Writers of the Future Podcast

Andrea Fleck-Nisbet is the CEO of IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Assn), which is growing rapidly. After this interview with Andrea, it is no wonder why. She is a significant force of nature and, from my perspective, a major reason for this growth. In this interview, we discuss Indie publishing as well as author publishing. (She corrected me when I used the term self-publishing.) We discuss IBPA, its importance to the future of publishing, and its importance to authors and indie publishers. Learn more at www.ibpa-online.org/

Elise Stephens credits much of her storytelling influence to a lifelong love of theater and childhood globetrotting. Her work focuses on themes of family, memory, and finding hope after a devastating loss. I originally met her when she won the Writers of the Future competition in 2018 with her short story “Untrained Luck” appearing in Writers of the Future Vol 35. When I learned of her book, “Forecast,” her invitation to this podcast was assured. Her fiction prose is so easy to read and her sense of character is so authentic. Her’s was a book I greedily devoured. Learn more about Elise at www.elisestephens.com/

Myke was a Writers of the Future Contest winner in volume 19 with his story “Blood and Horses.” He is an American author of fantasy, science fiction, and nonfiction. His series includes the Shadow Ops, Reawakening, and Sacred Throne. His career also involves television, and he has appeared on the CBS reality show Hunted and the Discovery Channel series Contact. Myke Cole is a fire/rescue responder in New York’s Hudson Valley. He has spent a long career in the military, intelligence, and law enforcement. When I reached out to him, he told me he was more about writing nonfiction these days. So today, we discuss his most recent publication, “Steel Lobsters: Crown, Commonwealth, and the Last Knights in England.” Steel Lobsters covers the complete history of England’s last knights, from the seeds of their creation in Hesilrige’s experience as a young cavalry officer to their final defeat at Roundway Down in July 1643.

Sean is the President of Dreamscape Media. He is also the President of the Audio Publishers Association. We met in Frankfurt recently at the Book Fair and finalized this interview. Audiobook growth kept the publishing industry growing during the pandemic, so I am very excited to speak with Sean about the growth of audiobooks as an industry. We also discuss the growth of AI generated audiobooks in the industry as a viable solution for books that would not otherwise ever be made as an audiobook.

Scott won the Writers of the Future Contest in volume 28 with his story “Insect Sculptor.” He is the Founder of NewMyths eZine, one of only a few online magazines that continue to pay writers, poets, and artists for their contributions. He was a guest on this podcast on episode 57 in early 2020, just before the pandemic hit. In this interview, we discuss writing with multiple first-person points of view as well as his new YA novel, “Memories of Lucinda Eco,” which demonstrates this technique. You can find “Memories of Lucinda Eco” at www.amazon.com/Memories-Lucinda-…nes/dp/1939354269 And you can find Scott here: www.scotttbarnes.com/about-me

Jason Kelly, the CEO of Sounded, an audiobook company, was interviewed at the Frankfurt Bookfair. We addressed the fact that AI audiobooks are now a reality. In fact, Audible created 40,000 AI audiobooks last year using synthetic voices. We discuss how AI (synthetic voices) can be set up to not violate narrator rights and how it works. We also discuss how companies violate copyright laws by using a clone model (a celebrity voice synthesized by AI), and, thus, the authors need to know what they are getting into. If you are an author wanting to get your book created as an audiobook but have a very limited budget, then perhaps Sounded is a resource for you. https://www.sounded.com/

This interview was recorded at the Frankfurt Bookfair in Frankfurt, Germany. Cory Verner created Christian Audio as a solution to having something good to listen to on his daily 3-hour commute from San Diego to Orange County in California. He grew his company to the point where he was ready to move on and sold it to Recorded Books, at which point he decided to create his new company, ONE Audiobooks. He also has Verity Audio Productions, specializing in Spanish, and works with other audiobook publishers. We discuss the value of audiobooks with a good message, not preaching, but like PG or PG 13-type stories. He also created Zoundy.com, a site that allows authors to create and use an audiobook as a free giveaway to build reviews for their books, which can be posted on Goodreads and Amazon. NOTE: We used the term “SaaS” in the interview, which means “Software as a Service.” We also discuss the growth of the audiobook industry and the models used to discover audiobooks. Visit oneaudiobooks.com/

