Surrey writer wins international writing contest

The trip will involve a week-long master-class workshop, and an awards event while his winning story will be published in the international bestselling anthology, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 41.

Andrew started writing and illustrating since age twelve and never gave up the former but (thankfully for his readers) has stopped the latter! One of his earliest memories is of watching Star Trek with his dad and falling in love with the speeding ships, bizarre aliens, and the diamond glitter of myriad stars in that eternal blackness.

Even now, as he explores the strange new worlds of family, fatherhood, and a career in retail, he’s never lost his love for the stars. Counting authors such as Stephen King, Iain M. Banks, and Alastair Reynolds amongst his literary influences, he revels both in reading and writing rich, tangible worlds other than our own.

Born too late to watch the Apollo missions but too early for interstellar travel he must content himself with dreams and the sad knowledge that he may never know what’s out there. Is there anybody out there? Why aren’t they talking?

On walks down leafy lanes of his native Surrey, Andrew examines these questions. He likes to think he looked at a particular tree one time and pondered its age and almost otherworldly summer greenness and so was born his winning short story, Code L1.

The story itself is an exploration of the Fermi Paradox –- the hypothesis that, if we have galactic neighbours, they should have called by now. Perhaps they’ve seen the darker sides of humanity and they’re afraid of us coming out into the stars. Or perhaps, if they could, they’d tell us why they’ve been so quiet. Perhaps, it’s best not to know…

The Contest, one of the most prestigious writing and illustrating competitions in the world, is currently in its 42nd year and is judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction.

The Writers of the Future Contest judges include Tim Powers (author of On Stranger Tides), Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert (Dune prequel series), Robert J. Sawyer (The Oppenheimer Alternative), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series, The Stormlight Archive), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), Hugh Howey (Wool), and Katherine Kurtz (Deryni series) to name a few.

The Illustrators of the Future Contest judges include, Bob Eggleton (11 Chesley Awards and 7 Hugo Awards), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons book covers), Echo Chernik (graphic designs for major corporations including Celestial Seasonings tea packaging), Rob Prior (art for Spawn, Heavy Metal comics and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ciruelo (Eragon Coloring Book).

Following the 1982 release of his internationally acclaimed bestselling science fiction novel, Battlefield Earth, written in celebration of 50 years as a professional writer, L. Ron Hubbard created the Writers of the Future (writersofthefuture.com) in 1983 to provide a means for aspiring writers of speculative fiction to get that much-needed break. Due to the success of the Writers of the Future Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was inaugurated five years later.

In the 40 years of the Writers of the Future Contest, there have been 559 winners and published finalists. The past winners of the Writing Contest have published 2,000 novels and nearly 6,300 short stories. They have produced 36 New York Times bestsellers, and their works have sold over 60 million copies.

In the 35 years of the Illustrators of the Future Contest, there have been 406 winners. The past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 6,800 illustrations, 390 comic books, graced 700 books and albums with their art, and visually contributed to 68 television shows and 40 major movies. 1

The Writers of the Future Award is the genre’s most prestigious award of its kind and has now become the largest, most successful, and demonstrably most influential vehicle for budding creative talent in the world of speculative fiction. Since its inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 40 anthology volumes (with this event) and awarded upwards of $1 million in cash prizes and royalties.

For more information about the Contests, go to www.WritersoftheFuture.com