L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 30

2.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
The 30th edition of the Writers of the Future anthology, collecting the year's winning authors and illustrators.

Review
Any anthology is a chancy thing, even those – like this one – with no theme. Naturally, some stories are better than others. Invariably, some are good, some are not. I fully support the concept of anthologies that bring to light new authors, even when, as this one, they come with some philosophical baggage.

Unfortunately, in this volume, the newly arrived amateurs come off second best to the few stories by seasoned vetarans – Orson Scott Card and Mike Resnick in particular. There are some good stories here, but none, to be honest that made me sit up and say, “I've got to find more by this author.” There's some promise here – from writers like Leena Likitalo, Megan O'Keefe, C. Stuart Hardwick, and Liz Colter – but no real moments of brilliance. The artwork is often nice.