Dennys Ilic is a genuinely beautiful person who has, for the past 18 years, pursued his passion as a professional photographer. He is also a celebrated Leica photographer. He has become internationally renowned as an editorial portrait photographer, best known for his edgy and soulful images. He has worked with clients including A-list actors Daniel Radcliffe, Jason Momoa, Halle Berry, Charlie Hunnam, Viola Davis, Keanu Reeves, Glenn Close, Ryan Reynolds, Cindy Crawford, Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Karl Urban, Edward James Olmos, Rosario Dawson, Lawrence Fishburne, Mary McDonnell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Hart, Lou Diamond Philips, as well as Joel Silver, David S. Goyer, and Peter Jackson, to name a few. Dennys has been instrumental in publishing five successful hard-cover photographic art books and is in preparation for creating the Star Trek Discovery Coffee-Table Book. Today, we will talk about MEN OF SCIENCE FICTION. See his work at https://leicagalleryla.com/gallery-view/dennys-ilic/

Angelique Fawns has published multiple short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and DreamForge Anvil. She has also published several dark fantasy compendiums titled MYTHICAL MONSTERS. I read several of her short stories in BOOK 3 OF THE HORROR LIGHT SERIES and found them perfect for entertaining Halloween reads. She also compiled a publication listing all short story markets titled THE GUIDE OF ALL GUIDES, which we will discuss. Learn more at www.Fawns.ca

Joe Davis competed for the US in the winter sliding sport of Skeleton at the Olympic Park (1999-2003). For the last few years, he has enjoyed sharing the stories and history of Park City and Utah in general as an Anchor and Reporter for the NBC affiliate KSL and as the former Host of the Mountain Morning Show on PCTV (Park City Television). In addition, he proudly continues serving as a Public Affairs Broadcast Journalist for the United States Air Force. Joe Davis is a long-term supporter of Writers of the Future having done dozens of interviews with me, Contest winners, and judges. In this interview, we discuss how to do a successful interview. What is important to provide? What should you not do?

We recorded this podcast at the Writers of the Future panel at FanX Salt Lake 2024 with an amazing list of panelists. Beginning with me as the moderator, it included S.M. Stirling, Larry Niven, Rebecca Moesta, Kevin J. Anderson, Darci Stone, and Eric James Stone. And as promised in the promotion for the panel, a recently discovered video interview with Ray Bradbury from the very first Writers of the Future Gala in 1985 was played. While you can listen to his interview on this podcast, you can go to the Writers of the Future YouTube page on the playlist Advice From a Master: Ray Bradbury. https://youtu.be/7KLWpR0lohI?feature=shared So, here we are at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.

Ian Randal Strock was assistant editor at Analog and Asimov for half a dozen years in between a long career as an editor, author, and publisher. He is now the owner, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Gray Rabbit Publications, LLC, and its speculative fiction imprint, Fantastic Books. In this interview, we discuss the history of short fiction magazines, going back to the Golden Age of Science Fiction. We also discuss the importance of short fiction to a writer’s career and discovery. AND, a delightful new release by Ian hitting the shelves December 3, 2024, titled, "Wandering Through Time." Learn more about Ian at https://ianrandalstrock.com/

Jessica Brawner is an author of fiction and nonfiction, spanning topics from topical books on improving social interactions to urban fantasy and steampunk tales. She has experience in both traditional publishing and self-publishing but prefers the latter. We met through a common friend, now her husband, Steven L. Sears, who has been a guest on this podcast. She recently released her latest novel, “Tattoos on Dead Tree Flesh,” which I thoroughly enjoyed and am anxious to discuss. What a title! (Pay attention and you will have an ah-ha moment when you realize what it means!) www.jessicabrawner.com

