Harry Potter and the Zigzag Quest

My own case of Pottermania struck very late when I found that my son would not be getting his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the night it was released as previously expected.

My son was on vacation with relatives and due to start summer camp over the weekend, and suddenly all of the plans to get our copy on its US release date had fallen through, for a wide variety of unplanned reasons. The choice was to either go ahead and wait for it from a previous online reservation, or start from scratch and venture out into the night and try to get it from one of our local retailers... at about 10:15 pm on Friday night. A friend was visiting the area, and after about thirty seconds of deliberation we decided to give in and venture forth on a quest to obtain a copy at midnight on Friday, so we ventured forth.

Luckily bookstore and retailers abound in Eastern Pennsylvania, so it seemed to be more a matter of choice than chance, so we thought, so into the car we went in search for the book that was said to be the best selling book of all time by retailers such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders. They had already reported that more orders had been placed for this book than for any other in history, and American publisher Scholastic had announced an unprecedented initial print run of 12 million copies.

We took off for the double-decker Barnes & Noble near Oxford Valley Mall and there found lines of happy Muggles of all ages celebrating the event. Some had been reported to have been there since early Friday morning. We also found that we couldn't pull the old "I just want to go in and get a cup of your coffee" trick. After talking to a number of people and store personnel there, who reported that they had more than enough books to go around, we decided to take a look at Borders, which was just a couple of miles down the road.

At Borders, there were no lines outside, but there was a huge party going on inside that immense store, so we went in, hoping to get a reservation for a copy of the book. Ran into a few friends who wanted to chat and party, but we were on a quest. We tried to get our reservation, but no such luck, as we were told that they had already sold out, though one employee said that there "might be more later" due to people not coming in for their already-reserved copy. That sounded rather vague.

At this point it seemed to be wise to go back to Barnes & Noble and get whatever reservation they were offering, even though it seemed that we were now following some zigzag pattern just to buy a book. We drove back over our previous route, parked and walked to the entrance where we were cheerfully offered a wristband which guaranteed that we would get our book, so this seemed great. The wristbands were being issued in alphabetical groups on a first-come-first-served basis, with each group having a vague number of people. One person said that there were hundreds in each group, and our blue wristbands indicated that we were in group "V" which meant that we might be there when the sun came up, as ours would be the 22nd group of "hundreds" to be let in.

We looked at each other and laughed, deciding that we may as well stick it out, but already feeling a bit tired, it was time for a large cup of coffee... but we still couldn't get into Barnes & Noble due to the fire marshal now restricting the number of people who were allowed in the store. Feeling confident that we would at least get a copy, we went back to the car and then drove down to Borders once again. The store was even more jammed than before, and the people were having a grand time as midnight approached. We went to the coffee line in the back of the store and waited.

The coffee line was moving slowly, but that was OK since we knew that we were going to have to wait for our copy at the other store. That might have been fine except that when we were only about three people away from getting our now-necessary beverages, they shut down the coffee service, apologizing that their water was not functioning, of all things.

We left, and another quest for coffee began, which we finally located at a local Wawa 24-hour convenience store. Then it was back to Barnes & Noble shortly before 1:00 AM, coffee in hand, where we found that they were just admitting people with wristband marked with "I", the 9th group. That meant that we were going to have to wait for 13 more groups to go in. Resigned to the fact that we might be waiting for a couple more hours, we decided to make the best of it, chatting with others around us who had broken away from the formal lines.

We were standing watching the after-midnight socializing, when behind us a young women (whom I won't name) commented that she was amazed at the lines with all of the people waiting when the Borders Express within the Oxford Valley Mall still had over 200 copies available for anyone to pick up. Since our quest had already taken a few strange turns, I asked her what she meant, and she replied that she worked that store and she had heard about the long lines and had come down to see for herself. I was skeptical until she pulled out her employee ID badge. At this time a few other people heard her words and began to sprint for their cars. I kissed her on her cheek, thanking her profusely as she giggled, and we headed quickly towards our car.

