History ArsonMurderAndJaywalking / Literature

* ''Literature/{{Unsong}}'' lampshades how questionable translation causes this in some versions of ''Literature/TheBible'', specifically a King James verse that mentions "unicorns, satyrs, and screech-owls." The addition of a mundane screech-owls to a group of mythical creatures gets investigated thoroughly.

* In ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomStrangerInterdimensionalInsuranceAgent'', the Balrog threatens to cast Tom Stranger's rival insurance agent Jeff Conundrum into the 7th circle of his hell dimension, reveserved for murders... and the Creator/{{Fox}} executives who cancelled ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' (side note: the author seems to be a big fan of the show and even has a dimension where Creator/AdamBaldwin got elected President because the show was never cancelled in that universe and it became a libertarian utopia; another side note: the audiobook is read by Adam Baldwin).

* This gem from ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught]]'':

%%* At the end of the series, the new Visser One is put on trial in The Hague for crimes including mass murder, mass torture, plotting to overthrow all the world governments, and performing medical experiments on humans without their permission.

%* At the end of the series, the new Visser One is put on trial in The Hague for crimes including mass murder, mass torture, plotting to overthrow all the world governments, and performing medical experiments on humans without their permission.

* : At the end of the series, the new Visser One is put on trial in The Hague for crimes including mass murder, mass torture, plotting to overthrow all the world governments, and performing medical experiments on humans without their permission.

** In ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', Nobby finds a Klatchian Fire Engine, which is banned by three religions. A footnote adds that five more religions have embraced it as a holy weapon to be used on infidels, heretics, gnostics, and people who fidget during sermons.
** In ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', "Teach" Saveloy introduces Cohen the Barbarian thusly: "Doer of mighty deeds. Slayer of dragons. Ravager of cities. He once bought an apple." Though actually ''buying'' an apple instead of stealing it is quite an accomplishment for a member of the Silver Horde.
** ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' describes the influence of [[ThePowerOfRock Music With Rocks In It]] thusly: "It made you went to kick down walls and ascend the sky on steps of fire. It made you want to pull all the switches and throw all the levers and stick your fingers in the electric socket of the Universe to see what happened next. It made you want to [[EmoTeen paint your bedroom wall black and cover it with posters]]."
** In ''Discworld/GoingPostal'', Moist is tested by the Order of the Post to see if he's worthy of becoming the new Postmaster. Moist rhetorically wonders "What's the worst that could happen?", Mr. Groat explains, "The worst that could happen is you lose all your fingers on one hand, are crippled for life, and break half the bones in your body. Oh, and then they don't let you join."
** In ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' Cosmo Lavish says Moist Von Lipwig is "a cheat and a liar, an embezzler, and [has] no dress sense whatsoever." Moist replies: "[[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne I happen to think I dress rather snappily!]]"
%%** ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' has Glenda realizing that the romance novels she voraciously reads are actually rather dull and formulaic: "It's absolutely guaranteed that, for example, an exciting civil war or an invasion by trolls or even a scene with any cooking in it is not going to happen."
%%** ''Discworld/NightWatch'' has "Truth! Justice! Freedom! Reasonably-priced love! And a hard boiled egg."
%%** The ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' movie tagline: A Tale of Love and Revenge... and Stamps.

* ''Literature/WonderWomanWarbringer'': The Dire Warnings about humanity are of: war, torture, genocide, pollution, and bad grammar.

"I can understand the rest," Geary said with mock severity, "[[FelonyMisdemeanor but unshined brightwork?]] Where are your priorities?

%%** ''Discworld/NightWatch'' has "Truth! Justice! Freedom! Reasonably-priced love! And a hard boiled egg."

%%*** The ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' movie tagline: A Tale of Love and Revenge... and Stamps.

