Writers of the Future Podcast

Craig Elliott is an illustrator, visual development artist, and layout artist who works in the animation industry. After graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in 1996, he went on to work on numerous films for Disney Feature Animation, DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, and Fox Animation Studios. He is now the Director of Animation for Netflix and is now a judge for the Illustrators of the Future.

Cassandre was an illustrator winner in volume 30 where she painted two pieces of art for that volume. And this year, she created the art for the L. Ron Hubbard story, "Borrowed Glory," where she was her own model for both people in the painting. She believes that art and writing can change the world. The interview was done at a Panera Bread Restaurant in Chicago. Discover her art at www.cassandrebolan.com

Martin Shoemaker is a winner published in volume 31, with his story "Unrefined," a sub-genre he refers to as Neo-Apollo, a concept based on the next era of space exploration after the Apollo generation where humanity is struggling to reach the stars. He now has well over 60 publications including 3 novels. "Today I am Carey" is a ground-breaking novel following his award-winning short story, "Today I am Paul." Martin was ready to give up writing several years ago on January 1. A reject came back on December 31, the day before his "deadline", so he still had one last day before officially giving up on writing. So he submitted the story to Writers of the Future and forgot about it. A few months later, he received a call that he was a finalist and that Jerry Pournelle really liked his story. So he continued writing and submitting and did not give up. He submitted 13-14 times before finally winning. Martin is incredibly enthusiastic to help others trying to break into the writing business, helping with the Writers of the Future Forum found at www.writersofthefuture.com. Martin is now Assistant Editor Galaxy's Edge Magazine and is able to pay it forward, providing an avenue for new writers to get a start. Discover Martin at shoemaker.space He can be reached at martin@TheUMLGuy.com

Stoney Compton was a winner in 1993, published in WOTF 9, with his story, "Messages." Stoney writes historical fiction and alternate history published by Ring of Fire Press with Eric Flint, a co-winner in volume 9. He discusses the importance of good research in writing either genre. He also discusses self-publishing vs traditional publishing. Discover his books at StoneyCompton.com

Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor (WOTF 18) grew up a great student and athlete, competing semi-pro Tennis. As a result of a surgery, she was paralyzed from the waist down. She turned to writing. The very first story she wrote was the character in her winning story Windseekers published in volume 18. She could fly, which was special to Nnedi who could not walk at that time. She became a Contest judge in 2013 and provided her first how-to essay for the contest, "The Sport of Writing." Her philosophy: if you don't love the craft and art of it, you'll never experience this pure form of success. It grows from that love. Her take on a blank page: if you fear something, you give it power over you. She also explains Nnedi Rule #1: Don't look a novel in the eye until you are done with your first draft. She is now writing screenplays for Hollywood comics in the Black Panther universe with her Shuri books for Marvel. Discover her writing at Nnedi.com.

Mark Payton was an Illustrators of the Future winner in volume 25. At 57, he is now back in school studying graphic illustration. Currently, he is one of four production artists of the Star Trek fan film Axanar and has created illustrations for social media promotion and portraits of the cast of the first part of the production called, "Prelude to Axanar." Mark discusses the history of Axanar, the thousands of fans who have supported it, and the battle with CBS and Paramount to continue producing the fan movie. Here is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W1_8IV8uhA Beyond this, Mark has been doing spot character design work for non-profits, the Salvation Factory, and magazine illustrations of turn-of-the-century architecture for the "Landmark Society of Western NY." @mpgraphics https://mpgraphicillustration.blogspot.com/

Melissa Yuan-Innes (WOTF 16) loved reading and writing as a child. She was taught to play "the safe" game for her career. So she put off being a writer. Instead, she became a medical doctor working as an emergency room doctor. That accomplished, she returned to seriously addressing her writing and has gone on to publish nearly 15 novels in SF, Fantasy, and Medical Thrillers (as Melissa Yi). At her Writers of the Future Workshop, Tim Powers told her that she had to ground him with all five senses to get him to believe. Immerse me in your environment to make me accept the fantastic. Taking this to heart, she has certainly accomplished this as in the short story - a good Melissa primer - "Fairy Tales are for White People" https://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Tales-are-White-People-ebook/dp/B01L6EDECE Find her books at melissayuaninnes.wordpress.com

Brittany Jackson had a different set of artistic goals when she started out with her career: comics or video games. She eventually realized that for a bright future she would have to make changes. With the constantly changing art environment, she has evolved and is making a living illustrating children's books as a full-time artist, with an agency representing her. For FB and IG she can be found at @beagifted.

James C. Glass, the 1991 Grand prize winning author (WOTF 7) has written 10 novels and 4 compilations, primarily hard science fiction. His first love was writing which transitioned to education for a career with twin Masters in Astronomy and Physics and then a PhD in Physics. After a long successful career, kids grown up, he transitioned back to writing in 1987 when he published his first story. He entered WOTF initially in 1987 after being introduced to the Contest by Algis Budrys, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Dean Wesley Smith. www.author-jamesglass.com

Jean-Paul Garnier is a poet, science fiction author and has become an indie bookstore owner ⎯ Space Cowboy Bookstore in Joshua Tree, CA ⎯ to pay back the joy he has gotten from science fiction. He talks about the value of science fiction, both as a fan, writer, and bookstore owner. He discusses how his involvement with Writers of the Future has paralleled his involvement with science fiction. Check out his bookstore, currently selling online, at spacecowboybooks.blogspot.com He can be reached at spacecowboybooks@gmail.com