"I'll never play Russian Roulette again," Tom said, absent-mindedly.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, you'll remember from Peanuts, was the British novelist who coined the opening line-

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest gives prizes in several categories- historical fiction, romance, science fiction. Here's the winner of the last category in 2007:

What a pity Dave was too young to have seen "2001: A Space Odyssey," for he might have been able to predict what would happen next, when the ape standing next to the big black slab picked up the tapir bone.

But not one for political writing.

Happily, Not Very Bright has picked up the challenge with the Mande Award.

Go at once. Read, Guffaw, Choke back tears. Endure paroxysms and flickering episodes of Bell's Palsy. But Enter! Write! Expurgate suffering! Settle old scores!