WOTF Judge Robert J. Sawyer's Book - Flash Forward is a new HIT TV show

Dear All,

I urge you to tune into ABC next week on Thursday night
at 8:00pm for this wonderful adaptation of Robert J. Sawyer's
bestseller, Flash Forward. They did a wonderful job, I loved the
show personally. It was Number 1 in its time slot last week and
the reviews are rave as well. I selected a review all the way from
the UK which I've posted below! Congratulations Rob!!!!! - Joni


Review from the UK:

In this compelling new sci-fi thriller everyone in the world blacks out at the same time while their consciousness leaves their bodies and travels six months into the future - allowing us to glimpse in the very first episode what’'s going to happen to the show’'s characters. A very risky formula indeed, for a weekly tv drama.

But FlashForward isn't a typical Hollywood product. Based on award-winning Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer’s's novel of the same name - Mr. Sawyer also works as a series writer - it creates great promise that future episodes will be as good as the premier show.

The plot revolves around the work and personal lives of a team of FBI agents in Los Angeles. The lead character Mark, played by British actor Joseph Fiennes, is a recovering alcoholic who is married to a surgeon.

Mark and partner Demetri, played surprisingly but well by comedian John Cho, go on a destructive car chase to capture terrorist suspects in a black SUV.

The cacophony of car crashes and squealing rubber sets the stage for more chaos and then abruptly the blackout occurs - not just on the LA freeway but everywhere in the world.

Characters begin sharing their stories of the future and that's when the real fun begins. Mark, disturbingly, sees himself drinking again while working on a top-secret case called Mosaic.

But even more disturbingly, Dimitri has no future vision. The woman FBI agent is heavily pregnant and having a sonogram done of her baby girl. In real time, she doesn't even have a boyfriend. Mark's doctor wife is deeply involved in a romance but with an unknown man who isn’'t her husband.

Mr. Sawyer has a lot of explaining to do. Can the future be changed? If there are no visions does it mean death in six months? What's the significance of six months and two minutes seventeen seconds anyway?

Is Mark's AA sponsor's soldier daughter really dead or alive in Afghanistan as he envisioned? And who is the one conscious man captured on tape walking in a sports stadium in Detroit during the blackout?

There's one sure thing that is going to happen in the future: DVRs will be whirring to record every episode of this wonderfully provocative show.

3rd Quarter - first set of Honorable Mentions

Dear All,

OK, we have our first set of Honorable Mentions for the
3rd Quarter of the writers contest:

Andrew Baines of Texas
Scott W. Baker of Tennessee
Cheryl Barkauskas of New Jersey
John Biggs of Oklahoma
Claudia Casser of New Jersey
Alvin Chua of California
Willis Couvillier of Nevada
Scott Davis of Massachusetts
Laurie Dennison of Florida
Felicity Dowker of Victoria, Australia
Mark Finnemore of California
Margaret Fisk of Nevada
M. Landau Friedman of Ohio
Auston Habershaw of Massachusetts
Patty Jansen of New South Wales, Australia
Jeff Jeffcoat of Arkansas
KJ Kabza of Massachusetts
Addie J. King of Ohio
Derek Kunsken of Quebec, Canada
Matthew Kirk of Michigan
Terra LeMay of Georgia
Kurt MacPhearson of Michigan
Django Mathijsen of The Netherlands
Corbin Maxwell of California
Scott Mikula of Washington
Eric Moore of Ohio
Leslie Ann Moore of California
Sanda Odell of Washington
Philip Perna of Massachusetts
Margit Schmitt of California
Kenneth Schneyer of Rhode Island
Wesley Swingley of Montana
Scott Vilhauer of California

Congratulations to you all!

2nd Quarter Winners Announced!!!

The Second Quarter Winners of the L. Ron Hubbard
Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest are:

Writers:

1st Place - Jason Fischer from South Australia
for his story - The House of Nameless

2nd Place - Simon Cooper from Ireland for his story
Confliction

3rd Place - Jeff Young from Pennsylvania for his story
Written in Light


Illustrator Winners:

Tyler Carter of Utah
Ryan Winch of California
Rachael Jade Sweeney of Vermont


Congratulations to all of you!!!!


Joni Labaqui

Great News from Volume XXIII Winner Aliette de Bodard!

Hi Joni,

This is just to let you and the other WOTF folks know that I've sold three books to new HarperCollins imprint Angry Robot. The books are fantasy-mysteries set in Aztec times: the first one "Servant of the Underworld", will be released in Spring 2010.
The novels are based on my WOTF-winning story "Obsidian Shards", which appeared in volume XXIII: it was at the workshop that I first had the idea to turn it into a novel (based on enthusiastic feedback from a number of my fellow WOTF winners). I also made use of a lot of techniques I learnt at the workshop while I was writing this novel. Thanks again for the awesome experience!

In other news, I didn't win the Campbell Award, but I did take second place, and Tony Pi ended up in third place, so it wasn't such a bad showing.

25th Anniversary Grand Prize Winners

The Grand Prize Winners of the 25th Annual Achievement Awards of Writers & Illustrators of the Future have been interviewed by XM/Sirius Satellite Radio and these interviews are now airing on XM/Sirius.

The schedule of the airings is:

Saturday, 19 September, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.

Monday, 21 September, 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT.

Wednesday, 22 September, 11 pm ET, 8 pm PT.

Friday, 23 September, 8 am ET, 5 am PT.

Saturday, 24 September, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.

