Tim Willocks' birthday has rolled around again. I've had my hardcover copy of The Religion at my bedside the last couple of weeks, doing fairly random rereads. What strikes me now, just as it did in the winter of 2011, is just how quotable the novel is. Like The Iliad--to which I've compared it on numerous occasions--The Religion has sentences and passages on nearly every page which can stand on their own as things of worth. Sometimes bloody, sometimes beautiful, sometimes philosophical. Often all three at once.

So, my spare time being scanty at the moment, I thought--rather than spend time I don't have laying some "deep thoughts" about the book on y'all--that I would type out three passages at random from The Religion in honor of Tim's nativity. My method--I'm doing this as I type at this moment--will be to open The Religion at random and then turn back five pages so as not to hit my most-read parts of the book.

Let's see what ensues...

Page 91: The beauteous Lady Carla is telling Tannhauser—the Conanic protagonist of The Religion—of the letter sent to her by Sir Oliver Starkey of the Knights Hospitaller. It is Starkey’s intent to get Tannhauser to Malta before the Siege, one way or another…

"His letter said you were a man of remarkable ability, who feared nothing and held all authority---moral, legal and religious--in outright contempt." Why this should flatter him she wasn't sure, but she believed it would. "He said that, above all, you were a man of your word."

"The Englishman is more crafty than I gave him credit for."

Page 249: Tannhauser and his best friend, Bors, are watching the beleagured defenders of Fort St. Elmo across the bay. All of the defenders have sworn to hold the fort against the Turkish forces or die where they stand…

"It's a paradox," said Tannhauser, "that men committed to dying should cling with such tenacity to life."

"Glory," said Bors.

He looked at Tannhauser and Tannhauser's heart lurched with an unexpected sadness at the wild gray eyes and the gnarled Northern face.

"All mortal chains broken, all moral debts waived," continued Bors. “Not praise or honors or grand renown--but rapture, and a foreshadow of the Divine. That is Glory." He filled his throat with wine and swallowed and wiped his lips. "But you know that joy as well as I. Deny it if you will and I'll call you a liar."

"Glory is a moment that can only be known in Hell."

"That's as may be, yet what else in this world compares? Money? Fame? Power? The love of women?" He [Bors] snorted. "A moment, yes, but having once seen its light, all else is gloom."

Page 502: After three months of hellish fighting against the assaults of the Ottoman Turks, the defenders of Malta are staring defeat in the face. Some suggest retreat. The Grand Master of the Hospitallers, Jean de la Valette, thinks otherwise… 

"There will be no retreat," said La Valette. "Let every man understand--and the Grande Turke too--that we will fight and die where we now stand."

That is how it is done, sword-brothers. I hope you enjoyed these excerpts. I will admit that there are a handful of pages in The Religion which do not contain such quotable passages, but they are very few and far between. The thing to remember is that there are even better passages that I didn’t type up.

Mr. Willocks’ official website can be found here.