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pearseanderson's review against another edition
1.0
I was given this book in a giveaway I did not expect to win. I have since given up on it. I got 71% of the way through (a lot of hate-reading) and gave up at the paragraph: "The East? Angelo recoiled in dismay. The Solognians! Enth had had many decades of peace, based upon Constantino's skills as a general and negotiator."
What are my problems with this book? It gave it a 2. Out of 10. So there are many. I don't think it is well designed: including Brandon Sanderson novel excerpts, on Hubbard stories, and out of place craft essays between novellas flowed poorly and I have no idea why it was implemented in the first place. Yearly anthologies, like Best American Short Stories, have an opportunity in the introduction and preface to address not only the stories readers are about to get into, but the state of the short fiction world and what themes/contexts are coming through. Instead, here we had David Farland give literally the most Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V introduction possible. It doesn't sound like something from 2018. Or something from any time period or perspective.
The stories did not engage me. I cannot think of one character I cared about except for Bao, the little baby in "Mara's Shadow," but that was a MacGuffin kind of deal. It was a baby, it didn't have a character. Speaking of, "Mara's Shadow" had a great concept and some really interesting scenes diced in there. The first third wasn't written very well, so I was giving up and falling into the camp of the whole thing, but by the end of the use of artifacts/news clippings from 2060 dramatically improved the piece and its relationship to real world issues/conflicts.
The other stories were eeeeehuuuhhahhh. One was like a discount Baru Cormorant. Another was a creepy, vaguely orientalist genie story. Another had an author bio where she described herself as a "gypsy."
And then we get into politics. So yes, I was not enjoying the literature here, but I was also not enjoying the concept of this book in the slightest. The use of L. Ron Hubbard's name to bump it up in some weird SEO-move (and add to his bulging bibliography) felt disgusting. As did the fact that Hubbard was a serial abuser and mass manipulator, and to hold him up as a messiah figure in the table of contents to a fucking science fiction anthology is an act of erasure. It's similar to what many white male horror authors tried/are trying to do with Lovecraft's name (i.e, separate the craft from the life, despite the two being intertwined and racist). Holding up Hubbard as a messiah figure is almost what a cult would do.
Wait, who produced this contest series? Oh, that's right. A cult. The Church of Scientology. Tony Ortega has documented in the Village Voice the strange and troubling ties to Scientology and their cultish practices and half-century of abuse. Here's one link. This anthology, which pampers winners, nuzzles up to the SFF world, and pays people good, good money, is ultimately tied into the dystopia that is Scientology. Where is that $1000 coming from for each 1st place winner (four times a year)? Probably, however indirectly, from the backs of brainwashed characters laboring behind the scenes, or lawsuit money, or swindled from Scientologists being rehabilitated in secret prisons. I wish I was joking. And there is no such thing as a free lunch. So when I was gifted this ebook, I also became complicit in this system of abuse or control.
And it wasn't even a good book. So fuck this. I am ashamed in my community for allowing this. I'm giving it a 2, because the upcoming authors in this anthology deserve something, even if that's just 1 star.
What are my problems with this book? It gave it a 2. Out of 10. So there are many. I don't think it is well designed: including Brandon Sanderson novel excerpts, on Hubbard stories, and out of place craft essays between novellas flowed poorly and I have no idea why it was implemented in the first place. Yearly anthologies, like Best American Short Stories, have an opportunity in the introduction and preface to address not only the stories readers are about to get into, but the state of the short fiction world and what themes/contexts are coming through. Instead, here we had David Farland give literally the most Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V introduction possible. It doesn't sound like something from 2018. Or something from any time period or perspective.
The stories did not engage me. I cannot think of one character I cared about except for Bao, the little baby in "Mara's Shadow," but that was a MacGuffin kind of deal. It was a baby, it didn't have a character. Speaking of, "Mara's Shadow" had a great concept and some really interesting scenes diced in there. The first third wasn't written very well, so I was giving up and falling into the camp of the whole thing, but by the end of the use of artifacts/news clippings from 2060 dramatically improved the piece and its relationship to real world issues/conflicts.
The other stories were eeeeehuuuhhahhh. One was like a discount Baru Cormorant. Another was a creepy, vaguely orientalist genie story. Another had an author bio where she described herself as a "gypsy."
And then we get into politics. So yes, I was not enjoying the literature here, but I was also not enjoying the concept of this book in the slightest. The use of L. Ron Hubbard's name to bump it up in some weird SEO-move (and add to his bulging bibliography) felt disgusting. As did the fact that Hubbard was a serial abuser and mass manipulator, and to hold him up as a messiah figure in the table of contents to a fucking science fiction anthology is an act of erasure. It's similar to what many white male horror authors tried/are trying to do with Lovecraft's name (i.e, separate the craft from the life, despite the two being intertwined and racist). Holding up Hubbard as a messiah figure is almost what a cult would do.