Other contest winners as well as judges have also been interviewed and those interviews will be on the air as well during the above time. The channel is XM 163 and Sirius 117, Book Radio on the Maggie Linton Show.



Emery Huang, who lives in Orlando, Florida, receives the Writers of the Future Grand Prize from Dion Graham (stars in the TV series Law & Order) and K. D. Wentworth, coordinating judge of the Writers of the Future Contest.


Illustrators of the Future Grand Prize Winner, Oleksandra Barysheva receives her award from Ron Lindahn, coordinating judge for the Illustrators of the Future Contest and Sophia Milos (stars in CSI: Miami).

The Grand Prize Winners getting awarded each with a ride in a skyship as part of the World Sky Race by Don Hartsell, the commissioner and managing director of the World Air League.

Listen to them on satellite radio!

Writers of the Future Vol. 25 Winner Interview - Jordan Lapp

Jordan Lapp, 1st place winner of the Writers of the Future Contest and published in the newly released Volume 25, is being interviewed by David Steffen of www.diabologicalplots.com.

You can read the interview here:

www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=437

He talks about writing his winning story, "After the Final Sunset, Again" and his career as a writer after winning the contest.

Jordan also has a section of his own website that is dedicated to the Writers of the Future Contest which you can find here:

http://www.jordanlapp.com/withoutreallytrying/writers-of-the-future-resources/

We wish you the best of luck in your writing career!

The 25th Anniversary Event Video is Online

You can now watch the entire event that took place on 29 August 2009 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood online.


The link is below:

www.WritersOfTheFuture.com/w25/eventvideo.html

Enjoy!

Winners & Judges at the 25th Anniversary Event

Here is a photo with all the winners and judges after the 25th Awards Ceremony (click on the image to enlarge it).

From left to right (front row): Doug Beason, Eric Kotani, Laura Brodian-Freas, Val Lakey-Lindahn, K. D. Wentworth, Rebecca Moesta, Jerry Pournelle, Stephen Hickman, Tim Powers.
From left to right (second row): Donald Mead, C. L. Holland, Fiona Lehn, Sean Williams, Mark Payton, Ron Lindahn, Oleksandara Barysheva (ILOF Grand Prize winner), Gunhild Jacobs (Vice President Author Services Inc.), John Goodwin (President Galaxy Press), Joni Labaqui (WOTF & ILOF Contest Director), Emery Huang (WOTF Grand Prize winner), Schon Zwakman, Kevin J. Anderson, Krista Hoeppner-Leahy, Dave Wolverton, Joshua Stewart, Robert J. Sawyer, Douglas Bosley, Matthew S. Rotundo, Heather McDougal.
From left to right (third row): Ryan Behrens, Luke Eidenschink, Brianne Hills, Gra Linnaea, Jamie Luhn, Aaron Anderson, Gary Kloster, Jordan Lapp, Evan Jensen, Mike Wood, Tobias A. Fruge.

Writers of the Future 25th Anniversary Update!

Just a quick update as to where things are at and to answer questions that were asked in various comments.

Thank you all for commenting on the different posts. It was great fun putting together the workshop and the event of course. This was our best ever event yet, and with the live video stream, we had over 1,000 fans watching it live.

That brings me to the next topic. When will the full 2 hour event video be available online?

We are feverishly working on this and it looks like we will have it up by Monday, 7 September.

Meanwhile we have the WOTF XXV book trailer posted at the website. If you haven't seen it yet, it's absolutely stunning. Here is the link:

www.writersofthefuture.com/BookTrailer.htm

Somebody was asking about the results being posted. To see a list of all the winners with the name of the story and some select photos from the event with a group shot of all the winners and judges, go here:

www.writersofthefuture.com/awards.htm

We'll are also putting together a newsletter with photos from the event and the winners including a visually stunning slide show that takes you through the workshop and the event by showing the highlights. I'll keep you posted.

Thursday: Writers & Illustrators of the Future Workshop

On Thursday, 27 August, the workshop for the illustrators continued with Illustrators of the Future judges instructing the contest winners in various aspects of their trade while also covering the business side of being an illustrator.

The writers completed their 24-hour short story and returned at 5:00 pm each with a completed story in their hands. This was just enough time to get ready for the barbeque that was about to start.

Enjoy the photos!


Illustrators of the Future judge Vincent Di Fate talks to the illustrators.

Book cover artist and Illustrators of the Future judge, Cliff Nielsen gives tips to the winners about breaking into the business.

Illustrators of the Future judges, Cliff Nielsen, Vincent Di Fate, Ron Lindahn and Val Lakey Lindahn are critiquing illustrations from the portfolios of the illustrators.


The writers are gathering after having finished their short story which they wrote within 24 hours.

The barbecue is in full swing with judges, winners and guests.

Dave Wolverton (on the right) with writer Jordan Lapp (on the left) and illustrator Joshua Stewart (middle).

The Grand Prize winners Oleksandra and Emery (in the middle) with illustrator Ryan Behrens (left) and writer Schon Zwakman (right).

From left, Ron Lindahn, John Goodwin, Val Lakey Lindahn and Vincent Di Fate with two ladies who just arrived from XM/Sirius satellite radio to interview winners and judges about the contests.

Asimovs.com attended the Awards Ceremony at the Hotel Roosevelt

John E. Rogers, Jr. from Asimovs.com evidently attended the awards ceremony last Saturday and picked up his copy of the newly released Volume XXV.

He not only talks about his experience at the event but he has read the first 3 stories of the new anthology and gives a review of each.

You can find it here:

http://www.asimovs.com/aspnet_forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=2468