Rating: 
Summary: Includes an unusual, often shocking Thatcher story.
Review: This volume contains an award-winning story by Franklin Thatcher: "By Other Windings"When the story starts out, the demon lives in the waters beneath Charon's boat (in the River Styx), where he often interrupts the Charon's job ferrying the dead across the water. While toying with a deceased soul, the demon is conjured into the Elenora, a woman who has apparently gained some skill as a witch. Elenora wants to use the demon in a plot to torment, torture and then kill the Miara, her brother's new wife. She is upset about the end of her incestuous relationship with her bother, and the fact that her brother's new wife will replace her as the heir to his great fortune. Conjured by Elenora, the demon's body remains in her cellar within a chalked five-point star and circle of candles, while Elenora commands the demon's ethereal spirit to accompany her on her devious errands. The demon's ethereal self has impressive power to direct suggestions and temptations to other people. Elenora's evil designs and the demon's lustful impulses cause pain in the lives of all those they encounter in the execution of the Elenora's plan to regain her place as the only woman in her brother's life. But the demon's own cruel actions shock him into a remembrance of when he was mortal youth, before he died and was consigned to his demon state. His recalls the event when, as a young soldier, he let violent and sexual urges overcome him to victimize a fleeing civilian woman -- an act which transformed him into a monster even while he was still human. The demon is also affected by the nobility and goodness within Miara, and even by the deeply hidden honor and ethical sense within Elenora's outwardly soulless brother. Eventually the story, which has intentionally shocked with depravity, reveals a shocking amount of redemption and morality.
Rating: 
Summary: WOTF Vol. XV is very exciting.
Review: Though I thought Vol. XIII was tepid, Vol. XV is anything but! Being a jaded scifi/horror/mystery reader, if an anthology doesn't have kick-ass short stories as openers, middlers, and closers as well, then I generally rate it below a two. Fortunately, this volume is one of the rare exceptions. Boy does it have terrific stories! I too am also a contestant trying to get into this superb anthology. I've read and entered since the beginning, though with inconsistent output. Let's hope I and the others who haven't gotten a chance yet to be recognized for their writing/yarning talent will be in next year's anthology. There's only one niggling afterthought that I have to express here. Is it me, or have the L. Ron Hubbard "How to write" articles within the newer volumes become increasingly obscure and irrelevant? Bring back the more basic articles that graced the first ten volumes of this anthology series, please! Overall, top-notch work!
Rating:
Summary: WOTF Vol. XV is very exciting.
Review: Though I thought Vol. XIII was tepid, Vol. XV is anything but! Being a jaded scifi/horror/mystery reader, if an anthology doesn't have kick-ass short stories as openers, middlers, and closers as well, then I generally rate it below a two. Fortunately, this volume is one of the rare exceptions. Boy does it have terrific stories! I too am also a contestant trying to get into this superb anthology. I've read and entered since the beginning, though with inconsistent output. Let's hope I and the others who haven't gotten a chance yet to be recognized for their writing/yarning talent will be in next year's anthology. There's only one niggling afterthought that I have to express here. Is it me, or have the L. Ron Hubbard "How to write" articles within the newer volumes become increasingly obscure and irrelevant? Bring back the more basic articles that graced the first ten volumes of this anthology series, please! Overall, top-notch work!
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good; recommend for short story lovers.
Review: While I do not get a chance to read much science fiction, I decided to pick up this book mainly because I enjoy short stories. And I must say that this book surprised me. There are a number of well-written, very entertaining stories in this book. There is also a good amount of variety. As more than 12 authors contribute to this book, if you are not a fan of one story, you can move onto the next. There should be four stories in this book that will captivate you. From the quality of the prose and the structure of the stories, I was at first surprised to see that these are first time authors. Now realizing that these are contest winnners from L Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future contest, it makes more sense. My favorites include Oragami Cranes, Eating Drinking and Walking, Windseekers, and Rewind (for it's writing style).
