Great novels without the first line

Cory Doctorow 10:05 am Tue Apr 10, 2012

Mary Robinette Kowal sez,

Imagine what would happen if the unthinkable occurred. What if the first line were accidentally omitted by the typesetter? Would Moby Dick have been the same if it started, 'Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.'

I put together a little quiz for you to try your hand at identifying these famous books by their second lines. Why?

Because when my novel, Glamour in Glass, comes out tomorrow, it will be missing the first line. We don't know how it happened yet, since the last time my editor and I looked at it, the sentence was there. Somehow, that sentence got omitted between here and the printer. The electronic version is being corrected and future editions will have that line, but for now, there are some collector's editions out there.

That's Mary: when life gives you SARS, make sarsaparilla!

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