* Literature/EvenCowgirlsGetTheBlues is described as touching on "various topics, including free love, drug use, birds, political rebellion, animal rights, body odor, religion, and yams."
* The ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' series has this. Drake burns frogs, microwaves a puppy, and draws pictures of weapons.
* ''Literature/{{Unsong}}'' lampshades how questionable translation causes this in some versions of ''Literature/{{the Bible}}''.
--> Then He gets creative. He starts naming all the horrible animals that will come to dwell in Edom. Exactly which ones depends on your preferred translation. The King James Version translates these as unicorns, satyrs, and screech-owls. If God starts by promising unicorns and satyrs, screech-owls are going to be something of a let-down.
* Creator/{{Juvenal}} (second century A.D.) uses this now and then in his satires. Most of the time his examples actually escalate (adultery, murder, murder of close relations) but now and then he throws in this trope, as in listing the dangers of living in Rome as "conflagrations, collapsing buildings, poets reciting in the month of August". Which makes this one OlderThanFeudalism.
* Appears also in ''Literature/{{Candide}}: or, Optimism.'' It fits particularly well due to the dry and dispassionate tone of the narrative. After the titular character slays the Jew, who was a joint owner of Cunegonde (Candide's love interest), the Inquisitor, the other joint owner, sees this upon entering:
--> Entering, he discovered the whipped Candide, with his drawn sword in his hand, a dead body stretched on the floor, Cunegonde frightened out of her wits, and the old woman giving advice.
** The unfortunate people sentenced to PublicExecution in Lisbon after the earthquake: "a Biscayan for marrying his godmother"; "two Portuguese for taking out the bacon of a larded pullet they were eating"; and "Dr. Pangloss, and his pupil Candide, the one for speaking his mind, and the other for seeming to approve what he had said."
* In her non-fiction book, ''Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers'', Mary Roach describes her experience at a mortuary college embalming lab. Anyone who enters the blood "splash area" has to wear plastic and latex to protect against "HIV, hepatitis, stains on your shirt".
* David Simon, in ''The Corner'', spends over 400 pages chronicling the horrific conditions children in West Baltimore have to put up with. He then offers this observation during a playground football game:
** "Disadvantaged in so many ways, [children of West Baltimore] are at a further loss for [[BerserkButton having grown up]] [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Coltless]]."
* In Creator/NeilGaiman and Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/GoodOmens'', begins a section with a list of phenomena commonly thought to be caused by demonic influence: such as "wars, plagues, [and] sudden audits".
** There's also a mention of how [[RousseauWasRight people aren't inherently evil]], they just get attracted to new ideas, such as dressing up in sheets and lynching people, or dressing up in jackboots and shooting people, or dressing up in tie-dye jeans and playing guitars at people.
* The back-cover blurbs for books in ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' list five or more events, props, or characters, a few of which (usually but not always the last) are often something harmless-sounding, such as "a doll named Pretty Penny" or "a bad casserole". Some of the later books subvert this by making the last item on the list something more dramatic-- such as "a surprising survivor of a terrible fire".
** This is re-subverted when some of the harmless-''sounding'' items are actually very important and dangerous, like "[[MacGuffin a sugar bowl]]", while some of the dangerous-sounding items, like [[DeathbringerTheAdorable "Chabo the Wolf Baby"]] are harmless.
** There's an arrest warrant out for [[BigBad Count Olaf]] for Arson, Fraud, Murder, and [[PokeThePoodle stealing a tray of cupcakes]]
** The carnival freaks from book 9: a hunchback, a contortionist, and an ambidextrous guy.
** Speaking of examples from the ninth book, while discussing which part of a ferocious beast is to be the most feared, Snicket writes, "Some say the teeth of the beast, because teeth are used for eating children, and often their parents, and gnawing their bones. Some say the claws of the beast, because claws are used for ripping things to shreds. And some say the hair of the beast, because hair can make allergic people sneeze."
** From Book the 13th: "Sooner or later everyone's story has an unfortunate event or two, a schism or a death, a fire or a mutiny, the loss of a home or the destruction of a tea set."
* Let's face it, Snicket loves this trope, and uses every opportunity to parody and lampshade it. The real life Snicket (Handler) does this too, often referring to his own books with the trope.
* In ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'', Toad gets the biggest part of a twenty-year jail sentence for [[JaywalkingWillRuinYourLife insulting a policeman]].
* Shows up a number of times in the {{Troperiffic}} ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series:

** ''Discworld/NightWatch'' has "Truth! Justice! Freedom! Reasonably-priced love! And a hard boiled egg."

*** The ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' movie tagline: A Tale of Love and Revenge... and Stamps.

** ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' has Glenda realizing that the romance novels she voraciously reads are actually rather dull and formulaic: "It's absolutely guaranteed that, for example, an exciting civil war or an invasion by trolls or even a scene with any cooking in it is not going to happen."
* A piece of background text in the first ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' book states that Fowl Manor has survived "war, civil unrest and several tax audits".
** Speaking of Eoin Colfer, the backcover of his ''hardboiled'' novel "Plugged" announces (only(?) in the German version) "murder, corruption and hair loss."
* Aldous Huxley, ''The Devils of Loudun'' (1952). “No man, however highly civilized, can listen for very long to African drumming, or Indian chanting, or Welsh hymn-singing, and retain intact his critical and self-conscious personality. It would be interesting to take a group of the most eminent philosophers from the universities, shut them up in a hot room with Moroccan dervishes or Haitian voodooists, and measure, with a stop watch, the strength of their psychological resistance to the effects of rhythmic sound. Would the Logical Positivists be able to hold out longer than the Subjective Idealists? Would the Marxists prove tougher than the Thomists or the Vedantists? What a fascinating, what a fruitful field for experiment! Meanwhile, all we can safely predict is that, if exposed long enough to the tom-toms and the singing, every one of our philosophers would end up by capering and howling with the savages.” (p. 321) of the Penguin 1975 reprint
* ''Literature/DaveBarrySleptHere'' describes the years between 1963 and 1968 as "A Long String of Bummers," starting with President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's assassination, followed by the election of goofy-looking President UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, the Vietnam War and its associated controversies, more assassinations and riots, and ''Series/GilligansIsland'' being canceled. The same book describes TheGreatDepression as "an era of unemployment, poverty, social turmoil, despair, and--worst of all--Creator/ShirleyTemple movies." Serious problems of the 1980s include "the AIDS epidemic, the Greenhouse Effect, the trade imbalance, drugs, illiteracy, Geraldo Rivera getting his own TV show, and so on."

