Max Davine > Quotes

“I don't believe in respecting women on the grounds that they are women. What's important is not DISRESPECTING them. In my eyes, everyone starts off as a person, what the individual does defines them, regardless of color, race, creed, sexual preference or gender. People need to stop demanding respect. Do something respectable. Yes, the majority of men do play games with women and treat them like machines that if you oil the right way you'll get what you want out of them, and that sucks, but at the same time, as many women act and behave like those very machines. The most admirable thing, I find in my lifetime at least, is just being yourself. It's also the hardest thing to do.”
― Max Davine

“We all need love. Love for ourselves, yes, that's easy, but we also need to love and be loved by someone outside of ourselves. We need to be chosen by someone, and loved by them. Whether or not we get that in this life is irrelevant. It's the needing it that makes us human, not the getting it. As long as we need it, and know we need it, we're fine. It's when we pull the curtain down and say 'no, I can do this on my own', that's when it's all over. Of course it's true to say that, but doing it isn't worth it.”
― Max Davine

“any storyteller, we explore our own psyche and ask everyone to go with us. It's harder for some than for others.”
― Max Davine

“If you took all the killing in Star Wars and replaced it with fucking, you'd have an R-rated movie instead of PG. You ask me what's wrong with society? That's what's fucking wrong with society, that's everything that's wrong with society. From the age we're old enough to watch Star Wars we're told that sexuality is something we should be shy and timid about, while violence makes us heroes. Something we were designed to do is secret and shameful. Something we should never do is how we get things done. Star Wars is a great movie, don't get me wrong, but if you think its more acceptable for children than Looking For Alaska, because of the latter's sexual content, then your view of what it means to be human is seriously disturbed.”
― Max Davine

“The difficulty with women in film and literature is similar to the cultural minority, in that they are often a plot device rather than a character unto themselves. For example, even a strong woman may appear alongside a man in a story, but she ultimately is part of the hero's overall goal; something to be won, or an element of his proving himself is winning her affections, or being captured or killed in order to send the hero into overdrive to complete his mission. In a story where she is the main protagonist, she often has to shed her femininity in order to complete the task. The fact that they are women overtakes from their serving the story as a character, rather than an object. Cultural minorities often appear to portray a view of their culture; the Russian will be a Russian and do Russian things. The woman will be contrary, or compensate for her womanhood by being overtly tough and masculine, or sexy and seductive therefore manipulative and ultimately something for the hero to either deny or conquer. A great example of the culture stigma NOT being exploited is in Wentworth: Doreen is an aboriginal, we see that, but being an aboriginal doesn't play as a device. It's a part of her, not the overruling definition of her, and while issues pop up regarding the fact, they are not at the forefront of the character. Women, it seems, are even more ingrained in our minds as elements or objects which only appear in order to have a titillating effect on the audience, or to serve another character's journey as either a challenge or a hindrance. What we want is to see women in stories who's sex is noted, drawn strength from without compromise thereon, but not of consequence to other characters or the evolution of the story.”
― Max Davine

“Then my sentence remains death and I will take it.’ Freydis said. ‘As a skjoldmoy, with a battle-axe in my hand. But I will make Valhalla a place on earth before it happens. I will make Vinland the gates to all of the Nordic Empire and they will be open for all eternity to those persecuted by these one-God heathens, wherever they may be.”
― Max Davine, Spirits of the Ice Forest

“Spiritualists believe that a cockroach has a soul, just like a human, and is therefore every bit as worthy of life and love. I reject that idea entirely, but respect the cockroach, and every animal on the spectrum of appreciation between us, not because it has a soul, but because you, human, do not have a soul either, and are every bit as pointless, mindless and in the great scheme of things worthless as the cockroach. The only difference is that you choose to veil your tyranny, your obsession, your anger, your loneliness and your bestiality beneath a vague fantasy you call "love" to protect your frail belief in your own divinity. Only when the lights are off, or when protected by the sanctity of cute romances or adorable titles such as "mother" and "father" do you show how hideous you truly are. Wake up, animal, chaos is the only God.”
― Max Davine

