Welcome to issue #16 of the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Herald. In this edition you will find out who the winners are for the last three quarters, hear an incredible interview on DragonPage XM Satellite Radio and catch up with our winners and their continuing success since winning the Contest.

We hope the newsletter keeps you informed and entertained and wish you good writing, good illustrating and as always, good reading.

DRAGON PAGE RADIO INTERVIEWS WRITERS OF THE FUTURE
WINNERS ON XM SATELLITE

DragonPage's “Cover–to–Cover” show, airing on XM Satellite Radio, features the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. Hear interviews with winners from Volume XXI—Sidra Vitale (“My Daughter, The Martian”), John Schoffstall (“In the Flue”) & Floris Kleijne (“Meeting the Sculptor”).

Click on this link to download the 32-minute segment on the show or go to www.dragonpage.com.

WRITERS OF THE FUTURE PROVES TO BE A
LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE

If someone had told me in August 2003 that I'd have 4 mass market novels in the UK (Inheritance, Dominion and Redemption—collectively making up The von Carstein Trilogy—and Slaine: Exile) and one hardcover anthology, introduced by Arthur C. Clarke (Elemental) out from Tor in the US within three years, I think I would have called the men in long white coats to have them taken away. If they'd dared suggest I would be working with Stel Pavlou, a New York Times bestselling author on a TV series and a graphic novel/novelisation, I'd have rattled on their heads to check if they were hollow. If they'd dared to suggest I'd be sharing a 'Table of Contents' with Stephen King, Peter Straub, Joyce Carol Oates and Harlan Ellison (WRITING HORROR: HANDBOOK OF THE HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION, REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION) I'd have asked to see their passports to make sure they weren't in fact invaders from Mars. If, after all that they had had the temerity to suggest that I'd be seeing myself translated into Swedish, Spanish, French and German within another year and be holding contracts for four more books with negotiations going on for two new projects I would have known then, for sure, that I had stumbled into The Twilight Zone.

That's my life, post Writers of the Future.

Reading it now, it boggles my mind.

I quit teaching in March 2005 and have been working full time and supporting myself as a writer ever since.

Now it is easy to say that a few days in LALA Land changed my life, but they did. Something happened when I was sitting in that room listening to K.D. Wentworth and Tim Powers offer their insights on the craft, but it wasn't until I got the business talk from Kevin J. Anderson that everything cemented itself into my thick skull. Take your writing seriously. Make it a business. Write to earn, earn to live. More than anything I think it is safe to say that workshop lit a fire under my behind and made me want to succeed. When Robert Silverberg threw down the gauntlet to us youngsters a lot of guys took up the challenge. Jay Lake won the JW Campbell Award, Myke Cole landed himself a young adult novel, Ken Liu wrote his way into the Year's Best SF edited by David Hartwell and I decided to take the business by the scruff of the throat and make it work. Two (or potentially four if the deals come good) other guys from my class of XIX are set to crack the mass markets in 2006—so I think it is safe to say that we all owe a goodly amount to the opportunities and experience of Writers of the Future.
 

WRITERS OF THE FUTURE WINNER IN ACTION
AT HURRICANE KATRINA

You never know where you will be when you find out you've won the Contest—something Diana Rowland, our 3rd Quarter 2005 1st Place Writers of the Future winner can attest to as she shares her story with you:

"Finding out about placing as a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest was incredible, especially considering the timing. As everyone in the world knows, the
largest natural disaster to ever hit the United States occurred down here at the end of last August. The Contest sent me an email on September 2nd to tell
me that I had placed as a finalist, but unfortunately I had no power or internet and no immediate means to get to my email.  I work in law enforcement and therefore was pretty busy for quite some time after the storm.

"When I finally had a day off, I packed up my laptop and drove in search of the Internet.  I didn't really want to go to Baton Rouge, because I knew that many thousands of other people were going to be doing the same thing I was doing. Every café with wireless was crammed full to the brim with people trying to get online, and after four days of slogging through mud and filth on search and rescue I really wanted to sit and relax a bit.  

My sister finally clued me in to a little retreat in Robert, LA that had wireless internet.  She knew about it because her in-laws had lost everything but the clothes on their backs when the storm hit, and were staying at the retreat until the family could find someplace for them to stay.

"So, I finally got online, and saw the week-old email from the Writers of the Future Contest. I had to read it three times to make sure it was really saying I was a finalist. (Of course I read it several dozen times after that, in the weeks until I found out how I'd placed.)

"It wasn't until October that I received the call to tell me I'd won first place for the quarter, but it seemed like the time just flew by.  

"There was just so much to do down here it was hard to stress about the contest for too long.  In fact, fretting over how I placed in the contest was at times a relaxing counterpoint to worrying about when we would get electricity back, or when the grocery stores would reopen, or if we would ever have television service again, or whether our jobs were really safe.

"So now, when people around me talk about how utterly horrible and miserable a year 2005 was, I can shrug and smile and say, 'Yeah, but it had its
pretty cool moments.'"—Diana Rowland

The Statue by Melanie Tregonning

WRITERS OF THE FUTURE WINNERS

1ST QUARTER WINNERS

1st Place Michail Velichansky
2nd Place Lee Beavington
3rd Place Richard Kerslake

2ND QUARTER WINNERS

1st Place Blake Hutchins
2nd Place David Sakmyster
3rd Place David John Baker


3RD QUARTER WINNERS

1st Place Diana Rowland
2nd Place Judith Tabron
3rd Place Joseph Jordan



 

ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE WINNERS

Bound By Prophecy by Nathan Taylor

1ST QUARTER WINNERS

Miguel Rojan
Melanie Tregonning
James Schmidt


2ND QUARTER WINNERS

Laura Jennings
Tamara Streeter
Nathan Taylor


3RD QUARTER WINNERS

Eldar Zakirov
Daniel Harris
Alex Yabey Torres

Birthday in Flower by Eldar Zakirov

The L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest now accepts color illustrations for entry!

The rules have also been expanded to clarify that the use of color, grayscale in illustrations, mixed media, computer generated art and the use of photography in illustrations are all accepted for Contest entry. Please do not send original artwork, only photocopies or color copies.

Full rules are on the Contest website at www.writersofthefuture.com.

The next deadline is March 31st, by postmark.

The International Coalition for Copyright Protection (ICCP) exists as an organization of authors, illustrators, artists, songwriters and publishers dedicated to protecting the use of copyrights. They have a website which not only provides basic copyright information, up to date news on copyrights but also a means for you to join and participate in protecting copyrights. Their website is www.iccp.us. For more information, contact info@iccp.us