Writers of the Future Podcast

Ringling College of Art & Design has produced several Illustrators of the Future winners. This interview is with two of the reasons why. James Martin, professor of illustration in the illustration dept. He’s been an illustrator, mostly in the movie industry, and worked on movies like "Titanic." Dominic Avant majored in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. He worked in movie animation at Disney on many feature films including "Mulan." He has been at Ringling for 17 years. I first saw Dominic in a TV interview as one of Zaine Lodhi's (Illustrator winner) teachers. So when attending the Tampa Comic Con, I asked if I could interview both of these gentlemen and they graciously accepted and I trust you will enjoy what they had to say as much as I did! https://www.ringling.edu/

Top 100 Amazon author James Rosone returns to discuss his Monroe Doctrine Series and how he researches near-future warfare tying in newly evolving technologies leading to a very questionable future. He provides his techniques on how he has remained a top 100 Amazon author for several years.

D.J. Butler (Dave) is a novelist living in the Rocky Mountains. He worked as a securities lawyer at a major international firm and in-house at two multinational semiconductor manufacturers before taking up writing fiction in 2010. He is a lover of language and languages, a guitarist and self-recorder, and a serious reader. He is married to a powerful and clever novelist and together, they have three devious children. Dave is published by Baen, Knopf, and WordFire Press. He writes adventure fiction for all ages. He writes for young readers under the name Dave Butler. Read about his writing projects at http://davidjohnbutler.com.

Dennis E. Taylor's bio simply states that he is a retired computer programmer, an enthusiastic snowboarder, and an inveterate science fiction reader. His Bobiverse Trilogy steps on any authoritarian, political, or religious toes. We discuss his satire as a lead-up to our upcoming relaunch of Mission Earth. It was written in multiple first-person points of view. Fascinating! Having read "We Are Legion (We Are Bob)" in the Bobiverse trilogy, I now understand his writing satire.

Brian Lee Duree was an Illustrators of the Future winner in volume 9. Due to vision complications, he had to transfer from painting to writing and has since become a bestselling writer of science fiction. In this podcast, we discuss how Brian never lost his desire for creativity despite anything thrown at him. His is a story of persistence that can inspire anyone!

Bea Jackson is the New York Times bestselling illustrator of Parker Looks Up. Bea attended the College for Creative Studies and is the grand prize winner and returned alumni of L. Ron Hubbard's Illustrator of the Future Award of 2007 and now a Contest Judge. In this podcast we discuss her very humble beginnings as an artist to her very successful career and the importance of humility. See her work at www.beagifted.com/

Martin Shoemaker is an author and programmer and winner of Writers of the Future (Volume 31). In this episode, Martin discusses his opinion on the unwritten rules of Writers of the Future, which you can also find at WritersoftheFuture.com/blog.

Bruce Brenneise was an illustrator winner published in Writers of the Future Volume 34 and also illustrated “The Unwilling Hero” by L. Ron Hubbard in Volume 39. He has gone on to a very successful art career which we discuss in this interview.

Roger Christian won an Academy Award for creating the look of the STAR WARS universe - including the iconic lightsaber - and established a long collaboration with GEORGE LUCAS. He directed 2nd Unit on RETURN OF THE JEDI, and STAR WARS; EPISODE I; THE PHANTOM MENACE. Lucas commissioned BLACK ANGEL, Roger’s debut as a Writer/Director to release with STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in cinemas. In this interview, we discuss Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey" with STAR WARS' Luke Skywalker, and BATTLEFIELD EARTH'S Jonnie Goodboy Tyler.

David Hankins, "Death and the Taxman," TJ Knight "The Fall of Crodendra M," Spencer Sekulin "Children of Desolation," and Samuel Parr "The Last History" are all winners published in "L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39." They have all written very different stories with very different and are all winners. David Hankins - davidhankins.com Spencer Sekulin - spencersekulin.net