The Best of the Worst

Here are the results of the 2007 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was an English novelist and politician. He was quite popular in his day (his literary career began at some point in 1820) and is now most famous as the man who wrote:

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

It is the opening sentence of his novel Paul Clifford. The full opening sentence is:

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

Alexandre Dumas opened The Three Musketeers with the line: C'etait une nuit orageuse et sombre. Translated by Google Translate, this line comes out: It was one night stormy and dark.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Follow this link to read a fascinating interview with Nobel laureate author Alexander Solzhennitsyn.

The Herring Wonder

I'm linking to this description of a recent boxing match between Craig Davidson and Jonathan Ames for three reasons. The first is that a few years ago Ames read at University Book Store in support of his wonderfully funny and weird, Wodehouse-inspired novel Wake Up, Sir, and it was a lot of fun. Ames is a peerless story-teller. The second is that Craig Davidson refers to the Lucero chapter of Leonard Gardner's novel Fat City, which is my favorite part of the book.

Finally, the piece mentions Davidson's expectation that the event will be seen as nothing more than a "gimmick" and not taken seriously as a literary promotion or a boxing match.

Well.

I've seen hundreds of author readings. It is possible to get up in front of an audience and read from one's book and entertain. It's also nice when someone decides to beak with tradition and put on a show.

And as for whether or not the fight going on between the ropes was a farce, this looks like a pretty good shot to me. I would suggest that anyone who thinks otherwise allow either of these two a free punch.

Imagine OUR embarrassment...

We've been digging through some old files, and unearthed some of our old advertisements. Above is one from the '30s.

Dog of the Week

Hello again, Canis lupus familiaris fans. After a brief hiatus, Dog of the Week returns with Abbey. She's a rescue. And a doll.

Such a doll, in fact, that she barely registered how rude it was for a photographer to make like he was going to scratch her chin and instead snap a photo in her face. Sorry, Abbey. Good girl.

Is Abbey named for environmental activist/novelist Edward Abbey? I forgot to ask her. But, really, when was the last time you read The Monkeywrench Gang?

Maybe today would be a good day to pick it up again.

My apologies

I've been away, and horribly busy with Harry Potter, and have neglected this blog.

But let's get back into this, shall we? Tomorrow brings a new Dog of the Week.

And today, a link to a poem by Clive James. (Thanks to Bookslut for the heads up.)

Some WizRockStock Moments

Follow this link to see The Parselmouths live in our store.

Podcast 2—Potter Predictions!

Follow the link to check out our second Potter podcast. In it, two young readers and two Wizard Rockers tell us their predictions for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

The Remus Lupins and The Parselmouths

Friday, University Book Store in the U District hosted the first of its WizRockStock events with a concert by The Remus Lupins and The Parselmouths.

This is just the beginning! Check here and here for more.