Writers of the Future Podcast

In this podcast Wulf Moon, a mentor, and Brittany Rainsdon, mentee, discuss the value of a good mentor and how it differs from writing groups and beta-readers.

Salt Lake City Fan-X is one of the largest pop-culture events in the United States. This year there were over 40,000 fans, hundreds of exhibitors and celebrities, several hundred panels and events, and a barrel full of protocols to deal with. And the man who oversees all of this is Blake Casselman, the Director of Programming. Listen as we discuss what goes into to making a successful convention and why the SLC FanX works so well.

A feeling of anticipation hung in the air of the Hollywood Roosevelt as the Illustrator winners of L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests revealed their art to the writer winners at one of the special events during a week-long workshop attended by the annual winners of both Contests. In a world where new artists – whether authors or illustrators desperately in need of that vote of confidence to persist and not give up – have the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests to provide that much-needed recognition.

Over 250 fans joined us in Salt Lake City, Utah for FanX—one of the largest pop-culture events in the United States—for an hour-long Writers of the Future panel titled "Writers of the Future: Learn How to Engage Readers” featuring Contest judges Brandon Sanderson, David Farland, S.M. Sterling, and winners Eric James Stone and Darci Stone while I acted as the moderator. The first half was moderator questions to the panel, the second half was devoted to audience Q&A which made for an amazing panel.

While recently attending Dragon Con in Atlanta, I was able to meet up with the convention CEO and good friend, Pat Henry. I have known Pat since he was a comic store owner when he was first creating Dragon Con with several of his friends. In this podcast, we discuss what makes DragonCon different than other events, why it is so important to writers and artists, and how conventions help establishing, building, and continuing a career in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Alexi Vandenberg is a marketing specialist with his company Rabid Fanboy Marketing. He has also created a traveling bookstore called Bard’s Tower that tours from convention to convention, bringing some of the hottest talent in pop culture entertainment to book lovers. We connected up in Atlanta at Dragon Con and again in Salt Lake City at Fanx. We discuss marketing and the value of conventions and what types are great for book sales.

So you can draw, paint and sculpt. But how do you turn that into a profession you can support yourself with? Award-winning artist and Illustrators of the Future judge Dan dos Santos and illustrator winner, Bruce Brenneise, discuss the Contest and tips on the business of art, from creating portfolios to working with art directors.

S.M. Sterling, Jody Lynn Nye, Kevin J. Anderson with moderator John Goodwin discuss how to become one of the 12 winners to be published in the annual anthology? Writers of the Future judges and bestselling authors discuss the Contest, tips on story prompts, and short fiction. Then in the 2nd half, enjoy Q&A.

In this episode, we tackle a very sensitive subject, often used, and more often misused in science fiction – politics. And to talk about it is Joe Montaldo -- the host of multiple award-winning shows: UFO Paranormal, News on the Flip Side, and the Centralist Radio Show. Science fiction is an inherently political genre, in that any future or alternate history it imagines is either a wish about how things should be or a warning of what could happen.

Todd McCaffrey is a multiple New York Times and indie bestselling author. His mother, Anne McCaffrey, turned over the Dragon Riders of Pern series to Todd and we have fun discussing the passing of that torch. As a successful indie author, we cover the pros and cons of traditional versus independent publishing and some tips on how to be a success as an indie author.