Michael P. Kube-McDowell

Michael Paul Kube-McDowell (born August 29, 1954), also known as Michael McDowell or Michael P. McDowell, is an American science fiction and non-fiction author.

Michael P. Kube-McDowell in the summer of 1989

Quotes

Alternities (1988)

No page numbers; quotes are from the e-book edition published by Phoenix Pick in 2022 ISBN 978-1-64973-073-2

• “I thought Green was where the mob owned Washington.”
  “It is,” Tackett said. “It makes less difference than you might think.”
  • Chapter 6 (location 1373; "Green" refers to a parallel Earth)

• “I guess it just happens. How many really happy couples do you know?”
  Arens blew smoke skyward. “Not many. Seems like everybody settles for less than they thought they were going to get.”
  “I thought we were going to be different.”
  “Everybody does,” Arens said.
  • Chapter 11 (location 3002)

• The bureaucracy staggers on like a beheaded chicken, its stubborn autonomic functions creating the illusion of life.
  • Chapter 11 (location 3035)

• “Peace,” Robinson repeated. His head lolled back against the chair until he was looking up into the cabin’s rafters. “There’s been more fighting about that than almost anything you can name. Do you know, Gregory, there’s a very simple reason why peace on earth is a pipe dream. Peace has the disadvantage of freezing the status quo, and there’ll always be individuals, groups, nations who find the status quo unacceptable.”
  • Chapter 13 (location 3633)

• “Thank you for not disappointing me,” Somerset said. “You’re every bit the ass I was told to expect.”
  “So you don’t bother to deny it.”
  “No, I don’t. Because I don’t bother to deny idiotic blather,” Somerset snapped.
  • Chapter 14 (location 3965)

• There’s no dumber animal on earth than a man with a hard-on.
  • Chapter 16 (location 4456)

• “I see you’re not quite the moralist, after all.”
  “A pragmatist will grow fat while a moralist starves,” Wilkins said.
  • Chapter 18 (location 5191)

• Cleaner hands next time, he vowed silently. I’ll let others do the killing the next time. That’s what separates Presidents from mobsters, after all.
  • Chapter 20 (location 5920)