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Twelve captivating tales from the best new writers of the year as selected by Writers of the Future Contest judges accompanied by three more from L. Ron Hubbard, Nancy Kress, S.M. Stirling. Each is accompanied by a full-color illustration.
Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.
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| May 2024; Galaxy Press audio (16h 18m), ebook, print; anthology |
While I'm in a book club that reads speculative fiction which includes a lot of science fiction and some fantasy, I'm not really a fan of science fiction and fantasy. I'm very narrow in what I like in these genres. Furthermore, I'm really picky about short stories (though I'm enjoying a wider variety than I once did). So why am I reviewing an anthology of science fiction? I love audiobooks and I like trying to expand my reading horizons and anthologies are good for this.
The Writers of the Future anthology is a collection of stories from the 12 winners of L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest. There are essays discussing the contest, which provides an introduction the both the writers' contest and the illustrators' contest. There are two essays to celebrate the anniversaries of these two contests: the 40th for the Writers of the Future and the 35th for the Illustrators of the Future. And there is also a chapter On Writing and Science Fiction. I did not enjoy these selections. As I'm a reader and NOT a writer (hence Girl Who Reads), I didn't really care about the contest or the benefits of entering - it felt too much of an advertisement or that I wasn't the target audience for the anthology. I just wanted the stories!
As for the stories, I enjoyed most of them. There is an accompanying PDF with the illustrations so I will comment on a few of them as well (I'm not an art critic so I'm not evaluating them - just giving my reaction to them). The narrators Jim Meskimen, Taylor Meskimen, Tamra Meskimen, and Victoria Summer all did a great job. I'm not sure who read which stories so I won't comment on them specifically but overall I feel like they added an extra layer to the story (perhaps there should be a Narrator of the Future context). And while there aren't sound effects, at least one story sounded like a radio show (perhaps because one of the narrators sounded like a voice actor from a radio show I listened to).
"The Edge of Where My Light Is Cast” by Sky McKinnon, art by Carina Zhang. This short story kicks off the anthology and I was a little lost for most of the story - it was like I hadn't gotten my sea legs or my head on straight for hard science fiction. I love Zhang's illustration for this story. I would love a framed print of it for my cat room (I made a playroom for my cats in a spare bedroom and decorated it with kitty things).
“Son, Spirit, Snake” by Jack Nash, art by Pedro N. This story was a little too creepy fantasy for me - at a few points it felt like it was verging on horror, but I liked the ending.
“Nonzero” by Tom Vandermolen, art by Jennifer Mellen. I think this is the shortest story in the anthology at just over 20 minutes. It is poignant and I would have liked to see it expanded into a full novel (or at least a novella). It felt like it could have fit into Beth Revis's Chaotic Orbits universe. Mellen's illustration may be my favorite.
"The Last Drop” by L. Ron Hubbard and L. Sprague de Camp, art by Chris Arias. I have not read anything by L. Ron Hubbard. It is a fast-paced story. After finishing "Nonzero", I wasn't ready for all the action It was a little jarring and my mind had trouble catching up to what was happening. Otherwise, it was a fun read and Arias's illustration captures that amusement.
“The Imagalisk” by Galen Westlake, art by Arthur Haywood. Up to this point, I was kind of on the fence about the anthology and I was kind of dreading how many more hours I had to listen to. But this story - I loved it. It is my favorite story in the anthology. The plot is similar to what you would find in a middle-grades fantasy adventure story, but the characters are nursing home patients and the main character has dementia.
“Life and Death and Love in the Bayou” by Stephannie Tallent, art by Ashley Cassaday. I was afraid this one was going to head into creepy fantasy/horror territory. But it just toed the line and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would.
“Five Days Until Sunset” by Lance Robinson, art by Steve Bentley. This story battled for my favorite and since "The Imagalisk" is fantasy and this story is science fiction I'll say it is my favorite science fiction story in the anthology. I just watched the movie Interstellar the weekend before I started this anthology and this story reminded me of the movie. I think this is another story that a larger work (or additional stories from the universe) would be great.
“Shaman Dreams” by S.M. Stirling, art by Dan dos Santos. I'll be honest I don't remember this story. I know I zoned out a few times while I was listening to the audiobook and had to remind myself to focus. The tracks on the Audible book are laid out nicely so it will be easy to go back and listen to the story again.
"The Wall Isn’t a Circle” by Rosalyn Robilliard, art by Guelly Rivera. This one is interesting and if my book club read short story I could see this being on our list. It is one of the stories that felt more realistic with its AI app that could invade people's minds.
“Da-ko-ta” by Amir Agoora, art by Connor Chamberlain. I think this is the only one that could be considered historical fiction as it is set during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency and he is actually one of the characters. If you read and enjoyed Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories then you will like this story. I liked the inclusion of Native American culture in the anthology.
"Squiddy” by John Eric Schleicher, art by Tyler Vail. Before each story there is a 1 - 2 minute introduction to the story and a short biography of the author. In the introduction, it is mentioned that Schleicher is expanding this story and I'm going to keep my eye out for it as I think it would be perfect for my book club. I was scared to look at Vail's illustration for this story because the mental images I had listening to this story kind of grossed me out. Seriously, every time tentacles going up the character's nose I would squeeze my eyes closed as if that would block the mental image. The illustration isn't as bad as what I was imagining but it still gave me the willys. I love the titled and I hope the longer work retains it.
"Halo” by Nancy Kress, art by Lucas Durham. I love pandemic fiction but I felt like this short story was missing something. I enjoyed it and it was well written. Maybe I just didn't connect with the characters. There might not have been as much character development as in the other stories. But I did like the idea of an infection that made people kinder, less aggressive. It puts forth some questions that would be great for a book club discussion.
“Ashes to Ashes, Blood to Carbonfiber” by James Davies, art by May Zheng. This story made me think of the world in The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones except there are no infectious ticks. I liked the theme of sacrifice but some of the descriptions were a little too icky - again I was cringing at the images in my mind.
“Summer of Thirty Years” by Lisa Silverthorne, art by Gigi Hooper. I'm not really a reader of magical realism but this story was good if a little sad. Hooper's illustration is one of the more interesting pieces of art in the anthology.
“Butter Side Down” by Kal M, art by Selena Meraki. This is introduced as a love story with a toaster so I wasn't really sure what I'm was going to get. The toaster has an AI computer in it so it is really about the main character falling in love with a computer. It was a good story to end the anthology with. Meraki's illustration doesn't really match what I had in my head after listening to the story.
This is the first Writers of the Future anthology that I've read and I enjoyed all the stories to at least some extent. If you are looking for entertaining fantasy and science fiction short stories, then you will definitely find one or more of these to your liking.
Buy Writers of the Future Vol. 40 at Amazon
Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.
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