Imagine that you’ve just purchased an old leather valise at a New York antique store – and inside you find the manuscript to Melville’s “lost” work, The Isle of the Cross . Or perhaps you uncover a story penned by James Joyce and meant for Dubliners , a certain story that first introduces one Leopold Bloom? Or a lost letter from Shakespeare, outlining some revisions he was planning on making to Hamlet ? Or an excised chapter from Gravity’s Rainbow ? Or...

Contest #3: You have just discovered a text by a famous author – a manuscript, a letter, a page of notes, a shopping list, a few doodles, etc. It could be something entirely new, or it could directly relate to an established work. Describe your “discovery,” providing background, context, and exploration of possible “meaning.”

The description itself may take any logical form – a foundation report, a journal entry, a letter, an article, etc. Aside from simple literary quality, judges will look at a variety of factors such as creativity, irony, insight, humor, and originality.

The entry should be between 500 and 1000 words, and must be submitted electronically to The Modern Word at the following email address: editor@libyrinth.com . Entries should be submitted as a Microsoft Word attachment, or as text in the body of the email itself.

The five most creative and well-written entries will be gathered together and posted permanently on the site. Three entries will be selected as First, Second and Third Place by The Modern Word’s staff.

The First Place winner will receive three books: a signed copy of Alan Moore’s first novel, Voice of the Fire ; first choice from Group A, and first choice from Group B. The second place winner will receive two books: second choice from Group A and second choice from Group B. The third place winner will receive one book: third choice from either Group A or Group B.

Group A:
Living to Tell the Tale , by Gabriel García Márquez (Knopf)
Celestial Harmonies , by Péter Esterházy (Ecco)
The Book of Ten Nights and a Night , by John Barth (Houghton Mifflin)
A New Universal History of Infamy , by Rhys Hughes

Group B:
yes I said yes I will Yes. , by Nola Tully
The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature , by H.P. Lovecraft (Hippocampus Press)
The Shadow Out of Time , by H.P. Lovecraft (Hippocampus Press)
The House on Eccles Road , by Judith Kitchen (Graywolf Press)
Characters on the Loose , by Janet Kauffman (Graywolf Press)
Pieces of Payne , by Albert Goldbarth (Graywolf Press)
Glyph , by Percival Everett (Graywolf Press)

All books courtesy from the respective publisher. We’d especially like to thank Top Shelf for donating the signed Alan Moore novel! And a special thanks to Tammy Duncan of Orange You Glad for her contest idea.

Contest updates will be available through the Spiral-Bound Newsletter . Although you do not have to be a Spiral-Bound subscriber to enter or win, the winners will first be announced in the September 2004 edition of Spiral-Bound .

Submitting a review to The Modern Word authorizes the site to have non-exclusive rights to the review for all eternity and a day. The contest closes August 15, 2004, and winners will be announced by September 15, 2004 .

Send contest entries to: editor@libyrinth.com