waywardskyril's review
5.0
Writer's of the Future contains stories from all across the world, from so many nationalities and so many varieties of stories, but the one common link is that every single author is hugely talented, undiscovered and just waiting to shine.
I very much enjoyed many of the stories and loved the rest. My personal favorite was the first story, Another Range of Mountains by Megan E. O. Reef, but I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for stories from many of the authors.
This book is rich in writing, rich in characters, and rich in ingenuity.
The art! The art is just glorious! I loved seeing the beautiful images for each story, and Andrew Sonea's work was especially outstanding.
Basically, if you like sci-fi and fantasy, this is definitely the book for you. You will enjoy it as much as I did! I hope you do.
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway
I very much enjoyed many of the stories and loved the rest. My personal favorite was the first story, Another Range of Mountains by Megan E. O. Reef, but I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for stories from many of the authors.
This book is rich in writing, rich in characters, and rich in ingenuity.
The art! The art is just glorious! I loved seeing the beautiful images for each story, and Andrew Sonea's work was especially outstanding.
Basically, if you like sci-fi and fantasy, this is definitely the book for you. You will enjoy it as much as I did! I hope you do.
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway
galexie64's review
4.0
Writers of the Future is a great collection of very promising writers and artists. I enjoyed most of the stories a lot. I'm not really into hard core science fiction so I couldn't really get into some of the darker sci-fi.
I figured it would be best for me to give a 1-5 star rating of the individual stories.
"Another Range of Mountains", by Megan E. O'Keefe *****
"Shifter", by Paul Eckheart **
"Beneath the Surface of Two Kills", by Shauna O'Meara **
"Animal", by Terry Madden *****
"Rainbows for Other Days", by C. Stuart Hardwick *****
"Giants at the End of the World", by Leena Likitalo *****
"The Clouds in Her Eyes", by Liz Colter ***
"What Moves the Sun and Other Stars", by K.C. Norton ****
"Long Jump", by Oleg Kazantsev ***
"These Walls of Despair", by Anaea Lay ***
"The Shaadi Exile", by Amanda Forrest ****
"The Pushbike Legion", by Timothy Jordan *****
"Memories Bleed Beneath the Mask", by Randy Henderson ****
I figured it would be best for me to give a 1-5 star rating of the individual stories.
"Another Range of Mountains", by Megan E. O'Keefe *****
"Shifter", by Paul Eckheart **
"Beneath the Surface of Two Kills", by Shauna O'Meara **
"Animal", by Terry Madden *****
"Rainbows for Other Days", by C. Stuart Hardwick *****
"Giants at the End of the World", by Leena Likitalo *****
"The Clouds in Her Eyes", by Liz Colter ***
"What Moves the Sun and Other Stars", by K.C. Norton ****
"Long Jump", by Oleg Kazantsev ***
"These Walls of Despair", by Anaea Lay ***
"The Shaadi Exile", by Amanda Forrest ****
"The Pushbike Legion", by Timothy Jordan *****
"Memories Bleed Beneath the Mask", by Randy Henderson ****
galexie64's review against another edition
4.0
Another great volume of Writers of the Future.
My Favorites were:
“Poseidon’s Eyes” by Kary English
“Between Screens” by Zach Chapman
“Planar Ghosts” by Krystal Claxton
“A Revolutionary’s Guide to Practical Conjuration” by Auston Habershaw
“Another Range of Mountains” by Megan E. O’Keefe
“Switch” by Steve Pantazis
I liked all the stories but “The God Whisperer” by Daniel J. Davis. I found it strange and it really didn't make sense to me.
My Favorites were:
“Poseidon’s Eyes” by Kary English
“Between Screens” by Zach Chapman
“Planar Ghosts” by Krystal Claxton
“A Revolutionary’s Guide to Practical Conjuration” by Auston Habershaw
“Another Range of Mountains” by Megan E. O’Keefe
“Switch” by Steve Pantazis
I liked all the stories but “The God Whisperer” by Daniel J. Davis. I found it strange and it really didn't make sense to me.
readers_block's review against another edition
4.0
Planetary Scouts, Stephen Sottong: The author creates such a complete, stimulating world that you can hardly believe this is a short story. The story explores a variety of alien worlds, peppered with stunning descriptions and humorous sidebars. The emotion and complexity of it reads much larger than a short story. 5/5.
zoes_human's review against another edition
2.0
I need to stop picking up anything with that man's name on it. I don't know why I bother.
Anyway ... where to begin ...
I'll begin with the two good bits-Untrained Luck by Elise Stephens and Thanatos Drive by Andrew Dykstal. Elise's story impressed me with her ability to create such fully fleshed-out universe in a short story. She offered impressive depth for so little prose. I'd love to see more of the world she created. Andrew's post-apocalyptic short, likewise, created a tremendous and thought-provoking vision with few words.
