So Bad, But So Good!

Like you, I enjoy a good book. But I have to say, the folks at San Jose State University make us love really BAD writing, too. These are the people who sponsor the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which seeks the worst possible opening sentence for an imaginary novel. Yes, you must be intentionally bad, and the results are consistently hilarious.

The prize is named for British novelist Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who began one of his tales with the classic line, "It was a dark and stormy night..."

This year, the winner was Sue Fondrie, who penned this beauty:

"Cheryl's mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories."

The runner-up, Rodney Reed, gave us this:

"As I stood among the ransacked ruin that had been my home, surveying the aftermath of the senseless horrors and atrocities that had been perpetrated on my famiily and everything I hold dear, I swore to myself that no matter where I had to go, no matter what I had to do or endure, I would find the man who did this...and when I did, when I did, oh, there would be words."

For what it's worth, I happened to personally enjoy this one, too:

"The grisly scene before him was like nothing Detective Smith had ever seen before, but there were millions and millions of things he had never seen before, and he couldn't help but wonder which of them it was."

Good times!

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