Originally published at Thus Sayeth the Lord…. You can comment here or there.

Some of you may remember that I was a winner in Writers of the Future 21. It was my first big break into the world of Speculative Fiction published-authorhood. Authorship. Authorness. Whatever.

Anyway, for those who don’t know– Writers of the Future is an quarterly contest, started by L. Ron Hubbard back in the eighties, for new spec-fic writers. Each quarter has three winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and a number of finalists. At the end of the contest year (usually in August), the twelve winners and a few finalists get flown out to a ritzy hotel in a swanky city, attend a writing workshop taught by the lovely and talented K.D. Wentworth and the merely talented ( ) Tim Powers . There’s also money for the winners, a swell piece of glass, a very ego inflating awards ceremony, and the chance to embarass oneself in front of a number speculative fiction luminaries.

Oh, yes– and you also get published in an anthology.

It’s a blast and I highly recommend it. The contest is free (but for postage) to enter; return times f0r manuscripts are about three months, but I understand that the contest has been having problems recently trying to maintain that.

The new writers of the future anthology is coming out in October– go give it a look!