The rest was mediocre at best. This anthology is full of stories that are readable but fall completely out of the mind almost as soon as finished. The exception being the ones that are simply just bad. I certainly could have lived without L. Ron's The Idealist. "Little known" classics are often "little known" for good reason. This particular gem was a prime example of stories that gave scifi a bad name during the Golden Era. I DNFed it. I also DNFed Dark Equations of the Heart by David Cleden and damn near every essay in the book. I don't generally DNF short fiction, but this stuff was miserable to read.
The Damned Voyage by John Haas deserves a special note. It deserves it because the author actually has some good writing skills. However, he doesn't apparently realize that when paying homage to Lovecraft's Cthulhu-verse, it truly isn't necessary to include his racism. There was a completely-irrelevant-to-the-story white-savior subplot, including brown people that are either infantilized or villains.
All-in-all, this one was a waste of time that took me a lot longer to read than it should have because the two excellent stories were spaced just far enough apart to keep me hoping there would be another.
Anyway ... where to begin ...
I'll begin with the two good bits-Untrained Luck by Elise Stephens and Thanatos Drive by Andrew Dykstal. Elise's story impressed me with her ability to create such fully fleshed-out universe in a short story. She offered impressive depth for so little prose. I'd love to see more of the world she created. Andrew's post-apocalyptic short, likewise, created a tremendous and thought-provoking vision with few words.
The rest was mediocre at best. This anthology is full of stories that are readable but fall completely out of the mind almost as soon as finished. The exception being the ones that are simply just bad. I certainly could have lived without L. Ron's The Idealist. "Little known" classics are often "little known" for good reason. This particular gem was a prime example of stories that gave scifi a bad name during the Golden Era. I DNFed it. I also DNFed Dark Equations of the Heart by David Cleden and damn near every essay in the book. I don't generally DNF short fiction, but this stuff was miserable to read.
The Damned Voyage by John Haas deserves a special note. It deserves it because the author actually has some good writing skills. However, he doesn't apparently realize that when paying homage to Lovecraft's Cthulhu-verse, it truly isn't necessary to include his racism. There was a completely-irrelevant-to-the-story white-savior subplot, including brown people that are either infantilized or villains.
All-in-all, this one was a waste of time that took me a lot longer to read than it should have because the two excellent stories were spaced just far enough apart to keep me hoping there would be another.
dharaiter's review
4.0
This is turning out to be my favorite series. I loved this volume as much as I loved the previous one. Because I finished this books more than 2 months ago, I don't quite remember all the stories, but the one with the robot story touched me the most.
sortabadass's review against another edition
4.0
My only regret is that I didn't learn about this excellent collection of short stories and illustrations earlier. The Writers of the Future anthologies are compilations of each year's rising stars in science fiction and fantasy as chosen by established greats (many of whom were previous Writers of the Future winners).
This volume contains several unique and engrossing stories covering topics like alchemy, space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Some of my favorites are detailed below.
Awesome Alien Worlds
The Siren by [a:M.O. Muriel]
As a lifelong comic book fan, this story was immensely appealing. Muriel puts a new spin on the old trope of a ragtag group of vigilantes protecting humanity against a nigh-invulnerable foe. Without giving away too much, Muriel's take makes for a story much more interesting in its implications than the straightforward good v. evil of comics.
Shutdown by [a:Corry L. Lee]
Of the three stories in my "Awesome Alien Worlds" category, this is the only one that actually takes place on an alien world. The planet Helinski Five and the life of a for-profit soldier are equal parts surreal and gritty: think modern military versus Lovecraftian horror. The protagonist, Adanna Amaechi, is the most interesting character in the entire volume. Unfortunately, it seems like Lee intended to write a larger story and then changed her mind -- the middle and end seem rushed compared to the story's setup.
The Poly Islands by [a:Gerald Warfield|496976|Gerald Warfield|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]
This reminded me so much of [b:Antarctica|41126|Antarctica|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388512036s/41126.jpg|3011567] by Kim Stanley Robinson, and that's a good thing! Warfield evokes the haunting beauty and weirdness of life on the planet Earth so well that it seems like an alien landscape. His story is well paced and its politics interesting.
The Darker Side
My Name is Angela by [a:Harry Lang|524328|Harry G. Lang|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]
Like many readers, this story really stood out to me. Angela, the protagonist, is a clone who wishes for humanity in a world where she is viewed as significantly less than human. I don't really know what to say about it, other than it is haunting.
Lost Pine by [a:Jacob A. Boyd]
I'm a fan of dystopian books, but I can't stand a lot of the dystopian YA that's been written in the last ten years or so. Thankfully, Boyd writes a dystopian story with a teenaged protagonist that is nuanced and truly chilling. The protagonist's mental degradation and general chaos of a rudderless civilization kept me from guessing the story's major plot twist.
