The Olympics aren’t the only contest of human skill taking place right now. A lesser known contest is the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest awards for the worst works of fiction named in honor of the British author, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 book Paul Clifford opened with these infamous words:

“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.”

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) is a tongue-in-cheek contest that takes place annually and is sponsored by the English Department of San José State University in San Jose, California. Entrants are invited “to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels” — that is, deliberately bad. A prize of US$250 is awarded.

Some selections from this years entries here.

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