“It got to be a tradition: we set fires when we're happy, we set fires when we're not, we set fires when we've got nothin' better to do. It got so the city itself stepped in. It burns itself down. Houses combust spontaneously, entire blocks go up in flames at our city's will.” CitiesFireTraditionBurningDetroitCombustionArsonFires Book:The Future Source: The Future
“Lac Sainte-Claire is itself a creature of the wild, a world where the synthetic and the organic commingle. At this early hour, it looks like a sheet of quicksilver being shaken by invisible hands. Then, as morning brings heat and light, plastic objects, immersed steel structures, and an oily sheen become visible on its surface. Large ships advance in cavernous silence, waterfowl rise above the horizon.” WaterLakesDetroitMichiganSyntheticOrganicWaterwaysLake Saint Clair Book:The Future Source: The Future
“People thought Fort Détroit was protected by an alliance of demons: the Catholics' Satan, the Odawa's Wendigo, and Nain Rouge, or the Demon of the Strait. The Americans wanted nothing to do with it.” AmericaSatanDemonsDetroitMichiganWendigoNain Rouge Book:The Future Source: The Future
“Seems to me what it comes down to is, if a city's founded on a crime--" "Détroit is founded on a dream as much as a crime...” CitiesDreamsCrimeColonialismDetroit Book:The Future Source: The Future