Jennifer, don't just stand there, you can stop ovulating now.
March 10, 2025 7:23 AM Subscribe
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is ending. "It is with deep regrets that I announce the conclusion of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Being a year and a half older than Joseph Biden, I find the BLFC becoming increasingly burdensome and would like to put myself out to pasture while I still have some vim and vigor!" — English professor Scott E. Rice at San Jose State University
Previously and so many more previouslies that this is a link to MeFi site search URL.
Previously and so many more previouslies that this is a link to MeFi site search URL.
"I also wrote, 'The pen is mightier than the sword'. But, alas, it's my bad fortune that all I'll be remembered for is one particularly turgid weather report. Honestly!" — Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, probably
posted by zaixfeep at 7:36 AM on March 10 [9 favorites]
posted by zaixfeep at 7:36 AM on March 10 [9 favorites]
Awww… I’ll miss this yearly spark of mirth and joy.
I’ll also miss the MetaFilter threads about Bulwer-Lytton.
Maybe we should start our own version some day.
posted by Kattullus at 7:51 AM on March 10 [7 favorites]
I’ll also miss the MetaFilter threads about Bulwer-Lytton.
Maybe we should start our own version some day.
posted by Kattullus at 7:51 AM on March 10 [7 favorites]
"I also wrote, 'The pen is mightier than the sword'. But, alas, it's my bad fortune that all I'll be remembered for is one particularly turgid weather report. Honestly!" — Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, probably
"But you fuck one goat..."
posted by Pedantzilla at 7:59 AM on March 10 [19 favorites]
"But you fuck one goat..."
posted by Pedantzilla at 7:59 AM on March 10 [19 favorites]
It is a dark and stormy day.
What's the over/under on a younger person taking the reins?
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 8:20 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]
What's the over/under on a younger person taking the reins?
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 8:20 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]
Maybe we should start our own version some day.
Totally in, but we have to submit only our OWN fiction.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 8:20 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]
Totally in, but we have to submit only our OWN fiction.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 8:20 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]
"But you fuck one goat..."
Lest anyone imagine that Bulwer-Lytton's worst crime was the turgid prose of Paul Clifford, it's worth remembering that he bribed a corrupt doctor to falsely diagnose his wife Rosina with insanity and have her shut away in an asylum, after she gave a speech advising people not to vote for her husband in the Hertfordshire by-election.
posted by cyanistes at 8:29 AM on March 10 [17 favorites]
Lest anyone imagine that Bulwer-Lytton's worst crime was the turgid prose of Paul Clifford, it's worth remembering that he bribed a corrupt doctor to falsely diagnose his wife Rosina with insanity and have her shut away in an asylum, after she gave a speech advising people not to vote for her husband in the Hertfordshire by-election.
posted by cyanistes at 8:29 AM on March 10 [17 favorites]
42 years is a long time; a good long run.
I'm glad he's choosing to step away when it makes sense, for him, and glad for four decades of this fun project. I'm especially glad they're keeping the archive up.
Thanks for posting this, zaixfeep - I've never really explored the archive, and I may have to add it to my daily read.
posted by kristi at 8:37 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
I'm glad he's choosing to step away when it makes sense, for him, and glad for four decades of this fun project. I'm especially glad they're keeping the archive up.
Thanks for posting this, zaixfeep - I've never really explored the archive, and I may have to add it to my daily read.
posted by kristi at 8:37 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
do yourself a favour and click the link posted by cyanistes
pure unadulterated gold
Who came to Hertford in a chaise
And uttered anything but praise
About the author of my days?
My Mother.
posted by ginger.beef at 8:41 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
pure unadulterated gold
Who came to Hertford in a chaise
And uttered anything but praise
About the author of my days?
