Random Contest: First Lines Contest

Yes, it's time for another random contest. And it's going to be a big one! And in honor of my big blogoversary bash, I'm giving you all month to enter.

So here's the idea. Authors work really hard to get the first lines of their novels just right. But by the time you finish a book, you spend more time thinking about how it ended rather than how it started. So this contest pages homage to all that great thought and energy that goes into those first sentences and which so often get overlooked.

Prize: The winner of this random contest will get a prize pack that includes:

• an ARC copy of Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard,
• a signed copy of Dream Spinner by Bonnie Dobkin,
• and a paperback copy of Poison Ink by Christopher Golden.

You also have an opportunity to win an extra chance at the $10 Amazon.com Gift Card by posting a link advertising this contest. To earn an extra entry, post a direct link to your link in the comments below. For more information on how to win the gift card, please see the post on that subject.

Excited? Want to win? Well, here's how:

How to Enter: I've selected 36 books from my bookshelves (one for each month I've been blogging) and scrambled their first sentences. All you have to do is match them up correctly. The person who correctly identies the most wins! Make sure you completely read the rules first, or you may get disqualified!

Rules:

• Contest is open until midnight PST on September 30th, 2009.
• This contest is open internationally!
• Email me your answers and include the subject line "First Lines Contest"
• DO NOT post your answers in the comments. They will be deleted and you won't get credit!
• Please don't share your answers with other. The whole point is to have fun, so please don't ruin it for everyone else.
• If you don't follow the rules, then you can't win, so follow the rules! :)
• The winner will be chosen from a group of those who get at least 30 correct. Runners-up will automatically get an extra entry to win the $10 Amazon Gift Card.
• Winner will have one week to claim thier prize before another winner is chosen. Full rules about claiming prizes can be found here.

Any questions? Just email and ask.

Ok, now ready, set, go!

The first lines:
1. I felt cold metal on the side of my skull before I heard the voice.
2. When my father died, I thought the world would come to an end.
3. There was a time, during the golden age of men and gods, when mankind became forgetful, almost to the point of its own destruction.
4. "My God, Persy, you killed him!"
5. "Please tell me what to do," I whisper, staring at the crucifix on the wall.
6. My lady: I pray this letter finds you in a place of safety.
7. "Honey, I'm so sorry."
8. Ar Kin was the first ex-convict I had ever met.
9. When Uncle Frank's head was finally parted from his body, the crowd laughed.
10. Linderwall was a large kingdom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable.
11. Silvano da Montacuto was not just young, handsome and rich.
12. Edward Fairchild, Prince of the Enchanted Forest, Lord of the Desert's Edge, Friend to the Unicorns, and King of the Secret Country, wished he were somewhere else.
13. Rebecca Winter, gifted, cheerful, and poor, had lived sixteen years without once seeing a bomb go off.
14. We heard the music even before we got to Union Hall.
15. "Four-ball, side pocket."
16. Jane was crying.
17. The whispers began the day she arrived on horseback at the gates of the Emperor's palace.
18. I'm not going to begin my story with "Once upon a time," even though many of you will call it a fairy tale.
19. The big television cameras of the You've Been Caught Napping game show prowled in the darkness at the edge of the set, their lenses focused on the old man's face.
20. I'm dead.
21. And the next thing I knew I was a baby.
22. The heat was awful.
23. The burning arrow thudded into the wall.
24. Six elephants could have gotten off the monthly train and they wouldn't have been as big a deal to Arley as her precious box of Penny Dreadfuls.
25. I wasn't at all surprised when Cinderella gave me the finger.
26. What the freakin' heck--
27. Five simultaneous screams ripped through the cathedral.
28. It looked like a bad day for photographers.
29. Pieces of her are broken.
30. Diary of F. Bamfield.
31. My parents are trying to ruin my life.
32. It was just past midnight and I was trudging through the St. Louis Greyhound station, a grim building obviously brought to you by the people who design high school bathrooms.
33. The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.
34. I never called the number.
35. Death disturbed the night.
36. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a thirty-something woman in possession of a satisfying career and fabulous hairdo must be in want of very little, and Jane Hayes, pretty enough and clever enough, was certainly thought to have little to distress her.

The books:
A. A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
B. Angelmonster by Veronica Bennett
C. Aurelia by Anne Osterlund
D. Austenland by Shannon Hale
E. Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
F. Bride Of The Water God Volume 1 by Mi-Kyung Yun
G. Canned by Alex Shearer
H. Cathy's Key by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman
I. Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
J. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
K. Dramacon Volume 2 by Svetlana Chmakova
L. Dream Factory by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler
M. Evernight by Claudia Gray
N. Forbidden Tales: Sword by Da Chen
O. How the Hangman Lost His Heart by K. M. Grant
P. I Was a Teenage Popsicle by Bev Katz Rosenbaum
Q. Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb by Kirsten Miller
R. Much Ado About Grubstake by Jean Ferris
S. Ophelia by Lisa Klein
T. Pandora Gets Jealous by Carolyn Hennesy
U. Poison Ink by Christopher Golden
V. Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn
W. Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors
X. Scrapped Princess: A Tale of Destiny by Ichiro Sakaki
Y. Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley
Z. Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher
AA. The Everafter by Amy Huntley
AB. The Falconer's Knot by Mary Hoffman
AC. The Highwayman's Footsteps by Nicola Morgan
AD. The Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey Couloumbis
AE. The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante
AF. The Secret Country by Pamela Dean
AG. The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle
AH. The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman
AI. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
AJ. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

So there you have it. Send your answers about what line goes to what book to me by email, and don't forget to include "First Lines Contest" in the subject. Also, make sure that you've read the rules as outlined at the beginning of this post.

Good Luck to everyone!