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BETTENDORF WRITER HONORED AT HOLLYWOOD AWARDS EVENT Winning Story Featured in New Release Bettendorf, Iowa writer David Hankins is a winner in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest and was honored along with eleven other winning writers and twelve winning artists at the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood, California on April 28th. His story, "Death and the Taxman," is illustrated by Sarah Morrison of Malden, Massachusetts who is an Illustrators of the Future winner herself. The story and illustration, along with the other writers' and illustrators' stories and art are published in the international bestselling anthology, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39 which is officially released on May 2nd. David Hankins writes from the thriving cornfields of Iowa where he lives with his wife, daughter, and two dragons disguised as cats. His writing journey began in the oral tradition of convincing his daughter to Go To Sleep with inventive stories. That usually backfired. After years of Just One More Story, David began transcribing his midnight ramblings in an attempt to keep his storylines straight. Children are ruthless in identifying mistakes in fairy tales. David writes lighthearted speculative fiction because that's what he loves to read and\u2014this is the important bit\u2014there's not nearly enough humor in the world. David aims to change that, one story at a time. David joined the US Army after college and, through some glitch in the bureaucracy, convinced Uncle Sam to fund his wanderlust for twenty years. He has lived in and traveled through much of Europe, central Asia, and the United States. Now that he\u2019s retired from the Army, David devotes his time to his passions of writing, traveling with his family, and finding new ways to pay his mortgage. \u201cDeath and the Taxman\u201d was born as the writing community mourned the passing of Writers of the Future coordinating judge Dave Farland. Death is the ultimate rigged game, one that the Grim Reaper never loses. But what if he did? What if he became human? Would the Grim Reaper cling to life as tenaciously as we do? Inspired by the witty and sarcastic styles of Sir Terry Pratchett and Jim Butcher--and by an IRS audit he hopes never to repeat--David wrote this story hoping to bring laughter in a time of grief. To any tax auditors reading this: you are lovely people. Please don\u2019t audit David again. He hopes you enjoy \u201cDeath and the Taxman. The Writers of the Future Award is the genre\u2019s most prestigious award of its kind and has now become the largest, most successful, and demonstrably most influential vehicle for budding creative talent in the world of speculative fiction. Since its inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 39 anthology volumes (with this event) and awarded upwards of $1 million in cash prizes and royalties. For more information about the Contests, go to www.WritersoftheFuture.com.