L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination: The Year's Twelve Best Tales From the Writer's Program

In the world of speculative fiction…

Your favorite authors…

Have selected the best new voices of the year.

24 Award-winning Authors and Illustrators

3 Bonus Short Stories by Kevin J. Anderson • L. Ron Hubbard • S. M. Stirling

Art and Writing Tips by Lazarus Chernik • L. Ron Hubbard • Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Edited by Dean Wesley Smith • Jody Lynn Nye

16-page color gallery of artwork • Cover art by Tom Wood

Check out the stories Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Nnedi Okorafor, Robert J. Sawyer, Kevin J. Anderson, Jody Lynn Nye and others chose as the best of the best.

Be amazed. Be amused. Be transported … by stories that take you by surprise and take you further and deeper into new worlds and new ideas than you’ve ever gone before….

Twelve captivating tales from the most exciting new voices in science fiction and fantasy accompanied by three from masters of the genre.

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

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

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

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. Manner

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

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

You will love this collection of the best new voices because, as Locus magazine puts it, "Excellent writing…extremely varied. There’s a lot of hot new talent."

Get it now.

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard. Then too, of course, there is all L. Ron Hubbard represents as the Founder of Dianetics and Scientology and thus the only major religion born in the 20th century.<br /><br />Kevin J. Anderson is the author of more than 140 books, fifty-six of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists. He has over twenty-three million copies in print in thirty languages. He has been nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, Shamus, Bram Stoker, and New York Times Notable Book. He has won many awards, including the Scribe, Lifeboat to the Stars, SFX Reader's Choice, IAMTW Grandmaster and Colorado Book Award. Anderson coauthored fifteen books in the Dune saga with fellow WotF judge Brian Herbert, and eight high-tech thrillers with WotF judge Dr. Doug Beason. Anderson's epic Saga of Seven Suns and his Terra Incognita fantasy trilogy (including two crossover rock CDs) are his most ambitious works. He has written numerous novels based on The X-Files, Batman and Superman and Star Wars (particularly the Young Jedi Knights series with his wife, Rebecca Moesta, who is also a WotF judge). He has edited ten anthologies (three of which are the bestselling SF anthologies of all time). Living in Colorado, Anderson is an avid hiker and mountain climber; he has scaled all fifty-four of the state's peaks higher than 14,000 feet and has walked the entire Colorado Trail (more than 500 miles). As a new author, he was an early WotF contestant, entering many times before he became a professional author in his own right, and thus ineligible for further submissions. He became a guest instructor in 1993 and a judge in 1995.<br /><br />Steven "S.M." Stirling is a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico. His hobbies are mostly related to the craft of writing. He loves history, anthropology, and archaeology, as well as interest in the sciences. Steven has published over 40 novels, at least 5 of which are New York Times bestsellers and he has won awards including the Dragon Award for his novel, Black Chamber. Steven has been a Writers of the Future Judge since 2021.<br /><br />Lazarus Chernik is an experienced Creative Director, Brand Manager, and award-winning Designer with over twenty years of experience. His clients have included everyone from Fortune 100 giants to small businesses in need of reaching that next level. Using expert skills in all manner of print and online media, he has headed the creative departments for numerous agencies and corporations, including a Top 15 national advertising agency, a national retail chain, a national web development firm, a catalog retailer, and a retail goods manufacturer. He has been an instructor of design software and skills in corporate training environments and continuing education facilities. Lazarus Chernik has been an Illustrators of the Future judge since 2016.<br /><br />Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists--even in London--and have been published in fourteen countries and thirteen different languages. She is married to, and has often collaborated with, fellow WotF judge Dean Wesley Smith. She and Kevin J. Anderson first met in a college creative writing class as young aspiring writers and have kept in touch ever since (when they found they learned more from each other than from the minimally published professor). They both entered the Contest many times, but neither placed in a quarter before becoming professional writers. Now, Rusch's awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award, to the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Award. She was nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus and the Anthony Award all in the same year (2009). She is the only person in the history of science fiction to have won a Hugo Award for editing and a Hugo Award for fiction. Her short work has been reprinted in thirteen Year's Best collections (one story, "G-Men," appeared in both the best mystery and best SF collection, the first story ever to do so). Under her own name, Rusch's novels include the Fey series, the Retrieval Artist series, Hitler's Angel, The White Mists of Power, Alien Influences, Diving into the Wreck and many more. She is the former editor of the prestigious Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Before that, she and Dean Wesley Smith started and ran Pulphouse Publishing, a science fiction and mystery press in Eugene. She lives and works on the Oregon Coast and she became a WotF judge in 2010.