Writers of the Future Podcast

Allow me to introduce you to Matthew Wolf, an incredible epic fantasy author. We discuss his origins as an author, inspiration, and creating vivid characters and storylines. And let me recommend the Ronin Saga. Follow him at MatthewWolfAuthor.com

I met Pak Gallego at the Frankfurt Book Fair and learned that he created board games and card games: writing, designing, and working out the math needed to create a game. And I immediately wanted to have him on as a guest as I had never discussed gaming (creating of) with anyone! So meet Gak Gallego from Barcelona, Spain.

Gray Levett began his career as a photographer shooting bands such as Jethro Tull, Kinks, Genesis and expanded from there to creating one of the most well-known Nikon camera shops in London, Gray's of Westminster. He researched the history of photography before publishing his books, as well as for each issue of his magazine.

Jim Meskimen is a voice actor known for voicing Deadshot, Ultron, and Kuruk. As a professional actor for nearly thirty years, Jim has appeared in the films Apollo 13, The Grinch, Frost/Nixon, The Punisher, Not Forgotten, There Will Be Blood and many others. Some of Jim’s TV credits include Friends, Whose Line is it, Anyway?, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Castle, Lie to Me and Rules of Engagement. We discuss how to create voice in characters that actually work in writing stories. Check out this video showing how fast he can change celebrity voices! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rPKeUXjEvE

I met Brandon Mull at Life the Universe and Everything conference last year in Provo, Utah, and we immediately hit it off. He was such a super nice guy and I wanted to have him as a guest on this podcast as I felt he would be an inspiration to this podcast's listeners. He sent me the first volume of "Fablehaven" and "Candy Shop War" and I really enjoyed reading them. I told several of my fellow staff at Galaxy Press about Brandon and they began reading and raving about his books. I know you are going to enjoy this podcast because I sure did! Learn more about Brandon at https://brandonmull.com/

Lazarus Black was first an accomplished professional artist before tackling his true love -- writing. He applied himself to learn his craft. He eventually won the Writers of the Future Contest. Now he has published his first novel. I enjoyed it so much I wanted to have him on as a guest and introduce him to fans of this podcast. Enjoy! www.lazarus.black/

Dr. Charles E. Gannon on writing hard science fiction. He is a Distinguished Professor of English (St. Bonaventure University) and was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in American Literature & Culture from 2004-2009. His series includes hard-sf interstellar epic (the Caine Riordan series, set in his Terran Republic universe, nominated for three Nebulas, two Dragons, and winner of the Compton Crook Award) Along with about 50 other SF writers (such as Larry Niven, Ben Bova, John Hemry/Jack Armstrong, and Greg Bear), he is a member of SIGMA, the "SF think-tank" that advises intelligence and defense agencies (www.sigmaforum.org). In his role as a subject matter expert on advanced military/defense/intel concepts, he has been featured on the Discovery Channel, NPR, Fox, and a wide variety of other national media outlets.

Ringling College of Art & Design has produced several Illustrators of the Future winners. This interview is with two of the reasons why. James Martin, professor of illustration in the illustration dept. He’s been an illustrator, mostly in the movie industry, and worked on movies like "Titanic." Dominic Avant majored in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. He worked in movie animation at Disney on many feature films including "Mulan." He has been at Ringling for 17 years. I first saw Dominic in a TV interview as one of Zaine Lodhi's (Illustrator winner) teachers. So when attending the Tampa Comic Con, I asked if I could interview both of these gentlemen and they graciously accepted and I trust you will enjoy what they had to say as much as I did! https://www.ringling.edu/

Top 100 Amazon author James Rosone returns to discuss his Monroe Doctrine Series and how he researches near-future warfare tying in newly evolving technologies leading to a very questionable future. He provides his techniques on how he has remained a top 100 Amazon author for several years.

D.J. Butler (Dave) is a novelist living in the Rocky Mountains. He worked as a securities lawyer at a major international firm and in-house at two multinational semiconductor manufacturers before taking up writing fiction in 2010. He is a lover of language and languages, a guitarist and self-recorder, and a serious reader. He is married to a powerful and clever novelist and together, they have three devious children. Dave is published by Baen, Knopf, and WordFire Press. He writes adventure fiction for all ages. He writes for young readers under the name Dave Butler. Read about his writing projects at http://davidjohnbutler.com.