We pulled up to the food court entrance of the mall as she had suggested, and joined a few more people with whom we had been standing at the other store, all of us entering together. We made our way past the darkened food court, then left and down to the brightly lit Borders Express. As we entered, an employee walked up and just handed me our new copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and said to be sure to ask for our free poster when we paid for the book at the register.

So that's how we ended up with our copy of the book and the promised poster at exactly 1:11 am, and at 40% off as well. And now you know why I've referred to this as our own "Harry Potter and the Zigzag Quest."

My son knows, and can't wait to get back to start reading it...

Technorati Tags: zigzag quest, harry potter, deathly hallows, lexidiem, jargontalk, pottermania, muggles, oxford valley, no pule zone

Kids' Books for Our New Age

Books for young children seem to be changing.

Books for kids are changing, and bedtime stories aren't about little bears, frogs that get kissed or magic dragons. Here's a new title: Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!

Before you go any further, take a close look at the characters and items illustrated on the book's cover. You can see a larger version here.

The publishers state:

"This news-making book is a fun way for parents to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland."

Liberaland? Had to do a search on that one, as it was a new term to this writer. Am obviously not a member of the Conservative in-crowd.

One reviewer was quite up front in that "this book is not for a liberal or even a moderate. You will find unashamed conservatism being pushed in this book." Another stated that the book was a "funny modern parable about two boys running a lemonade stand in Liberaland," that the "heroes are honest, God-fearing, and hard working," and that the "villains are tax-raising, religion-stomping, control freaks." The reviewer continued with "But don't worry. This is a children's book."

A children's book? OK, if they say so. And it's been endorsed by none other than Rush Limbaugh himself - isn't that just dandy? Wonder if it was his choice in reading material during those trips to and from the Dominican Republic.

The author is Katharine DeBrecht, a freelance newspaper reporter, the mother of three and a member of the South Carolina Federation of Republican Women. Her publisher even offers for sale a tie-in Hillary Clinton mousepad, along with the requisite Conservative mugs, refrigerator magnets, bibs, t-shirts and such things.

In the other side of the fence, a professor, self proclaimed diehard liberal and political activist by the name of Jeremy Zilber has written a book of his own entitled Why Mommy is a Democrat. He was so committed to the need for such a response that he financed its publication himself. It's a short book, and obviously by the language one for very young children, but it tries to get its points across in simple fashion, with pages that declare:

• Democrats make sure everyone is treated fairly,
  just like Mommy does.
• Democrats make sure sick people are able to see a doctor,
  just like Mommy does.
• Democrats make sure everyone plays by the rules,
  just like Mommy does.
• Democrats make sure we all share our toys,
  just like Mommy does.

A BuzzFlash review stated that it's "the ideal traditional children's nighttime tale" and that "... unlike 'Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!', it's true!" They went on to say that it's "... great for reading to your children or as a gift to nieces, nephews, cousins or friends with young kids. Just make sure that they are Democrats."

They go on to state that Republicans will surely regard such concepts as "Democrats make sure everyone plays by the rules, just like Mommy does" and "Democrats make sure we all share our toys, just like Mommy does" as "subversive" and "Pinko."

Wait a minute, it's fine that we all learn to share our toys, but that raises certain questions:

1. Who buys the toys?
2. How is the money earned to buy the toys?
3. Does being a Democrat make you a better “sharer” than a Republican or Libertarian? Now explain your answers.

There's something disturbing about about both of these books, for they seem to be aimed at kids who are just starting to read, if even that. Evidently I'm not alone in my observations, either. Are we supposed to read books like these to our kids every night? Are we expected to politically indoctrinating them in one of the following adult bias patterns on a daily basis:

[ ] Republicans - they are knee-jerk fundamentalists
[ ] Democrats - they hate God and American values
[ ] Libertarians - they are weird.
[ ] All of the above - they all suck but so does life
[ ] None of the above - can't kids be allowed to enjoy childhood.

