flippyshark
05-16-2005, 08:09 PM
Okay, so I am reading the third in a series of terrible novels known as the MEG series. (Giant megalodon sharks terrorize people. The publicity blurb sums it up nicely: Jurassic Shark)
Anyhow, author Steve Alten is not exactly Melville. (He's not even Peter Benchley, which is really saying something.) He cranks out wildly improbable storylines with great enthusiasm. I don't think he does much proofreading. I submit the following sentence, which I swear I am not making up. I think I can safely say that this is the worst sentence I have ever encountered in a novel published by a major house. (Actually, it's a sentence fragment! I include the sentence immediately preceding it for context.) Here goes:
"A woman in a scarlet skintight bodysuit approaches. Shoulder length brown hair, late twenties, dripping with attitude and nipples."
Now, THAT'S quality writing!
Anyhow, author Steve Alten is not exactly Melville. (He's not even Peter Benchley, which is really saying something.) He cranks out wildly improbable storylines with great enthusiasm. I don't think he does much proofreading. I submit the following sentence, which I swear I am not making up. I think I can safely say that this is the worst sentence I have ever encountered in a novel published by a major house. (Actually, it's a sentence fragment! I include the sentence immediately preceding it for context.) Here goes:
"A woman in a scarlet skintight bodysuit approaches. Shoulder length brown hair, late twenties, dripping with attitude and nipples."
Now, THAT'S quality writing!