Writers of the Future Podcast

Joni Labaqui has been the Contest Director since 1995. In this episode, we discuss both Contests, starting with what it was like in 1995 and how it has grown. We also discussed each of the Coordinating judges for both Contests.

I met Rebecca Hardy, pen name for Rebecca Hardy, after she wrote a blog post on the cameras of Battlefield Earth. She was subsequently a guest just over a year ago with her debut novel, “House of Lost Wives.” She is a writer, photographer, and artist working in London while residing in West Sussex, England. She has just come out with her second novel, “The Merchant’s Daughter,” again written in fi...

Jo Henry is the managing director of Bookbrunch, a daily news service and information site for the book industry. She has worked in the book industry for over 40 years, starting at the literary agency A.M Heath; she has worn probably every possible hat in the publishing industry. She joined BookBrunch in 2018. Jo was co-founder of the Book Marketing Society and a former chair of both the Book Soci...

Judith Anderle, who, along with her husband, Michael, has built an indie publishing empire and created the 20BooksTo50K annual conference. In this interview, we discuss publishing, AI, and copyright law as it currently stands in January 2024.

Alex Shvartsman is from Ukraine and came to the US as the USSR was collapsing and now lives in New York. With English as his third language, he read voraciously and began writing in his thirties. He sold 100 short stories before venturing into novels. He loves to write. He also holds the distinction of having been #3 in the world in Magic the Gathering. He was originally published in Galaxy's Edge...

The first half of this interview is with José Sánchez & Chris Arias at the Writers of the Future Awards week. The second half is with Chris, who has had a whirlwind of excitement and recognition after he returned to Costa Rica.

Barbara Lund was the Writers of the Future Golden Pen Award-winning author for Volume 37 and writes sci-fi and fantasy. But I really enjoyed her sci-fi detective procedural "Platform 8." She has a full-time job, is a mom, and gives her formula for being able to write and publish as well—working out priorities. Learn more at barbaralund.com/new-page

Michael Johnson has many years of experience in publishing, technology, and educational distribution. He is currently Vice President of Content at Benetech, a global company that creates software for social good in the areas of education, employment, and social inclusion. In other words, Michael assists in making your stories and art accessible to anyone, regardless of their circumstances. Michael...

Allow me to introduce you to Matthew Wolf, an incredible epic fantasy author. We discuss his origins as an author, inspiration, and creating vivid characters and storylines. And let me recommend the Ronin Saga. Follow him at MatthewWolfAuthor.com

I met Pak Gallego at the Frankfurt Book Fair and learned that he created board games and card games: writing, designing, and working out the math needed to create a game. And I immediately wanted to have him on as a guest as I had never discussed gaming (creating of) with anyone! So meet Gak Gallego from Barcelona, Spain.

Gray Levett began his career as a photographer shooting bands such as Jethro Tull, Kinks, Genesis and expanded from there to creating one of the most well-known Nikon camera shops in London, Gray's of Westminster. He researched the history of photography before publishing his books, as well as for each issue of his magazine.

Jim Meskimen is a voice actor known for voicing Deadshot, Ultron, and Kuruk. As a professional actor for nearly thirty years, Jim has appeared in the films Apollo 13, The Grinch, Frost/Nixon, The Punisher, Not Forgotten, There Will Be Blood and many others. Some of Jim’s TV credits include Friends, Whose Line is it, Anyway?, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Castle, Lie to Me and Rules of Engagement. We di...

I met Brandon Mull at Life the Universe and Everything conference last year in Provo, Utah, and we immediately hit it off. He was such a super nice guy and I wanted to have him as a guest on this podcast as I felt he would be an inspiration to this podcast's listeners. He sent me the first volume of "Fablehaven" and "Candy Shop War" and I really enjoyed reading them. I told several of my fellow st...

Lazarus Black was first an accomplished professional artist before tackling his true love -- writing. He applied himself to learn his craft. He eventually won the Writers of the Future Contest. Now he has published his first novel. I enjoyed it so much I wanted to have him on as a guest and introduce him to fans of this podcast. Enjoy! www.lazarus.black/

Dr. Charles E. Gannon on writing hard science fiction. He is a Distinguished Professor of English (St. Bonaventure University) and was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in American Literature & Culture from 2004-2009. His series includes hard-sf interstellar epic (the Caine Riordan series, set in his Terran Republic universe, nominated for three Nebulas, two Dragons, and winner of the Compton Crook Aw...

Ringling College of Art & Design has produced several Illustrators of the Future winners. This interview is with two of the reasons why. James Martin, professor of illustration in the illustration dept. He’s been an illustrator, mostly in the movie industry, and worked on movies like "Titanic." Dominic Avant majored in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. He worked in movie animation...

Top 100 Amazon author James Rosone returns to discuss his Monroe Doctrine Series and how he researches near-future warfare tying in newly evolving technologies leading to a very questionable future. He provides his techniques on how he has remained a top 100 Amazon author for several years.

D.J. Butler (Dave) is a novelist living in the Rocky Mountains. He worked as a securities lawyer at a major international firm and in-house at two multinational semiconductor manufacturers before taking up writing fiction in 2010. He is a lover of language and languages, a guitarist and self-recorder, and a serious reader. He is married to a powerful and clever novelist and together, they have thr...

Dennis E. Taylor's bio simply states that he is a retired computer programmer, an enthusiastic snowboarder, and an inveterate science fiction reader. His Bobiverse Trilogy steps on any authoritarian, political, or religious toes. We discuss his satire as a lead-up to our upcoming relaunch of Mission Earth. It was written in multiple first-person points of view. Fascinating! Having read "We Are Leg...

Brian Lee Duree was an Illustrators of the Future winner in volume 9. Due to vision complications, he had to transfer from painting to writing and has since become a bestselling writer of science fiction. In this podcast, we discuss how Brian never lost his desire for creativity despite anything thrown at him. His is a story of persistence that can inspire anyone!

Bea Jackson is the New York Times bestselling illustrator of Parker Looks Up. Bea attended the College for Creative Studies and is the grand prize winner and returned alumni of L. Ron Hubbard's Illustrator of the Future Award of 2007 and now a Contest Judge. In this podcast we discuss her very humble beginnings as an artist to her very successful career and the importance of humility. See her work...

Martin Shoemaker is an author and programmer and winner of Writers of the Future (Volume 31). In this episode, Martin discusses his opinion on the unwritten rules of Writers of the Future, which you can also find at WritersoftheFuture.com/blog.

Bruce Brenneise was an illustrator winner published in Writers of the Future Volume 34 and also illustrated “The Unwilling Hero” by L. Ron Hubbard in Volume 39. He has gone on to a very successful art career which we discuss in this interview.

Roger Christian won an Academy Award for creating the look of the STAR WARS universe - including the iconic lightsaber - and established a long collaboration with GEORGE LUCAS. He directed 2nd Unit on RETURN OF THE JEDI, and STAR WARS; EPISODE I; THE PHANTOM MENACE. Lucas commissioned BLACK ANGEL, Roger’s debut as a Writer/Director to release with STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in cinemas. In...

David Hankins, "Death and the Taxman," TJ Knight "The Fall of Crodendra M," Spencer Sekulin "Children of Desolation," and Samuel Parr "The Last History" are all winners published in "L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39." They have all written very different stories with very different and are all winners. David Hankins - davidhankins.com Spencer Sekulin - spencersekulin.net