Writers of the Future Volume 28

By L. Ron Hubbard, K. D. Wentworth, William Ledbetter and 26 more

Your passage to unforgettable worlds of imagination and escape. Discover the new visionaries of imagination in the Writers of the Future. Established in 1983 by L. Ron Hubbard expressly for the aspiring writer, Writers of the Future has become the most respected and significant forum for new talent in all aspects of speculative fiction. Never before published first-rate science fiction and fantasy stories selected by top names in the field. "The offerings are thought provoking and varied, with a general trend towards excellence...The future is in good hands." −Publishers Weekly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Galaxy Press
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781619860995

L. Ron Hubbard

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard. Then too, of course, there is all L. Ron Hubbard represents as the Founder of Dianetics and Scientology and thus the only major religion born in the 20th century.

Reviews for Writers of the Future Volume 28

[charlesboyd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In "L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume XXVIII" you'll find a balanced blend of sci-fi and fantasy. The authors are writers just beginning on their careers, at least in a longer format, novella or larger. For this reader, their work reflects that. The writing is solid for the most part and the stories are pretty good, but none of the writing was at the level of a Ray Bradbury or even some of the judges, Orson Scott Card or Frederik Pohl for example. And none of the stories made me say "wow," when I finished.While all of the story ideas are very creative, the best of them were focused more on the characters than the sci-fi stuff or the fantasy world. "The Rings of Mars" was more about the interaction between two men, one who was willing to bend the rules of the company he works for and his friend who didn't, thus a fairly compelling story. "Lost Pine," an end of the world story, focused on a teenaged boy and girl and the different ways they reacted to the situation and to another boy who came along. Another fairly compelling story. Many of the stories were idea stories, like the "Poly Islands," a sort of environmental statement, less compelling."My Name is Angela," deserves special notice. I had to force myself to read it, didn't care for it. But, at the end, when I finally knew what was going on, I thought it was a pretty good story and I read it again.I cut and pasted part of the review by cissa because I agree completely with it and it says it well: "This MMPB is also ungainly- it is too big to even open comfortably without cracking the spine, and a number of the pages had printing so close to the binding that it was difficult to read. If one really must make such a huge MMPB, being careful to have sufficient margins toward the spine is vital to keep it readable." So, should you pay $7.99 for this paperback? Well, it is 577 pages long and your tastes may differ from mine, so, yeah, give it a shot.

[cissa_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first time I've read one of these anthologies- I can see I've been missing out!No bad stories here, though some were more polished than others. To mention a few:"The Siren" by M.O. Muriel was truly weird and surreal; nicely paced, though, as our understanding of what was going on tracked the events quite tightly."Contact Authority" by William Mitchell was a good first-contact story with a twist. Nicely done in the first-contact aspects, and the galactic ramifications were interesting and well-thought-out.I'm not sure what to think about "My Name is Angela" (Harry Lang), except that it will stay with me for quite a while. it was an intense and compelling read.These stories were the high points for me, though I did enjoy several of the others. A few of them, though, were pretty predictable- "The Command for Love" by Nick T. Chan, for example, and the first 2 stories. And "While Ireland Holds These graves" by Tom Doyle just never really came together; I think there was too much world background needed, and not enough was included.Unfortunately, we only get to see small grayscale versions of the winning illustrator's work, and that's really not enough to make any informed opinions on it- color would make such a difference!This MMPB is also ungainly- it is too big to even open comfortably without cracking the spine, and a number of the pages had printing so close to the binding that it was difficult to read. If one really must make such a huge MMPB, being careful to have sufficient margins toward the spine is vital to keep it readable.I appreciate all the effort that went into writing and collecting these stories and illustrations, and for the most part I enjoyed this collection more than most anthologies i read.

[elric17_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as an Early Reviewer and have to say it is exactly what you expect a mixture of good and bad short stories. Overall, the good out weighed the bad, and I will look forward to seeing if some of the writers move on to novels.

