A grand story

One UCF graduate's grand vision of the future was enough to earn him a grand in a science fiction writing contest.
Former student Emery Huang won first place in the Writers of the Future contest for his novelette, The Garden of Tian Zi. The annual writing competition was established by L. Ron Hubbard to find the rising stars of science fiction writing, according to the contest Web site.
"It is the most prestigious contest for amateur writers," Huang said. "It's a really good way to jump start your career in writing."
For winning first place last month, Huang earned $1,000 and the right to be published in the contest's book, Writers of the Future Anthology, which is published every year. 
The Garden of Tian Zi is "kind of difficult" to explain, Huang said. A cyberpunk story set in Western China in the near future, Huang said he tried to write The Garden without a specific theme.
He did incorporate a nanotechnology, or atomic-level science, theme but largely favored character-driven elements instead, he said.
He said he enjoys writing stories in the science fiction and fantasy genres.
"It gives a sense of escapism," Huang said. "Because it is escapist and it doesn't put it in the face, a lot of times the readers are more open minded.  With fantasy, you are one step removed, so you can look at  things in more of a symbolic way."
One aspect that Huang thought was important to include was the Chinese background of the story. 
"Most of fantasy is ... very western-centric and not involving eastern mythology ... I really wanted to put together a fantasy universe that really, really respected the Chinese culture in a more authentic way."
Huang's girlfriend, Ashley Cat, also a UCF graduate, said she was out with friends when she found out about the award. He drove over to tell her about it.
"I was extremely excited for him," she said. "I was hoping he would win… It makes me really emotional every time I read the story."
Before winning the Writers of the Future contest, the only previous work that Huang had published was a nonfiction work for the Cypress Dome, UCF's literary magazine.
Peter Telep, one of Huang's former professors, said that Huang's talent made an impression on him.
"We were thrilled that he won, but not necessarily surprised," Telep said.  "It's a science fiction story with a real literary sensibility ... even his first draft was so remarkably polished that we didn't have a heck of a lot of things to say about it."
Although he said he was involved in spelling bees and writing competitions during high school, Huang said he never considered writing as a career path until a year and a half ago.
When Huang first entered UCF, he majored in finance. Then he switched to biology and then back to finance. 
He said he left finance for creative writing because of the economy.
"Pretty much every person who knew finance saw the economic crash coming three years ago," Huang said. "They were like, ‘you are not getting a job,' so I said ‘forget that.'"
He did not write his first story until he began to attend creative writing classes, he said. 
Huang found a place in creative writing at UCF, Telep said.
"Emery's been a terrific student, a really good writer dedicated to the craft, certainly valuable in the classroom," he said. "Other students had certainly sought out his input and looked to him as a leader and a strong editor as well."
Huang is now eligible for another $5,000 prize, and may join the sci-fi writer's union, the Guild of Scientific and Fantasy Writers. 
Huang said literary agents have begun to speak to him about expanding his short story into a novel.