08/09/2025
LAZARUS BLACK
Writers of the Future Winner – Biography
Lazarus Black is an American author of genre fiction living under the shadow of a Pacific Northwest volcano with three Goddesses, his wife and two daughters.
“Psychic Poker” is Lazarus’s first sale, but hardly his last. It juxtaposes poker, the synthesis of probability and human behavior, with psychic powers, the solution to both probability and the chaos of free will. What if every player is psychic? What if no player has an advantage? What if their lives are at stake? But the strength of the story is in the reluctant main character: Tyson Young, a middle-aged Aussie with an acute wit.
Lazarus writes from life. His stories are inspired by the diverse communities he has lived in, plus friends and family across the globe. He specifically attacks stereotypes and reinvents tropes to reflect authentic experiences that are sometimes stranger than fiction. He once earned a free funeral until the mortician learned his name was Lazarus and a good laugh was had by all (bystanders included). A true lover of learning, Lazarus has traversed North America dozens of times, has been a professional artist, advertising creative, software developer, database designer, epigrapher, executive, educator, inventor, game designer, pool hustler, heathen clergyman, machinist’s apprentice, glass blower, scholar, actor, many other roles, and now published author of fiction.
He hopes you enjoy “Psychic Poker” and look forward to reading more from him in the future.
For more about Lazarus go to www.lazarus.black ROBERT J. SAWYER
Bestselling Author, Writers of the Future Judge – Biography
Dr. Robert J. Sawyer, called “the dean of Canadian science fiction” by The Ottawa Citizen, has won all three of the science fiction field’s top honors for best novel of the year, the Hugo, the Nebula and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, as well as eleven Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (Auroras).
The ABC TV series Flash Forward was based on his novel of the same name. Maclean’s: Canada’s Weekly Newsmagazine says, “By any reckoning, Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian authors ever.” Sawyer’s novels are top-ten mainstream bestsellers in Canada. His twenty-three novels include Frameshift, Factoring Humanity, Calculating God, Wake and the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy: Hominids, Humans, Hybrids.
He’s often seen on TV, including such programs as Rivera Live with Geraldo Rivera, Canada AM and Saturday Night at the Movies, and he’s a frequent science commentator for Discovery Channel Canada, CBC Newsworld and CBC Radio. Sawyer holds an honorary doctorate from Laurentian University and has taught writing at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, Humber College, the National University of Ireland and the Banff Centre. He edits Robert J. Sawyer Books, the science fiction imprint of Red Deer Press. He was born in Ottawa in 1960, and now lives near Toronto with his wife, poet Carolyn Clink.
He has served as a judge since 2005.
“The list of past winners and runners-up reads like a Who’s Who of the last quarter century of the SF/F field. And the physical anthologies—packed with brilliant stories and thoughtful essays, all wonderfully illustrated by the artist winners—is always a joy to behold: a terrific book, and a terrific launch to the careers of the latest batch of the very best new writers in the field.” —Robert J. Sawyer
Find out more at: www.sfwriter.com
