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galexie64's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. THis year's Writers of the Future was a mixed lot of quality. There were quite a few stories that I struggled to get through. "Yellow and Pink" by Leah Ning was by far the best story in the anthology this year.
lizbusby's review against another edition
5.0
Review from my blog: https://lizbusby.com/writers-of-the-future-vol-36/
Either I’m getting better at reading short stories, or the Writers of the Future contest for 2019 had truly epic submissions, because I found almost every story in volume 36 compelling. I am not usually a short story reader, but I am trying to become one to expose myself to more ideas in my limited reading time. Volumes like this give me great motivation to continue in that endeavor.
Cover for Writers of the Future volume 36
Notes on individual stories, attempting to be spoiler free:
“The Trade” by C. Winspear – This story felt like a classic sci-fi short story: human meet an alien who has them out technology-ed and proceed to outsmart them. I really liked the flow of this story; the plot keep humming right along, never outstaying its welcome. The intro gave just the right amount of foreshadowing of the ending that its inevitability hit you right before the characters realize what they will do.
“Foundations” by Michael Gardner – Holy crap, this story was haunting. The imagery of the house and its occupants was so vivid that I was freaking out a little. A great example of how extensive world-building can take place with very few words, the central conceit is never explained, yet you accept it.
“A Word That Means Everything” by Andy Dibble – Easily one of my two favorites in the collection, probably because I am a sucker for any speculative fiction that deals with religion in a serious way. That plus linguistics and translation questions just made my day. Some of the invented languages in this story blew my mind; I had never heard similar ones before. Excellent story!
“Borrowed Glory” by L Ron Hubbard – A perfect tragedy in the Greek sense.
“Catching my Death” by J. L. George – I want to read a whole young adult novel set in this world, ala The Giver. The whole concept of catching your death has so many implications, many of which the author only has the chance to hint at. Another world-building marvel here.
“A Prize in Every Box” by F. J. Bergman – Another very creepy story. It had a very Stranger Things feel to it–kids who get in over their heads with something they thought was fun.
“Yellow and Pink” by Leah Ning – This time travel story had me thinking a lot, since I’m plotting one myself. Often we focus on the effect that time travel has on the world, but this story went in deep on what time travel does to us and our relationships. Thoughtful, horrible, and wonderful.
“The Phoenix’s Peace” by Jody Lynn Nye – This story lagged a little bit. There was a lot of set-up, and the author didn’t throw us into the action as much as the other stories in the collection. But the resolution was interesting.
“Educational Tapes” by Katie Livingston – My other favorite of the collection. This story is the holy grail of creative writing classes: a story in second person that works. I loved the conceit of being the listener to these educational tapes trying to brainwash me, while subtly a story is building in the background. I’m still not exactly sure what happened in the end, which is positive because that means I can think about the story more. The plotting for this story boggles my mind: how would you even plan something like this out? Five stars, will read again.
“Trading Ghosts” by David A Elsensohn – This story had a Good Omens feel to it, though I felt its interaction with religion was a little shallow, especially compared to “A Word That Means Everything.” There’s an existential heaviness and grief to this story that isn’t my particular favorite either, so maybe this story is just not for me.
“Stolen Sky” by Storm Humbert – A great moral fairytale on colonization, giving a snapshot of how it might feel to be completely dominated by another race, or in this case species. Sad ending. I wish there was some hope brought in here, but given what the story is, I suppose that’s not to be expected.
“The Winds of Harmattan” by Nnedi Okorafor – I was about halfway through this story before I remembered that I had listened to Lavar Burton read it on his podcast. The story is so evocative of setting and character that you don’t notice the lack of a story plot much. I was still heartbroken by the ending.
“As Able As Air” by Zack Be – Speaking of heartbroken, this story wrecked me. This author had an impeccable sense of timing for their deviously horrible deeds, which is all I can say without spoiling the story. Although I did call the final twist about the girlfriend.
“Molting Season” by Tim Boiteau – I picture this story as playing out as a Black Mirror episode, where you know doom is coming but are completely powerless to stop it. I wanted just a touch more world building to explain mechanisms, but as an atmospheric story, it hits it out of the park.
“Automated Everyman Migrant Theater” by Sonny Zae – This author was clearly having the time of his life writing the central play of this epic piece of fiction. The robots were hilarious, with lots of inside jokes and strange “how in the world” moments. I was thrown out a few times by the lack of world building, and the final twist didn’t land for me because the premise it was based on didn’t quite occur to me.
Overall this was a great collection of short stories. I truly flew through most of them, which is not normal for me. I’m excited to find out who wins the grand prize in August.
Either I’m getting better at reading short stories, or the Writers of the Future contest for 2019 had truly epic submissions, because I found almost every story in volume 36 compelling. I am not usually a short story reader, but I am trying to become one to expose myself to more ideas in my limited reading time. Volumes like this give me great motivation to continue in that endeavor.
Cover for Writers of the Future volume 36
Notes on individual stories, attempting to be spoiler free:
“The Trade” by C. Winspear – This story felt like a classic sci-fi short story: human meet an alien who has them out technology-ed and proceed to outsmart them. I really liked the flow of this story; the plot keep humming right along, never outstaying its welcome. The intro gave just the right amount of foreshadowing of the ending that its inevitability hit you right before the characters realize what they will do.
“Foundations” by Michael Gardner – Holy crap, this story was haunting. The imagery of the house and its occupants was so vivid that I was freaking out a little. A great example of how extensive world-building can take place with very few words, the central conceit is never explained, yet you accept it.
“A Word That Means Everything” by Andy Dibble – Easily one of my two favorites in the collection, probably because I am a sucker for any speculative fiction that deals with religion in a serious way. That plus linguistics and translation questions just made my day. Some of the invented languages in this story blew my mind; I had never heard similar ones before. Excellent story!