-->"You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."\\

* In Christopher Fowler's THE VICTORIA VANISHES: "Whenever the cadaverous Home Office security supervisor became involved in their affairs, babies cried, women cowered, innocence was punished and blame was wrongly apportioned."
* In ''Zen and the Art of Faking It'' San is trying to figure out where mysterious yin-yang posters all around school came from: "Maybe his English teacher had put them up to go along with their reading on Daoism. Maybe somebody in another class had put them up as part of a project. Maybe a race of alien beings had sent them as a message of brother hood to all earthlings."
* As Dionysus says in ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' while playing Pac-Man: "The world will fall, the gods will die, and I will never get a perfect score on this stupid machine."
** This also occurs when Percy described [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace The Fields of Eternal Punishment]]. "... I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus paths or listen to opera music."
** In ''The Last Olympian'', Percy describes the effects of Camp Half-Blood's magical borders like this:
-->"Our beach is on the North Shore of Long Island, and it's enchanted so most people can't even see it. People don't just appear on the beach unless they're demigods, or gods, or really, really lost pizza delivery guys. (It's happened— [[NoodleIncident but that's another story]])."
* At the climax of the first ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' book, the eponymous hero arrests his arch nemesis [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Nefarian Serpine]], placing him under arrest for:
-->'''Skulduggery''': 'Murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and, I don't know, possibly littering.'
* In ''Literature/LittleBrother'' by Cory Doctorow, Marcus describes to a judge how he attempted to overthrow the Department of Homeland Security, disrupted a city causing millions of dollars in damage, set up an illegal gathering which caused near-riots, and beat up a girl in order to steal her phone. The judge says, "You ''stole a phone''"!?
** As it turns out, she's not joking. Because DHS is in disgrace for (among other things) illegally imprisoning him and his friends, and nearly causing a riot at the aforesaid gathering, his crimes against them are swept under the rug and forgotten. [[CantGetAwayWithNothing But he gets sent to prison over the phone]].
* In Creator/DannyWallace's ''Literature/JoinMe'', Danny is accused of 'being a cult leader, of trying to get people's credit card details, of being an American.'
* "If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." Thomas de Quincey, ''Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts, an Essay''
* In Dan Gutman's novel ''Back in Time with Thomas Edison'', one of the characters, Ashley Quadrel, is arrested in 1879 for trying to pass off counterfeit money. When arguing his case - that he's a time traveler from the future, and that he's carrying real, 21st century cash - he quips, "I know what's going to happen! There's going to be a World War in 1914, and another one in 1939. There are going to be nuclear weapons that can destroy entire cities. There's going to be a new kind of music called rock and roll!"
* In ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'', Clevinger is tried for "breaking ranks while in formation, felonious assault, indiscriminate behavior, high treason, provoking, being a smart guy, listening to classical music, and so on."
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Daenerys is [[{{Squick}} forced to eat a raw horse's heart]] to fulfill a Dothraki superstition regarding childbirth. It is said that if she fails to keep the heart down, her child will be "defective, stillborn or female". (See also ValuesDissonance.)
** In the fifth book of the series Roose Bolton is describing how he came to have a bastard son, and how "all in all it was a dismal day" because ''the girl he raped after executing her husband wasn't that much fun'', the fox he was hunting got away, and his favorite horse came up lame.
* Creator/DanielPinkwater does this a lot. For example, here's a Carl Sandburg-esque glimpse into the pageantry of the greatest festival in the universe, taking place on Spiegel, the Planet of the Fat Men:
-->The main street of Porky, renamed Blintzni Spamgorod in honor of its former glory, has turned into an endless colorful midway. Merrymakers walk, crawl, hop, slither, fly, and float back and forth all day and all night, enjoying the many pleasant spectacles. There are roast goose jugglers, meteor swallowers, monsters able to turn themselves inside out, many-mouthed musicians who can play fifteen horns at once, pseudo-octopusian fandango dancers, and whistlers from Glintnil. There are mixed beast races, wrestling matches against giant slothoids from Neptune, six-dimensional chess games, screaming contests, and knocking down three milk bottles with a baseball.

* In ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Han Solo at Stars' End]]'' when infiltrating a base the droid he is working with hacks a computer and fakes an alarm. Upon being told that, because the computers of the base are all interconnected, he can do it anywhere on base, Solo tells him to sound every alarm he can "fires in the power plants, riots in the barracks, indecent exposure in the cafeteria".

