The Bulwer-Lytton competition is sponsored by San Jose State and
challenges entrants to compose the opening first sentence to the worst
of all possible novels. Bulwer-Lytton's _Paul Clifford_, regarded as
one of the worst novels of the 19th century, began with the immortal
words, "It was a dark and stormy night... ." The 1988 winner has an
automotive theme.
"Like an expensive sports car, fine-tuned and well-built, Portia was
sleek, shapely and gorgeous, her red jumpsuit molding her body, which
was warm as the seatcovers in July, her hair as dark as new tires, her
eyes flashing like bright hubcaps, and her lips as dewy as the beads of
fresh rain on the hood; she was a woman driven--fueled by a single
accelerant--and she needed a man, a man who wouldn't shift from his
views, a man to steer her along the right road, a man like Alf Romeo.
-- Rachel E. Sheeley
--
Tom M
Elva Courier #43
|