Jonathan Maberry Quotes

Well, she sure don't hold the deed on grief and loss, son. We all been mussed and mauled by bad times. But that girl's done gone and shut down. I met gray people with more personality." She tapped her temple with a finger. "I'm beginning to suspect there ain't nobody home. ~ Jonathan Maberry

If you battle monsters, you don't always become a monster. But you aren't entirely human anymore, either. ~ Jonathan Maberry

My favorite monster has always been the zombie. They are so much fun. They can be scary, pathetic, sad, funny, tragic, even heroic. They are the most elastic monster because, even with all of that, they don't interfere with telling stories about the humans. They serve as threats and metaphors, but they allow the story to be about people. ~ Jonathan Maberry

[Therapist and friend, with a voice like Raul Julia during his Gomez Adam's days] Rudy studied my face, "I have a two o'clock open on Tuesday."
I sighed, "Yeah, ok. Tuesday at two."
He nodded, pleased. "Bring Starbucks."
"Sure, what do you want?"
"My usual. Iced half-caf ristretto quad grade two-pump raspberry two percent no whip light ice with caramel drizzle three-and-a-half-pump white mocha."
"Is any of that actually coffee?"
"More or less."
"And you think I'm damaged … ~ Jonathan Maberry

Time crawled on as if its legs were broken. ~ Jonathan Maberry

...told me to stop being a stupid town boy. She said that if I ever tried to go away from her again, she'd break my legs. She's very romantic, that girl. Sweet as a kitten...if a kitten was a Siberian tiger with mood issues. ~ Jonathan Maberry

But there never was a country, no matter how noble or well-intentioned, that wasn't infected by a greedy and power-hungry few. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Even though Tom wasn't moving, he seemed to be a little farther away. For the first time Benny realized that there were other people in the hallways. They were indistinct, more of a sense of movement in the gray light rather than specific shapes. He thought he recognized one of them, though.
"Chong?"
The figure stopped moving, but he stood with his back to Benny.
"Tom-is that Chong?"
"Is that Chong?" Benny asked again. "Is ... is he going with you? ~ Jonathan Maberry

Sometimes there are hurts so deep that they exist in a country that has no spoken language, a place where all landscapes are blighted and no sun ever shines. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Walls, towns, rules, and day-to-day life doesn't make us civilized ... That's organization and ritual. Civilization lives in our hearts and heads or it doesn't exist at all. ~ Jonathan Maberry

It's important to know the past, but your survival depends on knowing the present. ~ Jonathan Maberry

A wise man once said that we can't make anyone feel or do anything. We can throw things into the wind, but it's up to each person to decide how they want to react, where they want to stand when things fall. ~ Jonathan Maberry

When I was in middle school, the librarian there was secretary for a couple of groups of professional writers. She introduced me to Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson, and I became very friendly with them over a period of two years. Both of them were very generous with their time, guidance and advice. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Every single zom, every man, woman and child, no matter how decayed or how frightening they are, no matter how dangerous they are - they were all once real people. They had names, and lives, and personalities, and families. They had dreams and goals. They had pasts and they thought they had futures, but something came and took that away from them. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Sometimes shame is a more powerful engine than rage. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I love weird science. I love weird action. I love weird characters. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I don't aspire to write like Steve King. Sure, I admire his work, and I think he's a hell of a nice guy; we met shortly after my first Stoker win. I aspire to write like Jonathan Maberry. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Dude, what is it with you and zoms? ~ Jonathan Maberry

Suddenly we were in outer space. Aboard a rusty old piece of junk freighter. Far away. And in real trouble. ~ Jonathan Maberry

My first book deal was actually for a textbook - 'Judo and You' - that I wrote while teaching at Temple University. A scout for Kendall-Hunt came looking for someone to write the book, and even though it wasn't a course I was teaching there, I agreed to write it. ~ Jonathan Maberry