Marc Scott Zicree has written for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sliders, Babylon 5, Smurfs, He-Man, Real Ghostbusters, and much more. But the reason I invited him to this podcast is that Marc Scott Zicree is the author of the most comprehensive book on the original series, "The Twilight Zone Companion." A TV series I enjoyed as a child but had no idea of what went into the series that made it so entertaining or its impact on so many people! And I still remember those chilling opening and closing monologs by Rod Serling. We discuss how Rod Serling created this series as a result of being censored for attempting to discuss current social issues on programming he was writing. Find his book, "The Twilight Zone Companion" wherever books are sold.

S.M. Stirling writes in multiple genres and has over 10 NYT bestsellers. In this interview, we discuss writing alternate history, the need for research, and how to do this research. His latest novel, "To Turn the Tide" addresses the last successful period of the Roman Empire before the Germanic tribes invaded and sacked it. We discuss Type A invention and Type B invention which plays a key part of the novel. We also discuss two of L. Ron Hubbard's favorite books, "Typewriter in the Sky" and "Slaves of Sleep." Learn more at smstirling.com/books/to-turn-the-tide/

I am here at the Tampa Convention Center attending the 2024 Tampa Comic Con with this week’s guest, James Rosone. We met up here last year at this convention and recorded a podcast interview which you can find as interview 247. James Rosone is the Amazon Top 100 bestselling author of military thriller and science fiction. He's an Iraq War veteran who served 3.5 years in a combat zone as a military interrogator and contractor. I completed his Monroe Doctrine series—all 9 volumes—and find near future military SF (I hope it’s SF) is the most chilling of any type of story I have read. I also read the first volume of his 11-volume Into the Stars series—not so near future. In this interview, we discussed how he arrived at writing in the genre he chose, what his process has been as a self-published author to become a top 100 Amazon author—close to making 7 figures a year—and how he does his research for the technology he uses in his novels. https://frontlinepublishinginc.com/

Elliott Haimoff, is a biologist, primatologist and documentary filmmaker. In 1990 he founded Global Science Productions to develop and distribute educational television programs and news segments about space, biology, health, sports and nature. And now, over 200 documentaries with dozens of awards later, I am now interviewing him on one of several books he was written: SPACE PIONEERS: CONVERSATIONS WITH THE MEN OF APOLLO We initially met several years back as we were releasing our Stories from the Golden Age. He would frequent our Saturday night live theatre. He also shot a documentary on Pulp Fiction, which heavily featured L. Ron Hubbard as one of the masters of Science Fiction’s Golden Age.

Anthony Goff is the President of Blackstone Publishing. I met Anthony when we shared spots on the Audio Publishers Assn Board of Directors in the early 2010s when he was the audio publisher at Hachette. He has been involved in publishing and the growth of the audiobook industry for three decades and is very knowledgeable about its history and growth and what's in store in the future. We also discuss how to get your book published as an audiobook—what to do and what not to do.

Meghna Pant is recognized as one of India’s best writers by several international and national publications. And she is the first female to ever write a war novel in India. She is an author, feminist, journalist and speaker and has won a variety of awards for her contribution to literature, gender issues, and journalism. In 2012, she won the Muse India National Literary Awards' Young Writer Award for her debut novel "One-and-a-Half Wife." I met her perhaps 15 years ago in Los Angeles. We’ve been friends on social media. When I saw a post about the book we will be discussing, I reached to invite her as a guest to this podcast. And I am very happy I did. I hope you are as well. https://www.meghnapant.com/

Jim, Tamra, and Taylor Meskimen along with British actor Victoria Summer, recorded the "L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 40" audiobook. Listen as they discuss how they create the voices that bring these stories to life. We also discuss the value of art in creating a safe space to experience life outside our comfort zone.