The Conscience of the King - a new project

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Where once there was en masse conscription of men to join the King's armies, there is now to be an en masse commissioning of writers to contribute to The Conscience of the King.

Hidden out there is an army of secret writers -- accountants, lawyers, bankers, journalists, doctors and clerks who secretly scribble stories, songs and poems that no-one ever reads. And we want to hear from you.

Once upon a time, such writers found outlet in the pages and columns of national newspapers and literary reviews. Many of the greatest works of our time were serialised in such publications, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

George Orwell was once a journalist, as was Jorge Luis Borges. Charles Dickens and James Joyce relied on literary periodicals to publish, piece by piece, their most famous masterpieces.

Most of the stories and poems that make up the anthologies on our shelves today appeared scattered throughout magazines and journals around the world, and were only compiled retrospectively, years later.

The Conscience of the King is an, as yet embryonic, attempt to revive that tradition.

If you enjoy writing in stolen spare moments and have a hoard of unseen scribblings on the backs of envelopes and cigarrette packets, in deleted computer files and long-forgotten notepads, then send some examples to theconscienceoftheking@london.com - a virtual open-mic site for amateur writers and amateurs of writing.

Any submissions, however modest, would be welcomed, be they short-stories, poems, lyrics, screenplays, unfinished epics or dark dramas.

So dig out that ghost-story you wrote that now lies crumpled under your bed with the monsters that inspired it, and send it to theconscienceoftheking@london.com, along with your name, the year the piece was written, and where you wrote it.

And shyness is strictly prohibited.

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Click here to visit the new project.
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