He knew that these creatures were dead, that they were reanimated echoes who wore the disguise of the people they had once been, but Tom's words rang in his mind. They used to be people. How could he strike them? How could he hurt them? Children, women, old people. Lost souls. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Evil never dies. It merely waits. And it grows stronger in the dark. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Because secrecy can become an addiction. That's been a problem as long as people have tried to covet power for themselves. Sure, governments need to keep some secrets, but too often the people inside the government create for themselves the illusion that because they know things nobody else does, it makes them more powerful. That kind of thinking creates a kind of contempt for anyone on the outside. It's born from a belief that their own power will diminish in direct proportion to the transparency of their actions. So secrets become the currency that buys them membership into a club so exclusive that their agendas are never shared, and the value of what the hold is measured only from a first-person perspective. ~ Jonathan Maberry

There were more of them out there. More walkers. And I was being asked to step up and be ... what? Some kind of Captain Heroism who would lead the boys in the Red, White, and Blue to victory? What was I getting myself into? This wasn't task force duty, this wasn't even SWAT-team level. I'd never even smelled anything this big before and now I was expected to train and lead a black ops team? How frigging insane was this? Why were they asking me? I'm just a cop. Where are the guys who actually do this for a living? How come none of them were here? Where's James Bond and Jack Bauer? Why me, of all people? ~ Jonathan Maberry

Nerves were on hair triggers, and if my virgin aunt had stepped out from behind those crates with a puppy in one hand and a baby in the other my guys would have capped her. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Rage was sometimes a useful ally in the heat of a fight, but it was a trickster. It made everything seem possible. ~ Jonathan Maberry

The way Benny saw it, when your first memory was of zombies killing your parents, then you had a license to hate them as much as you wanted. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Benny Imura sat in the dark and spoke with monsters.
It was like that every day.
It had become the pattern of his life. Shadows and blood. And monsters.
Everywhere.
Monsters. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Chong said, 'Do yourself a favor, Morg. Next time you're staring at a girl's boobs, look up. You'll be shocked to learn it, but there's going to be a face up there. Nose, mouth, eyes. And behind the eyes is an actual person. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I don't ever want to live in a world where something like mercy ... or maybe it's compassion ... is the wrong choice. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Like most writers, I read deeply into the genre in which I write. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Wolverine is a world-weary old warrior. His rage issue notwithstanding, I see him as someone with the tortured soul of a poet, but one who has seen too many friends and lovers die. Even with that, he has grown into a leader and a true hero. ~ Jonathan Maberry

There are moments that define a person's whole life. Moments in which everything they are and everything they may possibly become balance on a single decision. Life and death, hope and despair, victory and failure teeter precariously on the decision made at that moment. These are moments ungoverned by happenstance, untroubled by luck. These are the moments in which a person earns the right to live, or not. ~ Jonathan Maberry

It's horrible, and we humans, just as always, will be the cause. Screw up the water. Fuck up the air. Cut down the trees and shit on the world. We'll call it science. We'll call it sport. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Lilah, there's not a living soul on this planet who shouldn't be afraid of Saint John. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Do you work for Starbox? If so, I can't say I dig your new marketing strategy. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Unless there's an officer-involved shooting or some other high-profile event going on, the Homicide Office is dead in the middle of the night. ~ Jonathan Maberry

You, however, are a psycho bitch who shot my dog. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I knelt down and hugged the furry monster for a while. If it was too tight, Ghost didn't seem to mind. He wagged his tail and whined a little, sensing the hurt that I felt. Dogs are truly the best of companions. You don't need to explain. They know as much as they need to know, and they are loyal no matter what sins you've committed. ~ Jonathan Maberry

(T)he world is always changing. Always. We can't give the next generation a set of guarantees. Best we can do is help them be smart enough and tough enough to deal with whatever comes. You know as well as I do that we're not going to be there forever for them. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Things said and done innocently should never be used as weapons. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Sometimes there aren't words, Benny knew. Sometimes there are hurts so deep that they exist in a country that has no spoken language, a place where all landscapes are blighted and no sun ever shines. Benny had left his footprints in the dust of that place. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Closure isn't closure until someone's ready to close the door. ~ Jonathan Maberry

In the car sometimes I'd just start balling my eyes out. ~ Jonathan Maberry

You can learn much about an enemy when you watch him win. We will watch and learn . . . and plan. ~ Jonathan Maberry

It's easier to be a character in a story than the star of your own tragedy. ~ Jonathan Maberry