[turtlesleap · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have been reading anthologies of short fiction, and particularly science fiction and fantasy, for over 40 years. In today's market, the trend seems to be toward much longer work--massive novels and trilogies clearly sell well but it is the rare science fiction or fantasy work of this length that holds my interest. Short stories and novellas are too often undervalued but a special skill is required to fully develop a story, and flesh out the characters, in a shorter work. It is my belief that short fiction teaches a writer to tighten up his/her work and avoid the excessive wordiness that seems to plague so much contemporary fiction. This collection, which features the work of writers who are all in the earliest stages of their career but who are writing intelligent, even insightful, fiction, is worth reading for anyone who likes the genre. There are some stories in the collection that I liked better than others and some authors whose future work I will watch for. That is to be expected with a collection of this type. The L. Ron Hubbard collection is an opportunity for readers to become acquainted with the names they will be watching develop in the marketplace over the next decade. As a decided plus, the illustrations in the collection are very good and well worth examining on their own merit.

[paulco_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The anthology is a collection of some of the best and brightest in the field of up-and-coming science fiction writers. i wouldn't consider anyone represented hereto be an amateur. The stories are diverse in their premise, and show that the field is going to be in good hands in the future. We'll see many of these authors again in the future. Short stories aen't the easiest thing to write because character development has to be done quickly, with no time to build up to it. Virtually all of these did that well. I'll be looking for these authors in other works now, and I know some already have other works out there.

[gryphon8kl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book collects the twelve winning stories from the 2011 Writers of the Future competition, and additional story that came close to winning in its quarter, all illustrated by winners of the year's Illustrators of the Future contest, and three essays of advice (two for writers and one for artists).On the whole, I found most of the stories enjoyable, although showing the writers' inexperience at times. Some of the problems were minor, such as two separate stories referring to characters that hadn't been introduced yet as if they had been (one mentions "the other woman's voice" as the first description of a character, the other uses a name never seen before to refer to a character without making it clear which character it's talking about). Others are more serious; for example, "The Poly Islands", an otherwise good story, has an abrupt time skip at the end that causes one character to make an important decision seemingly off stage and out of the blue. Despite flaws, only two stories struck me as needing significant work: "Fast Draw" was well-written but felt more like an incident taken out of a larger work than a story in its own right, while "My Name Is Angela" had a writing style that I found inexplicably annoying and seemed to have a message of "trying to better yourself will make you miserable and destroy you." My favorite stories would probably be Marie Croke's "Of Woven Wood" and William Mitchell's "Contact Authority", although a few others come pretty close to them.

