The voices / 72 fragments

N.K. Jemisin

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Archive entries

01Undated

For all those that have to fight for the respect that everyone else is given without question.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

02Undated

You are what your creators and experiences have made you, like every other being in this universe. Accept that and be done; I tire of your whining.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

03Undated

Syl Anagist's assimilation of the world had been over a century before I was ever made; all cities were Syl Anagist. All languages had become Sylanagistine. But there were none so frightened, or so strange in their fear, as conquerors. They conjure phantoms endlessly, terrified that their victims will someday do back what was done to them - even if, in truth, their victims couldn't care less about such pettiness and have moved on. Conquerors live in dread of the day when they are shown to be, not superior, but simply lucky.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

04Undated

I remembered Nahadoth's lips on my throat and fought to suppress a shudder, only half succeeding. Death as a consequence of lying with a god wasn't something I had considered, but it did not surprise me. A mortal man's strength had its limits. He spent himself and slept. He could be a good lover, but even his best skills were only guesswork - for every caress that sent a woman's head into the clouds, he might try ten that brought her back to earth.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

05Undated

In the future, as in the present, as in the past, black people will build many new worlds.This is true. I will make it so. And you will help me.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

06Undated

There is such a thing as too much loss. Too much has been taken from you both - taken and taken and taken, until there's nothing left but hope, and you've given that up because it hurts too much. Until you would rather die, or kill, or avoid attachments altogether, than lose one more thing.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

07Undated

Suffering is part of life,' she said. 'All the parts of life are jumbled up together; you can't separate out just the one thing.' She parred his hand again, kindly. 'I could let you kill me now, lovely man, and have peace and good dreams forever. But who knows what I get instead, if I stay? Maybe time to see a new grandchild. Maybe a good joke that sets me laughing for days. Maybe another handsome young fellow flirting with me.' She grinned toothlessly, then let loose another horrible, racking cough. Ehiru steadies her with shaking hands. 'I want every moment of my life, pretty man, the painful and the sweet alike. Until the very end. If these are all the memories I get for eternity, I want to take as many of them with me as I can.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

08Undated

So here is why I write what I do: We all have futures. We all have pasts. We all have stories. And we all, every single one of us, no matter who we are and no matter what’s been taken from us or what poison we’ve internalized or how hard we’ve had to work to expel it –– we all get to dream.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

09Undated

Jija killed his own son for what a completely different person did, long before that son's birth. This, more than anything, helps her finally understand that there is no reasoning with her father's hatred.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

10Undated

Denying what you are didn't keep people from knowing what you are.""And flaunting it isn't what saved you."Ykka takes a deep breath. The muscles in her jaw flex, relax. "And that would be why I asked you do this, Cutter. But let's move on."So it goes on.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

11Undated

I think,' Hoa says slowly, 'that if you love someone, you don't get to choose how they love you back.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

12Undated

Because that is how one survives eternity,” I say, “or even a few years. Friends. Family. Moving with them. Moving forward.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

13Undated

The younger man stepped away from the table and came toward me, his whole posture radiating menace. Every Darre woman is taught to deal with such behavior from men. It is an animal trick that they use, like dogs ruffling their fur and growling. Only rarely is there an actual threat behind it, and a woman's strength lies in discerning when the threat is real and when it is just hair and noise.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

14Undated

The body fades. A leader who would last relies on more.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

15Undated

And once upon a time I wondered: Is writing epic fantasy not somehow a betrayal? Did I not somehow do a disservice to my own reality by paying so much attention to the power fantasies of disenchanted white men?But. Epic fantasy is not merely what Tolkien made it.This genre is rooted in the epic — and the truth is that there are plenty of epics out there which feature people like me. Sundiata’s badass mother. Dihya, warrior queen of the Amazighs. The Rain Queens. The Mino Warriors. Hatshepsut’s reign. Everything Harriet Tubman ever did. And more, so much more, just within the African components of my heritage. I haven’t even begun to explore the non-African stuff. So given all these myths, all these examinations of the possible… how can I not imagine more? How can I not envision an epic set somewhere other than medieval England, about someone other than an awkward white boy? How can I not use every building-block of my history and heritage and imagination when I make shit up?And how dare I disrespect that history, profane all my ancestors’ suffering and struggles, by giving up the freedom to imagine that they’ve won for me.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

16Undated

We can never be gods, after all--but we can become something less than human with frightening ease.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

17Undated

It is blasphemy to separate oneself from the earth and look down on it like a god. It is more than blasphemy; it is dangerous. We can never be gods, after all - but we can become something less than human with frightening ease.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

18Undated

They live forever. But many of them are even more lonely and miserable than we are. Why do you think they bother with us? We teach them life's value.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

19Undated

We aren't human.""Yes. We. Are." His voice turns fierce. "I don't give a shit what the something-somethingth council of big important farts decreed, or how the geomests classify things, or any of that. That we're not human is just the lie they tell themselves so they don't have to feel bad about how they treat us.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

20Undated

But for a society build on exploitation, there is no greater threat than having no one left to oppress.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

21Undated

And Mother does not hate her; actually, she fears Damaya. Is there a difference? Maybe.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

22Undated

...she wonders why a part of her is trying to find value in degradation.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

23Undated

He has come to seduce the god of seduction, and oh, has he come prepared.

N.K. Jemisin / quote

24Undated

How terrible to be a god of change and endure grief unending.

N.K. Jemisin / quote