“Everything has to do with everything else—you know that by now. So begin at the beginning, and it will lead to the end.”
―
Toby Neal,
Blood Orchids
“There are always people talking about it. We’re dying. Suicide is a way to take control of that.” ― Toby Neal, Twisted Vine
“The house was done in a classic island style, and Lei couldn’t help but like the wide, deep roofline that sheltered a porch that ran the length and breadth of the house. The lanai was dotted with Adirondack chairs in” ― Toby Neal, Broken Ferns
“Rom. 7:20 So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” ― Toby Neal, Torch Ginger
“To victims of bullying: the best revenge is a well-lived life. To kids bullied in school for any reason: red-haired, poor, black, white, Asian, Mexican, Guatemalan, Micronesian, zitty, chubby, four-eyed, dorky, dweeby, ditzy, and a million others: you might need to retreat, but never give up. Persevere, and someday you’ll look back and see how your wounds made you stronger. Your life is what you make it in the long run—don’t let a bully win by stealing your future.” ― Toby Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii
“The kiss is a compass. It’s like I’ve been wandering in a fog, holding a map, trying to find my way—and suddenly a light has come on, and I see home.” ― Toby Neal, Somewhere in the City
“I thought of you as a pirate. Dangerous and poor.” “It turns out I am a bit of a pirate.” Rafe set his glass aside. “I know a treasure when I see one, and I’ll do anything to get it.” ― Toby Neal, Somewhere On St. Thomas
“Maybe he was right about you. You are damaged.” Her mouth had dropped open in shock—that he could hit her so low and so hard by quoting Charlie Kwon, her childhood molester. Stevens had turned and left, the door of her little house slamming hard behind him. She looked at the bare finger again, regret pulling down her mouth. He hadn’t deserved how she’d ended it. She was damaged.” ― Toby Neal, Torch Ginger
“He’s so different from me, dark to my light, rough to my smooth, hard to my soft—but the sum total of us is perfect.” ― Toby Neal, Somewhere in the City
“Pop trips over some vegetation and lets go. I’m roaring down the slanting, bumpy dirt path, trying to dodge the rocks and shrieking with delighted terror. I’m heading into the stand of Java plum trees at the end of our clearing when I lose balance and crash into a lantana bush. I’m winded and scratched as I try to crawl out of the prickly bush. My bike lies in the path, tires spinning, already getting smeared with red Kauai dirt. Pop runs over and picks me up to see if I’m okay. My knees have hit something and are scraped, lantana thorns tangle my hair, but I’m panting with excitement. “Let’s do it again!” ― Toby Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii
“Son of a goatherder’s pox-ridden three-eyed cousin,” ― Toby Neal, Wired Rogue
“tape already marked the area around the body. A first responding officer jumped to his feet, holding the scene log on a clipboard. “Good morning, sir.” The young man spoke in the nasal voice of someone whose nose is blocked. Lei spotted white cotton sprouting from his nostrils. “Hey. Nice up here if it weren’t for the smell.” She took the clipboard, and each of them signed in. Passing the tape, Lei spotted the hand first, extended toward them from beneath the ferns, palm up. The tissue was swollen and discolored, masked in a filmy gray gauze of mold that seemed to be drawing the body down into the forest floor. Lei could imagine that in just a few weeks, the body would have been all but gone in the biology of the cloud forest. The victim lay on his stomach, his head turned away and facing into a fern clump, black hair already looking like just another lichen growing on the forest floor. The body was at the expansion phase, distending camouflage-patterned clothing as if inflated. A black fiberglass arrow fletched in plastic protruded from the man’s back. Lei and Pono stayed well back from the body. Lei unpacked the police department’s camera from her backpack, and Pono took out his crime kit. The modest quarter-karat engagement” ― Toby Neal, Shattered Palms
“sweeps by your house.” “Thanks.” She watched him” ― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids
“This is how we look out for our own Big Island style.” ― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids
“(book” ― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids
“doughball” ― Toby Neal, Black Jasmine
“Daughter of a stillborn water buffalo!” ― Toby Neal, Wired Rogue
“We are all shades of gray,” Dr. Wilson said. “And that’s why justice is never simple and seldom easy.” ― Toby Neal, Wired Justice
