The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, named in honor of the Victorian literary has-been Edward Bulwer-Lytton, is the world-famous competition that seeks to find the most atrocious opening senticento a hypothetical lousy novel. This collection of choice entries proves that there are still committed writers out there plumbing their inner souls for truly bad writing. Radio giveaways.

An aspiring suspense novelist lands in the middle of a real crime in the first Writer's Apprentice mystery. Lena London's literary dreams are coming true—as long as she can avoid any real-life villains... Camilla Graham’s bestselling suspense novels inspired Lena London to become a writer, so when she lands a job as Camilla’s new assistant, she can’t believe her luck. Not only will she help her idol craft an enchanting new mystery, she’ll get to live rent-free in Camilla’s gorgeous Victorian home in the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana. But Lena’s fortune soon changes for the worse. First, she lands in the center of small town gossip for befriending the local recluse. Then, she stumbles across one thing that a Camilla Graham novel is never without—a dead body, found on her new boss’s lakefront property. Now Lena must take a page out of one of Camilla’s books to hunt down clues in a real crime that seems to be connected to the novelist’s mysterious estate—before the killer writes them both out of the story for good...

Guiding students to think of themselves and believe in themselves as writers is a goal that every teacher hopes to reach. Providing clear guidelines on helping students draft, assess, and revise their writing, the third edition of Creating Writers Through 6-Trait Writing Assessment and Instruction presents a highly adaptable assessment model for identifying the attributes of good writing. The focus is on assessing and revising, and this book gives explicit criteria to show students precisely what they must do to succeed. Numerous writing samples demonstrate the evolution of the writing process from draft to final version.

A possible serial killer on the loose sends tea maven Theodosia Browning into a whirlwind of investigation in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series. It was a dark and stormy night, but that was the least of Theodosia Browning's troubles. As she approaches St. Philips Graveyard, Theodosia sees two figures locked in a strange embrace. Wiping rain from her eyes, Theodosia realizes she has just witnessed a brutal murder and sees a dark-hooded figure slip away into the fog. In the throes of alerting police, Theodosia recognizes the victim—it is the daughter of her friend, Lois, who owns the Antiquarian Bookshop next door to her own Indigo Tea Shop. Even though this appears to be the work of a serial killer who is stalking the back alleys of Charleston, Lois begs Theodosia for help. Against the advice of her boyfriend, Detective Pete Riley, and the sage words of Drayton, her tea sommelier, amateur-sleuth Theodosia launches her own shadow investigation. And quickly discovers that suspects abound with the dead girl’s boyfriend, nefarious real estate developer, private-security man, bumbling reporter, and her own neighbor who is writing a true-crime book and searching for a big ending. INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!