Books I've Read

Ameliorate (pg. 151) -- To make or become better; improve.

Ansible (pg. 93) -- An instantaneous communications device. First noted usage by LeGuin in 1966. http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/16

Gorked (pg. 147) -- Medical slang for a terminal patient whose brain is nonfunctional.

The old woman was still angry. Not scared a bit--well, the old were like that, if they weren't scared of everything. (pg. 180)

"How well do you know that old code they used in the war?" -- (pg. 222) This is why we learn Morse code, folks!

The small hours of the morning found them naked on the kitchen floor after Travis had played a rampaging Godzilla to Jennifer's unsuspecting Tokyo. -- (Pg. 149) Good stuff!

coldcocked (pg.2) -- To knock unconscious, but from whence does it come? First noted use 1918.
Sneaky Pete (pg. 8) -- The ol' booze bottle in the paper bag ploy, but in the novel it is a smokeless pot pipe.
...especially from fornication with woman or man... (pg. 32) -- One of a number of interesting things in the Hippocratic Oath.
two-tops (pg. 116) -- Tables at a restaurant that seat two people.
Ubermensch (pg. 235) -- Literally, "Superman". The ideal superior man of the future who could rise above conventional Christian morality to create and impose his own values, originally described by Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra.

...even brought in some paintball guns to try to gain the pupils' interest, but the latter only backfired into several incidents of drive-by abstract expressionism...(pg. 38) -- Love that sentence!

Mavis moved behind the bar with a grim, if wobbly, determination, drinking coffee from a gargoyle-green mug while a Tarryton extra long dangled from her lips, dropping longs ashes down the front of her sweater like the smoking turds of tiny ghost poodles. -- (pg. 238) A good Smoke Quote is, uh, good to find!

The Big Book Of Death (pg. 123) -- Described in the text as a how-to, but seems more of an encyclopedic on Amazon.
...smokin' one-handed H.O.R.S.E. player (pg. 218) -- A basketball game variation.

They watched the coffee dripping out of the filter like they were distilling nitroglycerine (pg. 117)

gleeman (pg. 323) -- an itinerant performer in the Middle Ages.
lavish in her panegyric (pg. 471) -- Formal or elaborate praise.
quondam sweet little child (pg. 566) -- At one time, formerly.

carious teeth (pg. 58) -- Affected with cavities or decay.
Harridan (pg. 60) -- A woman regarded as scolding and vicious.
Fribble (pg. 60) -- A frivolous person.
recreant knight (pg. 66) unfaithful to duty or allegiance, cowardly.
vinaigrette (pg. 146) -- A small decorative bottle or container with a perforated top, used for holding an aromatic preparation such as smelling salts.
brangle (pg. 181) -- A wrangle; a squabble; a noisy contest or dispute.