My Mother.
posted by ginger.beef at 8:41 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
This headline made me go WHAT this morning.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:17 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:17 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
With any long-running endeavour, people will either ask why you've stopped or why on earth you don't. Far better to go for the first option.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:40 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 9:40 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]
I have never seen the Bulwer-Lytton contest's name as an acronym before today and I constantly read "BLFC" as Biggest Little Fur Con, a furry con in Reno, Nevada.
Perhaps BLFC should take over the BLFC. Having the top ten entries in each category read out by someone up on stage in a fursuit, and voted on by audience response, would be pretty entertaining.
posted by egypturnash at 10:32 AM on March 10 [5 favorites]
Perhaps BLFC should take over the BLFC. Having the top ten entries in each category read out by someone up on stage in a fursuit, and voted on by audience response, would be pretty entertaining.
posted by egypturnash at 10:32 AM on March 10 [5 favorites]
Oh, this makes me sad. Looking back over 42 years I have so many memories of who I was with when we read the winners out loud.
But who will wield the vrilstaff next?
posted by doctornemo at 10:59 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]
But who will wield the vrilstaff next?
posted by doctornemo at 10:59 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]
Somehow the "." for moment of silence seems wrong for this event's demise.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 11:33 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
posted by gentlyepigrams at 11:33 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]
Headline refers to IIRC a previous winning entry (and my #1 favorite from the contest), "Jennifer stood there, ovulating."
Not clear what is 'USPolitics' about the post. (It was a dark and stormy Daniels? ☺)
We also have a new viable candidate question for D. Adams' famous answer "42".
posted by zaixfeep at 12:00 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
Not clear what is 'USPolitics' about the post. (It was a dark and stormy Daniels? ☺)
We also have a new viable candidate question for D. Adams' famous answer "42".
posted by zaixfeep at 12:00 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
I'm young enough that this always seemed like such an ageless, permanent institution. I think in my imagination I'd built up some kind of literary foundation or organization running it.
posted by trig at 12:39 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
posted by trig at 12:39 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
This is such an institution, I’m surprised nobody stepped up to take over for them.
posted by KGMoney at 12:56 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]
posted by KGMoney at 12:56 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]
Yeah, it would make sense for any young professor to take over the reigns. Might be somewhat of a burden in time and money, especially for one person, but a loose group could pull it off.
posted by zardoz at 1:46 PM on March 10
posted by zardoz at 1:46 PM on March 10
Seems like this would be the perfect thing for the University to take on and continue. Is that not an option?
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 2:00 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 2:00 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]
Scott Rice was one of my professors when I was at SJSU! And the English department was oddly low-key about B-L when I was there, I didn't even find out it was run by SJSU people until my second semester as an English major, and that was only because of the address being posted on a message board. I didn't know if there was some kind of interdepartmental politics going on, or if the other professors thought it would make the department look unserious. It was pretty small and struggled to maintain a full set of major classes beyond the GE-required intro writing ones.
posted by tavella at 2:00 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]
posted by tavella at 2:00 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]
For those not getting the post title reference (which is total chef kiss), it's in reference to Adam Cadre's long-running Lyttle Lytton contest, which limited entries to 25 words (now 200 characters) and had as its exemplar, "Jennifer stood there, quietly ovulating."
If you've not checked out Lyttle Lytton (previously, on MeFi), you're in for a treat. Several past winners and top finishers have lived rent-free in my head ever since, all the way back to the inaugural winner by Top Changwatchi, "Turning, I mentally digested all of what you, the reader, are about to find out heartbreakingly."
posted by sgranade at 2:10 PM on March 10 [4 favorites]
If you've not checked out Lyttle Lytton (previously, on MeFi), you're in for a treat. Several past winners and top finishers have lived rent-free in my head ever since, all the way back to the inaugural winner by Top Changwatchi, "Turning, I mentally digested all of what you, the reader, are about to find out heartbreakingly."
posted by sgranade at 2:10 PM on March 10 [4 favorites]
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posted by wenestvedt at 7:27 AM on March 10 [7 favorites]