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A review by mareelynn
The Future Is Nigh: A treasury of short fiction by Writers of the Future winning authors. by C. Stuart Hardwick
4.0
I like reading science fiction anthologies because of the bite-sized portions and variety of styles they offer, but most collections seem to have fairly steep peaks and valleys in quality. This anthology is an exception, because the writing is both sharp and consistent. C. Stuart Hardwick has collected pieces by ten winners of the Writers of the Future Contest - although these are not necessarily the stories that won them the award - and I enjoyed each one better than the one before.
What really stood out to me is the strong character work in each story; in few words, working with some fairly standard scifi tropes (a traveler caught in a time loop, a three-person deep space mission gone wrong, a lone explorer in a post-apocalyptic Earth, an android discovering consciousness) these writers gave me characters to care about. Finding this sort of writing in pieces as short as J.W. Alden's brief, bittersweet "Mobius" or Matthew Rotundo's tense, atmospheric"Fuel" is a real treat. The closing piece, "Today I Am Paul" by Martin Shoemaker, was both thematically familiar and incredibly moving.
I was not familiar with the Writers of the Future Contest prior to this collection, and the fact that the contest was founded by L. Ron Hubbard and continues to be funded by a Church of Scientology offshoot gave me pause. However, some brief research showed me that the contest is generally well-regarded and has attracted the participation of many bestselling, non-Scientologist authors as judges.
These are fun, fast reads and I'd recommend the collection as a whole. 4 out of 5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
What really stood out to me is the strong character work in each story; in few words, working with some fairly standard scifi tropes (a traveler caught in a time loop, a three-person deep space mission gone wrong, a lone explorer in a post-apocalyptic Earth, an android discovering consciousness) these writers gave me characters to care about. Finding this sort of writing in pieces as short as J.W. Alden's brief, bittersweet "Mobius" or Matthew Rotundo's tense, atmospheric"Fuel" is a real treat. The closing piece, "Today I Am Paul" by Martin Shoemaker, was both thematically familiar and incredibly moving.
I was not familiar with the Writers of the Future Contest prior to this collection, and the fact that the contest was founded by L. Ron Hubbard and continues to be funded by a Church of Scientology offshoot gave me pause. However, some brief research showed me that the contest is generally well-regarded and has attracted the participation of many bestselling, non-Scientologist authors as judges.
These are fun, fast reads and I'd recommend the collection as a whole. 4 out of 5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.