first line friday

First Lines Friday with Freedom Fighters

Lynette M Burrows

First Line Friday is a blog series posted on the first Friday of every month. The first line of a story, we’re told, must hook the reader. Implied is that the reader will not buy the book if the first line isn’t great. These entries are from Amazon, my personal library, or other online booksellers. Today’s choices honor the U.S. holiday, the Fourth of July with a freedom fighters theme. Do these first lines hook you? Do you want to read more? I don’t usually do content warnings. The book’s cover, blurb, and category should get the point across. However, a cover and first line alone doesn’t always convey that type of information.  Content Warning: Violence with graphic descriptions. It was a strikingly unlikely sight, even for a world grown accustomed to unlikely sights.  The Patriot’s Grill by Steven Day They met behind a warehouse, twice abandoned.  Rogue Cell (A Grower’s War Book 3) by DJ Molles Block, damn you! Dane did his best to raise his metal arms to catch the hammer-blow of steel, brass, and aluminum that was coming his way. Metal Warrior: Born of Steel (Mech Fighter Book 1) by James David Victor “I’m so sorry.” What […]

First Lines from Legendary SF & F True Fans Read

Lynette M Burrows

First Line Friday is a series of blog articles posted on the first Friday of every month. The first line of a story, we’re told, must hook the reader. Implied is that the reader will not buy the book if the first line isn’t great. These are the First Lines from Legendary SF & F true fans read. Do they hook you? Which one(s) will you read? A noble gentleman that had been married many years, but his wife being barren, did bear him no children; at last she died, and his friends did advise him to marry again, because his brother’s children were dead, and his wife was likely to have no more: so he took to wife a virtuous young Lady, and after one year she conceived with child, and great joy there was of all sides: but in her child-bed she died, leaving only one daughter to her sorrowful husband, who in a short time, oppressed with melancholy, died, and left his young daughter, who was not a year old, to the care and breeding of his brother, and withal left her a great estate, for he was very rich. The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish (1666) You […]

First Lines for the Holidays

Lynette M Burrows

Welcome to First Lines for the Holidays. December has more than just the Christmas holiday. See my posts on December Celebrations for some of the celebrations held this month.   For this First Lines Friday, here are a selection of first lines from science fiction and fantasy books that include or are about the holidays. I hope you find at least one you will enjoy. Have you heard of the great Forest of Burzee? The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum There was a Christmas tree in the lobby when Lauren got to work, and the receptionist was sitting with her chin in her hand, watching the security monitor. A Lot Like Christmas: Stories by Connie Willis The Reverend Lizzie Blackmore slowly blinked awake, and found, to her surprise, that she was already furious. The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell Once there was a boy who lived in a cabin in the deep woods with no one for company but an old woman and an old man. Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Santa Claus… How vile your name upon my tongue. Like acid, hard to utter without spitting. Krampus: The […]