* At the beginning of ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'', where a character reads a newspaper: "In one issue... in ''one'' issue... let's see here... strangled models, babies thrown from tenement rooftops, kids killed in the subway, a Communist rally, Mafia boss wiped out, Nazis, baseball players with AIDS, more Mafia shit, gridlock, the homeless, various maniacs, faggots dropping like flies in the streets, surrogate mothers, the cancellation of a soap opera..."
* In George and Harold's ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' comics, when the MonsterOfTheWeek begins its rampage, a kid will cry for help and name two things the monster just did. An adult will voice concern over the less dramatic one.
--> '''Kid:''' Help! The Inedible Hunk just ate fifteen folding chairs and now he's attacking the gym teacher!
--> '''Principal:''' Oh no! Not folding chairs!
** The "more dramatic one" will ''always'' be "attacking [[ChewToy the gym teacher]]".
* In ''[[Literature/{{Nightside}} Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth]]'', Tommy Oblivion talks to himself as he ponders how time travel might rectify the heroes' predicament, muttering about "divergent timetracks, opposing probabilities, experiment's intent, and whether or not someone's pizza had anchovies on it". But then, he's an existentialist, so maybe this trope makes perfect sense to him....
* Invoked in Alexander Pope's ''Literature/TheRapeOfTheLock:'' Ariel, the sylph assigned to protect the fair and noble Belinda, has a premonition of disaster one day, so he assigns a veritable army of sylphs to guard the most important things - such as Belinda's honor, chastity, dress, fan, hairstyle... wait, hold on a sec.
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] near the end of the fourth ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' book, ''Empire of Ivory''. The titular dragon has received an invitation to a tea party from his EvilCounterpart. This is the exchange that occurs:
-->'''Laurence:''' "There is nothing evidently insincere in it; perhaps she means it as a gesture of reconciliation.
-->'''Temeraire:''' "No, she does not. I am sure if I go, the tea will be very unpleasant, at least ''my'' tea will be, and I will have to drink it or look ill-mannered. Or she will make remarks which do not seem offensive, until I have gone away and thought them over; or she will try and have you murdered while I am not there: you are not to go anywhere without a guard, and if anyone tries to murder you, you must call for me very loud."
* In Creator/NealStephenson's ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'', there is a scene describing a fresco portraying previous generations that had to live in a world without nanotechnology. They're said to have had to put up with things like cancer, pogroms, ethnic cleansing, etc., as well as running with scissors and... heating a cold house with charcoal briquets. Which makes this a {{subversion}}, since that last one is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal-burning_suicide also deadly.]]
* From Franchise/{{Dune}}: In Fremen society, when a man defeats another man in combat he receives that man's wife, home, and coffee set.
* Subverted in ''Maggody and the Moonbeams'', where Arly Hanks states that she avoids arguing with people armed with shotguns, rifles, handguns, crossbows, or even spatulas. The spatula seems like the trivial entry in the list ... until readers recall that the chief spatula-wielder in Arly's life is her ''mother'', who runs a bar & grill. And is not lightly to be argued with, if Arly wants to live on something besides canned soup that day.
** Straight example from ''Mischief in Maggody'', from a teen bluntly told to leave by a (fake) psychic:
--->'''Carol Alice:''' Do you think she saw something terrible about me in the sand? Like I was going to die tomorrow or get hit by a chicken truck or flunk out or get thrown off the cheerleading squad?
* In the ''Literature/NightWatch'' novel ''Twilight Watch'', Anton is discussing the crimes of the historical figure Gilles de Rais that got him burnt at the stack. They were raping and brutally murdering hundreds of children... and not paying his taxes. In this case, Anton isn't really using the trope for humor- it's more like he's sarcastically noting that the latter was what got the authorities after him; you could get away with a lot as a Medieval aristocrat.

* ''The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary'' - actually a book about how one of the biggest contributors to the OxfordEnglishDictionary was criminally insane and went to jail for murder.
* From Creator/ChristopherMoore's ''Literature/ADirtyJob'', as the creatures of the underworld are starting to move:
-->"And there were hundreds of singular events experienced by individuals: creatures moving in the shadows, voices and screams from the sewer grates, milk souring, cats scratching owners, dogs howling, and a thousand people woke up to find that they no longer cared for the taste of chocolate."
* In the last chapter of ''[[Literature/TomorrowWhenTheWarBegan The Third Day, The Frost]],'' Ellie is examined by a doctor in New Zealand who sums up her various injuries sustained during the war: "Shock, cracked vertebrae, fractured patella, malnutrition, cuts and abrasions, acute anxiety state, headlice."
* One of the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' books features a hare beating the shit out of a verminous {{Mook}}, both for eating the hare's friends and for [[IAmNotWeasel persistently referring to the hare as a rabbit]].
* From the blurb of ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'': 'Arthur Dent has been blown up, reassembled, cruelly imprisoned, horribly released and colourfully insulted more than is strictly necessary.'
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in Creator/JasperFforde's ''[[Literature/ThursdayNext Lost In A Good Book]]'' by the [[MegaCorp Goliath Corporation]] who demand an employee of theirs be returned to them so he can "face a disciplinary board on charges of embezzlement, Goliath contractual irregularities, misuse of the Corporation's leisure facilities, missing stationery... and crimes against humanity."
** Played straight when Acheron Hades lists his hobbies as murder, torture, and flower arranging.
* [[SookieStackhouseMysteries Sookie]] describing [[ClingyJealousGirlDebbie Pelt]] in ''Dead to the World'' "...whom I despised because she had been cruel to Alcide, insulted me grievously, burned a hole in my favorite wrap -oh- and tried to kill me by proxy. Also she had stupid hair.
* ''Literature/KittyNorville'': Vampires. Werewolves. Talk Radio.
-->"They incited a nebulous fear of purposes I couldn't imagine. [[WitchHunt Witch hunts]], [[TorchesAndPitchforks pogroms]]. RealityTV."
** That quote proves to be {{Foreshadowing}}, after she nearly got killed because she took part in a reality TV show...

