The Top Ten Quotes We Love from The Land of the Purple Ring

​Happy (almost) fourth publishing anniversary to our fourth book, The Land of the Purple Ring by Deborah J. Natelson! Reviewers are calling this work of pure imagination “creative, witty, and intriguing” and “a fantastic trip to a magical world.” It’s perfect for fans of Alice in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth, and The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear.
​​
Need a bit more convincing to dive into the book? Then read the ten awesome quotes (excerpts, really) from The Land of the Purple Ring that we’ve compiled here!

​1. “See it from my point of view,” said the cat. “In order to rescue you, I’d have to stand up, walk over there, and push the lever. That would take effort, and I am an incredibly lazy creature.”

“Please,” the Clockmaker begged, craning his neck in an attempt to simultaneously watch both cat and kheir, “was it not you I met down by the lake?”

The cat looked mysterious.

“That was a long way away! If you have come so far, you cannot be that lazy!”

“You have a point,” the cat said, stretching her spine and repud­dling herself. “I have already rescued you once, from the hun­gry water. A whim, and one that puts you in my debt. But what was the point, if you’re just going to keep getting in mortal danger?”
 

2. Imaginarium is the land of imagining happy fluffy clouds, rainbow unicorns, and princesses in towers—but it is also the land of imagining yourself a fluffy cloud who eats rainbow unicorns and locks prin­cesses in towers, for lunatics are no more imaginative than sanetics; no, nor any less.
 

3. IDEA: A member of the family Imagination (genus Inspira­tion), the Idea is a small but niggling notion that worms its way unnoticed into a brain. Once there, it hooks itself in and sends out tendrils for nourishment.

An Idea settled is nearly impossible to treat with­out professional help. In extreme cases, it may resist even the ministrations of Oblivitors, Bleachers, System Restorers, and Brainwashers.
 

4. “I,” said Vamazz, “am Vamazz the Vamazing, superior sorcerer, excellent enchanter, awesome augurer, mediocre magician, dauntless diviner, nervy necromancer, thupreme thaumaturge, and—well, a whole lot of other titles that I can see wouldn’t mean anything to you. I am also your rescuer.”

“Oh,” said the Clockmaker, attempting to digest this and feeling compelled to respond in kind. “I am the Clockmaker. My father created me and sent me here to get an imagination. I have been collecting pieces of imagination for one year, two months, three weeks, four days, five hours, and six-and-a-half minutes, but Imaginarium is so big I do not know how I will ever finish. And I lost my anvil box, so I have only this one, which is already full.” He unlocked his gut to show Vamazz the iron box within.
 
 
5. Power existed here, pure power strongly flavored by nothing except itself, untainted by anyone who had come before or would come after or was currently present. The saffron tang of Vamazz’s magic was nowhere to be found. Nor was there any touch of berga­mot, orange, or clove. Here was only the universal base that blended seamlessly with all of them: here was the vanilla; here was magic.

The clockwork man put one foot before the other and began walking. And as he walked, magic snuggled up close to get familiar with him. It had known he was coming sooner or later.
 

6. Soaking branches twined together over shrubs of gorse and heather
Can do naught to hide the pleasure of the swollen harvest moon.
Owls hunting, preying, hooting, pause nocturnal life-blood looting,
Hide from brilliant stars that, shooting, warn of what is coming soon,
What will crawl out from the ground and spread its ruby petals—soon.
Witch’s bane and witch’s boon.
 

7. He stiffened his wrist in preparation—and found himself fro­zen in that pose as an invisible force drew him up out of the goopy cheese and into the air. Some cheese glops glopped down, but many more clung desperately to him.

“Good grief,” said a voice, familiar even through the cheese coat­ing. “A cybernetic cheeseman. What will people think of next?”

“Are you blind?” Raskolnikov scathed, too frightened to moder­ate his tone. “He’s only covered in cheese. Clean him off, and you’ll see.”

“A novel approach to curing blindness, but I’ll try it.”
 

8. As captain and pirate king, the Clockmaker’s first act (after acquiring a suitably giant pirate king hat with a fluffy feather, as every king must have to consolidate his power) was to state their new mission:
​
“We will stop at every harbor, every island,” he announced, “until we find the Land of the Purple Ring.”
 
 
9. One shop housed a display of terribly naughty clocks. Instead of ticks, these clocks shouted insults at passersby and celebrated the quarter hours with increasingly unprintable words. The cuckoo versions had boys pulling girls’ hair and girls slapping boys, men tying cans on cats’ tails, and women chopping up their husbands along with the fire­wood.
 

10. Since the Clockmaker had last been in a state to observe, the every-colored dots had alighted off the Reorient Express and small translucent lizards, naked except for green ties and indigo briefcases, had alighted on. These lizards studiously avoided the majestic magus’s gaze, for they were train dragons, and all train dragons know that they make excel­lent fried snacks.

 

. . . Hooked yet? Grab a copy here to see how all these quotes are tied together!

The Land of the Purple Ring is available in paperback and e-book formats (DRM unlocked) on Amazon, including Kindle Unlimited, and on Barnes & Noble’s website.

Check out our author interview with Deborah here, our official book review here, and a character interview with wacky wizard Vamazz the Vamazing here. You can listen to the first chapter of the book on Deborah’s website here.


Other articles in our Top 10 Quotes series:
 
Sand to Glass (Mythusian Empire #1)
The Blessed (Mythusian Empire #2)
Bargaining Power
Hunter's Moon
The Disposable (Plot Bandits #1)
The Merry Band​ (Plot Bandits #2) COMING SOON
The Narrative (Plot Bandits #3)
The Taskmaster (Plot Bandits #4)
The Cosmic Turkey
The Star-Crossed Pelican (Cosmic Turkey #2)
Skate the Thief (Rag and Bone Chronicles #1)
Skate the Seeker (Rag and Bone Chronicles #2)
Painter of the Dead
​​

As an Amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​