Writers of the Future Podcast

This week's guest is a longtime friend, Mark Leslie (Lefevbre) who I have had on as a guest a few times already discussing his Canadian Werewolf series, which I really enjoy! I've never discussed book ratings and what makes something children vs YA vs Christian vs all the other categories. How sex and violence are handled in the different categories. And what is the equivalent of a Motion Picture Rating System for books to let an audience know what they are getting? I've not addressed this in any of my past interviews. I will also do some research into different categories of romance vs erotica. Also what target audiences/ages would an author write for to reach the different audiences?

Brian Herbert, author of “Dreamer of Dune,” a book about his father Frank Herbert, discusses his relationship with his father, Frank’s growth from aspiring to international bestselling author, and Brian’s own journey as a bestselling author.

Actors Keli Daniels, Neil Angevine, Taylor Meskimen, Jim Meskimen, Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart Simpson), Noelle North, Tamra Meskimen, R.F. Daley perform L. Ron Hubbard's circus fantasy story "If I Were You" for the Contest judges, volume 39 writers and illustrator winners. Circus midget Little Tom Little learns from a book on black magic how to switch bodies. When he jumps into the body of the lion tamer, he finds himself caught in the center ring surrounded by dozens of savage cats and quickly realizes that his craving for height just may have led him to a gruesome death.

Susan Kroupa was initially published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 10 as a winner with the story “The Healer.” She has since gone on to write "The Doodlebugged Mysteries," featuring a Labradoodle as a principal character, as well as "Treetalker." Her fiction has also appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Bruce Coville's Shapeshifters, and a variety of anthologies. She has lived and taught on both the Hopi and Navajo reservations and written for The Arizona Republic and High Country News. Learn more about Susan at: susankroupa.com/

Daniel Yocom is a professional book reviewer. We met at the LTUE (Life, the Universe, and Everything) conference on a panel on getting reviews. Reviews are a very important part of the publishing process, but they aren't something an author should pay for! Daniel is also involved with the League of Utah Writers, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating community, and empowering the writing and publishing goals of members, whether they be novices or professional. Something very near and dear to my Writers of the Future heart! We will be discussing this along with the League of Writers Utah.

Brian C. Hailes was an Illustrators of the Future Winner in 2002, volume 18. He illustrated L. Ron Hubbard’s story, The Idealist, a few years ago. He is the creator of "Draw It With Me," and is also the award-winning writer/illustrator of the illustrated novels, "Blink," "Defender of Llyans," and "Avila," two graphic novels, "Dragon’s Gait" and "Devil’s Triangle," and the children's picture books "Skeleton Play" and "Don’t Go Near the Crocodile Ponds." We discuss his journey to becoming an artist. "Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." – Brian C. Hailes Learn more at www.hailesart.com/

Dave Sheets is the CEO of Indie Author Book Services. He has been in the publishing industry for over 25 years, working in all facets of publishing, and has turned his experience and expertise into his company, Indie Book Services. In this podcast, we discuss each step of the book production cycle, from helping write the story (ghostwriting or co-writing) all the way through to printed books. Dave can be reached at dave@indieauthorbookservices.com and by phone at (719) 641-7862

Today’s guests are Marie Whittaker, Mark Stallings, Todd Fahnestock, and Quincy J. Allen, who co-create the Eldros Legacy fantasy series. Marie Whittaker enjoys teaching about publishing and project management for writers. She is Associate Publisher at WordFire Press and Director at Superstars Writing Seminars. She is the creator of The Adventures of Lola Hopscotch. In 2021, she co-founded the epic fantasy world of Eldrose Legacy – the subject of this podcast. Mark Stallings is an Amazon Best Selling author living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a writer of Chinese martial arts fiction called Woo-Sha (Wuxia), Fantasy, Thrillers, and Military Sci-Fi. Mark released the first book in the Silver Coin Saga, The Elements, Eldrose Legacy, and the 4Horsemen Universes. Todd Fahnestock is a fantasy writer for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age Award. His bestselling The Wishing World series began as bedtime stories for his children, and his other epic fantasy series include: Threadweavers, The Heartstone Trilogy, and The Whisper Prince Trilogy. Quincy J. Allen is a National Bestselling cross-genre author with a wide assortment of publications under his belt. His media tie-in novel Colt the Outlander: Shadow of Ruin was a Scribe Award finalist in 2019, and his noir sci-fi novel Chemical Burn was a Colorado Gold Award finalist in 2010.

I met Kevin Ikenberry at Superstars in Colorado Springs and was amazed at how many common connections we shared. He has over twenty-five years of experience in space science education, including managing the U.S. Space Camp program and serving as an executive of two Challenger Learning Centers. Kevin is the internationally bestselling author of The Protocol War series featuring Colorado Book Award finalist "Sleeper Protocol," which Publisher’s Weekly called “an emotionally powerful debut,” and the sequel "Vendetta Protocol." Kevin is also the author of nine bestselling "Peacemaker" novels in the Four Horsemen Universe as well as the military science fiction novel Runs In The Family and the thriller Super-Sync. Kevin has also contributed to the Nebula-award nominated Caine Riordan series by Charles E. Gannon and his alternate history novel, "The Crossing," written with Eric Flint. Learn more at https://kevinikenberry.com/

Storm Humbert was a Writers of the Future Volume 36 winner and published in multiple magazines. Most recent is The Librarian, a collection with Air and Nothingness Press, and Of Wizards and Wolves, a tribute anthology for David Farland, published with WordFire Press. In this podcast, we discuss a Kickstarter for the "Inner Workings Anthology, A Calendar of Fools." Kickstarter link: https://bit.ly/IWFools The following description was provided by Storm: "Inner Workings" is an anthology filled with 16 stories from award-winning authors, but that's not all it is. "Each of these stories is accompanied by a craft essay meant to explore or explain a specific element of craft that was featured in that story. The goal here is to entertain and excite with our fiction, but also to educate with the essays--to help would-be writers grow in their craft by understanding things in a way that simply experiencing them on the page might not achieve. "Basically, we want to do as we've been taught to do and pay it forward. In winning Writers of the Future, we had the opportunity to learn from incredible authors, but we also got to meet each other. Since then, we've found each of us has something to teach the others, and that's what we want to do with 'Inner Workings.' We want to share with burgeoning writers the things we've been sharing between ourselves. "We want to open up this wonderful community we've found for everyone to enjoy."