AMHERST AUTHOR WINS INTERNATIONAL WRITERS CONTEST Featured in New Release Amherst, Massachusetts author Marianne Xenos is a winner in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest and was honored, via remote video, along with eleven other winning writers and twelve winning artists at the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood, California on April 28th. Her story, "Moonlight and Funk," is illustrated by April Solomon of Laguna Beach, California who is herself a winner of the Illustrators of the Future Contest. 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 was officially released on May 16th. Marianne Xenos is a writer and visual artist living in western Massachusetts. She works with mixed-media, photography, and fiction. She's a member of an artist-run gallery and creates artwork with a strong sense of fantasy and narrative. Although she's been writing since she first learned to read, Marianne only began sending out her stories for publication in the past year and a half. Marianne grew up in a blue-collar family outside of Boston. Her childhood was full of immigrants, builders, and working-class heroes-people who inspire the characters in her stories. Her father was a heavy-equipment operator who moved to Key West to look for gold, with only moderate success. He introduced her to treasure hunters, conchs, and deep-sea fishing. Marianne's mother, who never left New England if she could help it, taught her to dance as soon as she could walk--everything from Greek line dances to the cha-cha. In 2021, Marianne published her first short story, and was a finalist for Writers of the Future. The current winning submission which will be published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39 is her first professional sale and the title and story are not revealed at this point in time since they are in contention for the grand prize, the Golden Pen Award and a $5,000 cash prize. The Contest, one of the most prestigious writing and illustrating competitions in the world, is currently in its 40th year and is judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction. The Writers of the Future Contest judges include, Tim Powers (author of On Stranger Tides), Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert (Dune prequel series), Robert J. Sawyer (Quantum Night), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series, The Stormlight Archive), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), David Farland (Runelords), and Katherine Kurtz (Deryni series) to name a few. The Illustrators of the Future Contest judges include, Bob Eggleton (11 Chesley Awards and 7 Hugo Awards), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons book covers), Echo Chernik (graphic designs for major corporations including Celestial Following the 1982 release of his internationally acclaimed bestselling science fiction novel, Battlefield Earth, written in celebration of 50 years as a professional writer, L. Ron Hubbard created the Writers of the Future (writersofthefuture.com) in 1983 to provide a means for aspiring writers of speculative fiction to get that much-needed break. Due to the success of the Writers of the Future Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was inaugurated five years later. In the 39 years of the Writers of the Future Contest, there have been 547 winners and published finalists. The past winners of the Writing Contest have published 2,000 novels and nearly 6,300 short stories. They have produced 36 New York Times bestsellers, and their works have sold over 60 million copies. In the 34 years of the Illustrators of the Future Contest, there have been 394 winners. The past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 6,800 illustrations, 390 comic books, graced 700 books and albums with their art, and visually contributed to 68 television shows and