Debra Hamel has been tweeting the first lines of books since 2007. To date, she has posted more than 7000 first lines on her Twitter accounts @TwitrLit and @KidderLit. IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY TWEET is a collection of 500 of the best of these. The first lines in this collection are culled from a wide variety of genres and from children's books as well as books written for adults. Some of the titles excerpted will be familiar to readers. The first lines of Fahrenheit 451 and Slaughterhouse Five are included, for example, and Jane Austen and Charles Dickens both merit mentions. But readers will find a lot here that's unfamiliar. The book is intended to introduce readers to new books and authors, so that they'll come away from the collection itching to get their hands on an armful of new titles. Here's a sample:
"Benny Rhodes loved his own bald head more than anything else in the world he could think of." (John A. Miller, Coyote Moon)
"I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday." (John Scalzi, Old Man's War)
"A dead man fell from the sky, landing at my feet with a thud." (Gary Corby, The Pericles Commission)
The lines included in this collection are grouped into different categories, with chapters such as "Once Upon a Time," "Dead People," and "Pregnant Amish Men and Other Surprises." The book also includes three quizzes so that readers can test their first-line savvy.

Neaira grew up in a Corinthian brothel in the fourth century B.C., became a high-priced courtesan and a sex slave, then settled into a thirty-year relationship with Stephanos of Athens. But next she found herself in court, charged with transgressing Athens's marriage laws. This book reconstructs the amazing facts of Neaira's life and trial, illuminating the social, legal, and cultural worlds of ancient Greece.
"Hamel's treatment of this complicated story is outstanding . . . for its comprehensive [yet remarkably concise] presentation of the social and historical context of fourth-century Athens."--Ingrid D. Rowland, "New Republic"
"["Trying Neaira"]" "is an extraordinary tale, with more than an echo of Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha.""--Tom Holland, "Daily Telegraph"00
"A marvelous account of a fascinating series of events in the life of a Greek woman of the fourth century B.C. Hamel tells the tale with clarity and verve and, along the way, she teaches the reader a vast amount about Athenian society in the most interesting and entertaining way."--Donald Kagan, Yale University
"Charmingly written (and) nicely illustrated. . . . Hamel's account is engaging, accessible to nonexperts, and useful for courses on Athenian society."--"Choice"
"As told by Debra Hamel, this true-life story offers an extraordinary window on a civilization that wasn't half so rarefied in its interests or affections as we tend to assume."--"The Scotsman"