Cover Reveal: Writers of the Future Volume 39

Anthology of Award-Winning Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Stories- From vampires and werewolves to space exploration and time travel, you will love these 12 original and diverse stories because they were selected by some of your favorite authors.

It’s cover reveal day for Writers of the Future Volume 39 with Bewitching Book Tours (participants list linked.) Look for others celebrating this cover reveal today across social media and on your favourite bookish blogs!

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About the Book

Writers of the Future Volume 39

Contributing authors: L. Ron Hubbard, S. M. Stirling, Kevin J. Anderson, Lazarus Chernik, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and 24 Award-Winning new authors and illustrators.

Edited by Dean Wesley Smith and Jody Lynn Nye

Publishing 16 May 2023
Galaxy Press
Cover Artist: Tom Wood

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Page Count: 498 (12 Stories)

Join a team of time travelers who set out to save London from a terrorist’s nuclear attack … when a blast from the past changes everything.

Meet a vampire, a dragon and a shape-shifting Chihuahua in Key West … this is one beach party that’s about to get wild!

Follow Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., who’s investigating the craziest case of his so-called life…

A miracle? An omen? Or something else? One day, they arrived in droves—the foxes of the desert, the field, the imagination….—“Kitsune” by Devon Bohm

When a vampire, a dragon and a shape-shifting Chihuahua meet on a beach in Key West, fireworks go off! But that’s just the background.—“Moonlight and Funk” by Marianne Xenos

The Grim Reaper, trapped in an IRS agent’s dying body, must regain his powers before he dies and faces judgment for his original sin.—“Death and the Taxman” by David Hankins

In a metaverse future, a woman who exposes falseness in others must decide what is real to her—the love she lost or the love she may have found.—“Under My Cypresses” by Jason Palmatier

Vic Harden wasn’t lured by glory on a daring mission into the reaches of outer space—he was ordered out there by his editor.—“The Unwilling Hero” by L. Ron Hubbard

Dangerous opportunities present themselves when an alien ship arrives in the solar system seeking repairs.—“White Elephant” by David K. Henrickson

With her spaceship at the wrong end of a pirate’s guns, a former war hero must face down her enemies and demons to save Earth’s last best chance for peace.—“Piracy for Beginners” by J. R. Johnson

Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., faces one of his funniest and most perplexing cases ever—an enlightened ogre, a salamander with low self-esteem, and a raging fire dragon terrorizing the Unnatural Quarter!—“Fire in the Hole” by Kevin J. Anderson

Years after the Second Holocaust, the last surviving Jews on earth attempt to rewrite the past.—“A Trickle in History” by Elaine Midcoh

When I said I’d do anything to pay off my debts and get back home to Earth, I didn’t mean survey a derelict spaceship at the edge of the solar system—but here I am.—“The Withering Sky” by Arthur H. Manners

High-powered telescopes bring galactic life to our TVs, and network tuner Hank Enos figures he’s seen everything—until the day an alien boy stares back.—“The Fall of Crodendra M.” by T. J. Knight

Knights, damsels and dragons, curses and fates foretold—the stuff of legends and stories, but unexpectedly perverse.—“Constant Never” by S. M. Stirling

Determined to save his wife, Tumelo takes an unlikely client through South Africa’s ruins to the heart of the Desolation—a journey that will cost or save everything.—“The Children of Desolation” by Spencer Sekulin

When a terrorist smuggles a nuclear weapon into London, a team regresses in time to AD 1093 to assassinate a knight on the battlefield, thereby eliminating the terrorist a millennia before his birth.—“Timelines and Bloodlines” by L. H. Davis

The Grand Exam, a gateway to power for one, likely death for all others—its entrants include ambitious nobles, desperate peasants, and Quiet Gate, an old woman with nothing left to lose.—“The Last History” by Samuel Parr

About the Contest

The international Writers of the Future Contest was created and endowed by L. Ron Hubbard. After several years of success in fostering new writers, the Illustrators of the Future Contest followed. The winning stories are illustrated and published in the annual L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future anthology. Described by critics as a perennial “glimpse of tomorrow’s stars,” a “must-have for the genre reader,” and “the bestselling science fiction anthology series of all time,” it is today the most enduring and top-ranking publication of its kind.

The blue-ribbon panel of judges is what makes this possible. The winning stories are selected by bestselling authors, including Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Nnedi Okorafor, Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert, Jody Lynn Nye, Larry Niven, Robert J. Sawyer, Katherine Kurtz, and many others. The best of the best are hand-picked each year.

There is no entry fee, and stories are judged blind, making it a fair competition for all authors and illustrators who enter from anywhere in the world. There are cash prizes. The winners are paid professional rates and maintain their rights.

It is an excellent program for new authors and readers, who often discover their next favorite writer.