Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Q 3 To whom is the prize for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest awarded ?

A challenge to entrants to compose the worst possible opening sentence to a hypothetical novel. The entire novel need not be written, just the introductory line. a la Edward Bulwer-Lytton's opening lines to Paul Clifford (1830), "It was a dark and stormy night ...".

This competition is sponsored by the San Jose State University, and has been open to the public since 1983.

Additional trivia: The winner from 1985 :

The countdown had stalled at T minus 69 seconds when Desiree,the first female ape to go up in space, winked at me slyly and pouted her thick, rubbery lips unmistakably - the first of many such advances during what would prove to be the longest, and most memorable, space voyage of my career.
- Martha Simpson, Glastonbury, Connecticut.


References:

[ The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, January 25, 2005 ]

[ Scott Rice (compiled), Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night", 1986, Viking Penguin Inc. ]