No matter what choice you make, it doesn't define you. Not forever. People can make bad choices and change their minds and hearts and do good things later; just as people can make good choices and then turn around and walk a bad path. No choice we make lasts our whole life. If there's ever a choice you've made that you no longer agree with, you can make another choice. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Making playlists can kill a whole afternoon for me. I like building very specific playlists for new writing projects. In a strange way, choosing certain songs is part of the process of plotting the book out. I pick songs that I think with resonate with characters, their personality quirks, relationship dynamics, action scenes, and so on. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I have been an Avengers fan since the middle 1960s. I grew up with them, and I've imagined a hundred different versions of an Avengers movie. I think I even have a script I wrote back in eighth grade, 'Avengers vs. the Mole Man.' Truly dreadful, but a work of love. ~ Jonathan Maberry

That's got to be Nix," Benny said as he pulled the door open. "Hey, sweetie ... "
Morgie Mitchell and Lou Chong stood on the black porch.
"Um," said Chong, "hello to you, too, sugar lumps. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Rape is, to me, no different than murder. It kills a part of the victim's soul. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I'm self-aware enough to know that I have a somewhat fractured personality. Not exactly multiple personality disorder, but clearly there were different drivers at the wheel depending on my mood, and depending on my needs. Over ~ Jonathan Maberry

The world's clock had run down, and haste was irrelevant. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Value is relative," said the saint. "A man with his house on fire and a man dying of thirst each place a different value on a glass of water. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Point is, people lie a lot. Sometimes out of habit. Not many people are good at telling the truth. ~ Jonathan Maberry

This was a better place. Not just this new town, but this new world. So much brighter and cleaner than the old world of rot and ruin, fire and ash. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I got this," said Nix, raising her bokken. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I could feel the shakes starting to come back, so I washed my face, rinsed my mouth out with handfuls of tap water, pasted on my best I-didn't-just-kill-a-zombie expression, and left with my coffee. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Leaving is never easy," said Tom. "Even when you know you have to go. ~ Jonathan Maberry

The word "impossible" used to mean something. It was a line that couldn't be crossed. It was the outer edge of the safe zone.
I can't find that line anymore ~ Jonathan Maberry

No one is really who people think they are. It's unfair. When they give us nicknames and create a story for us, everyone expects us to be that person and to live up to that legend. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Maybe you should go make that call again. Ask very specifically how much of who's ass needs to be kissed here. I'm pretty sure it's my hairy butt that's gonna be getting all the love. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Guilt and rage, hatred and fear were pathways to weakness and clumsy choices. ~ Jonathan Maberry

But the colonel said and did nothing as the seconds splintered off the clock and fell like debris on the floor. ~ Jonathan Maberry

There are different kinds of predators. There are the kinds who target the weak. And there are those with more of a Dexter vibe who don't lose sleep if a child abuser has a hard time on the way to the station. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Hell's a-coming and we all gotta learn to play the blues. (347) ~ Jonathan Maberry

Spotting the same car three times could have been a coincidence. Kim Kardashian's boobs could be real, too, and that's about as likely. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Tom adjusted his sword and checked his knives and his pistol. If there had been anyone to see his face, they would have seen a man at peace with himself and the world. And if they were wise they would know that such a man was the most dangerous of all opponent - one who fights to preserve love rather than perpetuate hate. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Know your enemy. The more you know about them, the less easily they can surprise you. And by studying them you might identify a weakness or vulnerability. ~ Jonathan Maberry

That's stupid," said Benny.
"That's people," said the supervisor. ~ Jonathan Maberry

What's with the shorts?" "There's a new fitness trainer. Jamaican gal . . . tall, gorgeous." "And . . . ?" "Bike shorts show off my package." "Jesus Christ." "Jealousy is an ugly thing, Joe." "Get in the fucking car. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I'd put two .45 slugs in him from fifteen feet. Pretty much does the trick. If it doesn't then your only logical ammunition upgrade is Kryptonite. But ~ Jonathan Maberry

Apple of My Eye is a twisted collection of short stories by Amy Grech, including the sexy and deadly title story that makes you want to stay home with the door locked and the lights on. Grech's stories are sinister, sneaky, convoluted and dangerous - and absolutely not to be missed!
- Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-Winning Author of
Ghost Road Blues and Dead Man's Song ~ Jonathan Maberry

