Sometimes twenty years seemed like an instant, and sometimes it seemed like a very long time indeed.
Sassenach. He had called me that from the first; the Gaelic word for outlander, a stranger. An Englishman. First in jest, then in affection.
One of the general patterns of good (i.e., striking and memorable) writing is the effect of repetition. If you use a certain element—a plot device, an image, a noticeable phrase—once, readers may or m...
My hands were cold, and I felt slightly sick. What in the name of God was going on? The Governor’s shock at learning that I was Jamie’s wife was now at least partially explained; that one glimpse of u...
I meant no offense, he added a moment later, in a softer tone. I was surprised. I looked at him directly. I was too tired to be tactful. And a bit jealous, perhaps?
I kept havin’ terrible lewd dreams about ye, all the night long, he explained, twitching his breeks into better adjustment. Every time I rolled over, I’d lie on my cock and wake up. It was awful. I bu...
I didn't want to tell the story of what makes two people come together, although that's a theme of great power and universality. I wanted to find out what it takes for two people to stay together for...
Good, I said, completely provoked. You deserve it. Maybe that will teach you to go haring round the countryside kidnapping young women and k-killing people, and… I felt myself ridiculously close to te...
Don’t fart above your arsehole.
Dangerous thing, infatuation.
As a rule of thumb, four consecutive lines of dialogue is about as much as you want to have without a tag.
—¿Te imaginas? —murmuró en algún momento de la madrugada—. ¿Sabes lo duro que es estar así con alguien y no encontrar jamás su secreto?—Sí —respondí pensando en Frank—. Lo sé.—Lo suponía. —Me tocó el...
Not really exist for mothers, with regard to their children.
What I said to ye, before … that I kent ye loved me—
Well, he is human. And perhaps he’s not a monster yet.
There was only one small probelm. It wasn't Frank I reached for, deep in the night, waking out of sleep. It wasn't his smooth, lithe body that walked my dreams a roused me so that I came awake moist a...
Soldiers manage by dividing themselves. They're one man in the killing, another at home, and the man that dandles his bairn on his knee has nothing to do wi' the man who crushed his enemy's throat wit...
Respectability had its uses. I wondered idly how many spymasters had thought of using elderly ladies? You didn’t hear about old women as spies—but then again, that might merely indicate how good they...
Murtagh was right about women. Sassenach, I risked my life for ye, committing theft, arson, assault, and murder into the bargain. In return for which ye call me names, insult my manhood, kick me in th...
Mmphm, I said, sounding self-consciously Scottish.