* In ''A Look at Organized Crime'', also by Allen, it's stated that "illicit activities engaged in by Cosa Nostra members included gambling, narcotics, prostitution, hijacking, loansharking, and the transportation of a large whitefish across the state line for immoral purposes."
* In ''The Know-It-All'', A.J. Jacobs reflects on the wisdom he's gained from reading the ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' and remarks that humans "have created poverty and war and Daylight Saving Time."
* In the Literature/JeevesAndWooster novel ''Literature/RightHoJeeves'', Bertie mentions a girl who criticized his "manners, morals, intellect, general physique, and method of eating asparagus".
** Near the end of his life, Creator/PGWodehouse was quoted as saying that now that he had been knighted and there was a waxwork of him in Madame Tussaud's, he had no further ambitions.
* In the Creator/StephenKing novel ''Literature/TheDeadZone'', when Johnny Smith becomes known as a clairvoyant, Dees, a reporter from ''Inside View'' magazine (a tabloid about supernatural things) comes to him and offers him a contract, while cheerfully admitting that he doesn't believe in any of the things his magazine writes about. Johnny gets quite upset over this:
-->'''Johnny:''' You asked me what I thought. I'll tell you. I think you're a ghoul. A grave robber of people's dreams. I think someone ought to put you to work at Roto-Rooter. I think your mother should have died of cancer the day after she conceived you. If there's a hell, I hope you burn there.
-->'''Dees:''' You can't talk to me like that! You're fucking crazy! Forget it! Forget the whole thing, you stupid hick son of a bitch, you had your chance! Don't come crawling around...
-->'''Johnny:''' Furthermore, you sound like you're talking through a Saltine box. ''(kicks him off his porch)''
* And then there's this gem from Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{It}}'':
--> "Tell your friends I am the last of a dying race," it said, grinning its sunken grin as it staggered and lurched down the porch steps after her. "The only survivor of a dying planet. I have come to rob all the women... rape all the men... and learn to do the Peppermint Twist!"
* Here's another from King's unfinished serial novel ''The Plant'':
--> Some of the things [our little "circle"] found out from "OUIJA" that are described in "blood-curdling detail" in ''True Tales of Demon Infestations'': 1. The disappearance of Amelia Earhart was actually the work of ''demons!'' 2. Demonic forces at work on H.M.S. ''Titanic''. 3. The “tulpa” that infested Richard Nixon. 4. There will be a president from ARKANSAS! 5. More.
* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/{{Memory}}'', [[TheSpymaster Simon Illyan]] reflects on his career in [=ImpSec=] and muses over the things he has found that motivate men: "Money, Power, Sex... and elephants."
* In ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'' by Creator/CSLewis, one exchange between the protagonist and the devil's servant provides an excellent example of this, as Ransom quizzes his opponent on things he'd do for the mysterious spirit guiding him. First he asks if Weston would murder, then if he'd betray English to the Germans, and then - most awful at all - if Weston would publish lies as research in a scientific periodical. When Weston agrees to that last one, Ransom exclaims, "May God have mercy on your soul!"
** Given that in the first book Weston was a very committed scientist, the last example shows how far his soul has been twisted
* In ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington Crown of Slaves]]'', the reasons for Jessica Stein's being "off" are given as being too quick at judging the political value of respects paid, too punctual in brushing well-wishers off, too fawning of bad witticisms and having front teeth that are too big. Or wearing high-heeled sandals to the funeral.
* In the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' book ''Visser'' the charges against the former Visser One are read during her trial, followed by the different forms of death penalty associated with each crime. It ends almost incongruously with "... treason by murder of subordinate Yeerks, which carries a sentence of exile to punishment duty."
* Kvothe, at one point in his narrative comprising the majority of Patrick Rothfuss's ''Literature/TheWiseMansFear'', mentions that in order to survive a trip, he "begged for crusts, stole a man's shoes, and recited poetry." He's been poor his whole life, often starving, but as a musician he's disdainful of poets, finding them useless and indulgent, so for him poetry was actually much, ''much'' more humiliating than begging and stealing.
** Later in that same book, while Kvothe is starting a fire using magic while leading a group of mercenaries, he notes that they become fearful of him.
--> "Then I saw Marten and Hespe wearing the same expression, native Vintish superstition written clearly on their faces. Their eyes went to the flickering fire, then back to me. I was one of those. I meddled with dark powers. I summoned demons. I ate the entire little cheese, including the rind."
* In Expect Resistance, CrimethInc.'s field manual, on the topic of War or Revolution:
--> "Even if we could kill every last rapist, C.E.O., head of state, police officer, and ''' every housemate who won't do the dishes''', that violence would remain in the world..."

