Hyde Park author wins international science fiction contest, takes home grand prize

By Robin Gee

Author Michael Kuester is a first-place winner in The Writers of the Future contest, a prestigious international science fiction contest created by L. Ron Hubbard to help support new writers in speculative fiction. Kuester’s short story, “In Living Color” will be included in the Writers of the Future, Vol. 42 anthology. 

In addition to publication and a cash prize, winners fly to Hollywood for the awards event and attend a week-long master class workshop with professional science fiction writers. They are also eligible for a Grand Prize award and trophy announced. At the annual gala held in April, Kuester also won the Golden Pen Award where he received a trophy and a grand prize of $5,000.

Shortly after winning the contest, another of Kuester’s stories was accepted and will be published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, another highly regarded literary magazine established in the early 1930s. 

Kuester lives in Hyde Park with his partner Jen and their two children. Before the contest event, Hyde Park Living (HPL) had the opportunity to talk to the author about the contest, his work and the trials and tribulations of being a writer today. 

HPL: Tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from and how long have you been in Hyde Park?

Kuester: I’m originally from western Pennsylvania…I moved to Cincinnati in 2003 when I went to UC. So, I came for school. The way I like to put it to people is I got my foot caught in the door.

I’ve lived in Hyde Park for three years now. I’m an avid runner, and I live right across the street from Wasson Way. I can walk up the street to Starbucks which is conveniently located right next to an independent bookstore. I think this place is pretty great.

HPL: Did you come to UC for writing?

Kuester: I am, in fact, an aerospace engineer. The way that things work in the modern literary industry, it’s generally understood that the reality is that most authors, even published authors today, generally have a day job.

Believe it or not, engineering at UC is very demanding. I got to the point where, whenever I had free time, the last thing I wanted to do was aerospace science. So I started just jotting down little ideas or stories and things like that. I didn’t really get the chance to actually write until after college. 

HPL: Have you always been a fan of science fiction? 

Kuester: My love for science fiction began when I was four years old, sitting on my knees in front of one of those big, wood-covered Zenith televisions, watching Star Trek The Next Generation with my mom. That was where it started.

HPL: When did you start submitting your work? And how did that go?

Kuester: I sent out my first round of submissions in 2017…My writing for years was in fits and starts, and I never really advanced much. It wasn’t until about a year and a half ago that I finally decided, you know, this is it. It’s time to make this happen. And so I buckled down, and it was amazing how quickly things changed. 

HPL: Winning the contest must have been pretty satisfying and exciting. What was that process of submission to the contest like?

Kuester: It is very exciting. They’ve been talking about who’s going to be there. They talked about some of the judges. In particular, they mentioned Kevin J Anderson, Larry Niven and Orson Scott Card.

Writers of the Future is one of the foremost contests for short science fiction in the world, and I found it literally because I went on to Google and I searched sci-fi writing contests, because I was looking for more places to submit my work. So I particularly looked at this at these guys, partly because they are a contest that is free to enter. They have quarterly contests, and they have cash prizes for the first, second and third place winners.

HPL: I imagine it’s a good place for writers to meet other writers. Is it a good place to meet publishers and agents looking to represent science fiction writers?

Kuester: I’m certainly hoping that’s the case, because at the moment, I do not have an agent. And it’s funny you mentioned that, because I am actually currently querying a novel… I have eight active queries that are out right now. I’m going to be sending a ninth out next week. Another agent I had my eyes on is going to be opening for queries.

Agents are essential, they are the gatekeepers of the literary world…Almost no publishing houses are left that accept unsolicited manuscripts. And, for the ones that do, their slush pile is so big that most will tell you there’s no point. No one’s ever gonna read it.

HPL: What is your writing process like?

Kuester: Every successful writer has a daily routine, a regimen, as I put it. For instance, I know Stephen King writes at least 1,000 words every day. And so when I first started writing and found out about this, I thought… “I bet I could do that.” So every morning, right after I have a coffee and breakfast and check my work emails, I pull up a file and I just start writing. It is completely off the cuff. I don’t allow myself to think about this ahead of time. I sit down with a blank page and I just see what happens. 

And that’s how my short fiction ends up working. Sometimes the story will end up evolving into a complete piece. Other times, it just doesn’t quite go anywhere, but I end up getting into these streaks every so often, where I’ll just start rattling off a piece a week. It takes me about a week, generally, to write a short story. The story that’s in this anthology is, in fact, one of those. It started out as just this random piece, and I spent a week writing it. 

HPL: It seems writing and publishing has changed quite a bit in recent years. How has social media and the internet changed things? 

Kuester: Readers today demand so much of you. They want to feel a personal connection with you… Every writer needs a “platform.” It’s understood that your platform includes a wide variety of different social media outlets and things like that. It varies from person to person. Twitter/X is the biggest platform for writers these days. Bluesky and Threads are up there as well. But then I see a lot of writers who connect on Good Reads. Even things like SoundCloud and Apple Music have become ways to connect with writers. 

Once a week I put up my Writer’s Desk post. It’s evolved over time. I never thought of it as a newsletter, but as I started connecting to more and more fellow writers, people started referring to it as a newsletter. Essentially, it’s just me telling readers this is what I’m up to, what I’m going to be up to this week. It’s also sort of a way to keep myself accountable.

HPL: Do you have some advice for writers who are starting out?

Kuester: My advice to anyone who is thinking about writing…If I can do this, anyone can. The way I always like to put it is that writing is a skill as opposed to an ability. Anyone can learn how to do it. No one’s born knowing how to. Some people might be naturally talented, sure, but all that means is that they get to skip a few steps, but they are still in the line with you. 

All it takes is time and hard work. It does take a lot of time, the term that we use in the literary world today is the “invisible work…” It is easy to get discouraged, but the only real key is that you need to be willing to sit down and write, write anything, write every day. And I promise it will happen. The only real difference between writers who succeed and those who fail is that the ones who succeed never gave up.

About Writers of the Future

This is the 42^nd year for the writing contest. It is now known as the Writers & Illustrators of the Future contest. An illustrator contest was added in 1988. For more on the contests, rules and other details, go to writersofthefuture.com. The quarterly publication is available online and in most bookstores. 

Writers of the Future, Volume 42 is the one containing Kuester’s winning story. For more on the writer and his work, go to his website at michaeltkuester.com.