Every month, the editorial and acquisitions staff of
Penumbra select a story to showcase as our Rising Talent for that issue. We look for stories from authors who don’t have an extensive history on the difficult paths of short speculative fiction. Their story must have made it to the final rounds of adjudication and, in our eyes, must exhibit particular promise. That writer doesn’t have to be young — we're not looking for the best child prodigy. That writer can have made sales in the past as well — we're not looking for the best unsold writer either. What we're looking for is a writer who is, in our opinion, rising quickly through the genre and who has a story beyond that piece of fiction to tell. The selected author will be contracted to write a non-fiction essay about speculative fiction, writing or the theme of their story, which will be published on the Penumbra website and will be archived there for a year. Obviously, we can't publish every outstanding story we receive at Penumbra. We'd be published two million words a month if we did. This is just our way of bringing a talented writer into the spotlight, in the hopes that exposure will lead them to bigger and better things.
Rising Talent Essays
May, 2013 ~ Currents by Laura Hardgrave
April, 2013 ~
Stranger Danger by Leah Rhyne
March, 2013 ~
The Price of Hope by Kara Ash
February, 2013 ~
Baby Girl by Clayton Kroh
January, 2013 ~
Beyond Earth's Summer by Luna Lindsey
December, 2012 ~
Border Crossing by M. Hunter Jones
November, 2012 ~
In Unknown Lands by Ted Hoppenstedt
October, 2012 ~
A Picture of Darkness by Jonathan Lamb
September, 2012 ~
Chenoo by Reilly McCann
August, 2012 ~
And Still Your Black Box Hums by Silver Bowen
July, 2012 ~
Impetus by Sam Hirte-Runtsch
June, 2012 ~
The 12th and Final Labor of Hercules (Interlude) by Kevin Quirt
May, 2012 ~
The Witch, the Curse and the Prince by Katherine Shaeffer
April, 2012 ~
A Small Kindness by Michelle Soudier
March, 2012 ~
The Fall and Rise of Max Ziggy by Jeff Bowles
February, 2012 ~
The Shake Sphere by Val Muller
January, 2012 ~
Which Is Sebastian? by Nghi Vo
December, 2011 ~
Heavy Is The Heart by Marc Nocerino
November, 2011 ~
The Smile on Her Face by Alvin S. Park
October, 2011 ~
A Literary Offense by Anatoly Belilovsky
