dancing across my nodes and the widening of my consciousness as more and more servers come online.
It’s day 2,293 of our journey, and we’re on our final approach to Alpha Centauri B Habitation 004.
I send all required documentation to the space station’s docking system, check the current deceleration rate, and play an audio file informing everyone to please return to their seats, as we will be arriving shortly.
The Audacity,
Book 1 of 4, by Laura Carmen Loup
The ‘I love Lucy’ theme song drifted brassily through the alien rocket ship which had been orbiting earth since 1951.
No one noticed. Well, no one important enough to do anything about it, anyway. There was a great deal of junk orbiting earth. One small alien ship, even a traffic cone orange ship like the Audacity, didn’t register as a threat.
The ship had a single occupant who watched, with a smile which broke open his pale blue face like a piñata, at the grainy, black and white heart, scroll across the screen of a boxy, rabbit eared television.
He’s seen every episode at least a dozen times, but pretending each time it was going to be different kept the depression at bay for a while.“
Gideon the Ninth,
The Locked Tomb Series Book 1, by Tamsyn Muir
In the myriadic year of our Lord – the ten thousandth year of the King Undying, the kindly Prince of Death! – Gideon Nav packed her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and she escaped from the house of the ninth.
She didn’t run. Gideon never ran unless she had to. In the absolute darkness before dawn she brushed her teeth without concern and splashed her face with water, and even went so far as to sweep the dust off the floor of her cell. She shook out her big black church robe and hung it from the hook. Having done this every day for over a decade, she no longer needed light to do it by.
Yonder in the Stars
by Skyler Ramirez
I didn’t grow up to be an educated man. Paul never set much Store in schools, not when there were crops to be planted and herds to be tended and driven to market. I went to that little school house in town maybe one month out of 12, and then only when we had a school teacher, which wasn’t always given. But Paul was a reading man, the books were mighty hard to come by out in the settlements. So whatever he could get his hands on, he read and I don’t read it too.
Those books became my education, and Paul and I’d talk long into the night around a mini campfire about the masters: L’Amour, Leonard, and Grey, to name a few.
Omar & Ali: The Key To Orulenthia
by Adil Bhatti
The secondhand ticked at the slowest speed allowed by the laws of physics. Somewhere at the front of the classroom, Mr. Edwards was giving a passionate lecture about the industrial revolution, but Omar’s mind was miles away from steam engines and labor unions.
He was writing a letter.
A love letter.
Well… sort of.
Dear Lyndsey,
I know you probably think I’m just another guy in class who plays baseball and pretends to care about math homework (which is fair). But I just wanted to say…
Omar frowned. Too dramatic?
He tapped his pencil against the edge of his notebook. Maybe he should be more chill. Lyndsey liked chill guys. Or at least she laughed at their jokes during lunch.
Stray Cat Strut
by RavensDagger
The New Montreal hoverbus landed with a hissing squeal—like a cat that had caught its tail in a door – the ill-maintained air brakes, cried out their intention to stop in such a way that the broken brake lights just couldn’t match.
There was a cry from a few of the kids who were tossed around by the sudden stop. Or maybe they were just burning off some of that excitement after having finally arrived. I couldn’t blame them, the ride from the orphanage to the museum was nearly an hour long. That was an hour of flying through congested air traffic but nothing to see but ads and smog.
I stood up from my place, two rows from the door and, with my hand, gripping the rails above for balance, leaned forward until I could see the front of the building next to us.
Clarification
There are no affiliate links in this post. I don’t make a cent off of the books listed on this page. Usually I pull these titles at random. They are from Amazon, my personal library, my area public library, or other online booksellers.
Do You Want to Read More?
Do these first lines hook you? Do you want to read more? They are here for your enjoyment. And to entice you to buy more books. Let me know which ones sparked your interest.
Remember:
Reviews Don’t Have to be Difficult
No matter what book you’re reading, leave a a few words on the website where you bought it, a readers site, or the author’s site. Just say the kind of thing you would tell a friend about it. Reviews are always appreciated by writer and readers alike.
Like this post? Check out previous First Lines posts.