Honorverse favorite one-liners

kenl511 wrote:Some more from Abbigail on Shadow of Freedom:


"You Sollie's command of our common language never ceases to amaze me."

"You need to work up a better grade of threat. I don't know, maybe grow a moustache so you can twirl it."

Hey, I totally don't recall that in the book. I have to go back and find it!

Abby actually said that? Spunky little Grayson isn't she?
This is a funny quote. Thanks Ken.

Interesting. My niece and I often play the color mixing game. You know how you mix two colors to come up with an entirely different color? Well we mix two officers to come up with a third. She always says Abigail was a mixture of Michelle and Honor. With this passage you just posted, I see it now. Thanks twice!! I'll be sure to tell my niece. I see the look on her face already. Told ya so.

Just a for what it's worth. In A Short Victorious War the original RMN Star Knight was ambushed by and took on 4 Sultans. While she was destroyed, she sent 2 of the four Sultans into yard hands. IMPO, if Fearless had been undamaged at the start of the fight, she would have probably had about a 40% chance of winning any way.

KNick wrote:Just a for what it's worth. In A Short Victorious War the original RMN Star Knight was ambushed by and took on 4 Sultans. While she was destroyed, she sent 2 of the four Sultans into yard hands. IMPO, if Fearless had been undamaged at the start of the fight, she would have probably had about a 40% chance of winning any way.

Nice analysis. Can only offer a righteous fist pump to that one. That also makes me want to go back and reread that one. Ok, I will. At least that section. Anyone remember who was driving the original Star Knight?

cthia wrote:

KNick wrote:Just a for what it's worth. In A Short Victorious War the original RMN Star Knight was ambushed by and took on 4 Sultans. While she was destroyed, she sent 2 of the four Sultans into yard hands. IMPO, if Fearless had been undamaged at the start of the fight, she would have probably had about a 40% chance of winning any way.

Nice analysis. Can only offer a righteous fist pump to that one. That also makes me want to go back and reread that one. Ok, I will. At least that section. Anyone remember who was driving the original Star Knight?

A Captain O'Donnell.

cthia wrote:

kenl511 wrote:Some more from Abbigail on Shadow of Freedom:


"You Sollie's command of our common language never ceases to amaze me."

"You need to work up a better grade of threat. I don't know, maybe grow a moustache so you can twirl it."

Hey, I totally don't recall that in the book. I have to go back and find it!

Abby actually said that? Spunky little Grayson isn't she?
This is a funny quote. Thanks Ken.

It's in the Saltash Incident section.

The Short Victorius War

"We've got to continue expanding our economic base if we're going to maintain the Basic Living Stipend payments," De La Sangliere said heavily.

My sister is not a fan of science fiction but has agreed to read a few stories before the upcoming Honor Con. She began here with SVW because she thought it would be a shorter read I suppose and because many of my nieces books are on loan.

Automatically my sister focuses on this passage and rings me up asking if this is 'welfare' in the Honorverse. I admit, I had to google it. Yes it is. My sister belongs in the politics forum!

Whatever will bring her onboard.

Funny, she is not really into sci-fi. She would never actually watch Star Trek but loves Babylon 5. Now Babylon 5, I never really got into, but she has every single episode. Always told me what I was missing. Considering all of the incredible Babylon 5 one-liners in the 'Free-Range' section, I can see her point.

The Short Victorius War

Her new exec was an exception, however. Through whatever trick of genetics, Commander The Honorable Michelle Henke was a throwback to her first Manticoran ancestor's genotype. Her skin was barely a shade lighter than her space-black uniform, her hair was even curlier than Honor's . . . and there was no mistaking the clean-cut, distinctive features of the House of Winton.

I remember reading in one of RFC's interviews that someone, I think a friend of his, didn't realize that Elizabeth was black. Neither did I until well into the series. I like it however!

But I wonder about the movies. Will they choose atresses with a likeness to play Elizabeth and Michelle?

cthia wrote:
But I wonder about the movies. Will they choose atresses with a likeness to play Elizabeth and Michelle?

