"A long, long time ago in a land far, far away, where no one can go, but all thoughts can stray, there lived a dying king. The dying king had a wish, that his son, prince Martin, should marry before his death. And so a great ball was held, and all the ladies of the land invited."


It could almost be a fairy tale version of our very own Sexiest Geeks contest. In fact, it's the opening lines of a short story penned by our Sexiest Geek for 2006, as chosen by Wired News readers. It turns out Lada Adamic is as irresistible and multitalented as the hero of the above-mentioned tale (which is sort of sexy itself in between the random disturbing bits -- we were thrilled to discover our winner is an author whose key plot device is ... sex contests).