Vivian Vande Velde quotes:

if Saint Bruce doesn't like your poem, he chops your head off.

Then, early, early, early in the morning-just as in countless Disney films-I heard a rooster crow. But guess what? They don't do it just once.

Those Grimm brothers," she said with a sigh, "they'll never amount to anything." And she was right because all they ever became was writers.

Mothers are legendary for being able to read the thoughts of their children at just the right moment.

A [reformed] vampire ... mostly tries to make reparation for his previous evil by doing good deeds-most commonly, apparently, going into the crime solving business.

If you don't like vampire games, don't play

Number one rule for fiction: Coincidence can be used to worsen a characters predicament, but never to solve his problems.

The wolf sniffed beneath the door to be sure this was a human cottage. The scent was undeniable. No pigs, except in bacon form. The wolf thought bacon form was a very sensible way for pigs to behave.

Don't," she begged, knowing that surely she was trying his patience, that his kindness would stretch just so far, that if he were truly kind he could never have survived as a vampire.

Giannine--What are they going to do: smack me on the head with a pamplet?

People always talk about good, fresh country air, but I kept getting wiffs of something that was neither good nor fresh but definitely country.

There, close enough to spit on--if I'd been a barbarian and inclined to spit--was the dragon.

They'd poisoned me, dammit. Probably to trade my dead body to the barbarians for Wulfgar's safe return. Or maybe just for the fun of it.