American author (1979- )
You take sides if you're smart. Offer up your loyalty, 'cause it's all you've got to trade.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance
She was not filled up with the sight of him, the way she had seen her sisters fill up, like silk balloons, like wineskins. Instead, he seemed to land heavily within her, like a black stone falling.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Deathless
I grew up reading science fiction and Fantasy and horror, so in my mind they're not that separate, and also, my degree's in classics. When I was first starting out, the notion that magic and monsters and witches and curses and blood debt and kings and queens and all that was not strictly speaking realism was crazy. In classics that's just Tuesday, that is the stuff of normal literature, that is not in any sense Fantasy; and if you are a classicist yourself, or read a lot into the Greek corpus, you'll find plenty of science fiction in there as well.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
interview, The Fantasy Hive, September 17, 2019
It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
It is harder, usually, to find a person who wants to walk the streets of me, to taste the teas of my country, to ... immigrate, you could say.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Palimpsest
Given that you'll never hear the truth out of anyone's mouth, you must listen to the lies--the specific lies they choose to tell.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance
My passport is my troth; you may find upon it all my soul displayed.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance
All stories must end so, with the next tale winking out of the corners of the last pages, promising more, promising moonlight and dancing and revels, if only you will come back when spring comes again.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
But your own dreams always seem so special, so terribly yours, until you grow up and figure out they're just like everyone else's.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance
She was ... unhappy. It was part of her, you could not separate her from it. She was sad the way a horse is strong or a bird flies.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Palimpsest
The eye is our master, and the eye worships light. That which makes light is good, that which takes it is to be feared. We have taken it from you, but we will give it back again. Make of that what you will.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance
Reading while I'm writing is actually very important to me. If I'm not reading a novel, all I'm reading is the internet, and that's not good. What goes in comes out. You can't just put internet comments and Twitter feeds into your head and expect good writing to come out.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
interview, Electric Lit, December 1, 2015
A woman has but eight roles open to her: ingénue, mother, witch, detective, nun, whore, queen, and corpse.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance
When one is traveling, everything looks brighter and lovelier. That does not mean it IS brighter and lovelier; it just means that sweet, kindly home suffers in comparison to tarted-up foreign places with all their jewels on.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Just remember that the only question in a house is who is to rule. The rest is only dancing around that, trying not to look it in the eye.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Deathless
The prologue is the mother of the tale and the governess of the audience. She knows you have to bring them in slow, teach them how to behave. All it takes is a little music; a soft play of lights; a flash of skin; a good, beefy monologue to bring everyone up to speed before you expect them to give a witch's third tit who's king of Scotland.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance
She is so stubborn, her heart has an argument with her head every time it wants to beat.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Deathless
There is no such thing as a people who are all wicked or even all good. Everyone chooses. But even they, even they looked at people and saw only tools. No one is a cup for another to drink from.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
It's the wonders I'm after, even if I have to bleed for them.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
I don't deal in unvarnished truths. It's the varnish that counts. That makes it true.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
Radiance