“Borrowed Glory” by L Ron Hubbard – A perfect tragedy in the Greek sense.
“Catching my Death” by J. L. George – I want to read a whole young adult novel set in this world, ala The Giver. The whole concept of catching your death has so many implications, many of which the author only has the chance to hint at. Another world-building marvel here.
“A Prize in Every Box” by F. J. Bergman – Another very creepy story. It had a very Stranger Things feel to it–kids who get in over their heads with something they thought was fun.
“Yellow and Pink” by Leah Ning – This time travel story had me thinking a lot, since I’m plotting one myself. Often we focus on the effect that time travel has on the world, but this story went in deep on what time travel does to us and our relationships. Thoughtful, horrible, and wonderful.
“The Phoenix’s Peace” by Jody Lynn Nye – This story lagged a little bit. There was a lot of set-up, and the author didn’t throw us into the action as much as the other stories in the collection. But the resolution was interesting.
“Educational Tapes” by Katie Livingston – My other favorite of the collection. This story is the holy grail of creative writing classes: a story in second person that works. I loved the conceit of being the listener to these educational tapes trying to brainwash me, while subtly a story is building in the background. I’m still not exactly sure what happened in the end, which is positive because that means I can think about the story more. The plotting for this story boggles my mind: how would you even plan something like this out? Five stars, will read again.
“Trading Ghosts” by David A Elsensohn – This story had a Good Omens feel to it, though I felt its interaction with religion was a little shallow, especially compared to “A Word That Means Everything.” There’s an existential heaviness and grief to this story that isn’t my particular favorite either, so maybe this story is just not for me.
“Stolen Sky” by Storm Humbert – A great moral fairytale on colonization, giving a snapshot of how it might feel to be completely dominated by another race, or in this case species. Sad ending. I wish there was some hope brought in here, but given what the story is, I suppose that’s not to be expected.
“The Winds of Harmattan” by Nnedi Okorafor – I was about halfway through this story before I remembered that I had listened to Lavar Burton read it on his podcast. The story is so evocative of setting and character that you don’t notice the lack of a story plot much. I was still heartbroken by the ending.
“As Able As Air” by Zack Be – Speaking of heartbroken, this story wrecked me. This author had an impeccable sense of timing for their deviously horrible deeds, which is all I can say without spoiling the story. Although I did call the final twist about the girlfriend.
“Molting Season” by Tim Boiteau – I picture this story as playing out as a Black Mirror episode, where you know doom is coming but are completely powerless to stop it. I wanted just a touch more world building to explain mechanisms, but as an atmospheric story, it hits it out of the park.
“Automated Everyman Migrant Theater” by Sonny Zae – This author was clearly having the time of his life writing the central play of this epic piece of fiction. The robots were hilarious, with lots of inside jokes and strange “how in the world” moments. I was thrown out a few times by the lack of world building, and the final twist didn’t land for me because the premise it was based on didn’t quite occur to me.
Overall this was a great collection of short stories. I truly flew through most of them, which is not normal for me. I’m excited to find out who wins the grand prize in August.
thulsey's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
pheonixangel84's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
meganmarjorie's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars.
As expected, this was yet another very impressive anthology. So many of the winners were quite young - I suspect some will become big names in the future. The stories toward the beginning were stronger than the end in my opinion, but I'm quite excited about some of these new (to me) writers on my radar! I'm ashamed to admit that one of those is Nnedi Okorafor, who I've heard nothing but great things about but had not gotten around to until her story here, "The Winds of Harmattan." I was blown away and hope to read more by her soon.
Some of my favorite stories:
"The Trade" by C. Winspear - a familiar ethical question of sacrifice done in a refreshingly adventurous way
"A Prize in Every Box" by F. J. Bergman - a very engaging tale that I found difficult to predict
"As Able the Air" by Zack Be - any story that explores humanity's curious attachment to AI manages to win me over
"Educational Tapes" by Katie Livingston - MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. Wow, what a wonderful addition. Brilliantly written despite my initial worry that the dystopian backdrop was a little played out. I cannot believe the writer's still getting her undergrad!
Some of my favorite illustrators:
Arthur Bowling (from "The Trade")
John Dale Javier (from "Educational Tapes" and "The Green Tower")
Phoebe Rothfeld (from "Automated Everyman Migrant Theater")
As expected, this was yet another very impressive anthology. So many of the winners were quite young - I suspect some will become big names in the future. The stories toward the beginning were stronger than the end in my opinion, but I'm quite excited about some of these new (to me) writers on my radar! I'm ashamed to admit that one of those is Nnedi Okorafor, who I've heard nothing but great things about but had not gotten around to until her story here, "The Winds of Harmattan." I was blown away and hope to read more by her soon.
Some of my favorite stories:
"The Trade" by C. Winspear - a familiar ethical question of sacrifice done in a refreshingly adventurous way
"A Prize in Every Box" by F. J. Bergman - a very engaging tale that I found difficult to predict
"As Able the Air" by Zack Be - any story that explores humanity's curious attachment to AI manages to win me over
"Educational Tapes" by Katie Livingston - MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. Wow, what a wonderful addition. Brilliantly written despite my initial worry that the dystopian backdrop was a little played out. I cannot believe the writer's still getting her undergrad!
Some of my favorite illustrators:
Arthur Bowling (from "The Trade")
John Dale Javier (from "Educational Tapes" and "The Green Tower")
Phoebe Rothfeld (from "Automated Everyman Migrant Theater")
ccrawfordwriting's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it
This year's stories are incredible. Every single one is well worth the read, but my favorite was Leah Ning's "Yellow and Pink."
This year's stories are incredible. Every single one is well worth the read, but my favorite was Leah Ning's "Yellow and Pink."
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