Feeding the minds of young children with political propaganda isn't new. I had a very uneasy feeling that somewhere back in the 1930s, young German children were being read some kids' version of Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf as a bedtime book.

Upon looking I found that it was far worse than I expected.

There was a plethora of anti-Semitic books for children written by a variety of authors, but one that comes to the foremost is Elwira Bauer's, Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jüd auf seinem Eid (Nuremberg: Stürmer Verlag, 1936). This title in English is Trust No Fox on his Green Heath And No Jew on his Oath, and it has been translated.

Then there is Ernst Hiemer's Der Giftpilz (Nuremberg, Stürmer Verlag, 1938). This has also been translated as The Poisonous Mushroom. Both of these extremely anti-Semitic books came from none other than Julius Streicher's publishing house. If you're unfamiliar with Julius Streicher, he was the publisher of Der Stürmer, the newspaper that was a part of the Nazi propaganda machine. An almost fanatical Nazi, he was convicted after the war of crimes against humanity and executed. The neo-Nazis of today consider him to be a martyr. Read the text from the books above and see how you feel about his martyrdom.

I previously wrote about a contemporary mother named April Gaede, and how she has influenced the lives of her daughters Lamb and Lynx, the adolescent twin girls who make up the girl group known as Prussian Blue. She is said to have indoctrinated them in her own neo-Nazi beliefs since birth, and now her adolescent daughters have a political perspective that's is definitely very tolerant nor is it middle-of-the-road.

Am I alone in my being disturbed by these books and what they teach our children? Apparently not, because a number of them have been expressing their feelings, and quite openly.

When do we just teach our children simple values of right and wrong, the Golden Rule and the simple things like that? Why do political values, and yes, even hatred, have to be instilled into our kids at such a young age?

Out of the choices above, I'll personally opt for the last one.

Our lexidiem is Liberaland.

tags: Liberals Under My Bed, kid books, Liberaland, Rush Limbaugh, Katharine DeBrecht, Hillary Clinton, mousepad, lexidiem, jargontalk, Jeremy Zilber, Why Mommy is a Democrat, liberal, conservative, libertarian, Hitler, Mein Kampf, Streicher, neo-Nazi, April Gaede, Prussian Blue, Golden Rule

Naked Conversations and Web 2.0 Logo Generator

Web 2.0 Logo Generatr, Windows Live Writr, and Naked Conversations

Went to Scobleizer to check something out and became diverted (as often happens) by something quite different. Robert Scoble had posted a link to Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion blog, where he had a Web 2.0 logo generator. It's supposed to be a joke, but you can create your own Web 2.0 logo with or without a reflection or Beta tag. Really tough decision here, but I just had to go full out for all the options, as you can see here.

Really had gone there to see if he had posted anything new about the new Windows Live Writer application that was released into public Beta earlier this week. Have already found it to be a superb product, and one that will aid any blogger who good control over page layout, graphics, maps and the like. More on this later, but it would be well worth your while to look into this one.

I had also gone to his blog to find out a bit more about Bob Scoble's new book, Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers. He wrote it with Shel Israel, another expert on technology product innovation as can be seen on his site.

A colleague had just purchased this book and was raving about it, and kept referring to Bob Scoble as a "true visionary." On that comment we're in full agreement, but I wanted to browse through the book first. The first sentence is: "We live in a time when most people don't trust big companies."

With a beginning like that, the line is drawn in the sand, and after spending fifteen minutes with the book, will be getting my own copy. My colleague offered to let me read it when he's finished, but this book looks like a keeper. The authors state that there are Six Pillars of Blogging: six key differences between blogging and any other communications channel.

Keep in mind that Scoble practically invented blogging as we know it, and that both authors are well immersed in it. They understand bloggers, the culture and the technology behind it.

Our lexieiem is blogosphere.

tags: Web 2.0, logo generator, Windows Live Writer, Naked Conversations, Beta, Steve Rubel, Robert Scoble, Shel Israel, Scobleizer, Amazon.com, six pillars of blogging, lexidiem, jargontalk, blog, blogging

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Makes Sense

Review:

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt with Stephen J. Dubner

First things first: this reviewer is not an economist, and I usually find such books can often be boring. Must admit that Freakonomics kept me up far too late over one weekend reading it through to the end. It was hard to put down.

Another reader/reviewer emailed me, noting that Malcolm Gladwell had said that Steven Levitt "has the most interesting mind in America," and since I had found Gladwell’s Blink! hard to put down, I might find Freakonomics interesting. This was an understatement.

Then another friend loaned me a copy of the book, so I felt obligated to read it, so I had to get my own copy, for it’s worth a second read.

As noted above, the cover says it all. Freakonomics is not only humorous in places, it’s fascinating, an out of the ordinary way of looking at economics for those who normally don’t venture into what is often perceived as a boring subject. Like Gladwell’s writing, this reviewer found this book to be a springboard to other ideas.

The authors define economics as “the study of incentives” early in the first chapter, which is not exactly as I remember the conventional definition from college courses. But maybe analyzing how to motivate people to do or not do a particular things is a better way or looking at the reality of economics.

Freakonomics was co-written by the noted journalist Stephen Dubner (Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, Choosing My Religion), and seems to have drawn as much criticism as it has received praise from reviewers and other commentators. The authors repeatedly state that there’s no consistent theme. Others have noted that it appears to be an assembly of magazine articles and columns, edited and put together in an appealing but not particularly interrelated manner.

But this reader found that it indeed does have a theme, and that theme is that established conventional wisdom is not always right. Things that we perceive to be related just might not be. Maybe there’s no connection at all, and maybe some are simply coincidence.

Liberals and conservatives in our society will find some of Levitt’s thoughts to be controversial. This reader found much of the book to fly in the face of “conventional wisdom,” and found that this is what made it so fascinating. For example, don’t miss Levitt’s discussion regarding abortion, for whether or not you agree with his viewpoint, it is thought provoking.

There are many other thought-provoking concepts that this reader found fascinating, such as the authors’ thoughts on how education and actual knowledge in our public school systems has been replaced by standardized testing preparation. This then leads to the encouragement of cheating just to get the statistics where those in charge of the systems need them to be. To comment further on this would be akin to plot spoiling. But don’t miss Levitt’s comments on the bizarre trends of naming babies, which this reviewer found to be hilarious in their absurdity.

“Morality describes the way that any of us would like the world to work. Economics describes the way the world actually does work. You can’t change the world you live in until you understand it.”
~ from Freakonomics

Some have disagreed with the authors. Others, including many academics, agreed with the authors' concepts. Orson Scott Card stated in WorldWatch (9/11/2005), "This book should be required reading before anybody is allowed to vote."

Some have commented that this book is more of a basic text on sociology more than economics, but this reader found that it’s all connected, and makes one want to look further. Levitt is a writer to watch, and he does let the numbers talk for him in an interesting if often offbeat fashion.

Criticisms? Initially had been happy to find this book to be comfortable 256 pages, but after finishing it, wished there had been more. It’s definitely not boring, and that can’t be said about many works related to economics. Might even be a good gift for someone, as almost anyone can read it and frequently have a good laugh.

I thoroughly enjoyed Freakonomics and heartily recommend it: a 5-star offering, without a doubt. Also recommended is the Freakonomics column that the authors have been writing for the The New York Times Magazine since June 2005, covering subjects from car seats to dog poop to tax cheating.

Update: This book has been out since April of 2005, so it's not new, and I had previously reviewed it on Amazon.com and other sites. So why review it again? It seems that Freakonomics has been adopted into many college and high-school curricula since it was published. It's now a recognized textbook for courses at Berkeley, Georgetown, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, American University, Purdue, NYU and others. And now there are free study guides available here.

Further, if you already have the book and missed out on any book signings, the authors are now offering a free signed bookplate. It's a nicely designed sticker that can be placed inside your book, like one of those classic "ex libris" stickers. So if you would like your signed bookplate, just click to fill out the form on their site, and they'll even pay the postage.

Technorati Tags: Freakonomics, Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner, Malcolm Gladwell, Blink, Orson Scott Card, New York Times, best seller, book review, lexidiem, jargontalk, Amazon.com, rogue economist, book, author, review,

Our lexidiem is freakonomics.

Mickey Spillane, You'll Be Remembered

Legendary author Mickey Spillane, the creator of the best-selling, "hard-boiled" Mike Hammer detective novels, died Monday in his hometown of Murrells Inlet, SC. He was 88.

Born Frank Morrison Spillane in Brooklyn, NY, began his writing career during high school. After a brief time at Kansas State Teachers College, he returned to New York City to work in retail, but that bored him.

Spillane's true avocation was writing, so he found a job with a firm known as Funnies, Inc., a firm which later became Marvel Comics. There he wrote wrote text fillers and scripts for comics such as "The Human Torch" and "Edison Bell, Boy Inventor," and was one of the originators of the
"Captain Marvel" comics.

His first book, "I, the Jury" was written in only nine days. It became such success that he quickly produced five more Mike Hammer detective novels 1950 and 1952. "The Long Wait" (1951) sold 3 million copies in a single week in 1952. There were many young men from that era of the '50s and '60s who were quite "moved" for lack of a better term) by prose like this:

"No, Charlotte, I'm the jury now, and the judge, and I have a promise to keep. Beautiful as you are, as much as I almost loved you, I sentence you to death."

(Her thumbs hooked in the fragile silk of the panties and pulled them down. She stepped out of them as delicately as one coming from a bathtub. She was completely naked now. A sun-tanned goddess giving herself to her lover. With arms outstetched she walked toward me.

Lightly, her tongue ran over her lips, making them glisten with pssion. The smell of her was like an exhilarating perfume. Slowly, a sigh escaped her, making the hemispheres of her breasts quiver. She leaned forward to kiss me, her arms going out to encircle my neck.)

The roar of the .45 shook the room.

Charlotte staggered back a step. Her eyes were a symphony of incredulity, an unbelieving witness to truth. Slowly, she looked down at the ugly swelling in her naked belly where the bullet went in. A thin trickle of blood welled out.

I stood up in front of her and shoved the gun into my pocket. I turned, and looked at the rubber plant behind me. There on the table was the gun, with the safety catch off and the silencer still attached. Those loving arms would have reached it nicely. A face that was waiting to be kissed was really waiting to be splattered with blood when she blew my head off. My blood. When I heard her fall I turned around. Her eyes had pain in them now, the pain preceding death. Pain and unbelief.

"How c-could you?" she gasped.

I only had a moment before talking to a corpse, but I got it in.

"It was easy," I said.

Like so many others, I read "I, the Jury" at a rather young age, and felt that I had gotten away with reading something really erotic, but not really pornographic. Actually there were other books that had their "really dirty" sections, such as Grace Metalious' "Peyton Place" (1956), and later any number of novels by Harold Robbins, but there were many Mickey Spillane books to choose from, and they all seemed to have a certain comfortable familiarity to them.

Many of Spillane's Mike Hammer novels were made into movies, including the film classic "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955). Spillane himself starred in "The Girl Hunters" (1963), in which he played his creation, Mike Hammer. This was one of the rare occasions in film history where an author of a popular character later depicted his own character.

He married his second wife, Sherri Malinou, in 1965. She was a model who later posed in the nude for the cover of his book "The Erection Set" 1972. He dedicated the book to her.

Spillane appeared as a writer who is murdered in the TV series Columbo. He also appeared in a series of commercials for Miller Lite beer, which parodied his tough-guy image. Often criticized for his writing style and characterizations, with book sales of over 200 million, he remains one of the most successful writers of this era.

Mickey Spillane was apparently a victim of cancer. He wowed millions with Mike Hammer's shoot-'em-up sex and violence will be remembered by many of us.

Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.
~ Mickey Spillane

It should also be noted that another South Carolina resident, Robert Brooks, died of natural causes on Sunday at his home in Myrtle Beach. He was 69.

Brooks was the chairman of the Hooters restaurant chain famous for its scantily clad waitresses, and he made his fortune from the firm which uses the slogan "Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined" for its style of cuisine and service.

Hooters opened its first restaurant in 1983 and Mr. Brooks, with a group of other investors, bought franchise rights a year later. "Good food, cold beer and pretty girls never go out of style," he told Fortune magazine in 2003.

This coincidence makes one wonder if Mickey Spillane and Robert Brooks knew each other.

Lexidiem: "hard-boiled"

Technorati tags
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Mike Hammer
Robert Brooks
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Why I want to visit SJSU's English Department

I want to visit the Department of English & Comparative Literature at San Jose State University for the sole purpose of meeting Scott Rice, Ph.D. in person. Dr. Rice is obviously held in high esteem on the academic front, since he’s the Department Chair. His research interests cover the range of satire, grammar, British & European novels and commercialism in education.

Even more important, Scott Rice is the originator of the the world-famous Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, an annual competition for would-be writers that challenges them to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.

The contest is named after a minor Victorian novelist, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose novel Paul Clifford began with the (now-infamous) sentence:

"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."
~ Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

Inspirational words, aren't they!

In any case, you can find a whole lyttony (Scott Rice's pun, not mine) of the gems that were presented for consideration this year at the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest site, including the prose of Jim Guigli, this year's winner. Don’t miss the wonderful listings and examples from past winners and runner-up entries. They’re well worth the trip.

Just reading them serves as inspiration for me to try my hand in 2007. Then maybe I’ll get to make my trip to SJSU, and shake the hand of the man who made this all possible.

See my progress at: Department of English & Comparative Literature on 43places.com.

Bulwer-Lytton
Jim Guigli
google
lexidiem
lyttony

2006 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest Winner

The winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for 2006 has been announced.

Jim Guigli of Carmichael, California, submitted 64 entries into this year's annual contest, which is sponsored by the English Department at San Jose State University. Mr. Guigli is a retired mechanical designer who impressed the judges with his "appalling powers of invention," according to Scott Rice, a professor in SJSU's Department of English and Comparative Literature.

Here's a sample of the entry which gave him top honors in this years contest:

"Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean."

Guigli is said to have commented that he had aspired to write detective novels at one time but, "I never got a good start on it."

Professor Scott Rice has organized the bad writing contest since its inception in 1982. Since then, it has drawn thousands of entries each year, and the judging has been covered quite extensively by the press.

Guigli will receive the traditional "pittance" (said to be $250.00) as a reward for his winning entry. Guess that now raises him from the ranks of an amateur to a professional writers.

The annual contest is named for Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" began with the frequently-mocked beginning, "It was a dark and stormy night."

It should also be noted that in his day, Bulwer-Lytton was possibly more popular than Charles Dickens, who was a contemporary. The line was also made popular by Snoopy's typewriter excursions in the Peanuts comic strip by the late Charles M. Schulz.

There's an extraordinary Lyttony of Grand Prize Winners which lists all of the winners since 1983, and some of these entries are truly extraordinary, including this jewel from 1992 by Laurel Fortuner:

"As the newest Lady Turnpot descended into the kitchen wrapped only in her celery-green dressing gown, her creamy bosom rising and falling like a temperamental souffle, her tart mouth pursed in distaste, the sous-chef whispered to the scullery boy, 'I don't know what to make of her.'"

Note to Professor Rice: though the verb "google" is now recognized by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it doesn't list the word "lyttony" but it can be seen being used (perhaps improperly) in a few areas in the 'Net. Is this word perhaps just a 1st Baron Lytton pun on "litany" or am I a bit off track here?

Congratulations to Jim Guigli, the 2006 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest winner!

And our lexidiem is lyttony.

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
Bulwer-Lytton
Jim Guigli
google
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