Nick Sagan

Nicholas Julian Zapata Sagan (born September 16, 1970) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the science fiction novels Idlewild, Edenborn, and Everfree, and has also written scripts for episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. He is the son of astronomer Carl Sagan and artist and writer Linda Salzman.

Idlewild (2003)

 * I'm not dead. A dim realization but an important one, because I should have died.


 * I remember the shock and... ...and nothing. Just the shock.


 * ...bright like a fantastically annoying firefly. Was it a firefly? I couldn't see any wings. I took a step back. It floated forward. I thought: I am on some terrible drug.


 * 'Tell me who I am.' 'Halloween,' she said. I'd been rooting against it, but when the word came, it was almost a relief...Hell, I thought. A rose by any other name. 'And who is that?' 'You are my Lord Halloween, Prince of the Marshes, King of Kadath, High Sovereign of the Orange and Black.'


 * Why did it have to be amnesia? Why couldn't it have been hypermnesia? Or hyperkinesia? Or hypochondria?


 * Children know precious little, but that profound ignorance comes from profound innocence. People really mean to say that innocence is bliss. And bliss is short-lived.


 * He was the epitome of acting out to get attention. I think everyone acknowledged his jokes as a kind of defense mechanism. ('Humor? That's my lizard tail. You can look at that while I run away,' he'd once said.)


 * And love, with a cursive capital 'L,' is merely sleight of hand, doled out by genetic edict in order to keep DNA flowing. It's all genetics. And beyond that, it's all just zeros and ones. But friendship, with an unpretentious lowercase 'f,' is real and right and valuable.


 * 'I thought I put a stake through your heart,' he said. 'I don't hold a grudge,' shrugged Doom.


 * Of course you think someone's trying to kill you, Hal--death is your favorite subject. Why shouldn't someone be trying to kill you?


 * ...and he died for what?--what thrill?--what cause?--tell me what treasure is worth the oxygen in a good man's brain?


 * I felt like taking on the world. I felt more in control than I'd ever been. My partner in this endeavor: the psychotic who just broke my nose.


 * I stood in the greeting-card aisle, looking for an appropriate sentiment. Though I searched high and low, there was no "so you're not even human" sympathy card.


 * All hail the conquering hero. My best friend betrayed me, so I shot him. Distracted by a kiss, I let the love of my life die.