Now to continue my advent calendar of great quotations from great speculative fiction. Here is one from a laugh-out-loud favorite of mine, John Scalzi’s Hugo and Locus Award short-listed novel Starter Villain (2023).

From the invaluable TV Tropes web site: “A Sub-Trope of Arc Villain, the Starter Villain ranks the lowest on the Sorting Algorithm of Evil (the heroes have to start off fighting someone). They are the first true threat to the heroes, not just some common Mook who’s there to let them show how badass they are. . . “