Writers of the Future Podcast

The first half of this interview is with José Sánchez & Chris Arias at the Writers of the Future Awards week. The second half is with Chris, who has had a whirlwind of excitement and recognition after he returned to Costa Rica.

Barbara Lund was the Writers of the Future Golden Pen Award-winning author for Volume 37 and writes sci-fi and fantasy. But I really enjoyed her sci-fi detective procedural "Platform 8." She has a full-time job, is a mom, and gives her formula for being able to write and publish as well—working out priorities. Learn more at barbaralund.com/new-page

Michael Johnson has many years of experience in publishing, technology, and educational distribution. He is currently Vice President of Content at Benetech, a global company that creates software for social good in the areas of education, employment, and social inclusion. In other words, Michael assists in making your stories and art accessible to anyone, regardless of their circumstances. Michael has been involved with many publishing evolutions that were feared to be the end of publishing, such as eBooks, only to find publishing emerging all the stronger. As long as there are humans reading stories, there will be publishing. We cover accessibility in publishing and define the term and its importance in the coming years. We also discuss AI in book publishing - plagiarism.

Allow me to introduce you to Matthew Wolf, an incredible epic fantasy author. We discuss his origins as an author, inspiration, and creating vivid characters and storylines. And let me recommend the Ronin Saga. Follow him at MatthewWolfAuthor.com

I met Pak Gallego at the Frankfurt Book Fair and learned that he created board games and card games: writing, designing, and working out the math needed to create a game. And I immediately wanted to have him on as a guest as I had never discussed gaming (creating of) with anyone! So meet Gak Gallego from Barcelona, Spain.

Gray Levett began his career as a photographer shooting bands such as Jethro Tull, Kinks, Genesis and expanded from there to creating one of the most well-known Nikon camera shops in London, Gray's of Westminster. He researched the history of photography before publishing his books, as well as for each issue of his magazine.

Jim Meskimen is a voice actor known for voicing Deadshot, Ultron, and Kuruk. As a professional actor for nearly thirty years, Jim has appeared in the films Apollo 13, The Grinch, Frost/Nixon, The Punisher, Not Forgotten, There Will Be Blood and many others. Some of Jim’s TV credits include Friends, Whose Line is it, Anyway?, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Castle, Lie to Me and Rules of Engagement. We discuss how to create voice in characters that actually work in writing stories. Check out this video showing how fast he can change celebrity voices! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rPKeUXjEvE

I met Brandon Mull at Life the Universe and Everything conference last year in Provo, Utah, and we immediately hit it off. He was such a super nice guy and I wanted to have him as a guest on this podcast as I felt he would be an inspiration to this podcast's listeners. He sent me the first volume of "Fablehaven" and "Candy Shop War" and I really enjoyed reading them. I told several of my fellow staff at Galaxy Press about Brandon and they began reading and raving about his books. I know you are going to enjoy this podcast because I sure did! Learn more about Brandon at https://brandonmull.com/

Lazarus Black was first an accomplished professional artist before tackling his true love -- writing. He applied himself to learn his craft. He eventually won the Writers of the Future Contest. Now he has published his first novel. I enjoyed it so much I wanted to have him on as a guest and introduce him to fans of this podcast. Enjoy! www.lazarus.black/

Dr. Charles E. Gannon on writing hard science fiction. He is a Distinguished Professor of English (St. Bonaventure University) and was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in American Literature & Culture from 2004-2009. His series includes hard-sf interstellar epic (the Caine Riordan series, set in his Terran Republic universe, nominated for three Nebulas, two Dragons, and winner of the Compton Crook Award) Along with about 50 other SF writers (such as Larry Niven, Ben Bova, John Hemry/Jack Armstrong, and Greg Bear), he is a member of SIGMA, the "SF think-tank" that advises intelligence and defense agencies (www.sigmaforum.org). In his role as a subject matter expert on advanced military/defense/intel concepts, he has been featured on the Discovery Channel, NPR, Fox, and a wide variety of other national media outlets.