Quotessence
Home / Authors / Phil Truman

Phil Truman Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllMysteryYaSci FiExcitingFictionNative AmericanActionDramaFantasyQuirkyWesternWesternsCulturalHistorical CultureLiteratureAdventureHeroLiterary FictionMythicalMythical Monsters

Famous Phil Truman Quotes

“Penelope decided a crippled-up second lieutenant didn’t have much of a future in the military, as well as no longer fitting her criteria for dashing.  With encouragement from her, Bob Tregonne saw his opportunity and took it. Poor bastard. Last I heard they married and moved to Washington where Bob got a promotion and a new post. My guess, he won’t be the last of the woman’s fools, especially in Washington society. Probably be a long list of husbands and lovers in that bucket.”

FantasyHeroExcitingWesternYaSci FiQuirkyCulturalHistorical CultureWestern Heroes
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image

“I thought about what he was saying. “Old Long Walker talked about this Dire Wolf,” I said. “Is that a man or an animal.” “A little of both, I reckon… and neither.” He got quiet again, sipped his coffee, reading the window glass. The wind screamed and howled beyond it, out in the feral night.”

FantasyHeroExcitingWesternYaSci FiQuirkyCulturalHistorical CultureWestern Heroes
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image

“I gently urged Clyde toward a big elm tree standing twenty yards from the front of the cabin and reined him to a stop partially behind the wide trunk. Pulled my rifle out of its boot and rested it across the big gelding’s withers. “You Wilbur Redhand?” He kept whittling without looking up. “Who’s askin?” “I’m Deputy Marshal Jubal Smoak. Looking for an outlaw named Crow Redhand. If you’re Wilbur, I was told you’re his kin.” He nodded and kept whittling. Presently, he said, “Crow ain’t here. He come, but he left. Needed doctoring. Someone shot him in the foot.” “Reckon that’d been me,” I said. “Had a shootout down near Fairland. I shot him in the foot. He shot me in the back.” He squinted at me. “Surprised you’re alive. Crow usually aims to kill. Never knew him to miss.”

LiteratureFictionMysteryAdventureYaSci FiNative AmericanFiction BooksNative American Fiction
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image

“The general’s daughter swept into the room like an angelic visitation. Never seen such a vision of the feminine in my life. It hit me between the eyes like someone pressed a live telegraph wire to the back of my head. She came amongst us boys so coquettish and alight with laughter that we all took on dumbfounded stupidity, not quite knowing what to say or how to act.”

FantasyMysteryExcitingWesternYaSci FiQuirkyDetectiveCulturalHistorical Culture
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image

“Zlata Dromenko was a stout Cossack about my height with a thick single eyebrow giving her a serious, severe look. I found out she’d been a mail-order bride who came over from Ukraine to marry a local farmer, a Russian immigrant. He died, though, and now Mrs. Dromenko worked in the hospital bullying patients like me. I called her “Hun,” because she made me think of Attila. I was curious as to how Mr. Dromenko died but was afraid to ask.”

ActionLiteratureMysteryAdventureDramaExcitingYaSci FiNative AmericanWesterns
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image

“Many generations past, before even the Spaniards came, hundreds of years ago, maybe even thousands.” He shrugged, shook his head. “My ancestors lived along the Mississippi. Back then they were known as the Downstream People. Moundbuilders, it’s said. No one knows why they did this, not now, but most tell that the mounds were spiritual, the dwelling places for spirits, good and bad. The spirit of the Shanka’ Tunka is one kind of spirit that stayed there, an evil one. Legend has it he awakens every hundred years or so, roams the land looking for a likely soul to take, someone who ain’t too far from evil himself.”

FantasyHeroExcitingWesternYaSci FiQuirkyCulturalHistorical CultureWestern Heroes
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image

“Makade-ma'iingan walked slowly toward him out of the gloom. She circled him, her head low, her cerulean eyes lancing into him like arrows. Her voice spoke in his grandmother’s tongue. “Myeengun, you must rise and finish your work, rip out the throats of the whites who oppress and pursue us. The spirit of your grandmother, the spirits of all your people, demand it. I am Otshee monetoo, and I command it.” She lunged, sinking her yellow teeth deep into his chest where he’d pressed the knife. The flash of pain struck him like a sudden bolt from angry clouds. It reached so much beyond his level to endure, that this time he did cry out. His feral howl screaming out into the cold night, rolling through the valley like a keening from the damned.”

ActionLiteratureMysteryDramaExcitingYaSci FiNative AmericanWesterns
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image

“Never been around dogs much. My mom had a collie when I was a boy, but she was a gentle animal who stayed around the house, mostly. My father, and the men he knew, all had braces of big surly hunting dogs they used for going after wild hogs. The times he took me with him on those hunts, I was more afraid of those dogs than the feral hogs. Think they could sense it. Always felt like they would’ve taken the least opportunity to sink their teeth into me.”

FantasyMysteryExcitingWesternSci FiQuirkyDetectiveMythical CreaturesIndian LoreMythical Monsters
Book:Dire Wolf of the Quapaw: a Jubal Smoak Mystery
Create image