“The Pale Ones are demons,’ Wobee said. ‘Does your fire crackle with the tears of Mammasumit’s family? Does it sing to you the screams of his women as they were set upon and taken as slaves? Come more Pale Ones. Come enough that they cover the ocean. If the Great River runs red, it will be with their blood and mine.”
― Max Davine, Spirits of the Ice Forest

“I don't write gloom for the sake of it, I do it because it's real. When you're down, cut open and vulnerable, it's not going to be Michelle Pfeifer who drops down onto the hood of your car with diamonds stashed in her vagina, it's going to be a sociopath. When you're stuck in monotony and feeling trapped, there will be no dashing prince to save you, there will be a serial killer, or a drug dealer; a psycho. Lame impalas are picked off first. There's a greater social lesson in that than "love will set you free".”
― Max Davine

“The women moved in to carve up the caribou and soon large chunks of its meat were roasting over the fire. The gathered families threw their wood carvings into the fire pit. The little dogwood caribous burned up and the smoke curled up with the sacrificed caribou’s spirit into the night sky where it dimmed the starlight behind a hazy sheen. The men danced and prayed to the departing spirit. In song and dance they said their thanks that it gave its life for their meal. Then they portioned out the meat.”
― Max Davine, Spirits of the Ice Forest

“I was given a hypothetical circumstance: selling Australian tourism to people overseas. Folks were offended by "where the bloody hell are you?" I guess "You'll come down under, but we'll take you to dinner first" wouldn't go down much better?”
― Max Davine

“The growing warmth of outside bled into Oonban’s mamateek and enticed him out from under his furs. But the age of his body and the shape of his wife beside him kept him down. Chipchowinech lay on her back. Lips slightly parted as a thick lock of graying hair lay across her mouth. Carefully, conscious of his hard and calloused old hands, Oonban reached across and moved the hair out of the way. She stirred and her eyes opened slightly. The sun rose for the second time that day; now in his heart.”
― Max Davine, Spirits of the Ice Forest

“I am being quite reasonable, Mister Cotton, I assure you,’ Charlie said, unable to keep himself from grinning. ‘Mary is accustomed to us. She is more than an elephant, she is a pet, a friend, and a companion. I wouldn’t trust an elephant I don’t know to Barnum and Bailey, let alone a pet, friend, and companion. I’m fully aware of your employers’ liberal use of bull hooks in training. The conditions in which those elephants are crammed together, night after night. Out of love for Mary, I say unreservedly no. I am also aware of the business practices of your employers and know full well the extent of their philanthropic nature. You wouldn’t have turned up here, all false charm and sleazy grin, waving an envelope of cash around, if you didn’t already know Mary was worth a hundred times the value. So, don’t threaten my elephants, firstly, Mister Cotton. And secondly, dare not to insult my intelligence, in my own office. For God’s sake, man.”
― Max Davine, Mighty Mary

“At first there was only light and sound. Bright, dazzling yellow that shone through the formless void of darkness and a cacophony of tuneless, unintelligible noise that frightened and confused her. The warmth of the sun was heavy and strong, and it burned. A sudden, brisk breeze cut through it, and her whole little body shivered. She curled into a ball. The noises were deep and resonant. There was thudding on the ground all around her and long, consistent growls from every direction. She opened her eyes and in the blur of yellow she began to see the great, blue sheet above and the endless, dusty ground below. Shadows loomed around her. Gigantic forms that blocked out the light and the heat. They reached out toward her, touched her. Finally, the sensory overload became too much. The bolts of panic shooting through her quivering flesh took hold. She raised her trunk into the air and screamed out…”
― Max Davine, Mighty Mary

“The haunting bellow of the sentry horns sounded across the Greenland Fjords as the night mists settled between the jagged, rocky, half-frozen shores. Ifar the Shepherd hurried from his flock. Beyond the coast skirted by his grazing land he could see the shadowy shape of the incoming knarr as it pushed through the deepening fog. Slowly the masts emerged above it. Ifar turned toward the hilltop. There stood the magnificent earthen Mead Hall of King Lief, son of Eirik the Red. Though the karls who worked the lands already came running from the fishing houses and the farms and the lumber sites, Ifar could not pass up the opportunity. He gathered his horn from hip and blew with all his might.”
― Max Davine, Spirits of the Ice Forest