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Dark and Stormy Night (Bulwer-Lytton Contest)
Bride of Dark and Stormy: Yet More of the Best (?) From the Bulwer-Lytton Contest
Culled from the 1986 and 1987 contests, this volume provides yet more shining examples of opening sentences for the worst novels ever written
135 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 11, 2011
Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote the most overblown opening sentence in the English language. It's the one made famous by Snoopy in Peanuts, that starts, "It was a dark and stormy night..."
Anyway, the Bulwer-Lytton Contest invites people to submit incredibly overblown, purple-prose (i.e., "crap") opening lines of their own. These get collected into volumes such as this one, the third such collection in the life of the contest.
I found it highly amusing. Every once in a while, you find yourself thinking, "Yes, it's overwrought, but damn it, I'd read that story!" Others are just bad. Atrocious puns and ribald jokes abound.
The book also contains "advice for the aspiring novelist" from the contest's originator -- singularly bad advice! Much of it reads like a list of what not to do.
Overall, I liked it a lot, but I'm in the target audience -- a language buff who has a sense of humor. If you're the same, you should find this quite enjoyable reading for a couple of afternoons.
Anyway, the Bulwer-Lytton Contest invites people to submit incredibly overblown, purple-prose (i.e., "crap") opening lines of their own. These get collected into volumes such as this one, the third such collection in the life of the contest.
I found it highly amusing. Every once in a while, you find yourself thinking, "Yes, it's overwrought, but damn it, I'd read that story!" Others are just bad. Atrocious puns and ribald jokes abound.
The book also contains "advice for the aspiring novelist" from the contest's originator -- singularly bad advice! Much of it reads like a list of what not to do.
Overall, I liked it a lot, but I'm in the target audience -- a language buff who has a sense of humor. If you're the same, you should find this quite enjoyable reading for a couple of afternoons.
January 7, 2026
The Bulwer- Lytton Fiction contest was an annual humor contest which operated from 1982 through 2025, this annual contest had been administered by the English department at San Jose State University in California.
Scott Ric, who had been a professor who used to teach at San Jose State University had originally created this annual contest back in 1982, Scott Rice had named this contest after the 19th century British author, Edward Bulwer- Lytton. Edward Bulwer Lytton was the author of the 1830 novel entitled "Paul Clifford," which writers throughout the world have been noting for the awkward wording of the opening sentence for nearly 2 centuries.
The purpose of the annual Bulwer- Lytton Fiction contest was to allow people throughout the world to enter submissions for sentences that they compose which are intended to be the most awkwardly worded sentences which could potentially have been the opening sentence to a work of fiction.
"Bride of It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" is the third book in the series of six (6) books which Scott Rice compiled between 1984 and 2007 which list the intentionally awkwardly worded sentences that people had submitted to the annual Bulwer- Lytton Fiction contest.
If you are looking to read something that will make you laugh, all of the six (6) books that Scott Rice had compiled in this series will make you laugh.
Scott Ric, who had been a professor who used to teach at San Jose State University had originally created this annual contest back in 1982, Scott Rice had named this contest after the 19th century British author, Edward Bulwer- Lytton. Edward Bulwer Lytton was the author of the 1830 novel entitled "Paul Clifford," which writers throughout the world have been noting for the awkward wording of the opening sentence for nearly 2 centuries.
The purpose of the annual Bulwer- Lytton Fiction contest was to allow people throughout the world to enter submissions for sentences that they compose which are intended to be the most awkwardly worded sentences which could potentially have been the opening sentence to a work of fiction.
"Bride of It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" is the third book in the series of six (6) books which Scott Rice compiled between 1984 and 2007 which list the intentionally awkwardly worded sentences that people had submitted to the annual Bulwer- Lytton Fiction contest.
If you are looking to read something that will make you laugh, all of the six (6) books that Scott Rice had compiled in this series will make you laugh.
May 30, 2023
Not as good as the first two installments in this series. To save yourself time, go for the good stuff by pointing your browser in the direction of the annual winners. Here's a link:
https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/winners
https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/winners
July 8, 2014
My feelings are rather hurt because Penguin classifies this as "non-classic". What is more classic than humor and deliberately bad writing?
Which raises another question: is it fiction, because the snippets are fiction, or is it non-fiction because the contest that received these entries is quite real?
Which raises another question: is it fiction, because the snippets are fiction, or is it non-fiction because the contest that received these entries is quite real?
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July 30, 2011LOL, very amusing and a few had me laughing out loud. This reminded me a lot of the creative writing class I had in high school with Mr. Tryon, although honestly I don't think we were quite this bad (although probably close)! The vile puns were truly vile and had me groaning out load.
April 16, 2008
Excellent! ... not the least of which reasons is that I have an entry in this volume...
January 31, 2011
Another very funny entry in the series...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews