Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who had a bad writing contest named after him, one which the SDMB’s own Boyo Jim won.
Is the nineteenth century really old-time now? Literature has a four thousand year history.
Anything older than most or all people now alive is “old-time”, as far as I’m concerned.
“It began as a mistake.” — Post Office by Charles Bukowski
“For a long time I used to go to bed early.” — Swann’s Way, first volume of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
So you should know, B-L did not write “It was a dark and stormy.” (End of sentence.)
He went on for another several lines in the same sentence, all purply and puffed.*
So, I stand by my original answer: “It was not B-L.”
- “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)
Thanks to: http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/
Yes.
“It was a dark and stormy night.” – A Wrinkle in Time
A couple of new ones –
“The old woman remembered a swan she had bought many years ago in Shanghai for a foolish sum.”
“All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut.”
I suck at this so I don’t have any guesses, but I bought a book today I’ve always wanted to read. It starts with:
“When the reserve tank ran dry too, and the engine choked and died, I guessed I was ten or fifteen miles from Gaya.”
Joy Luck Club
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner.
“She scowled at her orange juice.”
“Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened.”
The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett
Three entries:
“My lifelong involvement with Mrs. Dempster began at 5:58 o’clock p.m. on 27 December 1908, at which time I was ten years and seven months old.”
“There were angels in the glass, two four six many of them, each one shuffling into his place in line like an alderman at the Lord Mayor’s show.”
“September in Pine Cove is a sigh of relief, a nightcap, a long-deserved nap.”
Correct!
- A young writer born in the Caribbean.
Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies.
“We slept in what once had been a gymnasium.”
Bonus points for:
“The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked
climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the
Norgolian empire.”
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood.
HAVE BEEN SOLVED:
“It begins, as most things begin, with a song”: Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman.
“This time there would be no witnesses”: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams.
“There were four of us…”: Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
“The primroses were over.”: Watership Down, by Richard Adams.
“I went down to the Piraeus…”: Republic, by Plato.
“All states, all powers…”: The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli.
“When he was thirteen…”: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
“In the ancient city of London…”: The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain.
“Midway in the journey of our life…”: Inferno, by Dante Alighieri.
“It began as a mistake”: Post Office, by Charles Bukowski.
“For a long time I used to go to bed early”: Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust.
“It was a dark and stormy night”: A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle.
“The old woman remembered…”: The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan.
“Snow was falling on Riverside…”: Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner.
“In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions…”: The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett.
“My lifelong involvement with Mrs. Dempster…”: Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies.
“We slept in what once had been a gymnasium”: The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood.
HAVE NOT BEEN SOLVED:
“AUTHOR: Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, came to power in 1740.”
“Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.”
“The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the Norgolian empire.”
“There were angels in the glass, two four six many of them, each one shuffling into his place in line like an alderman at the Lord Mayor’s show.”
“September in Pine Cove is a sigh of relief, a nightcap, a long-deserved nap.”
“When the reserve tank ran dry too, and the engine choked and died, I guessed I was ten or fifteen miles from Gaya.”
“All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut.”
“One evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot.”
“The Empire, having long been divided, must unite; having long been united, must divide.”
“We were on our way to the colmado for an errand, a beer for my tío, when Rafa stood still and tilted his head, as if listening to a message I couldn’t hear, something beamed in from afar.”
“There’s a light on in the attic.”
“Death came for him by mistake.”
“The first facet was purpose.”
“She scowled at her orange juice.”
“Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened.”
“Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened.” – The Poisonwood Bible
Correct.
“One evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot.”
This has got to be Thomas Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge
“We were on our way to the colmado for an errand, a beer for my tío, when Rafa stood still and tilted his head, as if listening to a message I couldn’t hear, something beamed in from afar.”
**
Junot Díaz - Drown**
Now mine:
“I was captured by the Fascist Militia on 13 December 1943”.
Absolutely correct on both! How’d you do that?
BTW: j666 got Mayor in post 57.