Divorce Mode
Insect Sculptor by [a:Scott T. Barnes]
So my partner is deeply entomophobic. I convinced him to leave our relatively bug-free apartment and spend a week backpacking in the bug-infested wilderness where all the bugs live. He was doing really well -- minimal mental breakdowns -- until I loaned him this book to read. He has talked about this story every other day since he read it, and I'm convinced that now skeptically eyes everyday objects to see if he can discern the waggle of an antenna or sheen of chitin. I don't blame him though: it's a really interesting, if mildly queasy-making, premise that Barnes executed well.
I received this volume free as a Goodreads First Reads book.
This volume contains several unique and engrossing stories covering topics like alchemy, space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Some of my favorites are detailed below.
Awesome Alien Worlds
The Siren by [a:M.O. Muriel]
As a lifelong comic book fan, this story was immensely appealing. Muriel puts a new spin on the old trope of a ragtag group of vigilantes protecting humanity against a nigh-invulnerable foe. Without giving away too much, Muriel's take makes for a story much more interesting in its implications than the straightforward good v. evil of comics.
Shutdown by [a:Corry L. Lee]
Of the three stories in my "Awesome Alien Worlds" category, this is the only one that actually takes place on an alien world. The planet Helinski Five and the life of a for-profit soldier are equal parts surreal and gritty: think modern military versus Lovecraftian horror. The protagonist, Adanna Amaechi, is the most interesting character in the entire volume. Unfortunately, it seems like Lee intended to write a larger story and then changed her mind -- the middle and end seem rushed compared to the story's setup.
The Poly Islands by [a:Gerald Warfield|496976|Gerald Warfield|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]
This reminded me so much of [b:Antarctica|41126|Antarctica|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388512036s/41126.jpg|3011567] by Kim Stanley Robinson, and that's a good thing! Warfield evokes the haunting beauty and weirdness of life on the planet Earth so well that it seems like an alien landscape. His story is well paced and its politics interesting.
The Darker Side
My Name is Angela by [a:Harry Lang|524328|Harry G. Lang|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]
Like many readers, this story really stood out to me. Angela, the protagonist, is a clone who wishes for humanity in a world where she is viewed as significantly less than human. I don't really know what to say about it, other than it is haunting.
Lost Pine by [a:Jacob A. Boyd]
I'm a fan of dystopian books, but I can't stand a lot of the dystopian YA that's been written in the last ten years or so. Thankfully, Boyd writes a dystopian story with a teenaged protagonist that is nuanced and truly chilling. The protagonist's mental degradation and general chaos of a rudderless civilization kept me from guessing the story's major plot twist.
Divorce Mode
Insect Sculptor by [a:Scott T. Barnes]
So my partner is deeply entomophobic. I convinced him to leave our relatively bug-free apartment and spend a week backpacking in the bug-infested wilderness where all the bugs live. He was doing really well -- minimal mental breakdowns -- until I loaned him this book to read. He has talked about this story every other day since he read it, and I'm convinced that now skeptically eyes everyday objects to see if he can discern the waggle of an antenna or sheen of chitin. I don't blame him though: it's a really interesting, if mildly queasy-making, premise that Barnes executed well.
I received this volume free as a Goodreads First Reads book.
nytxia's review against another edition
3.0
I have first heard of Writers of the Future thanks to Orson Scott Card’s amazing book ‘How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy’. In hopes of grasping what would be needed to succeed in such contest, I have, of course, bought one of the volumes. I admit I have taken quite a while to finish reading this anthology. When I was then asked by the publisher to write a review, I decided to finally finish it. So here it goes.
I won’t rate the illustrations, even though they were amazing and somehow, fit perfectly the stories. Also, I am not going to analyze each single story individually. Instead, I will be just giving my overall opinion of what I thought of the stories included in this anthology. Being this contest considered one of the most prestigious ones, of course, I had high expectations and was hoping to absorb at least some knowledge from the experience of reading the winner stories. The fact that I didn’t feel intrigued enough by the stories doesn’t mean they are bad. They are amazingly well written, and I am sure the experts know better than me. However, considering that some of the stories were more interesting than others (to me), overall the anthology simply didn’t grab enough of my attention. This is merely personal.
Themes: While there is not a common theme, I have noted that this SF anthology is mostly focused on Science fiction rather than Fantasy (at least considering my parameters). This is not necessarily bad, but it would be nice to see some balance, variety. I am unsure at this point of how unbiased I can be due to me being clearly drawn to Fantasy.
Plot: The stories all follow a structured plot but I thought many were unnecessarily long, relying on ‘conflict after conflict’ to delay the ending – if there was a clear ending, which was not always the case.
