In my experience, the so-called firewall between the Writers of the Future contest was firmly in place when I participated. The CoS played no visible role at all in the contest and at the two events I attended. There was no proselytizing; the Church wasn’t even mentioned.

That said, the event, the contest, ASI, and Galaxy Press were all staffed by CoS members. I think this is part of the explanation why Elrond worship was such a major part of it all. But still, it was Elrond-the-author, Elrond-the-superhero who got so much screen time, not Elrond-the-CoS-founder, not Elrond-the-Messiah. And if the staff seemed overly gung-ho about him, I can hardly blame them: after all, they were staffing a contest and an event that was conceived by what boils down to their own personal Jesus.

I also believe that the firewall needed to be firmly in place, or the renowned authors teaching the workshop, judging the contest, and editing and contributing to the anthologies, would not willingly participate. I’d buy that some authors might be bought for the purpose, but not Card and Silverberg and Williams and Anderson and McCaffrey and and and and… You get my drift.

However, what I’ve read over the years about other people’s experiences suggests that I was fortunate enough to be involved with Writers of the Future when the firewall was at its thickest.

And there’s another aspect to be taken into account here. The CoS may have been invisible, and an organizational and conceptual firewall may have been in place. But there can’t have been a financial firewall. The contest is free to enter, ASI spends tremendous amounts of money flying some thirty writers and illustrators to the event each year and putting them up in a hotel, the judges and lectures undoubtedly get paid for their efforts; and the anthology sales cannot pay for it all [LINK]. It’s even highly doubtful that the sales of Elrond’s own fiction can cover the cost of Writers of the Future. So one has to assume that the CoS picks up a big chunk of the tab.

Scientology income must have always funded Writers of the Future. [read on…]