They damn better well. I think it's critically important that Elizabeth and Michelle remain black for the same reason it's critically important that Honor and Estelle be played by someone of at least part-Asian or Eurasian descent (or at least non-white); because one of the fundamental tenets of the Honorverse is that racism, at least in Manticore, no longer exists. It's a vision of the future where it doesn't matter what your skin color is, there is no glass ceiling based on race or gender and even the idea that someone could be discriminated against for their race is so mind-boggling it almost breaks the characters' brains. That is not something seen often in literature, let alone on the big screen, and because it's so rare - and so fundamental to the universe RFC has created - I think it would be, all other social implications aside, a gross violation of the source material on a fundamental level not to cast Elizabeth and Michelle - as well as other applicable characters - as black. (Ditto characters like Augustus Khumalo, who had damn better well remain black if they ever get that far in the series.)

For instance, I've been pulling for Lupita Nyong'o as Queen Elizabeth or - better yet - Michelle Henke since I first heard of her, and I also really want Susan Hibson to be played by Nicole Beharie. From acting alone I'd love QEIII to be played by Audra McDonald, but unfortunately she's in her forties so I doubt she'd be able to get away with it. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Zoe Saldana as QEIII, but between Star Trek and whatever superhero movie she's slated for, she might have a bit too much on her plate. (Anyone but Halle Berry, basically!!)

My top choices for Honor include Moon Bloodgood, Kristin Kreuk, and Jamie Chung. Michelle Krusiec is my #1 for Dame Estelle, Lucy Liu for Allison Harrington, and Norm Lewis for Augustus Khumalo. (...I've thought about this a lot.)

...and for any further discussion of this particular topic we should probably head over here.

Sorry rose. A misunderstanding. I often fail to accurately state myself. What I meant was whether two similar in appearance actresses, like from the same family, will play the parts. So the appearance of the strong Winton gene will be there.

roseandheather wrote:

cthia wrote:
But I wonder about the movies. Will they choose atresses with a likeness to play Elizabeth and Michelle?

They damn better well. I think it's critically important that Elizabeth and Michelle remain black for the same reason it's critically important that Honor and Estelle be played by someone of at least part-Asian or Eurasian descent (or at least non-white); because one of the fundamental tenets of the Honorverse is that racism, at least in Manticore, no longer exists. It's a vision of the future where it doesn't matter what your skin color is, there is no glass ceiling based on race or gender and even the idea that someone could be discriminated against for their race is so mind-boggling it almost breaks the characters' brains. That is not something seen often in literature, let alone on the big screen, and because it's so rare - and so fundamental to the universe RFC has created - I think it would be, all other social implications aside, a gross violation of the source material on a fundamental level not to cast Elizabeth and Michelle - as well as other applicable characters - as black. (Ditto characters like Augustus Khumalo, who had damn better well remain black if they ever get that far in the series.)

For instance, I've been pulling for Lupita Nyong'o as Queen Elizabeth or - better yet - Michelle Henke since I first heard of her, and I also really want Susan Hibson to be played by Nicole Beharie. From acting alone I'd love QEIII to be played by Audra McDonald, but unfortunately she's in her forties so I doubt she'd be able to get away with it. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Zoe Saldana as QEIII, but between Star Trek and whatever superhero movie she's slated for, she might have a bit too much on her plate. (Anyone but Halle Berry, basically!!)

My top choices for Honor include Moon Bloodgood, Kristin Kreuk, and Jamie Chung. Michelle Krusiec is my #1 for Dame Estelle, Lucy Liu for Allison Harrington, and Norm Lewis for Augustus Khumalo. (...I've thought about this a lot.)

...and for any further discussion of this particular topic we should probably head over here.

cthia wrote:Sorry rose. A misunderstanding. I often fail to accurately state myself. What I meant was whether two similar in appearance actresses, like from the same family, will play the parts. So the appearance of the strong Winton gene will be there.

Oh! That's an interesting question. We know that their skin tones are considerably different - Michelle is a genetic throwback to the first Wintons, so much, much darker than her cousin (thanks to that "the heir has to marry a commoner" rule - lots of genetic blending there), so I'm not as fussed about a visible family resemblance, because the two don't really look like sisters to start with. I think it's more important that they don't look so different it jars viewers, than that there's a really visible physical similarity. If you look at, say, The Sound of Music, the actors who played the children made believable siblings, but didn't all resemble each other to a tremendous degree.

And now for the requisite one-liner, which may or may not have appeared before:

"All things considered, Her Grace's plan may not have been the single rashest, most foolhardy, do-or-die, all-or-nothing throw of the dice in the history of the Royal Manticoran —- or Grayson -— Navy. If it wasn't, however, I have so far failed to find the plan that was."

The eternally-quotable Michelle Henke