#OpeningSentence

The axe cleaved the log in two.

— Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler

Each year when Shesheshen hibernated, she dreamed of her childhood nest.

— Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

I met the khanym when I tried to kill her.

— North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher

They asked me, “When was the last time you saw Doctor Fell?” and the memory hole I tripped into was ridiculous.

— Saturation Point by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There was a fly walking on Cordelia’s hand and she was not allowed to flick it away.

— A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

So. I’m not in an ideal situation right now.

— Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis

The sea breezes keened of death in Lunurin’s ears, a cacophony of voices urging her to act.

— Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba

The world roared.

— Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Shea Ashcroft stepped from a carriage into the low-lit alley as a mongrel lifted its door knocker of a head from a garbage pile.

— Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav Barsukov

Here is what I remember most about the months I spent searching for dark matter: there are some things in the universe you can only find by looking away from them.

— In Universes by Emet North

I’d thought the jungles of the eastern Empire to be oppressively hot, but as I sat in the prow of the little canal boat and felt the sweat slip down my brow, I decided the north was, without question, far worse.

— A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

Abe Kalotay died in his front yard in late February, beneath a sky so pale it seemed infected.

— Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

I want to feel everything, the light, the noise, the dark, even the cold and fear.

— Dual Memory by Sue Burke

We call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other.

— Bunny: A Novel by Mona Awad

The other day, we’re standing in the repository; it’s evening already, nothing left to do but dump the lab suits, then I can head down to the Borscht for my daily dose of booze.

— Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky, Boris Natanovich Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky, and 1 other