The timeless, superlative prose that is the winner of the annual Bulwer-Lytton competition has been released!
"It was a dark and stormy night..."
Penned by Victorian novelist Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, the phrase has now become the watchword for florid, over-wrought writing and is doomed to be leveraged in perpetuity as an example for future generations.
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is, of course, the annual literary challenge aimed at composing the opening sentence to the "worst of all possible novels", following int he footsteps of that infamous dark and stormy night.
Here is the 2014 Grand Prize winner:
When the dead moose floated into view the famished crew cheered – this had to mean land! – but Captain Walgrove, flinty-eyed and clear headed thanks to the starvation cleanse in progress, gave fateful orders to remain on the original course and await the appearance of a second and confirming moose.
— Elizabeth (Betsy) Dorfman, Bainbridge Island, WA
Check out the rest of the excellent entries!
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