There are so many favorite annual traditions (Christmas, Girl Scout Cookie sales, the first blockbuster movie of summer, …), and it’s now time for one more—the next Writers of the Future volume to be released! The 40th annual volume will be available on May 7th in paperback, e-book or as an audio book.
The Writers of the Future is an international writing competition that has been running for 40 years —that’s right 40 years!
Science fiction legend and best-selling author L. Ron Hubbard founded this contest. Here is a quote from the very first introduction:
“A culture is as rich and as capable of surviving as it has imaginative artists. The artist is looked upon to start things. The artist injects the spirit of life into a culture. And through his creative endeavors, the writer works continually to give tomorrow a new form.
“In these modern times, there are many communication lines for works of art. Because a few works of art can be shown so easily to so many, there may even be fewer artists. The competition is very keen and even dagger sharp.
“It is with this in mind that I initiated a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged.” —L. Ron Hubbard
He brought on board the leading science fiction and fantasy authors of the time, including Frank Herbert, Anne McCaffrey, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Andre Norton, and Hal Clement.
Soon after, a sister contest was started for illustrators, bringing these two strong story elements together.
This competition has discovered and nurture hundreds of authors and illustrators over the last 40 years.
HOW IT WORKS
Every quarter, this free writing and illustration contest receives thousands of entries. The judges pick the top three from each quarter for collection into the annual anthology, while the winning artists are then assigned one of the stories to create an image for.
You can be guaranteed to read some of the best science fiction and fantasy cutting-edge stories out there because the judges who pick the winners are some of the biggest names in these genres. Authors such as Orson Scott Card of Enders Game, who is the only author to have a won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years. Hugh Howey known for Silo series. Brandon Sanderson who wrote Mistborn and created the universe called Cosmere where most of his works take place. Nnedi Okorafor, who has won so many awards I can’t even mention them all here, and her first novel, Zahrah the Windseeker won the Wole Soyinka Prize for literature. Rober J Sawyer, Sir Sean Williams, Jody Lynn Nye, and Larry Niven, don’t even round out the complete list of famous and award-winning authors who judge the contest entries. (judges🙂
The awards event will be held on April 25th in Hollywood. You can tune in live on their home page:
For the 40th Anniversary, you can receive special bonuses by pre-ordering the book, such as wallpaper images and early access to a story. Find all of the extras available here:
This year’s volume features a fantastic collection of stories which magically intertwine the world we currently live in, along with the future world we are heading towards. Stories of virtual companions who race across the digital world to find us; and stories of an astronaut shutting her body down in space when oxygen is getting low.
There are stories of spirits, alive and a daily part of villagers’ lives they help, and of more evil spirits used to rid a girl of the sinister human ruining her life. Stories of conquering new planets and the unexpected hardships the pioneers encounter.
There are stories which address social media and the current blurred boundary of how much can another person find out about you. And even a love story of a dead couple coming back to life every spring through the fall, addressing the issue of how much would you be willing to pay to bring back a loved one.
One of my favorites is about the value of having a strong team, and why a crew of various, smart and very logical extraterrestrials would keep an overly-friendly, overly-curious human of average intelligence on their team. This story was a very fun read!
The commonality between all of the stories is that they bring about a sense of what it means to be truly human, living and alive today. A non-fiction article from L. Ron Hubbard is also included which points out that science fiction points a direction for man, because it does advocate a future for man. That’s a great message when many in our current society tell us there is no hope for the future and the non-stop news blaring into our homes threatens to overwhelm us. Science fiction brings hope!
CONCLUSION
All in all, Writers of the Future Volume 40 is a great read for anyone looking for something fresh and new!
Order your copy today so you can start reading May 7th!
And, don’t forget your 40th Anniversary preorder bonuses!
Enjoy!
Quick Links for the contest and anthology:
Enter the Writing Contest
Free Writing Workshop
Writing Podcast
Writers Forum
Writing Contest Rules
Contest Judges
Contest Blog
List of Writers of the Future & L. Ron Hubbard books
Social media links (to follow this year’s event use #WOTF40):
https://twitter.com/WotFContest
https://www.facebook.com/WotFContest
https://www.instagram.com/wotfcontest/
https://www.pinterest.com/RealWotF/
https://www.youtube.com/user/WritersoftheFuture
https://www.tiktok.com/@wotfcontest
