According to AP, a novel containing what one reviewer described as "the sort of sex that would make a Thai brothel-keeper blush" has won the British publishing industry's least coveted prize, the Bad Sex in Fiction Award.
Journalist AA Gill, who wrote a screenplay for Metro earlier this year, scooped the accolade - intended to highlight the worst, most redundant or embarrassing description in fiction of the sexual act -- for a passage from his latest novel, Starcrossed.
The prize was presented at a ceremony in London on Wednesday by James Hewitt, former lover of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
Gill's first novel, Sap Rising, almost won the 1997 Bad Sex Award, and Starcrossed was heavily tipped by reviewers to win this year. The Mirror newspaper commented: "The scene involving a deep-sea diver and a genetically-modified, homosexually- inclined giant squid has to be read to be believed.''
Other reviewers were equally startled by the passage, "the rash-rubbed thighs clamped cheeks, bits of liverish flesh draped across his nose and coarse hair scraped his chin. There seemed to be such a lot of her."
Auberon Waugh, editor of Literary Review magazine, who created the tongue-in-cheek awards seven years ago, joked: "As the passages were of an exceptionally high standard, the task of choosing a recipient is becoming increasingly difficult."
This year's shortlist also included Irish novelist Roddy Doyle, columnist Julie Burchill and Amanda Platell, who was appointed press secretary in the summer to opposition Conservative leader William Hague.
Previous shortlisted entrants for the Bad Sex in Fiction Awards have included Sebastian Faulks, Alan Titchmarsh, presenter of popular television gardening programme Ground Force, and former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd.
Gene sez: "Don't know what the clamor is about; that style of writing appears on this site every day of the week."
