An LJ friend recently posted a piece titled Why I No Longer Support the Writers of the Future Contest.

I was a first place winner in Writers of the Future back in 1998. It was my first major short fiction sale. WotF paid me better than anyone else ever has for a short story. They also flew me out for a week-long workshop with folks like Algis Budrys and Dave Wolverton. It was a great experience, and I’m genuinely grateful for that.

When the subject of Scientology came up, we were told that the contest and its finances were completely separate from the church. That’s something I’ve repeated to other writers more than once.

I’m no longer certain this is true.

Frank Wu wrote about the financial connections between Scientology and Writers/Illustrators of the Future back in 2005. He also reproduced a letter he received in 2006 from Joni Labaqui, one of the contest administrators, who wrote:

You were actually wrong in that Scientology pays for the writers and illustrators awards. The Hubbard estate (which is not the church) makes so much money on royalties from his hundreds of published fiction it would make your head spin. You were right about the fact that every one of us who works at Author Services is a Scientologist, but the judges of the contest are not. They share the same goal that Mr. Hubbard did in starting and paying for this contest - to help the new guy…

I met Joni 13 years ago, and while I was rather overwhelmed that week, I remember her as a nice and hard-working person. I liked her.

In a similar vein, Jerry Pournelle (one of the WotF judges) writes:

I also don’t have to have an opinion about the Church of Scientology, because it doesn’t operate the Writers of the Future, and has no influence over who wins it. That much I can guarantee. The contest isn’t rigged. Algis Budrys wouldn’t have anything to do with it if there were the slightest chance of that. Nor would I.

I agree that it’s not rigged, and I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise. Does the church operate the contest, though? It looks like the “Writers of the Future” trademark was assigned to the Church of Scientific Technology (if I’m reading the records correctly). What does that mean? I’m honestly not certain … but it suggests to me that perhaps the wall of separation isn’t as solid as Pournelle believes.

I agree with John Scalzi’s post that Writers of the Future is not a Scientology recruitment scheme. I remember joining a few friends as a kid for a Christian camp. I felt more pressure to join that church than I ever did at Writers of the Future. While the WotF experience idolizes L. Ron Hubbard, there was no attempt to recruit me. However, I’ve spoken to one individual who did observe precisely that kind of high-pressure church recruitment tactic toward someone there for the contest at a WotF event.

A fair amount of the “Writers of the Future = Scientology!” writing out there is big on angry rhetoric and short on anything resembling facts, which is a little frustrating. (See this piece, for example.) I’m not trying to tell anyone what to believe. I’m just trying to gather what information I have to try to sort things out in my own mind. Some of the information comes from people who prefer to remain anonymous. All I’ll say is that I wouldn’t include their claims if I didn’t think they were reliable sources.

I was told by one such individual that for the church, the goal is not so much to help new writers, but to promote LRH and his brand. Particularly in schools and to kids, where they push the contest anthologies hard, hoping the books will serve as a gateway into Scientology. (This was presented not as conjecture, but as directly-overheard statements from multiple church members.)

None of this is meant to undermine the good things the contest does. The judges are, for the most part, amazing writers and people. Getting a walking tour of Hollywood from Tim Freaking Powers remains one of my favorite writing-related memories to this day. And I know that a lot of people involved with the contest, particularly some of the judges, are insistent about keeping the church separate from the contest.

But I no longer believe that Writers of the Future is entirely separate from Scientology.

I’m not saying everyone should run out and boycott the contest. But I’ve publicly praised Writers of the Future on many occasions, so I thought it was important to state this publicly as well.

I know the comments on this one have the potential to get messy, so let me preemptively ban some of the things I’ve seen on similar discussions elsewhere.

  • “Scientologists are all ________.” Just like Catholics are all pedophiles and Mormons are all polygamists and so on? Don’t be an ass.
  • “All religions are equally evil!” I’ll buy this as soon as you provide historical documentation on the Quaker Crusades.
  • “Why are you picking on religion?” I’m pretty sure I’m not, thanks.
  • “Aren’t there more important problems to worry about?” The Official Hierarchy of What We Can and Can’t Worry About pisses me off. Don’t go there.

With that said, discussion is welcome, as always. Just keep Wheaton’s Law in mind, ‘kay?

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

synecdochic: torso of a man wearing jeans, hands bound with belt (Default)

From: [personal profile] synecdochic

i'll put this on both LJ and DW so people see it


If the Writers of the Future trademark is owned by the Church of Spiritual Technology, it is 100% a Scientology-owned, Scientology-operated program.

Scientology has dozens if not hundreds of associated/affiliated companies, most of which trasfer control of SCN assets around like a very complicated shell game, so, it's often very hard to determine whether a particular company is owned by Scientology or not (and if so, where the money goes). The LRH estate and the Church of Spiritual Technology are different entities, but the CST does own all the copyrights to LRH's work, including the materials Scientology uses as religious scripture, and many anti-Scientology activists believe the CST is used to hide much of the money brought in by individual Scientology orgs. They license the copyrights of LRH's work to the church of Scientology itself, and receive all the revenue from sales of that work (both the fiction LRH wrote and all the materials used in the church of Scientology, which are sold at a hefty markup to Scientologists who are heavily pressured to buy multiple copies on a yearly basis).

The CST is unquestionably a Scientology organization, controlled by David Miscavige, the figure who controls the entire Scientology empire. The CST is tax-exempt under the IRS's treatment of religious organizations, and there is a lot of dodgy money shuffling to keep a figleaf of religiosity on one segment of the Scientology empire while proclaiming that Miscagive is only the head of one small section of it. High-profile defectors from the organized church of Scientology, including Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun (who were both extremely highly placed in the organization, essentially the #2 and #3 figures in the church) have both flat-out stated that the figleafing is only to look good to the IRS, and Miscavige controls the entire empire. Money earned by the CST and its publishing subsidiaries Author Services and Bridge Publications is absolutely moved around until it winds up with the Church of Scientology International and various other corporate-Scientology programs.

For information on how corporate Scientology moves money around, what they do with money that comes in to them, and how they use that money to fund gross human rights violations including forced child labor, withholding of medical care (leading to preventable deaths in multiple cases), false imprisonment, forced abortions, and forced familial separation, see the Tampa Bay Times' (formerly the St Petersburg Times) The Money Machine & The Truth Rundown, two incredible special reports based on information given by Rathbun and Rinder, along with multiple other defectors from the organized church of Scientology. For a broader collection of information on Scientology's actions, see Tony Ortega's blog at the Village Voice.

Whether CST claims the Writers of the Future contest is completely independent of Scientology or not, and even if the writers who participate in the contest and the judges of the contest have no connection to Scientology, it is guaranteed that sales of the anthologies produced from the contest go to fund the actions of the corporate Scientology organization. The contest may not be dictated by Scientology in that the judges are told which entries should win, but the proceeds for the contest are used to finance corporate Scientology's actions and fund other Scientology orgs. Whether people are okay with this is, of course, up to them.
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