Daily Lit Links for 7/2
Could this book be hiding in your library's health section?
Today’s links will make you laugh, from the worst opening sentence ever to the outdated funny/frightening books still lurking in libraries. There’s also a ray of hope for the challenging world of literary magazines, with Electric Literature bursting onto the scene and offering itself in electronic form. Details below…
- A bad opening sentence is one thing, but the WORST opening sentence? That’s something to be proud of. San Jose State University’s annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest asks participants to submit truly terrible opening sentences to imaginary novels, and the worst sentence wins. The contest is named for Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton who began his 1830 novel Paul Clifford with, “It was a dark and stormy night…” This year’s winner, David McKenzie of Washington, was announced yesterday, and you can read his winning (losing?) sentence here. It is just too terrible to paste into this well-respected literary space.
- For those looking to escape the city for a while, the Guardian offers a list of “top 10 out-of-town tales” by novelist Edward Hogan. The list selects novels and stories set outside of major cities, where the small-town atmosphere and nature play prominent roles. Sounds quaint, but beware: Union Street and “The Lottery” are two of the selections.
- E-books have been around for a while, and now it’s time to make way for e-stories. Electric Literature is a new literary magazine that can be purchased either in hard-copy form for $10 or electronic form for $5. As Short Stack tells us, the bimonthly magazine is “not just MFA kids self-publishing their diatribes against Mom and Dad” - each issue includes 5 short stories (no essays, poems, or artwork), and authors Michael Cunningham and Jim Shephard contributed to the first issue. With a print-on-demand structure and submissions flowing in, Electric Literature might be just what the world of lit mags needs.
- And just for fun, thank you Bookslut and School Library Journal for leading us to the hilarious blog Awful Library Books. The blog brings to light the out-of-date and occasionally disturbing books that are still lurking in local libraries. Among them are a “cutting edge” computer technology book from the 1980s and a 1977 biography of O.J. Simpson.
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