Three years ago, I started posting Tuesday Teasers after a long period of dormancy — so long, in fact, that the original host of it from 2009 was no longer around. After a year of consistent teases, I shared my top ten favorites; I forgot to do that last year, but this year I’m on top of things! So, here are ten of my favorite teases from October 3rd, 2024, til today.

“Imagine it — to be the King-Emperor of nearly five hundred million subjects and to be able to locate the twelve dullest, then gather them together around one table. It takes a special kind of genius.” (Precipice, Robert Harris)

“I’m guessing you didn’t slip a sedative into my drink and drag me all the
way out into the boondocks and drape me from a tree just to discuss, I don’t
know, philosophy. ’Less you have, in which case I apologize for misreadin’
the situation. It’s just, you don’t look the philosophy type.” (Firefly: Life Signs)

[Our friend] arrived late because he’d been arguing with a man selling red T-shirts with pictures of Stalin on them.
“Do you realize,” he had said, pointing at the merchandise, that this is the greatest mass-murderer of the twentieth century?”
“Don’t blame me,” said the man, “I just sell T-shirts.” – Paul Kingsnorth, One No, Many Yeses

Observation can tell more about the observer than about the environment being observed. It reflects the values, beliefs, and worldview of the witness. We see through the lens of our interests, and understanding. […] Hiking with a birdwatcher is quite a different experience than hiking with a geologist — one points out the flicking wings of a Ruby-crowned Kingler, the other notes the lavender glint of Lepidolite mica. Neither may notice the changing cloud formations that spell tomorrow’s snow. […] What we see is largely who we are and what we have learned to see. There is no such thing as an objective observer.” – “Eyes Wide Open”, What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs

“Do you have a birth certificate?”
“No.”
“May I ask why not?”
“I was a baby. I wasn’t in charge of the paperwork.” (Camino Ghosts, John Grisham)

“When you’re sneaking up on somebody, you might consider keeping your voice low,” Wacey hissed as McLanahan approached. “It’s an old, sly Indian trick.” – OPEN SEASON, C.J. Box

“What do you mean you shot him and then HIT HIM WITH A FISH?!” THE DISAPPEARED, CJ Box.

“Harris dashed forward only to have another mine shred his abdomen and legs; after flicking grenades into a line of pillboxes, he sprinkled sulfa powder onto his protruding intestines, cinched his web melt to keep the innards in, and wandered down to the beach to find a medic.” THE DAY OF BATTLE, Rick Atkinson

“You don’t want to get mixed up with them,” Joe said. “They’re bitter and they’re well armed and they hate the feds.”
“They sound like my kind of guys,” Nate said. THREE INCH TEETH, C.J. Box

“The way they tell is, the whole place is full of intransigent locals who don’t respect their authority.”
“Probably just me,” Joe said. THREE INCH TEETH, C.J. Box

There’s a reason I read the entire Joe Pickett series through in two months!