David Farland was an award-winning, international best-selling author with over 50 novels in print, and a tireless mentor and instructor of new writers. He built an audience with his "Daily Kick in the Pants" for writers, launched an editing service with MyStoryDoctor.com, created the Apex writing group, and he was one of the Founders of Superstars Writing Seminars (with Kevin J. Anderson, Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint, James Artimus Owen, and Rebecca Moesta).

As a writing instructor, Farland mentored dozens who have gone on to staggering literary success, including such #1 New York Times Bestsellers as Brandon Mull (Fablehaven), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), James Dashner (The Maze Runner), and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight).

For many years he was the coordinating judge for L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest, perhaps the largest worldwide writing competition for new fantasy and science fiction authors, and he worked in Hollywood greenlighting movies and doctoring scripts.

In his own fiction, he won the Philip K. Dick Award for his first novel On My Way to Paradise, the Whitney Award for his historical novel In the Company of Angels, and the International Book Award for his fantasy thriller Nightingale. He is best known, however, for his New York Times best-selling fantasy series The Runelords, and his Star Wars novel, The Courtship of Princess Leia.

David Farland passed away in January 2022. WordFire Press is pleased to bring back into print this profoundly important and seminal book on writing.

Writers of the Future: Volume 31 edited by David Farland

The future is here… Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson and Larry Niven have seen the future of science fiction and fantasy.

A constellation of the brightest lights in the science fiction and fantasy firmament have judged these authors to be the best, the brightest, the truest emerging stars in the field.

From alien invasion to alternate history, from cyberpunk to comic fantasy to post-apocalyptic worlds, these are the winning writers who have mastered every version and vision of sci-fi and fantasy.

Don't be left behind. Get a read on what's next.

"The Writers of the Future contest looks for people with the best imaginations who can see through the possibilities of the strangest and best ideas and tell stories that intrigue us and involve us." —Orson Scott Card

You'll love this collection from past and future science fiction masters, because these stories are hand-picked by some of your favorite authors—including Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Nnedi Okorafor, and Robert J. Sawyer.

 

REVIEWS

  • "This an excellent place to spot fresh talent."

    – Publishers Weekly

  • "This is a fine collection that will appeal to both fans of science fiction and fantasy short stories and aspiring writers looking for ways to improve their craft."

    – Booklist

  • "A delight."

    – Library Journal Starred Review

  • "A fantastic excursions into the world of science fiction. The best place for new writers and artists to break into the field of science fiction."

    – Midwest Book Review
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Thirteen Award-Winning Stories take you to places you've never been before:

You are invited . . .

To a future where a cop's performance depends upon the quality of his illegal brain-enhancing drugs.

To the home of Jack, who is troubled by a misbehaving pet Death God name Zu'ar.

To the planet Hesperidee, where one girl is on the brink of becoming something other than human.

To hop between doomed planets . . . and celebrate each one's apocalypse.

There is a world where . . .

Mankind's sins must be forgiven, lest it be doomed.

The spirit in Abe's magical book makes big promises, but will only deliver at a tremendous cost.

The mobsters in Vinh Quang hope to purchase freedom for entire families—if they can just avoid the cops.

One young man's hallucination might be a ghost—or the key to survival.

Meet the neighbors . . .

A girl named Elizabeth is haunted by ghostly echoes from her past.

A person whose genetic upgrades let him speak only in five-word sentences.

The kids at Kessington House—a dorm for the psychomorphically unstable.

A writer gets to see what he could have created, if he'd only found the courage.

You think you have problems?

In the seaside resort of Summerland, a young artist struggles to complete a mural, and mend broken spirits.

Daniel's neighbors want your life—but only because they need it to get your soul.

Sam is trapped on a refinery in space and his fusion reactor is about to blow—and that's just the first of his problems.

It seems that our sun has just exploded.