An eclectic anthology of sci-fi short stories written by authors that have won the Writer's of the Future contest.

I love sci-fi short stories as they can have such a broad canvas - from vast universes over unimaginable distances to stories right here on the third rock, they can be from an alternative past to distant futures, they can be bright or dark and any shade in between.

The point being that a meaningful story needs to be told in a short space of time that captures the imagination and for a brief moment transports you to a time and place that resonates and if you can walk away enriched by the experience with a WOW moment/revelation, all the better.

For me there were two outstanding short stories: Dreams of the Rocket Man by C. Stuart Hardwick and Last House, Lost House by William Ledbetter. Sparg by Brian Trent and Today I Am Paul by Martin L. Shoemaker also deserve a special mention.

There were a few other strong stories, but a number of others that just didn't work for me. This is not an indictment on those authors, but rather due to this reviewer's personal taste.

A solid sci-fi anthology worth reading to get your bearings of future writers you may enjoy today.

A collection of previously published short stories of winners of the Writers of the Future Contest. Length varies from 6 to 32 pages.

Pretty decent collection. Three really excellent stories, one that didn‘t really do it for me and the rest was ok to fairly good. 4 stars overall.

My favourites:

Martin L. Shoemaker, Today I Am Paul: My emotional winner. I want to hug this android so hard.

Marina J. Lostetter, Rats will Run: Great world building, imaginative flora and fauna.

William Ledbetter, Last House, Lost House: Great post-apocalyptic story with a nice twist.

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Order of appearance:

Brian Trent, Sparg, 4*
Very short, cute and sad story about a litte pet, that is trying to understand its owners. I want a Sparg of my own!

C. Stuart Hardwick, Dreams of the Rocket Man, 4.5*
Outstanding story of one man‘s space race. Some of the rocket propulsion babble went over my head. Made me very emotional at the end. I will definitely check out this author.

For a free e-sampler: www.cStuartHardwick.com

J.W. Alden, Möbius, 3.25*
Interesting. Difficult to summarize. „I‘ve watched you die a thousand times.“ Think Groundhog Day.

www.authoralden.com

Marina J. Lostetter, Rats will Run, 5*
Rats, moving foliage and panspermia. Loved the setting. Could be a fun novel. She wrote Noumenon and after reading this excellent short story about discoveries on a new planet, I will seriously consider reading that one.

Matthew S. Rotundo, Fuel, 3*
It was ok. A future where athletic prowess is more important than academics.

C. L. Holland, Miss Davenport's Ugly Cat, 3.5*
Another cute story with a pet. This time we are dealing with a rodent infestation on an interstellar cruise ship. Fun. Simon Pegg in the lead role.

William Ledbetter, Last House, Lost House, 5*
I really liked this post-apocalyptic story. It‘s not spelled out, but I think we are looking at the world after a meteor impact. Our hero is not in good shape and all alone, but then she comes across this last house...

L. D. Colter, Softly Into the Morning, 2.75*
A ghost story in space. While the idea was not bad, I just did not like the writing as such. Not sure what it was exactly, but something bugged me.

Matt Dovey, Squalor and Dympathy, 3*
Victorian England, the age of Industrialisation. Machine do not run on steam, but on magic. More precisely on the desperation of the poor. Alternate history, more fantasy than SF. Interesting concept, but I did not really warm up to the characters.

Martin L. Shoemaker, Today I Am Paul, 5*
Wow, this one made me cry in the end. First I was a little lukewarm. Another AI story, nicely done. Then the story snuck up on me. I almost sobbed when I read the last sentence. This is the emotional winner of the book. Wow.

Nominated for a Nebula Award. More at shoemaker.space. I will definitely check him out. A novella is mentioned, „Murder on the Aldrin Express.“

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I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

I like reading science fiction anthologies because of the bite-sized portions and variety of styles they offer, but most collections seem to have fairly steep peaks and valleys in quality. This anthology is an exception, because the writing is both sharp and consistent. C. Stuart Hardwick has collected pieces by ten winners of the Writers of the Future Contest - although these are not necessarily the stories that won them the award - and I enjoyed each one better than the one before.

What really stood out to me is the strong character work in each story; in few words, working with some fairly standard scifi tropes (a traveler caught in a time loop, a three-person deep space mission gone wrong, a lone explorer in a post-apocalyptic Earth, an android discovering consciousness) these writers gave me characters to care about. Finding this sort of writing in pieces as short as J.W. Alden's brief, bittersweet "Mobius" or Matthew Rotundo's tense, atmospheric"Fuel" is a real treat. The closing piece, "Today I Am Paul" by Martin Shoemaker, was both thematically familiar and incredibly moving.

I was not familiar with the Writers of the Future Contest prior to this collection, and the fact that the contest was founded by L. Ron Hubbard and continues to be funded by a Church of Scientology offshoot gave me pause. However, some brief research showed me that the contest is generally well-regarded and has attracted the participation of many bestselling, non-Scientologist authors as judges.

These are fun, fast reads and I'd recommend the collection as a whole. 4 out of 5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is what is says it is - a collection of stories by newer writers that you probably haven't heard of yet. Some you may hear of, some you won't. As with all collections, the stories are hit and miss. You'll like some and not like others. Great way to check out new writers and to give them a chance to show off their work.