dennis scharnberg

“Not ‘resonate’, Andrews. But ‘operate’. The words operate.”

Marston Moore, Sweet Meteor of Death.

“Of course, I decided to start laughing in that manner quite some time ago,” said Todd, after emitting a long horrible screeching noise.

Charles Jeffrey Yett, Writing in Miniature—Volume Three.

Sophistication: upside down.

Nathaniel Bumppo, The Final Word.

Criteria are post facto.

Godfrey Tooke, Collected Aphorisms.

He opened the slip of paper, to reveal a large rubber-stamped image in blue: the numeral seven followed by an exclamation point. Was it “7” factorial? (That is, 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1?) Was it an emphatic “seven!”? (A seven that really means it?) Or was it merely the conjunction of two arbitrary signs? There was no way to determine an answer. It was unknowable.

Timothy Waldo, The Important Things.

Theories are, by their very nature, full of holes.

Addison West, The Ontology of Destruction.

“I don’t know, Kathleen. I don’t think anyone knows. No one even asks.”

Gwen McTaver, Murder Has Windows.

“What’s your code name, Jack?”

“My what?”

“Your code name. Your secret name. What is it?”

Harold Nickleby, Captain Hugo and the Case of the Mystic Rhymes.

“Harvene was an unusual girl, you know.”

“How do you mean unusual?”

“Well, thoughts mostly. But also clothing. Her garments.”

Lana Dowling, The Mystery of the Dull Parcels.

“I thought seed-cake was for weddings,” quipped Tom. “Or for funerals. Or both.”

Leighton Johns, My Uncle Toby.