Two weeks in a row! We’re on a roll with  #FirstLineFriday, our little quiz designed to help us appreciate some of the best opening lines in literary history. Told ya I was gonna do my best to catch up on things here at The Write Stuff, and I’m working on it! As usual, from the classics of long ago to the latest best-sellers, everything is fair game on #FirstLineFriday, and I have an interesting and slightly newer line for you today.

As always, the rules are simple:

1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm, with the title and author of the correct book. 
2. Do not reply here on the blog.Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
5. Winners who live in the U.S. may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
6. Winners who live elsewhere may request a PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Put on your thinking caps, because here’s today’s opening line: 

”There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” 

Well—whaddya think? Sound familiar? DON’T forget, it costs nothing to guess, but do remember, email answers only, please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses. 

Submissions for #FirstLineFriday are officially closed now. My thanks to all who emailed me with their guesses. (ONE!) Sadly, we have no winners today, but I’m pretty sure most if not all of you have heard of this book and the hugely popular movie, even if you haven’t read it. (I read it and saw the film, but it was a long time ago, when I read a lot more horror than I do today.)

And now, here’s the answer to today’s quiz:

“Like the brief doomed flare of exploding suns that registers dimly on blind men’s eyes, the beginning of the horror passed almost unnoticed; in the shriek of what followed, in fact, was forgotten and perhaps not connected to the horror at all.” is the opening line from The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty.

The Exorcist is a 1971 horror novel by American writer William Peter Blatty. The book details the demonic possession of eleven-year-old Regan MacNeil, the daughter of a famous actress, and the two priests who attempt to exorcise the demon. Published by Harper & Row, the novel was the basis of a highly successful film adaption released two years later, whose screenplay was also written and produced by Blatty, and part of The Exorcist franchise.

The novel was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University. As a result, the novel takes place in Washington, D.C., near the campus of Georgetown University. In September 2011, the novel was reprinted by Harper Collins to celebrate its fortieth anniversary, with slight revisions made by Blatty as well as interior title artwork by Jeremy Caniglia.

One of the most profitable horror movies ever made, this tale of an exorcism is based loosely on actual events. When young Regan (Linda Blair) starts acting odd — levitating, speaking in tongues — her worried mother (Ellen Burstyn) seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest (Jason Miller), however, thinks the girl may be seized by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert (Max von Sydow) to help with the difficult job.

AMAZON SAYS:

The Exorcist changed popular culture forever. Now, William Peter Blatty’s groundbreaking story of faith and supernatural suspense–the runaway #1 bestseller that started it all–is reincarnated in this spectacular newly polished and rewritten 40th Anniversary Edition of the novel that burst through society’s seven seals and paved the way for the entire genre that followed it: the unforgettable The Exorcist.

Buy The Exorcist HERE

That wraps it up for this week, folks. Thanks so much for taking part, and I hope you’ll stay tuned for another #FirstLineFriday quiz next week. See you then, if the bridge don’t go, an’ the creek don’t rise! In the meantime:

It’s BAAA-AAACK!  #FirstLineFriday, our little quiz designed to help us appreciate some of the best opening lines in literary history, has returned. For today at least. (I’m going to do my best to catch up on things here at The Write Stuff, but I’m still not at 100%, so bear with me, if you would, thanks). From the classics of long ago to the latest best-sellers, everything is fair game on #FirstLineFriday, and I have an oldie but a goodie for you today.

As always, the rules are simple:

1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm, with the title and author of the correct book. 
2. Do not reply here on the blog. Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
5. Winners who live in the U.S.may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
6. Winners who live elsewhere may request a PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Put on your thinking caps, because here’s today’s opening line:

“Like the brief doomed flare of exploding suns that registers dimly on blind men’s eyes, the beginning of the horror passed almost unnoticed; in the shriek of what followed, in fact, was forgotten and perhaps not connected to the horror at all.” 

Remember, email answers only, please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses. 

Welcome once again to #FirstLineFriday, a little quiz designed to help us appreciate some of the best opening lines in literary history. From the classics of long ago to the latest best-sellers, everything is fair game.

As always, the rules are simple:

1. Be one of the first five people to email me before the game ends at 4:00pm, with the title and authorof the correct book. 
2. Do not reply here on the blog.Email only: marciameara16@gmail.com
3. Honor System applies. No Googling, please.
4. Submissions end at 4:00 P.M. EST, or when I receive 5 correct answers, whichever comes first.
5. Winners who live in the U.S.may request a free download of any one of my books for themselves, or for someone of their choice. OR, if they’ve read all of the offered books, they may request a free download of my next publication.
6. Winners who live elsewheremay request a PDF file of the same books, since, sadly, Amazon won’t let me gift you from the site.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! I’m predicting this one will be a challenge, but I love it so much, I can’t resist. And besides, my predictions haven’t been right yet, so who knows? Either way, here’s today’s opening line: 

“Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable.” 

Remember, email answers only, please. Thanks! And now off I go to await your guesses. 

I had a feeling this one was going to stump a lot of people, but as I promised, this is a book I’d bet that every single one of you has at least heard of. For some reason, it appealed to my wicked sense of humor to use a line from a very well-known book, but which would probably fool all of us, me included. I was willing to be wrong and give away some downloads today, but alas. I called it correctly. Sorry to say we have no winners.

So with that in mind, are you ready to find out which very famous book none of us can recognize from the opening line? Okay. Here goes.

“You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.” is the opening line from Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus written by English author Mary Shelley though first published anonymously in 1818. Her name did not appear until the second edition published in Paris in 1821.

Frankenstein is infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. Brian Aldiss has argued that it should be considered the first true science fiction story because, in contrast to previous stories with fantastical elements resembling those of later science fiction, the central character “makes a deliberate decision” and “turns to modern experiments in the laboratory” to achieve fantastic results. It has had a considerable influence in literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories, films and plays.

Since the novel’s publication, the name “Frankenstein” has often been used to refer to the monster itself. In the novel, Frankenstein’s creation is identified by words such as creature, monster, fiend, and wretch, but it is the monster’s creator who is correctly identified as Victor Frankenstein. 

There are many editions of this book available on Amazon, but I chose to use the one featuring what most of us think of when we discuss the book or, more likely, one of the many film adaptations. No one can forget Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster, I’m sure.

AMAZON BLURB:

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley about the young student of science Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but sentient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty.

Shelley had travelled through Europe in 1814, journeying along the river Rhine in Germany with a stop in Gernsheim which is just 17 km (10 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle, where two centuries before an alchemist was engaged in experiments. Later, she travelled in the region of Geneva (Switzerland)—where much of the story takes place—and the topics of galvanism and other similar occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions, particularly her lover and future husband, Percy Shelley. Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and John Polidori decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After thinking for days, Shelley dreamt about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made; her dream later evolved into the story within the novel.

BUY Frankenstein HERE

And that’s it for this week, folks. (See? I told you this was a book familiar to all of us. I’ve even read it. More than once, back in my misspent youth. But be darned if I recognized that opening line.) Next week, I promise to go easier on you! Hope you’ll join me then for another #FirstLineFriday.