* From ''The Immortals,'' the final [[{{Doorstopper}} novel]] in ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'':
--> "Arrest?" said [[JerkAss Felftis Brack]] coolly, backing away. "On what charges?"
--> "Charges of fraud, embezzlement, blackmail, smuggling, false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit murder..."
--> ''*Brack tries to flee, but runs into some sports players he hired and never paid, who throw him into a lake*''
--> "...And non-payment of the New Lake thousandsticks team," finished the constable.

* ''Literature/AudreyWait'' has this (part of a) list for breaking up with Evan:
--> 1) He smokes too much pot.
--> 2) He's always "practicing" or "gigging"
--> 3) He says "gigging"
* ''The Goddamn Bible'', by Shawn Taylor
--> ''WARNING: Contains actual content from the Bible, including verses on incest, child murder, rape, bestiality and talking animals.''
* Due to ValuesDissonance, the Literature/LeftBehind series occasionally invokes this accidentally:
** In ''Tribulation Force'', a news report states that the Antichrist's armies have killed thousands of civilians and caused a traffic jam.
** In ''Armageddon'', the crimes that Chloe Steele has been accused of by the Global Community upon her capture is being expelled from her university for making threats against the faculty, aborting two fetuses (and being suspected of killing a third daughter), while naming her son Jesus Savior Williams.
* In the second ''Literature/EstherDiamond'', ''Dopplegangster'', Esther screams at the BigBad for his various horrible deeds while hitting him, ending with the fact he nearly ''ruined'' her ''audition''. To be fair, she's an actress and that ''was'' pretty important for her.
* ''Literature/MobyDick'':
--> ''"He's killed himself," she cried. "It's unfort'nate Stiggs done over again - there goes another counterpane - god pity his poor mother! - it will be the ruin of my house. Has the poor lad a sister? Where's that girl? - there, Betty, go to Snarles the Painter, and tell him to paint me a sign, with - "no suicides permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor;" - might as well kill both birds at once."''
* In the Creator/FrederickForsyth novel ''Icon'', a man is considered unsuitable to be in line for the Russian throne because he's too old, he has no children (which means no one can come after him), he screws around too much, including with his servants, and *gasp* [[FelonyMisdemeanor he cheats at Backgammon]].
* [[http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Cocoa-Puffs-Manifesto/dp/0743236017 Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs]] by Chuck Klosterman.
* Creator/HarlanEllison's autobiographical essay [[http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/mostimp.htm The 3 Most Important Things in Life]] lists them as Sex, Violence and Labor Relations, the third being the most famous story of the three.
* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''[[Literature/SpiralArm In the Lion's Mouth]]'', Oschous recounts how, after a governor's house was burned, the boots leveled a town, and the man responsible wasn't even in it, because the over-governor could imagine arson and rebellion, but not leaving your licensed township.
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''Scourge'', Sash and Waistcoat, [[SmiteMeOMightySmiter shouting their defiance]], threaten the following actions:
-->"We'll do terrible things! We'll assassinate kings! Burn towns!"
-->"Tip cows!"
-->"Incite riots! Print pamphlets!"
-->"Steal Fish!"
* Played charmingly straight in Gerald Verner's 1938 mystery novella ''The Clue of the Green Candle'':
-->'''Trevor Lowe:''' "You are going to stand your trial, [[spoiler:Sheldon]], for two murders, an attempt to poison me, and falsifying the Council's town planning scheme."
* In ''Revenge of the Stainless Steel Rat'', the Hero at one point impersonates an enemy pilot and his "superior" attempts to arrest him on charges of "Looting and consorting with the enemy. And 10 G landing too. Which is not a shooting offense although the other two are."
* Creator/StephenColbert in his book ''Literature/AmericaAgain'' ranting about how America is broken.
--> "Look around – we don’t make anything anymore, we’ve mortgaged our future to China, and the Apologist-in-Chief goes on world tours just to bow before foreign leaders. Worse, the L.A. Four Seasons Hotel doesn’t even have a dedicated phone button for the Spa. You have to dial an extension! Where did we lose our way?!"
* In Creator/NealStephenson's ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'', we learn that much of Qwghlm Castle has been burned down over the centuries "by a combination of Barbary corsairs, lightning bolts, Napoleon, and smoking in bed."
* From ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
-->Black wizards don't just grow up like toadstools, you know. Someone has to teach them complicated things like summoning demons, ritual magic, and clichéd villain dialogue.
* ''Literature/GulliversTravels'',
** The third chapter is titled, "Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan". (Of course, the society and culture of Japan was still mostly unknown to Swift's target audience.)
** Gulliver gives a LongList of various evil things and people that were absent in the country of the Houyhnhnms. After listing "gibers, censurers, backbiters, pickpockets, highwaymen, housebreakers" and "dungeon, axes, gibbets, whipping-posts, or pillories" among other things, he ends with "dancing-masters".
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/TheLostFleet: Guardian'', when the admiral inspects a heavily damaged prize ship taken from aliens in battle:
-->"All ships systems are nonfunctional," Lagemann explained cheerfully. "There is extensive unrepaired battle damage in most areas. The ship cannot move under her own power, and in fact has no power except for portable emergency systems. Most of the ship is uninhabitable and requires survival suits or combat armor for access. The crew is a tiny fraction of that needed for safety, security, and operation. As you can tell, there's no working gravity. And, um, the brightwork hasn't been shined." \\
"I can understand the rest," Geary said with mock severity, "[[FelonyMisdemeanor but unshined brightwork?]] Where are your priorities?
* Walter Sinnott-Armstrong's ''Morality Without God'' (The last two words strikethroughed) begins with asking if the average theist would agree to marry an atheist. The reasons given are that the theists perceive atheists as untrustworthy. They would see spousal abuse and adultery as permitted, they would be immoral, cause trouble, get in trouble, infect children with depravity and couldn't be counted on to help with the dishes.
* Literature/{{Suspicion}} by Swiss Author ''Friedrich Dürrenmatt'' has a character named Fortschig who loves to complain about everything, especially the Swiss government, the city Bern and him being poor. He also loves to complain about Trolley buses, dogs, the radio, stamp collectors, ballpoints and ''traffic police''.
* Creator/DeanKoontz's ''[[Literature/OddThomas Odd Apocalypse]]'': Odd, while trying to talk the chief of security for the place he's a guest at out of killing him, says, "if you kill me, the girl I'm with will be upset, and Mr. Wolflaw is so charmed by her that he'll be upset, and there goes your job. Not to mention prison, gang rape, and the loss of your right to vote."
* In ''The Retribution'' by Val [=McDermid=] (the author behind ''Series/WireInTheBlood''), the villain is described as such: "Jacko Vance, killer of seventeen teenage girls, murderer of a serving police officer, and a man once voted the sexiest man on British TV [...]"
* In Literature/WhispersUnderGround Lesley lists off some possible crimes she might charge someone with: trading without a license, criminal trespass, receiving stolen goods, wearing heavy black mascara in a built-up area.

