L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Winner of 2014, Randy Henderson, Sold an Urban Fantasy Series to Tor books
Hollywood, CA (PRWEB) March 05, 2014 -- Randy Henderson of Kingston, Washington was the 2nd quarter, first place winner in the annual contest. His winning short story will also be published in the bestselling Science Fiction anthology series – L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXX, but his luck did not stop there. As Randy stated in a recent interview:
"Shortly after winning Writers of the Future, I sold my humorous urban fantasy series to Tor. It was like a one-two punch of Awesome by a robot gorilla wearing enchanted gloves of Happiness."
"Writing is a brutal venture. You write a story, truly believe in it, submit it to publisher after publisher, and get rejected by all. If you are serious about being a writer, you do this a lot. Why this isn't classified as a psychological disorder, I have no idea."
"For Writers of the Future, I had submitted to the contest several times previously, and received honorable mentions. Then I submitted one of my favorite stories, a story I knew in my bones was my best in every way. I knew it was going to win."
"So of course that one didn't even get an honorable mention."
"Thankfully, I decided to give it one last shot. I am still amazed and grateful that I won."
"Both my winning submission and my novel are stories that draw heavily from my own experiences and interests. So I guess there's some truth to writing what you know, at least what you know and believe in emotionally. And the discipline I learned by writing and submitting to markets like Writers of the Future in spite of the rejections definitely helped me grow as a writer so that I could write the novel that I did."
"The first novel of my series, Finn Fancy Necromancy, will be available in February, 2015. It is about a young necromancer wrongly exiled from our world in 1986 who returns twenty-five years later hoping to reconnect with the girl he loves, only to be immediately framed for murder. In order to clear his name, he must deal with sasquatch mercenaries, evil PTA witches, mobster gnomes, and worst of all, his dysfunctional family."
Writers of the Future coordinating judge, Dave Wolverton said of him: "Randy will have a great career. He is very talented."
The Writers of the Future Contest began in 1983 and attracts entries worldwide in science fiction and fantasy. Twelve quarterly winners receive prize monies and, along with selected finalists, are published in an annual anthology, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future (Galaxy Press). The book is sold in bookstores and at Amazon.com and gives the winners the exposure that they need.
Inspired by multiple New York Times best-selling author L. Ron Hubbard, the merit-based Writers of the Future Contest was initiated by him to discover and encourage talented beginning writers of science fiction and fantasy, and thus launch careers.
The idea has proven very successful. Hundreds of winners have had successful writing careers following their win and publication in the anthology, and to date has launched the careers of 12 New York Times bestsellers including: Jo Beverley, Tobias S. Buckell, Nancy Farmer, Eric Flint, Karen Joy Fowler, Tim Myers, Patrick Rothfuss, Lisa Smedman, Dean Wesley Smith, Elizabeth Wein, Sean Williams and Dave Wolverton aka David Farland.
Wolverton recommends that prospective writers visit http://www.writersofthefuture.com for more information on how to enter the contest.
Joni Labaqui, Author Services, Inc., http://www.writersofthefuture.com, +1 323-402-5724, [email protected]
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