[randystafford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Don’t think of this as a collection of amateur stories. These stories are as proficient as those you will find in any anthology, more than many I’d say. Many of these stories are not even the first publication of their authors.And don’t think of this as some sort of talent-spotting exercise, a dutiful survey to see who might be the subject of “buzz” in the future. As with past winners, some of these authors will go on to distinguished careers. Others will fade away. There is something here for most tastes in the fantastic: fantasy, surrealism, a bit of steampunk, and military and straight science fiction.Some of that science fiction is conceptually inventive. If it isn’t entirely groundbreaking, it at least looks at some old ideas in a new way. Three stories in this category were my favorites.Actually, my favorite, Gerald Warfield’s “The Poly Islands”, may do something completely new in its setting – the famed island of floating garbage in the Pacific Ocean. Here, it’s populated by criminal gangs, those on the run from those gangs like protagonist Liyang, and political refugees. Add in the mysterious nature of the Crab, leader of the Poly Island community, some intrigue, and the well-worked out details of living on an unstable platform of plastic garbage, and you have a winning story marred only a tiny bit by a somewhat schmaltzy ending. You don’t have to be enamored of James Joyce or all things Irish – and I’m not – to appreciate Tom Doyle’s “While Ireland Holds These Graves”. In a second revolution of independence, Ireland has decided to turn its back on the global order, to become a self-consciously ethnic state (though anybody, from anywhere, can join – Gallic speaking enabled by brain implants) apart from the bland global order. New wealth and new possibilities from solar and fusion energy and nanotechnology allow the recreation of an early 20th century Ireland complete with the recreated personalities of its celebrities like W. B. Yeats and James Joyce. The story follows the co-creator of the Joyce personality and his creation in the few remaining days before the borders are sealed. Celtic mythology, Irish nationalism and literature, the effects of globalization, artificial intelligence and personality reconstructions all fuse in a noir plot. It could be argued that the motivations for all its intrigue aren’t entirely clear, but I think Doyle conveys them well enough in an intuitive way.“Fast Draw” from Roy Hardin takes the transhuman postulate that humanity can be greatly altered by advances in biology and cybernetics. To that starting point, he adds the simple observation that those improvements would, like our current technology, proceed in waves. The description of how humans of successive technological iterations exist – sometimes quite uneasily -- together is quite novel and interesting. Mix in geriatrics prowling a single’s bar and a jilted woman who happens to be quick draw artist, and you a have a winning story – literally since this was the top entry for 2011. The story, for me, had a slight misstep at the end in the revealing of the true identity of one character, but overall an impressive story.Continuing riffs on familiar notions are William Ledbetter’s “The Rings of Mars” and William Mitchell’s “Contact Authority”. Ledbetter’s story starts with a planetary geologist kidnapping his old friend who has come to Mars to send him back home. He wants a chance to prove that alien ruins exist on Mars – and not give his corporate bosses a chance to exploit them. I’m always up for alien ruins on Mars or Martian stories in general, and this one had a rewarding payoff. Mitchell’s is a first contact story but with a catch. Humanity is on probation with the alien Alliance which has delegated it to make first contact with the Caronoi. The trouble is that somebody is culturally contaminating the Caronoi culture prior to that first contact, and, if the Alliance finds out and decides man has failed its unknown criteria, genocide will result. The nature of that criteria forms the heart of the story, and the answer to the question struck me as innovative.“My Name Is Angela” from Harry Lang starts out with the old notion of manufactured people to do crappy jobs. Here narrator Angela is an elementary school teacher of violent, warehoused kids. She decides there might be more to life and seeks out the Soul Man to give it to her. Over all, it’s a sad story but leavened with bits of humor in some of the character’s names. “Lost Pine” by Jacob A. Boyd is a post-holocaust story where most of man has succumbed to the “creeping crud” and ended up in yellowish cocoons”. It’s all due to an alien invasion. The question for survivors like Gage and Adah and Monk is the actual condition of their cocooned love ones and each comes up with different answer to that question.“Shutdown” from Cory L. Lee was a briskly told military science fiction tale. The dancer heroine is recruited to be part of an elite unit that will assault an alien fortress with a new tactic – temporarily dying when needed to avoid detection and thwart weapons from homing in on them. I liked it overall though the change in the dancer’s character at the end seemed a bit clichéd. Scott T. Barnes’ “Insect Sculptor” effectively evokes the experience of unexpectedly becoming romantically obsessed with an odd woman. The story takes place in the world of insect sculpting – psychically willing insects to take desired forms. The narrator is going to study under the greatest sculptor of all, the Great Gaja-mada, but it’s his assistant, Isabella, that fixes his interest.M.O. Muriel’s “The Siren” was the one story that didn’t work for me, possibly because there was a surrealistic edge to the events, an element I often don’t respond to. The story seems to involve an alien invasion that has imprisoned the consciousness of most humans into the Honeycomb with a few people, like the heroine, able to move about. Overall, I found the story confusing though I appreciated the interesting characters which included the teenaged girl narrator and a veteran of the Afghan War.A satisfying mix of steampunk (with zeppelins) and medieval magic (golems and homunculi) and science as magic, Nick T. Chan’s “The Command for Love” has adventure, an intriguing religion that believes the world is the body of God and , therefore, worships maps, and a rumination on the nature of true intelligence. Its golem has fallen in love with his master’s daughter. Is he just responding to his programming or does he have a “soul” of his own? Venturing further into fantasy territory is “The Paradise Aperature” from David Carani. Its narrator has the freakish and singular ability to capture pictures of alternate dimensions and use them to create portals to pocket universes – a quite profitable and controversial business. But what he desperately wants is to find the dimension his wife may have fled to to escape death.Pure fantasy is well represented by Marie Croke’s rewarding and poignant “On Woven Wood”, the tale of a magical and intelligent cabinet, how he makes his way in the world after his master’s death, and the mysteries of his origin.The Writers of the Future anthologies have always presented advice for writers. Here Hubbard himself speaks of how much “story vitality” research can give a story. Kristine Kathryn Rusch revises Robert A. Heinlein’s rules of writing to emphasize concentrating on satisfying – and not prettily told – stories. She also warns against constant rewriting except at an editor’s request, and speaks of the importance of writing frequently. Her particular emphasis is on short fiction.This volume also showcases the winners of another contest – L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future. The renowned Shaun Tan offers advice for new illustrators. The winners of the contest were turned lose to illustrate a winning story with black and white drawings, so the book contains some striking art as well as good fiction. I particularly liked John W. Haverty Jr’s work for “The Insect Sculptor” and Fiona Meng’s drawing for “While Ireland Holds These Graves”. Don’t worry about the future careers of these writers. Just buy this and appreciate the fine work they’ve given us now.