“We are better together than alone. Love has the power to heal. Through love, we can rebuild the world.” ― Toby Neal, Scorch Series
“There are always people talking about it. We’re dying. Suicide is a way to take control of that.” ― Toby Neal, Twisted Vine
“The house was done in a classic island style, and Lei couldn’t help but like the wide, deep roofline that sheltered a porch that ran the length and breadth of the house. The lanai was dotted with Adirondack chairs in” ― Toby Neal, Broken Ferns
“Rom. 7:20 So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” ― Toby Neal, Torch Ginger
“To victims of bullying: the best revenge is a well-lived life. To kids bullied in school for any reason: red-haired, poor, black, white, Asian, Mexican, Guatemalan, Micronesian, zitty, chubby, four-eyed, dorky, dweeby, ditzy, and a million others: you might need to retreat, but never give up. Persevere, and someday you’ll look back and see how your wounds made you stronger. Your life is what you make it in the long run—don’t let a bully win by stealing your future.” ― Toby Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii
“The kiss is a compass. It’s like I’ve been wandering in a fog, holding a map, trying to find my way—and suddenly a light has come on, and I see home.” ― Toby Neal, Somewhere in the City
“I thought of you as a pirate. Dangerous and poor.” “It turns out I am a bit of a pirate.” Rafe set his glass aside. “I know a treasure when I see one, and I’ll do anything to get it.” ― Toby Neal, Somewhere On St. Thomas
“Maybe he was right about you. You are damaged.” Her mouth had dropped open in shock—that he could hit her so low and so hard by quoting Charlie Kwon, her childhood molester. Stevens had turned and left, the door of her little house slamming hard behind him. She looked at the bare finger again, regret pulling down her mouth. He hadn’t deserved how she’d ended it. She was damaged.” ― Toby Neal, Torch Ginger
“He’s so different from me, dark to my light, rough to my smooth, hard to my soft—but the sum total of us is perfect.” ― Toby Neal, Somewhere in the City
“Pop trips over some vegetation and lets go. I’m roaring down the slanting, bumpy dirt path, trying to dodge the rocks and shrieking with delighted terror. I’m heading into the stand of Java plum trees at the end of our clearing when I lose balance and crash into a lantana bush. I’m winded and scratched as I try to crawl out of the prickly bush. My bike lies in the path, tires spinning, already getting smeared with red Kauai dirt. Pop runs over and picks me up to see if I’m okay. My knees have hit something and are scraped, lantana thorns tangle my hair, but I’m panting with excitement. “Let’s do it again!” ― Toby Neal, Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii
“Son of a goatherder’s pox-ridden three-eyed cousin,” ― Toby Neal, Wired Rogue
“tape already marked the area around the body. A first responding officer jumped to his feet, holding the scene log on a clipboard. “Good morning, sir.” The young man spoke in the nasal voice of someone whose nose is blocked. Lei spotted white cotton sprouting from his nostrils. “Hey. Nice up here if it weren’t for the smell.” She took the clipboard, and each of them signed in. Passing the tape, Lei spotted the hand first, extended toward them from beneath the ferns, palm up. The tissue was swollen and discolored, masked in a filmy gray gauze of mold that seemed to be drawing the body down into the forest floor. Lei could imagine that in just a few weeks, the body would have been all but gone in the biology of the cloud forest. The victim lay on his stomach, his head turned away and facing into a fern clump, black hair already looking like just another lichen growing on the forest floor. The body was at the expansion phase, distending camouflage-patterned clothing as if inflated. A black fiberglass arrow fletched in plastic protruded from the man’s back. Lei and Pono stayed well back from the body. Lei unpacked the police department’s camera from her backpack, and Pono took out his crime kit. The modest quarter-karat engagement” ― Toby Neal, Shattered Palms
“sweeps by your house.” “Thanks.” She watched him” ― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids
“This is how we look out for our own Big Island style.” ― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids
“(book” ― Toby Neal, Blood Orchids
“doughball” ― Toby Neal, Black Jasmine
“Daughter of a stillborn water buffalo!” ― Toby Neal, Wired Rogue
“We are all shades of gray,” Dr. Wilson said. “And that’s why justice is never simple and seldom easy.” ― Toby Neal, Wired Justice
“We are better together than alone. Love has the power to heal. Through love, we can rebuild the world.” ― Toby Neal, Scorch Series
