“She sits, sweeping aside gelled strands of her black hair, revealing a rakish grin. ‘So,’ she asks, ‘you enjoying Cairo?’
“‘Oh, yeah. It’s really interesting,’ he says. ‘I have a couple of gripes, but they’re pretty minor.’
“‘Like?’
“‘Nothing serious.’
“‘Tell me one.’
“Well, the air is kind of hard to breathe, with all this pollution. Sort of like inhaling from an exhaust pipe. The heat makes me faint sometimes. And the food isn’t all that edible. Or maybe I’ve just been unlucky. Also, it’s a police state, which I don’t love. And I get the impression that the locals want to shoot me. Only when I talk to them, though. Which is my fault–my Arabic is useless. But basically, yeah,’ he summarizes, ‘it’s really interesting.'”

                     --Tom Rachman, The Imperfectionists, 2010

“SHADOWS ETCH BOLD LINES IN THE CAVERN DARKNESS–LINES THAT REVEAL TWO GRAY-WASHED FORMS…ONE SLEEK AND ANIMAL-LIKE, POISED WITH BANDS OF TENSION KNOTTING THE BLACK-CLAD BACK…THE OTHER TALL AND STATELY, GLISTENING ARMOR HIDDEN ONLY PARTIALLY BY THE MULTIPLE FOLDS OF AN OLIVE-GREEN CLOAK! SILENCE LASTS LONG MOMENTS, AND THEN–THE TALL ONE SPEAKS–”

                     --Gerry Conway, ASTONISHING TALES, Vol. 1, No. 7, 
                       "...And If I Be Called Traitor--!," 1971