Ed Rudolph... living in San Francisco since 1970.

Favorite opening sentences:

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain: "They threw me off the hay truck about noon. I had swung on the night before, down at the border, and as soon as I got up there under the canvas, I went to sleep."

Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert: "We were in study hall when the headmaster walked in, followed by a new boy not wearing a school uniform, and by a janitor carrying a large desk. Those who were sleeping awoke, and we all stood up as though interrupting our work.”

Tales of a Rat Hunting Man, Chapter 3, by D. Brian Plummer: "As I have mentioned, my childhood was not a particularly happy one, and my happiest days were spent hunting rats along the brook in my mining valley home.”