Yo! Deadheads," he yelled, waving his sword to taunt them. "Nice try, but you're messing with Benny-freaking-Imura, zombie killer. Booyah! ~ Jonathan Maberry

I'm not sure I could trust a man who would bypass an Oreo in favor of vanilla wafers. It's a fundamental character flaw, possibly a sign of true evil. ~ Jonathan Maberry

When I first encountered the 'Sigma Force' novels - long before I became friends with Jim Rollins - a bookseller told me that these stories were about 'geeks with guns.' While not entirely accurate, that's pretty close to the mark, and that really speaks to me. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I fished inside my head for something, some way to prove it. And those strange words floated to the surface of my need. In as clear a
voice as l could, l looked at Prospero and said, "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. ~ Jonathan Maberry

She looked like a character from a video game. One of those improbably busty, impossibly well-armed superchicks who could do acrobatics and hit the kill zone even while firing guns from both hands during a cartwheel.
"You look fucking ridiculous," she told herself. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Stabbing is for suckers who want to die. ~ Jonathan Maberry

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there's either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world.
And there's nothing wrong with my skills. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Revenge is an infection of the spirit. ~ Jonathan Maberry

When he heard politicians use the phrase "in the best interests of the American people" he knew that it was always a profit-based decision. ~ Jonathan Maberry

The real world was never cool enough for anyone to accept a costumed supervillain. Which ~ Jonathan Maberry

I wrote a novel, Ghost Road Rules, and as soon as it was done and polished, I began reaching out to agents. I ignored the frequent advice to 'shoot low and try for a low-level agent because they're the only ones that will take a flyer on a new author.' That sounded like bad advice to me. ~ Jonathan Maberry

They held each other and wept as the night closed its fist around their tiny shelter, and the world below them seethed with killers both living and dead. ~ Jonathan Maberry

We're each alone inside our heads, some more so than others. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Ludo, for Christ's sake stop saying okey-dokey. We're master criminals. We're supervillains. Can't you come up with something that doesn't sound like we're a couple of hicks?"
"Yes, Your Exalted Evilness. How's that? Or should I call you Dark Lady? ~ Jonathan Maberry

With 'Extinction Machine,' I wanted to start some conversations about whether we're alone in the universe and what that might mean. ~ Jonathan Maberry

When people ask me about what I learned from martial arts, I don't talk about favorite punches or kicks, or about fights won or lost. I talk about learning self-discipline, about ethics and manners and benevolence and fairness. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Write the best book you can, the one that demands to be written, no matter what genre it is. Even a trend the trades tell you has gone stale can be revitalized by a superb piece of writing. It'll never be revitalized by someone jumping on a trend bandwagon. ~ Jonathan Maberry

How deep inside your own heartbreak do you have to fall before there's no outward sign of life? ~ Jonathan Maberry

A sword by itself is not evil. A sword can be used to slay an enemy, or release a suffering friend into the darkness. A sword can cut ropes that bind the helpless. A raised sword can be a threat or it can be a symbol of leadership ... A weapon, my children, is good or evil depending on the intention of whoever holds it. ~ Jonathan Maberry

That's stupid."
"That's people. ~ Jonathan Maberry

I did not and do not want my life tied up in cloak-and-dagger bullshit, dead guys, or pissing contests with either the testosterone crowd in there or some prissy-assed Earl Grey-drinking, scone-munching major who isn't even my freaking boss. I don't know you and I don't give a rat's ass if you trust me. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Yippie ki-yay and all that shit"

- Desdemona Fox ~ Jonathan Maberry

How do you know that?"
"Because,"Chong said with raised eyebrows,"when you open those things called 'books',there are words as well as pictures.Sometimes the words tell you stuff. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Love was a pathway to cruel pain. It was the arrow that Fate always kept aimed at your back. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Get your butt in a chair and write. If it comes out weak or bad or clunky or ordinary, then accept that this happens to everyone. Everyone. Get it down, get it done, and fix it in the rewrite. Just like everyone from Stephen King to J. K. Rowling to Chuck Palahniuk does. ~ Jonathan Maberry

Hell was something the Lost Girl knew. She has lived it all her life. ~ Jonathan Maberry

When giant violent albino penguins are the least extraordinary issue of the day, then your day has slipped a gear. ~ Jonathan Maberry