Mark

“Zimnyaya Koroleva, they said. The winter-queen. It frightened her.”
― Katherine Arden, The Winter of the Witch

“Are you intelligent?” I asked. I am equipped with a natural language processor and other systems to understand questions and comments and to provide answers, which often gives the appearance of intelligence, especially when connected to larger computer networks. Brain Pal™ systems, however, are not natively intelligent. For example, this is an automated response. This question is asked frequently.”
― John Scalzi, Old Man's War

“I simply refuse to acknowledge that there is not something about you I despise,” Ruiz said. “Where are you from?” “Ohio, Master Sergeant!” Ruiz grimaced. Nothing there. Ohio’s utter inoffensiveness had finally worked to my advantage.”
― John Scalzi, Old Man's War

“Aside from their impressive, impenetrable shields, the Consu’s battle technology was of a similar level as the CDF’s. This was not as encouraging as you might think, as what reports filtered back from Consu battles with other species indicated that the Consu’s weaponry and technology were always more or less matched with that of their opponent. This added to the idea that what the Consu were engaging in was not war but sports. Not unlike a football game, except with slaughtered colonists in the place of proper spectators.”
― John Scalzi, Old Man's War