Elizabeth (Stuffed Shelves)

“She didn’t need a paper dog reminding her what a fool brain she had inside her skull.”
― Charlie N. Holmberg, The Paper Magician

“While Alpha Males are often gifted with superior physical attributes—size, strength, speed, good looks—selected by evolution over the eons by the strongest surviving and, essentially, getting all the girls, the Beta Male gene has survived not by meeting and overcoming adversity, but by anticipating and avoiding it. That is, when the Alpha Males were out charging after mastodons, the Beta Males could imagine in advance that attacking what was essentially an angry, woolly bulldozer with a pointy stick might be a losing proposition, so they hung back at camp to console the grieving widows. When Alpha Males set out to conquer neighboring tribes, to count coups and take heads, Beta Males could see in advance that in the event of a victory, the influx of female slaves was going to leave a surplus of mateless women cast out for younger trophy models, with nothing to do but salt down the heads and file the uncounted coups, and some would find solace in the arms of any Beta Male smart enough to survive. In the case of defeat, well, there was that widows thing again. The Beta Male is seldom the strongest or the fastest, but because he can anticipate danger, he far outnumbers his Alpha Male competition. The world is led by Alpha Males, but the machinery of the world turns on the bearings of the Beta Male.”
― Christopher Moore, A Dirty Job

“Matthew feels deeply. It is a blessing as well as a burden to love to love so much that you can hurt badly when love is gone.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“Oh, no, nothing. It’s just—” He sounded embarrassed. “Your lips are really goopy. And wet. Like a glazed ham.” Lex exhaled, relieved. True, her boyfriend had just compared her to a pork product, but it was a lot better than the alternative. “I know, it’s disgusting.”
― Gina Damico, Scorch