Rating:
Summary: Some incredible writing (and some bad)
Review: WotF XIX is a compilation of excellent stories (with a few, notable exceptions) spanning the genre range from historical fiction through horror and fantasy to science fiction. Despite the ever-present copy-editing errors, this was a very good read. I would put the stories in four categories of excellence (well, three of excellence and one of crap). Group One: The best Walking Rain - Ian Keane's tale of supernatural beings in present day America, reminiscent (but not derivative) of American Gods, is compelling. The writing is lush, the characterizations beautiful. Hands down the best of the best. I can't say enough about this story. The book is worth buying for this story alone. Into The Gardens of Sweet Night - Algis Budrys weaves a fairy tale-like tapestry of words as a boy takes a fantastic journey into the sky looking for the fabled gardens. Sometimes the discussions on freedom get a bit thick, but still great. Blood and Horses - Myke Cole brings us a story of military sf where rebels riding horses seek the oil that gives life, losing their own blood fighting against a technically far superior opponent. Group Two: The very excellent (in no particular order) From All the Work Which He Had Made - Michael Churchman's style is strikingly odd at first, but within a page he had made me a convert with this interesting tale about the development of a humanoid robot exploring the questions of his soul. Dark Harvest - Geoffrey Girard brings us a story about what happens when you find your worst nightmare dying in a field, and it becomes a tourist attraction. Excellent writing, and a wonderful story. Beautiful Singer - Steve Bein's story of a haunted sword is elegant in its way of presenting feudal Japanese culture and characters. Every word of this story echoes with the culture of the samurai. The only thing holding back this most savory of writing from the top slot was the way the ending rushed together (a common difficulty in short-story writing). A Few Days North of Vienna - Brandon Butler takes us along as a band of thieves join up with a group of vampire hunters to eradicate those evil creatures. The plot is nothing new or innovative, but the writing is top notch, and that's more important anyway. Group Three: The still excellent (still in no particular order) A Ship That Bends - whatever Butler lacked in innovation, Luc Reid makes up for in spades with his characters who live on a flat world and must build a bending ship if they wish to sail to the other side without falling off. The ending is its great weakness, suddenly ending the story before it really reaches its climax. Fun world, great writing, but it just stops cold. A Silky Touch to No Man - a weak ending is also the problem with Robert J. Defendi's exploration of life in the near future where virtual reality has become the only reality. For a murder mystery, it was painfully apparent "whodunit" from the very beginning. But the writing is strong and the world well conceived (almost scary, actually) which makes it fun anyway. Gossamer - Ken Liu offers a scenario where Earth finally makes contact with an alien species, and has no idea if they can even communicate. Art seems to be the only thing the Gossamers are interested in, but what does that mean? Interesting twist on the first contact plot. Numbers - Joel Best brings us a stark account of a world where mathematicians can do almost anything, including make animals and people. In this world one woman seeks to create the perfect mate, but learns that perfection (and creation) are about more than doing everything flawlessly. Group Four: The stories that really don't belong Trust Is A Child - Matthew Candelaria's overly long story of negotiations with aliens is really just a painful rehash of about a thousand other identical stories, offering no new slants or anything. That alone wouldn't make it so horrible, but the main character is painfully stupid, and the plot has a hole in it the size of a small star system (it has to do with her being stopped by Marine guards while the aliens can just cruise on by and enter her private quarters without explanation). Also, her solution to being stopped is just horrible (apparently the guard is even dumber than she is). Still, with a good edit and re-write, I think it could have been decent, so I wouldn't write off the author. A Boy and His Bicycle - Carl Frederick offers a story about just that: a boy and his bike. They don't do anything interesting, or go anywhere fun, or give us any reason not to hope that they just crash into a bus and die. The only saving grace is that it's short and over quickly. And to think this story got first place that quarter... Bury My Heart At the Garrick - Steve Savile takes the prize for plodding, pointlessness. This story of Houdini was confusing, but not in that good way where you want to know what's going on, more in the way where you just don't care and want to skip to the next story. I kept reading to see if it would get better (imagine a short story that took me a week to read!). It didn't.
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