* In ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'', corporations rule everything, advertisements invade every minute of your life, people retreat into their cellphones, the government patrols public transportation... and the Mets have moved to Las Vegas.

* During a chase sequence in Book 7 of the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' series, Captain Jack Aubrey promises his men: "The lookout that first sights the cat shall have ten guineas and remission of sins, short of mutiny, sodomy, or damaging the paintwork."
* ''Literature/ToughMagic'' has some outtakes in the back of the books; several of which have the characters reciting lists of various issues and problems, always ending in something ridiculous.
* ''Meryll of the Stones'' by Brian Caswell mentions of the new librarian, Ms. Saunders:
--> There had even been whispered rumors of a divorce, which among the Bible-study and parish fete fraternity, was almost as serious as murder - or not attending church on Sunday.
* According to the WesternAnimation/GravityFalls book ''Dipper & Mabel's Guide to Mystery & Nonstop Fun'', Bill Cipher's list of fun things includes "[[ContinuityNod Pulling teeth out of a deer's mouth]], [[ConstantlyCurious asking 'why' until someone runs out of answers and starts sobbing uncontrollably]], bending your fingers backwards as far as you can, eating childhood memories, making time stop forever, transforming into whatever people fear the most, [and] silly straws! They crack me up! They're so silly!"
* ''Literature/GravityFallsJournal3'': The coded adjectives used to describe Bill Cipher at the page stating he can't be trusted are "liar", "monster" and "snappy dresser".
* In the final ''Literature/OrigamiYoda'' book, Tommy is upset that the field trip has a No Origami Rule. He writes, "Wug!", "[[BigNo NOOOOOOOO!]]", "I have a bad feeling about this!", "SAD WHISTLE!", and "I like nuts!".
* ''The Quotable Atheist'', lists some of George Monbiot's most breath-taking adventures as a journalist as: "...sentenced to life in prison in absentia, pronounced clinically dead from cerebral malaria, and required to visit Texas."
* When [[AntiHero Tyler]] of ''Literature/ABadDayForVoodoo'' tries to [[spoiler: chase after his stolen car which has the voodoo doll of himself in it]], he curses: "S-word, f-word, s-word, d-word, s-word times three, f-word, and a z-word that [he] made up on the spot".
* Creator/RobertAntonWilson, in ''The Historical Literature/{{Illuminatus}}: The Widow's Son'', discusses the reasons why the Creator/MarquisdeSade was sent to the Bastille.
--> Imprisoned for blasphemy, profanity, heresy, sedition, atheism, buggery, sodomy, poor usage of controlled substances, and annoying his mother in law. [[note]]This is all historically correct. His mother-in-law just happened to be very well connected.[[/note]]
* In ''Just The Words'' by Creator/MelissaBrayden, Sam is freaking out because [[spoiler:she and Hunter had sex]].
-->'''Sam''': That wasn't supposed to happen. As in ever.
-->'''Hunter''': I know. But there are worse things. Floods. Hurricanes. Republicans.
* Robert Browning's poem "Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin" declares that the rat plague did the following:
-->They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
-->And bit the babies in the cradles,
-->And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
-->And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles,
-->Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
-->Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
-->And even spoiled the women's chats,
-->By drowning their speaking
-->With shrieking and squeaking
-->In fifty different sharps and flats.
* Judy Jones and William Wilson's ''An Incomplete Education'':
-->According to sociobiologists, if a behavior exists, it must be adaptive--a rationale that could be used to excuse racism, sexism, cruelty to animals, aerobic dancing, and other unsavory behaviors.\\
\\
Mao Tse-tung's was the last truly great cult of personality. Beside him, such upstarts as Tito, Khaddafi, and Music/BarbraStreisand pale into insignificance.
* In Music/BobDylan's autobiography "Chronicles: Volume One", he describes a guy named Billy the Butcher who used to play at one of the same cafes as Dylan in the early '60s, and always played the same song, "High Heel Sneakers".
