[EAS] Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

[Peter J. Kindlmann]

An item in the last issue of Michael Quinion's World Wide Words 
<http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/zevs.htm#N3> reminds us of this 
year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest <http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/>, 
an event sponsored by San Jose State University for over 20 years.

Inspired by the opening sentence of Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel "Paul 
Clifford," plagiarized by Snoopy in the Peanuts comics,

"It was a dark and stormy night;  the rain fell in torrents--except 
at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of 
wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene 
lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the 
scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

contestants are invited to submit really bad opening sentences to 
imaginary novels. This year's results are at 
<http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/english/2006.htm>.

(World Wide Words is archived at <http://www.worldwidewords.org/backissues/>)

     --PJK