San Jose State University's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is for the worst possible opening line for a novel. Entrants don't have to actually write the novel -- just the first line. Here's this year's winning sentence by Molly Ringle of Seattle:

For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss--a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil.

You can read the runners-up at the link.

Link via Marginal Revolution | Image: National Science Foundation

Previously: The 2007, 2008, and 2009 competitions.