-->The Butcher wore an overcoat that was too small for him, buttoned tight across the chest. He was jittery and sometime in the past he'd been in a straitjacket in Bellevue, also had burned a mattress in a jail cell. All kinds of bad things had happened to Billy. There was a fire between him and everybody else. He sang that one song pretty good, though.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Sathel's CruelMercy punishment to the guy who kidnapped her daughter is the following: "years of nightmarish hallucinations, random memory loss, and itchy spider bites". Although, having several constant itches that don't go away for years may or may not be worse than the other two.
* In ''Just Shy of Harmony'', the goals of the church in 1970 are said to be:
** 1. Spreading the gospel to every tribe, tongue and nation
** 2. Ending world hunger
** 3. Carpeting the boardrooms
* In Literature/KingDork, after Tom and Sam Hellerman's band performs at a school talent show, Sam sells a zine with lyrics to their songs. A lot of them criticize the mean assistant principal, Mr. Teone, and Tom mentions in passing that one of the songs is called "Mr. Hitler, Mr. Stalin, Mr. Teone." ([[spoiler:After it's revealed that Mr. Teone was filming underage students having sex and selling the tapes, it's not ''quite'' as much an example of this trope - but still an extreme comparison.]])
* In cartoonist Roz Chast's book ''Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York'', she describes her fears when her family moved from New York City to the suburbs: "Would we become philistines? Zombies??? ...''Republicans???''
* In Creator/CarlHiaasen's book ''Assume the Worst'', he writes:
--> I'd begin with a raw appraisal of the real world: It's pretty fucked up. It was pretty fucked up when I graduated, too, but not this bad. Our vernacular contained no such terms as "active shooter," "ISIS-inspired" or "[[TheInternetIsForCats viral cat video]]."
* ''Literature/{{Clue}}'': In ''Booby-Trapped!'', the chapter "The Scarlet Key" has Mr. Boddy about ready to leave for a conference on Zillionaire Island, when he gets a call from the chairman informing him the conference has been delayed for a week because "a tornado, a hurricane, a monsoon, a blizzard, a tidal wave, and an earthquake have all struck the island at once. Also, I have a sore throat."
* SentimentalEducation: In order to deal with his unrequited love, Frederic Moreau writes a novel about a man with a grand love for a woman. “To possess her he murdered several gentlemen, burnt down part of the town and sang under her balcony.”
* In Lawrence Block's ''Two for Tanner'' Evan encounters a one-eyed child in Laos.
-->I tried not to look at her face. I felt tears welling up behind my own eyes and blamed them on the fever. The world, after all, is filled with blind children who envy the one-eyed ones, and legless men who envy cripples, and millionaires who envy billionaires. One has to maintain a sense of proportion...

* SentimentalEducation: In order to deal with his unrequited love, Frederic Moreau writes a novel about a man with a grand love for a woman “To possess he he murdered several gentlemen, burnt down part of the town and sang under her balcony”

* In Literature/KingDork, after Tom and Sam Hellerman's band performs at a school talent show, Sam sells a zine with lyrics to their songs. A lot of them criticize the mean assistant principal, Mr. Teone, and Tom mentions in passing that one of the songs is called "Mr. Hitler, Mr. Stalin, Mr. Teone." ([[spoiler: After it's revealed that Mr. Teone was filming underage students having sex and selling the tapes, it's not ''quite'' as much an example of this trope - but still an extreme comparison.]])

* In Literature/KingDork, after Tom and Sam Hellerman's band performs at a school talent show, Sam sells a zine with lyrics to their songs. A lot of them criticize the mean assistant principal, Mr. Teone. Tom mentions in passing that one of the songs is called "Mr. Hitler, Mr. Stalin, Mr. Teone." ([[spoiler: After it's revealed that Mr. Teone was filming underage students having sex and selling the tapes, it's not ''quite'' as much an example of this trope - but still an extreme comparison.]])

--> I'd begin with a raw appraisal of the real world: It's pretty fucked up. It was pretty fucked up when I graduated, too, but not this bad. Our vernacular contained no such terms as "active shooter," "ISIS-inspired" or "viral cat video."

* In cartoonist Roz Chast's book ''Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York'', she describes her fears when her family moved from New York City to the suburbs:
--> Would we become philistines? Zombies??? ...''Republicans???''