Wait, who produced this contest series? Oh, that's right. A cult. The Church of Scientology. Tony Ortega has documented in the Village Voice the strange and troubling ties to Scientology and their cultish practices and half-century of abuse. Here's one link. This anthology, which pampers winners, nuzzles up to the SFF world, and pays people good, good money, is ultimately tied into the dystopia that is Scientology. Where is that $1000 coming from for each 1st place winner (four times a year)? Probably, however indirectly, from the backs of brainwashed characters laboring behind the scenes, or lawsuit money, or swindled from Scientologists being rehabilitated in secret prisons. I wish I was joking. And there is no such thing as a free lunch. So when I was gifted this ebook, I also became complicit in this system of abuse or control.
And it wasn't even a good book. So fuck this. I am ashamed in my community for allowing this. I'm giving it a 2, because the upcoming authors in this anthology deserve something, even if that's just 1 star.
maebinnig's review against another edition
4.0
I love anthologies for the same thing that makes them so hard to review: the immense variety crammed into a single book. There are some amazing stories in here that captured my imagination for days after I finished them, and there's also some bland, forgettable filler. (Like—I’m sorry—everything by L. Ron Hubbard.) It averages out to an awesome collection. Personally, I'd buy this just for "Mara’s Shadow,” a thrilling blend of myth and medical sci-fi.
Side note: The illustrations seem lovely, but I get the sense that my old black-and-white Kindle display does not do them justice.
(I received a Kindle version of this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
Side note: The illustrations seem lovely, but I get the sense that my old black-and-white Kindle display does not do them justice.
(I received a Kindle version of this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
joannerixon's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: I've only read "Miss Smokey" by Diana Hart
I'm hesitant to review anything related to Writers of the Future, because I've got to start out by saying that Scientology is a violently coercive belief system run by authoritarians who deliberately ruin people in their pursuit of power, and you should never give them your money. L. Ron Hubbard was a gross old man who was a better con man than writer.
Hart is a better writer than he was, in fact, and "Miss Smokey" is a fun little story about shapeshifters set in an alternate-history 1980s United States that is complex, nuanced, and deeply flawed. This story is a step above your typical urban fantasy werewolves, and manages to include not just were-bear jokes, complicated romance and life-or-death struggle, but also a thoughtful analysis of what it means to be a second class citizen.
You should check it out. Maybe pirate it if you can, because fuck Scientology.
I'm hesitant to review anything related to Writers of the Future, because I've got to start out by saying that Scientology is a violently coercive belief system run by authoritarians who deliberately ruin people in their pursuit of power, and you should never give them your money. L. Ron Hubbard was a gross old man who was a better con man than writer.
Hart is a better writer than he was, in fact, and "Miss Smokey" is a fun little story about shapeshifters set in an alternate-history 1980s United States that is complex, nuanced, and deeply flawed. This story is a step above your typical urban fantasy werewolves, and manages to include not just were-bear jokes, complicated romance and life-or-death struggle, but also a thoughtful analysis of what it means to be a second class citizen.
You should check it out. Maybe pirate it if you can, because fuck Scientology.
skjam's review
3.0
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested.
Back before he became involved with…you know, L. Ron Hubbard was a prolific author of stories for pulp magazines, including some for the science fiction category. In the 1980s, he decided to give back to the field (and self-promote) by creating a contest to find exciting new writers in science fiction, fantasy and horror. Thus, the Writers of the Future competition.
Each quarter, three submissions from hundreds win the chance to be featured in an annual compilation volume. In addition, a set of Illustrators of the Future compete to be able to present a picture based on one of the stories. This is the 34th such volume, which is frankly amazing.
The introduction goes over some of the selection process, including that since these volumes may be appearing in school libraries, excessive violence, explicit sex scenes and rough language will usually knock a story out of consideration. (Some of these stories come very close to the line.) Next, there’s a description of how the Illustrators of the Future contest works.
The stories themselves open with “Turnabout” by Erik Bundy, about a traveler who discovers that he is owed one wish by a djinn. He realizes she is under no obligation not to twist his wish, but what if he can grant her a twisted version of the djinn’s own desire? Note: there’s an ethnic slur used, but I think the author is well-meaning.
The final story is “All Light and Darkness” by Ami Henri Gillett. An AWOL super-soldier attempts to blend in with a stream of refugees, but finds himself getting too involved with two of them, young siblings. At the same time, he struggles with his own abandonment issues. There’s some musings on what makes a person human.
In between are a number of other stories, and essays on writing and art from past and current contest judges. (Mr. Hubbard may have left this mortal coil, but he is very much a presence here.)
