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There was no pleasure, no I-told-you-so among the hedge-seers who had for so long predicted that the end was on its way. Now that everyone who cared to think about it agreed with them—though they might abjure the insight—those who found themselves suddenly and unexpectedly the advance guard of mainstream opinion were at a bit of a loss. What was the point of dedicating your life to giving warnings if everyone who might have listened—because the majority were still unbothered and would possibly remain so till the sun went out—merely nodded and agreed?

— Kraken by China Miéville (Page 121)

The couple felt enthralled by the landlord, perhaps due to the way she held eye contact. She seemed invested in them, unlike the other Americans they'd met. There was mold in the bathroom, a dead smell in the air.

The landlord spoke loudly, and the couple started to match her excitement. They found themselves looking forgivingly at a din of cobwebs and a cramped hallway. There was a broken air purifier and the couple compassionately smiled at it, too.

— Imaginary Museums by Nicolette Polek (Page 38)

The only intelligent species in the Galactic Community that considers displaying the teeth to be an expression of friendly intentions is Homo sapiens. Must be because we don't have sixty or seventy canines, like the Laggorus, or a series of flexible chewing plates that bear a distant resemblance to the coronal cilia of our rotifers or the cylindrical millstones of our ancient mills, like the Cetians.

— Super extra grande by Yoss (Page 79)

Here [in the United States] urban dereliction has become the moral and natural historical equivalent of war. In 1940-41, the Heinkel and Junkers bombers of the Luftwaffe destroyed 350,000 dwellings [sic] units and unhoused a million Londoners. In the 1970s, an equally savage "blitz" of landlord disinvestment, bank redlining, and federal "benign neglect" led to the destruction of 294,000 housing units in New York City alone.

— Dead Cities by Mike Davis (Page 386)

When I dumbly asked Ricky what color the cop who hit him was, he looked right through me. "He was Latino, and that is neither more nor less important than the fact that the cop who beat Soltero was black. Thing you got to understand, partner, is that all cops are colored blue."

— Dead Cities by Mike Davis (Page 278)