Writing Contests - Are We The Best?

Dear All,

I'm looking for little blurbs from people about the contest. Let me know.
Also, this week I'll be featuring the illustrators that just won, showing all three of their winning entries and we will also have the writer winners for the 3rd quarter in the next couple of days. Stay tuned! Best, Joni

3rd Quarter Illustrator Winners Announced!

The Third Quarter Illustrator judges results are in. The winners for this quarter are:

James Galindo of Palm Springs California (first art piece below)

Sean Kibbe of South Bend Indiana (second below)

Ilya Shkipin of Fremont California (third below)

Here is one sample of each of their winning illustrations:

A Message from K.D. Wentworth

Dear All,

K.D. Wentworth, the coordinating judge and first reader for the Writers of the Future contest has words of wisdom for contestants of the Writers contest:

The stories are ever increasing in quality which means you are all getting better and this is good. One thing that will set your story apart from the others is ORIGINALITY. This has been said before but it can't be said enough. ORIGINALITY.

--- K.D. Wentworth

More Writers and Illustrators of the Future Hall

Here are more photos of the hall. The first photo is one of the shelves of our former winners books. They've gone on to publish over 1500 stories in all. The second photo is the "wall of fame" and are highlights from over the past 23 years of events of the contest. The third is a sample of the coveted grand prize trophy that comes with the 5 thousand dollars handed to the winner on stage.

Presenting....The Writers and Illustrators of the Future Hall

Dear All,

I realized last week as we were wrapping up the movie shoot here at Author Services, that the majority of you who read this blog have never seen the Hall where we showcase the contest. The room contains books published by our winners, our judges photos & books, winning art from the contest and an entire wall of contest highlights in photographs. I've included 3 photos below and will have 3 more tomorrow.

Writers of the Future Volume 23 Now Available on Audible.com

Dear All,

For the first time in the contest history you can download the book from Audible.com. Here is the link.

http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_ADBL_000096&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

Also, below is the news release going out this Monday regarding this exciting news. You heard it here first!! (one of the perks for reading the blog)-- Joni

BEST-SELLING SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORIES
“WRITERS OF THE FUTURE”
NOW AVAILABLE AT AUDIBLE.COM

LOS ANGELES — Galaxy Press announced today the release of L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future as an audiobook. For the first time in its 23-year history, the award-winning anthology is now available in digital audio, exclusively from Audible.com, the leader in spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming on the Internet.

The print edition of the 23rd volume of the multiple award-winning and best-selling Writers of the Future series has already topped the amazon.com best seller lists for science fiction short story new releases and anthologies and #4 science fiction & fantasy for B&N. It is on its way to becoming one of the best-selling anthologies of its kind of all time.

“Science fiction fans at Audible and iTunes like to be on the leading edge with new writers," said Beth Anderson, Senior Vice President and Publisher, Audible Inc. "Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity to be part of a program that identifies talented new writers and showcases their work.”

“Having these stories issued in an audio format was long overdue,” said John Goodwin, President of Galaxy Press, publisher of the series. “We have found our other titles by L. Ron Hubbard listed with audible.com to be consistently good sellers and we’re very excited to make the book available for the first time in audio format.”

Story illustrations are also included as a PDF with each audiobook download.

Publishers Weekly has praised this year’s Writers of the Future volume as “13 quality stories…touched with imagination and inventive plotting….pulse-pounding…chilling....“ Best-selling science fiction and fantasy author, Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game) has called it, “The best anthology published today.” Neil Gaiman (Stardust, Sandman) said it “has a record of nurturing and discovering writers who have gone on to make their mark in the science fiction field.”

Writers of the Future also features essays from industry professionals who share hard-won knowledge in the business of writing and illustration. This year’s volume contains an essay from the contest’s creator, L. Ron Hubbard on “Art and Communication.” Contest judges Kevin J. Anderson with “If I Only Had the Time” and Judith Miller with “Here’s the Thing,” take it one step further by reading their own essays.

Go to Audible.com for a free sample of the audio book.

Let Me Hear From You!

Dear All,

Send me a short note of what you would like to see on the blog.

Best, Joni

(P.S. - I don't have winners yet for the 3rd quarter but it will be soon and I will let you know immediately)

Writers & Illustrators of the Future Hall Turns Into A Movie Set For 3 Days!

Today the Writers & Illustrators of the Future Hall turned into the "ToyCo International Headquarters" for the Hallmark TV movie "All I Want For Christmas", starring Gail O'Grady (Boston Legal), Greg Germann (Ally McBeal) and Robert Pine (Chips).

Here is a photo of the "set".

The cast and crew were told about the contest and I had several requests for rules.

After the movie is over and I've put the hall back together I will take you on a photo tour of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Hall. I am sure many of you have never seen it in person.

Bookstore Event a Big Hit in Eugene Oregon

Damon Kaswell and John Burridge had a book signing at Tsunami Books in Eugene, home of the Eugene Professional Writers' Workshop (aka The Wordos) Tuesday, October 2. The Wordos have published stories in WOTF every year since 2001. Many past WOTF winners showed up for a panel discussion of the contest, Q&A. John and Damon read excerpts from their stories. The event started out with a brief presentation of the WOTF Volume 23 trailer and Damon's and John's award speeches.

The bookstore owner said it was the most successful Writers of the Future event he has ever had.

Wordo former winners Jay Lake and Blake Hutchins and

Nina Kiriki Hoffman (now also a judge of the contest) join
Damon Kaswell and John Burridge at the Tsunami Books Book signing event.

John and Damon had another book signing at Waldenbooks

with fellow Wordo and winner of both the

writer and illustrator contests, Stephen Stanley

Contest Winner Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu has second novel published

A message from Nnedi:

Hi everyone. Just wanted to let you know that my 2nd novel, The Shadow Speaker, published by Disney's Hyperion, is now available at Anderson's Bookshop, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. I also have book signings scheduled (find my calendar at www.myspace.com/nnedi).

Some advance praise for the book:

As wildly inventive and suspenseful as her first novel, The Shadow Speaker is at the same time more ambitious and thematically complex, and represents a major step forward for a storyteller who, in the tradition of Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson, is equally adept at combining that most contemporary of forms, science fiction, with the ancient beliefs and values of non-western cultures that have for too long been underrepresented in modern fantastic literature. -- Gary Wolfe, award-winning critic and lead reviewer for Locus Magazine.

There's more vivid imagination in a page of The Shadow Speaker than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics. -- Ursula K. Le Guin, author of the classic Earthsea series.

Our 25th Anniversary - Today

Today is the start of the 25th year of the contest. That means that all winners for the next 4 quarters will be involved in the gala celebration of the 25th year! Next year's event (sometime next summer) will celebrate the winners from the past 4 quarters which is the 24th year.