T. A. Waters

Thomas Alan Waters (also known as T. A. Waters) (1938 – 1998) was an American magician, writer about magic, and science fiction author.

The Probability Pad (1970)

 * All page numbers from the mass market first edition published by Pyramid Books


 * Both time and reality have always been regarded suspiciously in the Village, and various pharmaceutical concoctions are purveyed to those who wish to circumvent them.
 * Chapter 1 (p. 7)


 * I’m giving up everything I can’t stand for Lent.
 * Chapter 1 (p. 8)


 * We were getting very good at pauses. This one, while not quite pregnant, had certainly been fooled around with.
 * Chapter 2 (p. 12)


 * “What will people say?” “Who,” I asked, “is going to tell them?”
 * Chapter 2 (p. 12)


 * Let’s set a precedent and try to approach this thing logically.
 * Chapter 2 (p. 20)


 * The deadline was two months earlier, but like myself Mike considered deadlines in financial rather than chronological terms.
 * Chapter 2 (p. 21)


 * Everybody seemed to be in show business; what the hell had happened to the audience?
 * Chapter 3 (p. 27)


 * All of this did not take long, because when I argue with myself I always have the uncomfortable knowledge that I’m going to lose; therefore I do it fast to get it over with.
 * Chapter 7 (p. 56)


 * Jake was being Subtle, which was only laughable; when he was straightforward he was incomprehensible.
 * Chapter 14 (pp. 107-108)


 * “I opposed this (the invasion of Earth),” it (the alien) continued, “having doubts about the validity or usefulness of this continued aggression. In opposing it I was, of course, opposing the Pattern, and for a Triskan to do this was what you would call blasphemy.” “Don’t feel bad,” I interjected. “Most everyone on this planet is ready to kill and destroy for their local god.” “Yes,” the 3V agreed, “and almost without exception, the other races and civilization we have encountered have been quite ready to do violence of all kinds to their fellow sharers of life, so long as they could claim to be doing the will of a higher power, be it a god or a government.”
 * Chapter 16 (p. 125)