Writing: When a book doesn’t grasp my interest, I usually blame writing. Well, I don’t think this was the case. The stories were very well written, even if I wasn’t a particular fan of the fact that most of them were in the First Person (nothing against it, only would like to see a bit more of variety – again).
Overall, great selection of well-written stories, which somehow didn’t manage to grab me. I will, however, be reading more of Writers of the Future and I completely support their initiative.
I won’t rate the illustrations, even though they were amazing and somehow, fit perfectly the stories. Also, I am not going to analyze each single story individually. Instead, I will be just giving my overall opinion of what I thought of the stories included in this anthology. Being this contest considered one of the most prestigious ones, of course, I had high expectations and was hoping to absorb at least some knowledge from the experience of reading the winner stories. The fact that I didn’t feel intrigued enough by the stories doesn’t mean they are bad. They are amazingly well written, and I am sure the experts know better than me. However, considering that some of the stories were more interesting than others (to me), overall the anthology simply didn’t grab enough of my attention. This is merely personal.
Themes: While there is not a common theme, I have noted that this SF anthology is mostly focused on Science fiction rather than Fantasy (at least considering my parameters). This is not necessarily bad, but it would be nice to see some balance, variety. I am unsure at this point of how unbiased I can be due to me being clearly drawn to Fantasy.
Plot: The stories all follow a structured plot but I thought many were unnecessarily long, relying on ‘conflict after conflict’ to delay the ending – if there was a clear ending, which was not always the case.
Writing: When a book doesn’t grasp my interest, I usually blame writing. Well, I don’t think this was the case. The stories were very well written, even if I wasn’t a particular fan of the fact that most of them were in the First Person (nothing against it, only would like to see a bit more of variety – again).
Overall, great selection of well-written stories, which somehow didn’t manage to grab me. I will, however, be reading more of Writers of the Future and I completely support their initiative.
theskinofa_killer_'s review against another edition
5.0
This book was absolutely amazing! At first, I was bit sceptical of this book. I questioned the seriousness of the competition and the quality of the short stories within it. The scepticism was completely unnecessary. Every single story and illustration was absolutely fantastical! I was gasping with shock in some moments and literally laughing out loud at others. I even wanted to cry with happiness at certain moments. This book is, and will always be, worth reading. If you haven't read this, then this is a MUST read and MUST have if you're a collector (this book will most definitely enrich your collection).
08151991j's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, either though I found some of the stories a bit confusing, but sometimes I take things literally. The stories provided in this book should be taken figuratively. Three stories I enjoyed most in this anthology are: "Mara's Shadow," "Odd and Ugly," and "A Bitter Thing."
"Mara's shadow" is about the discovery of a new infectious disease with the power to kill people. Worms infest the humans and consume humans internally. This disease was first introduced in early civilization, and was considered as a curse called Mara's Shadow. This disease kills the protagonists husband, so she decides to search for a cure before the symptoms of the disease occur in her son.
"Odd and Ugly" is about girl who falls in love with a Kapra tree, but the tree does not feel like he is attractive enough. Eventually the girl finds out, and she dates another guy. The new guy in the girl's life becomes hostile and demanding. Once the tree giant learns that the girl is about to marry him, he objects to their marriage and proposes to marry her himself.
"A bitter Thing" is about a girl named Ami who meets a lost (Hexie) Alien from another planet. She feels obligated to let the (Hexie) live with her and she falls in love with him. Hexie's plan isn't about staying with Ami forever. The Hexie creates a computer program that has the ability to hypnotize other Aliens. Hexie's captain eventually finds out about this, and tells Hexie to report to him immediately. Ami wants to go with Hexie, but Hexie warned Ami that the captain would not let her live.
"Mara's shadow" is about the discovery of a new infectious disease with the power to kill people. Worms infest the humans and consume humans internally. This disease was first introduced in early civilization, and was considered as a curse called Mara's Shadow. This disease kills the protagonists husband, so she decides to search for a cure before the symptoms of the disease occur in her son.
"Odd and Ugly" is about girl who falls in love with a Kapra tree, but the tree does not feel like he is attractive enough. Eventually the girl finds out, and she dates another guy. The new guy in the girl's life becomes hostile and demanding. Once the tree giant learns that the girl is about to marry him, he objects to their marriage and proposes to marry her himself.
"A bitter Thing" is about a girl named Ami who meets a lost (Hexie) Alien from another planet. She feels obligated to let the (Hexie) live with her and she falls in love with him. Hexie's plan isn't about staying with Ami forever. The Hexie creates a computer program that has the ability to hypnotize other Aliens. Hexie's captain eventually finds out about this, and tells Hexie to report to him immediately. Ami wants to go with Hexie, but Hexie warned Ami that the captain would not let her live.