Two Utah authors just won a coveted 2021 Dragon Award for Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel. And one of those authors is one of our very own Rich County residents, John Brown.
The Dragon Awards are a set of literary and media awards presented annually by Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia for excellence in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels, movies, television, and games.
Past winners have included authors such as Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, Rick Riordan, and Stephen King.
This year, Utah authors Larry Correia and John Brown were awarded Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel for Gun Runner, an action adventure science fiction novel published by Baen Books.
The seed came from Larry’s eleven-year-old son, Joe.
When the two authors sat down to develop an idea for a workshop they were holding for a large, writer’s conference in Provo a number of years ago, Brown reports that Joe was listening in on the stairs.
The two authors settled on a genre, and then Correia asked, “Hey Joe, what’s cool?”
Joe immediately popped up and said, “Giant robots, bandits, and murderers.”
Brown says, “We looked at each other and said, ‘Dang, that IS cool.’”
Forty minutes later they had the key elements they needed for the story they’d use in the workshop. A number of years later, Baen Books wanted a collaboration from Correia, and that story was one of the first he thought of.
Brown and Correia are both frequently asked to present at writers conferences. And one of the tips each shares to new authors is to loosen up and have fun. One of the keys to writing an entertaining story is to simply ask, “What’s cool?” And go from there.
Larry Correia’s website: https://monsterhunternation.com/
John Brown’s website: https://www.johndbrown.com/
2021 Dragon Award finalists: https://www.dragoncon.org/awards/2021-dragon-award-ballot/
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