[jmourgos · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First Impression:

The Writers of the Future enters its 28th and perhaps its largest volume to date, boasting 586 pages! I’ve been collecting these paperbacks since 1986 and it never ceased to amaze me the opportunity for new writers to get published, often for the first time.

These volumes also have famous names as judges – a partial list: Mike Resnick, Robert J. Sawyer, Fredrick Pohl, and Robert Silverberg – all giants in the science fiction/fantasy field. And there’s an illustrator’s contest as well, such judges as Robert Castillo and Diane Dillion checking out the illustrations.

As with any anthology, some of the writers fall on their face and that’s really too bad. I can see the potential and hope that they will continue to write. Others do well and will probably move on to bigger and better things. Do we have another Kevin J. Anderson or Kristine Kathryn Rusch here?

Stories:

It would be tedious to review every single story in this big volume. I will say that many of the tales were of androids/robots/artificial intelligences. Some made of woven wood, some even made of intelligent insects!

Mary Croke’s “Of Woven Wood” was a fun read. Lan, an artificial intelligence, keeping track of the laboratory experiments of Haigh, his creator. Except that Haigh is dead! The mystery of his death is secondary to the true nature of Lan, the mysterious past of his creator and the Queen, who has some involvement as she demands what she perceives was “stolen” from her by Haigh. Interesting fantasy.

I really liked William Ledbetter’s “Rings of Mars.” A man discovers intelligent constructs on Mars, except he wants to keep it to himself, afraid that the corporation who hired him will turn it into a Martian Disneyland rather than a valuable treasure of knowledge for Man. It is a story of Malcolm and Jack and how their friendship is strained as they both struggle with what they feel is just, yet their friendship is important too. Great hard science fiction here.

And Harry Lang’s “My Name is Angela,” in a society where clones have been created to take care of the menial tasks so that humans can rise to greater heights. A modern-day slavery tale, actually. And a criticism on our educational system. Angela is supposed to just watch the malcontented fourth graders but she discovers through the “Soul Man” that she has a soul (he reprograms her) and she teaches the kids French and regrets beating her husband with a hot iron! She grows a conscience but the draconian society fears this and handles it. Quite a morality tale!

Bottom Line: Some stories did not do it for me – slow starts, coming into the middle and not building characterization or using unnecessary ten dollar words to describe things. Quite a mess, but that’s to be expected in amateur writing.

Nevertheless, great little collection – also articles from L. Ron Hubbard and Kristin Katherine Rusch on the art of the short story and the importance of researching a story to make it fly, and Roy Hardin’s advice to new artists in “Fast Draw.”

[course8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The best stories in this volume are those that draw the reader into a fully developed fictional world (hard to do in a short story). One story features a creature made of wicker and animated by magic who struggles to find purpose after his creator is mysteriously murdered. Another story follows a golem who dares to challenge the God of his world for the sake of love. In a third story a clone considers whether she wants to get a soul and become 'real'. This collection features new writers and some show the need to hone the craft a little more. One story about a momentous discovery on Mars ends just when it starts to get interesting. A story located in Ireland which features nano bots, cornucopia machines, head chips, and reconstructed dead Irish writers, (all of them), was difficult to wade through.