3: Roger Zelazny Quote of the Day: It was just one damned thing...

I shook out my cloak and brushed myself off. I traveled for perhaps half an hour then, leaving the place far behind me, before I halted and took my breakfast in a hot, bleak valley smelling faintly of sulfur.

As I was finishing, I heard a crashing noise. A horned and tusked purple thing went racing along the ridge to my right pursued by a hairless orange-skinned creature with long claws and a forked tail. Both were wailing in different keys.

I nodded. It was just one damned thing after another.

The Context: Merlin is hellriding on his way to visit Ghostwheel.

Why I like it: I'm probably harder on the Merlin books than they strictly deserve.  They're no Guns of Avalon, but what is? We get a great supporting cast in Luke, Jasra, Mandor and Dalt, and I'd even say they're some pretty good books if you don't think too hard about the parts with Merlin, and we do get the occasional flash of brilliance, such as the passage above.