I thought it could be fun to talk about metaphors. Not necessarily how they work, but the best ones yoiu remember reading. What are some of your favourite metaphors in fiction? Alternatively, what are some of your least favourite?

Currently, my favourite metaphor is from War of the Worlds:

So you have the state of things on Friday night. In the centre, sticking into the skin of our old planet Earth like a poisoned dart, was this cylinder. But the poison was scarcely working yet. Around it was a patch of silent common, smouldering in places, and with a few dark, dimly seen objects lying in contorted attitudes here and there. Here and there was a burning bush or tree. Beyond was a fringe of excitement, and farther than that fringe the inflammation had not crept as yet… The fever of war that would presently clog vein and artery, deaden nerve and destroy brain, had still to develop.

I think this one’s particularly effective because it gives such a clear mental image of a disease or infection spreading out from its source and leaving the skin around it charred and dead.