Well, I have arrived back at the Roosevelt Hotel exactly one year after I left it as a 1st place winner of the L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. This time, I’m free of all the anxiety I felt last year, and I feel like I can just kick back and have some fun!

I was picked up at the airport by Mitch and Peter (Peter you might know as the admin of the WotF Forums) and had a great time chatting with them about fiction. Turns out they’ve both put the pen to paper themselves a few times, and Peter even admitted to completing an outline of his own SF story. Go Peter!

I was met at the Roosevelt Hotel by Joni LeBacqui, the contest administrator. Joni is the heart and soul of his contest (I thanked her specifically in my acceptance speech last year), and, as usual, she was run off her feet. On observing Joni’s hectic schedule last year, my wife Alicia asked, “When does she eat?”, so upon arrival I made sure to take her to lunch, where she caught me up on the state of the contest, the schedule, and how the winners were managing.

Everyone was in the middle of their 24 hour story, but I met Steve Saville and Eric James Stone in the lounge of the hotel where we shot the shit. Also present was Jason Fischer, who was both furiously trying to finish his story, and also doing his best to Be Australian (which is to say, friendly, funny, and generally good-natured).

Jason also gave me a copy of his novella, which I can’t wait to read!

Jason Fischer's Novella

The welcome party–where the winners get to mingle with the judges–is tonight, so I’m going to try and get a few hours of shut eye before then. I’ve been up since 3:30am this morning, and I want to be my best tonight to at least keep to a minimum how many times I put my foot in my mouth.

Tags: Writers of the Future

I was recently interviewed by the lovely and talented Silvia Moreno-Garcia over at Innsmouth Free Press regarding my stint at Clarion West and Writers of the Future. I was extremely pleased to do the interview, first off because Silvia’s a friend, and a fellow Vancouverite, but also because I’m excited by the concept behind Innsmouth Free Press.

From their website:

Innsmouth Free Press is a fictional newspaper publishing faux news in a Lovecraftian/Cthulhu Mythos universe, as well as original short fiction stories. We also feature some of Lovecraft’s classic tales.

My own fiction has, of late, been inspired by the Lovecraftian Mythos. It feels like a rejection of the popular “god as just a dude with super powers” theme that’s emerged recently. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read my share of Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance novels and loved them, but if you want to write outside of media fiction, you should steer clear of their ideas too, and the “gods as suped-up characters” is really their thing.

To Lovecraft, gods and demons were alien to our universe, and thus, by definition, beyond comprehension. The divine beings who show up in my fiction are closer to the one described in Nancy Kress’ award winning short story “Trinity” than an old guy in a beard–that is to say, creatures of such immense power that we are as beyond Their notice as an ant is to us. Or an amoeba.

Innsmouth has also been publishing some of my favourite spec fic personalities, from Campbell Award Winner Mary Robinette Kowal in their latest issue, to editor/writer Nick Mamatas in their debut. With such big names anchoring each issue, expect great things from this little magazine.

Tags: Clarion West, Innsmouth Free Press, Interviews, Writers of the Future

Spotted this review over at the Asimov’s forums done by John E. Rogers Jr.

Rogers covers every story in separate posts on this page and the previous one. His review of “After the Final Sunset, Again” is extremely favourable (yay!):

This Gaimanized theofantasy blazes along at the speed of a wildfire, slowing only when the flames of the story are cooled by the unnatural, though clever, extension of the main character’s life. The tale is advanced greatly by the author’s decision not to backfill. Let the readers add the remaining pieces of the puzzle as they see fit. We start with the raging coalescence of an actual Phoenix – a female, in human guise – swirling into being out of raw background elements – in an empty apartment somewhere in an unnamed American city. This creature, we learn, is designed to live but a day – self-incinerating at sunset, to be born afresh the next morning, with no recollection of her past deeds or fiery demise. Her mission is to proceed immediately into the bowels of the city, save as many people as she can from accidental death, and take other life-improving steps for mankind. To make her way in the world, the Phoenix borrows memories and life lessons from the minds of the (mostly) unsuspecting tenants in the neighoring flats.

However, after millennia of uninterrupted 24 hour cycles of birth-service-death, something unusual happens to our particular Phoenix. During her birth. she encounters another supernatural force and – for the first time – begins to resent her accelerated mortality. What she does to stave it off is the meat of the tale.

A real standout.

In his summation, he breaks out with some further praise:

From the fantasy quarter, I give the top nod to Lapp’s “After the Final Sunset, Again.” Like Linnaea’s story, this one dared to reach further, take more chances. McDougal’s “The Candy Store” was also memorable – for its hybridized vision and its warmth.

Colour me overjoyed!

Tags: reviews, Writers of the Future, Writers of the Future XXV

I was just interviewed by Dave Steffen over at Diabolical Plots. Dave’s a good friend and a heck of a writer. I very much enjoyed doing this interview, since it’s my first in written format since I won Writers of the Future, and Dave’s questions were really thought provoking.

A link to the interview also appeared at the Writers of the Future blog. Warning!!! The picture of me they’ve posted makes it look like I’m two seconds away from leaping at the photographer, ripping off their face, and then eating it. Or maybe that I’ve >just< performed the skin-eating and am immensely pleased about it. Either way… sigh.

Tags: Dave Steffen, Interviews, Writers of the Future

Hey guys,

I’ve been tracking my fellow winners on the net, and here are a few links to their workshop experiences:

Matthew S Rotundo, 1st place winner, 1st quarter, 2008.

Gary Kloster, 2nd place winner, 1st quarter, 2008.

Gra Linnaea, 3rd place winner, 2nd quarter, 2008

Jordan Lapp, 1st place winner, 3rd quarter 2008.

C.L. Holland, 2nd place winner, 3rd quarter 2008.

And that’s basically what I’ve found so far. If you were in Hollywood with me, but I haven’t found your workshop blog, let me know and I’ll add it above!

Tags: Friends, Workshop, Writers of the Future