Standouts include “The Minarets of An-Zabat” by Jeremy TeGrotenhuis, about a junior bureaucrat in an empire that absorbs all magical schools into its own or destroys those it cannot tame. He becomes fascinated by the wind-calling natives who are the last major holdouts against the Empire’s hegemony.
Also “Mara’s Shadow” by Darci Stone, an effective blend of horror and science fiction. In the near future, a Vietnamese researcher happens to be called in to the first known case of a human being eaten from the inside out by moth larvae. We follow her story as this becomes a worldwide pandemic, with flashbacks to how this all got started about a century before. Content warning: there are multiple suicides in this story.
My black and white Kindle does make most of the illustrations less effective, which is a particular shame for Jazmen Richardson’s illustration of N.R.M. Roshak’s “A Bitter Thing.” This tale of a young human’s relationship with a color-shifting alien relies very heavily on colors as a central theme, and the resulting picture doesn’t work in monochrome.
The one exception is Ven Locklear’s illustration for “Death Flyer” by L. Ron Hubbard. This chiller about a ghost train lends itself to an evocative picture that works just fine in grayscale.
The cover story reverses the process, with Jody Lynn Nye writing “Illusion” to match Ciruelo’s painting Dragon Caller. A court wizard is in fact just an illusionist, but when his country is invaded, he must come up with a plan to defend it against very real enemies. It’s a clever story.
Overall, this is a decent enough collection of stories by writers you probably haven’t heard of before (plus Hubbard and a lesser piece by Brandon Sanderson) but at least some of whom you’re likely to hear of in the near future. Check it and previous volumes out at your library!
Back before he became involved with…you know, L. Ron Hubbard was a prolific author of stories for pulp magazines, including some for the science fiction category. In the 1980s, he decided to give back to the field (and self-promote) by creating a contest to find exciting new writers in science fiction, fantasy and horror. Thus, the Writers of the Future competition.
Each quarter, three submissions from hundreds win the chance to be featured in an annual compilation volume. In addition, a set of Illustrators of the Future compete to be able to present a picture based on one of the stories. This is the 34th such volume, which is frankly amazing.
The introduction goes over some of the selection process, including that since these volumes may be appearing in school libraries, excessive violence, explicit sex scenes and rough language will usually knock a story out of consideration. (Some of these stories come very close to the line.) Next, there’s a description of how the Illustrators of the Future contest works.
The stories themselves open with “Turnabout” by Erik Bundy, about a traveler who discovers that he is owed one wish by a djinn. He realizes she is under no obligation not to twist his wish, but what if he can grant her a twisted version of the djinn’s own desire? Note: there’s an ethnic slur used, but I think the author is well-meaning.
The final story is “All Light and Darkness” by Ami Henri Gillett. An AWOL super-soldier attempts to blend in with a stream of refugees, but finds himself getting too involved with two of them, young siblings. At the same time, he struggles with his own abandonment issues. There’s some musings on what makes a person human.
In between are a number of other stories, and essays on writing and art from past and current contest judges. (Mr. Hubbard may have left this mortal coil, but he is very much a presence here.)
Standouts include “The Minarets of An-Zabat” by Jeremy TeGrotenhuis, about a junior bureaucrat in an empire that absorbs all magical schools into its own or destroys those it cannot tame. He becomes fascinated by the wind-calling natives who are the last major holdouts against the Empire’s hegemony.
Also “Mara’s Shadow” by Darci Stone, an effective blend of horror and science fiction. In the near future, a Vietnamese researcher happens to be called in to the first known case of a human being eaten from the inside out by moth larvae. We follow her story as this becomes a worldwide pandemic, with flashbacks to how this all got started about a century before. Content warning: there are multiple suicides in this story.
My black and white Kindle does make most of the illustrations less effective, which is a particular shame for Jazmen Richardson’s illustration of N.R.M. Roshak’s “A Bitter Thing.” This tale of a young human’s relationship with a color-shifting alien relies very heavily on colors as a central theme, and the resulting picture doesn’t work in monochrome.
The one exception is Ven Locklear’s illustration for “Death Flyer” by L. Ron Hubbard. This chiller about a ghost train lends itself to an evocative picture that works just fine in grayscale.
The cover story reverses the process, with Jody Lynn Nye writing “Illusion” to match Ciruelo’s painting Dragon Caller. A court wizard is in fact just an illusionist, but when his country is invaded, he must come up with a plan to defend it against very real enemies. It’s a clever story.
Overall, this is a decent enough collection of stories by writers you probably haven’t heard of before (plus Hubbard and a lesser piece by Brandon Sanderson) but at least some of whom you’re likely to hear of in the near future. Check it and previous volumes out at your library!
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