Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #14 May 2015 | Page 41

Writers of the
Future Volume 31

voices. Some very good, some fairly average, none
bad. However this variety is the strength of the book—
it will pretty much have something for every fan of
Sci-Fi.

By Various

I really liked the opening story Switch by Steve Pantazis, which was about experimental drugs and had
a whole “to catch a thief” feel. Other stories of note
were A Revolutionary’s Guide to Practical Conjuration by Auston Habershaw, a coming of age in a
city at war with an almost Steampunk style and great
worldbuilding (which also had my favourite of the
illustrations, by Shuangjian Liu), and Twelve Minutes to Vinh Quang by Tim Napper with gangsters,
refugees, a believable female protagonist, and a look
forward in time to the future of Southeast Asia.
Some of the names in this book will only become
more familiar with time I expect.
Overall - Great mix of SF stories

The Vagrant

Writers of the Future is a competition established by
L Ron Hubbard (yes the Scientology founder) which
chooses twelve writers and twelve illustrators every
year who win large cash prizes. The stories, all of
them anonymous, are read by a blue-ribbon panel of
judges that include some of the greatest luminaries in
science fiction and fantasy. Art pieces by the illustrator
entrants are similarly judged by powerhouse artists
in the field. And out of thousands of submissions, the
judges each quarter choose the top three, the very best.

by Peter Newman

All of the quarterly winners are invited to attend an
intensive, five-day master-class workshop where they
are taught the skills and techniques to become professionals.
Their winning stories, along with accompanying illustrations, are published in an annual anthology. This
anthology also has stories by (as you can see from
the picture) Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven and other luminaries. (Although I do take issue with OSC, I
didn’t know he was involved when I agreed to review
this book).
This is, as you’d expect, an eclectic mix of styles and

One man’s journey across the rabid wasteland of a
post–Demonic apocalypse fantasy world. Full of mystique and unknown purpose, we learn by small increments about the world, the disaster that’s befallen it,
and who the Vagrant—that’s his only name, he needs

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