A Trickle in History: Pembroke Pines Resident Wins International Writing Contest

Elaine Midcoh (the pen name for Elaine Cohen) lives in Pembroke Pines, Florida. She is an attorney and, before retiring, served as an Associate Dean and Professor at Broward College where she spent many happy years teaching Law and Criminal Justice to undergraduates. She has been a life-long fan of science fiction since watching the original Star Trek at age seven. By age ten she was avidly consuming the paperbacks of Heinlein, Asimov and other sci-fi greats. In time she came to love history too and majored in that in college.

Her winning story, "A Trickle in History," combines Elaine's love for both sci-fi and history, and is also about family, loyalty and the fight to maintain one's identity in terrible circumstances.

This is Elaine's second time appearing in "The Writers of the Future." She was a published finalist in WotF v. 37 with her story, "The Battle of Donasi." Elaine's science fiction has also appeared in the magazines Galaxy's Edge and Daily Science Fiction and in the anthology "Compelling Science Fiction" (Flame Tree Press, Oct. 2022). Her story "Man on the Moon" was named the winner of the 2022 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award ( read it at: www.baen.com/man-on-the-moon ). Her historical fiction has appeared in the literary journals, Jewish Fiction.net and The Sunlight Press.

The Contest, one of the most prestigious writing and illustrating competitions in the world, is currently in its 39th 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 (Quantum Night), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series, The Stormlight Archive), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), David Farland (Runelords), 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.

The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 382 past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 6,000 illustrations, 360 comic books, graced 624 books and albums with their art and visually contributed to 68 TV shows, and 40 major movies.

The 452 past winners of the Writing Contest have published 1,150 novels and nearly 4,500 short stories. They have produced 32 New York Times bestsellers and their works have sold over 60 million copies.

The Writers and Illustrators 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 contemporary fiction.

Since inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 38 anthology volumes and awarded over $1,000,000 cumulatively in prize moneys and royalties.

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