Read The Dangerous Dimension Page 4


  and his photographs of China’s

  Great Wall long graced American

  geography texts.

  L. Ron Hubbard,

  Upon his return to the United States and a hasty

  left, at Congressional

  Airport, Washington,

  completion of his interrupted high school education,

  DC, 1931, with

  the young Ron Hubbard entered George Washington

  members of George

  Washington

  University. There, as fans of his aerial adventures

  University flying

  club.

  may have heard, he earned his wings as a pioneering barnstormer at the dawn of American aviation. He also earned a place in free-flight record books for the longest sustained flight above Chicago. Moreover, as a roving reporter for Sportsman Pilot (featuring his first professionally penned articles), he further helped inspire a generation of pilots who would take America to world airpower.

  Immediately beyond his sophomore year, Ron embarked on the first of his famed ethnological expeditions, initially to then untrammeled Caribbean shores (descriptions of which would later fill a whole series of West Indies mystery-thrillers).

  That the Puerto Rican interior would also figure into the future of Ron Hubbard stories was likewise no accident.

  For in addition to cultural studies of the island, a 1932–33

  38

  A M E R I C A N ♦

  P U ♦L P F I C T I O N

  LRH expedition is rightly remembered as conducting the first complete mineralogical survey of a Puerto Rico under United States jurisdiction.

  There was many another adventure along this vein: As a lifetime member of the famed Explorers Club, L. Ron Hubbard charted North Pacific waters with the first shipboard radio direction finder, and so pioneered a long-range navigation system universally employed until the late twentieth century. While not to put too fine an edge on it, he also held a rare Master Mariner’s license to pilot any vessel, of any tonnage in any ocean.

  Yet lest we stray too far afield,

  there is an LRH note at this juncture

  in his saga, and it reads in part:

  “I started out writing for the pulps, writing the best I knew, writing for

  every mag on the stands, slanting as

  well as I could.”

  To which one might add: His

  earliest submissions date from the

  summer of 1934, and included tales drawn from Capt. L. Ron Hubbard

  in Ketchikan, Alaska,

  true-to-life Asian adventures, with characters roughly 1940, on his Alaskan

  modeled on British/American intelligence operatives

  Radio Experimental

  Expedition, the first

  he had known in Shanghai. His early Westerns were

  of three voyages

  conducted under the

  similarly peppered with details drawn from personal

  Explorers Club flag.

  experience. Although therein lay a first hard lesson from the often cruel world of the pulps. His first Westerns were soundly rejected as lacking the authenticity of a Max Brand yarn 39

  ♦ L . R O N H U B B A R D ♦

  (a particularly frustrating comment given L. Ron Hubbard’s Westerns came straight from his Montana homeland, while Max Brand was a mediocre New York poet named Frederick Schiller Faust, who turned out implausible six-shooter tales from the terrace of an Italian villa).

  Nevertheless, and needless to say, L. Ron Hubbard persevered and soon earned a reputation as among the most publishable names in pulp fiction, with a ninety percent placement rate of first-draft manuscripts. He was also among the most prolific, averaging between seventy and a hundred thousand words a month. Hence the rumors that L. Ron Hubbard had redesigned a typewriter for faster keyboard action and pounded

  A Man of Many Names

  Between 1934 and 1950,

  out manuscripts on a continuous

  L. Ron Hubbard authored more than

  roll of butcher paper to save the

  fifteen million words of fiction in more

  than two hundred classic publications.

  precious seconds it took to insert a

  To supply his fans and editors with

  stories across an array of genres and

  single sheet of paper into manual

  pulp titles, he adopted fifteen pseudonyms

  typewriters of the day.

  in addition to his already renowned

  L. Ron Hubbard byline.

  That all L. Ron Hubbard

  Winchester Remington Colt

  stories did not run beneath said

  Lt. Jonathan Daly

  byline is yet another aspect of

  Capt. Charles Gordon

  Capt. L. Ron Hubbard

  pulp fiction lore. That is, as

  Bernard Hubbel

  publishers periodically rejected

  Michael Keith

  Rene Lafayette

  manuscripts from top-drawer

  Legionnaire 148

  Legionnaire 14830

  authors if only to avoid paying

  Ken Martin

  top dollar, L. Ron Hubbard and

  Scott Morgan

  Lt. Scott Morgan

  company just as frequently replied

  Kurt von Rachen

  Barry Randolph

  with submissions under various

  Capt. Humbert Reynolds

  pseudonyms. In Ron’s case, the

  40

  A M E R I C A N ♦

  P U ♦L P F I C T I O N

  list included: Rene Lafayette,

  Captain Charles Gordon, Lt. Scott

  Morgan and the notorious Kurt von

  Rachen—supposedly on the lam

  for a murder rap, while hammering

  out two-fisted prose in Argentina.

  The point: While L. Ron Hubbard

  as Ken Martin spun stories of

  Southeast Asian intrigue, LRH as

  Barry Randolph authored tales of

  romance on the Western range—which, stretching

  L. Ron Hubbard,

  circa 1930, at the

  between a dozen genres is how he came to stand

  outset of a literary

  among the two hundred elite authors providing close

  career that would

  finally span half

  to a million tales through the glory days of American

  a century.

  Pulp Fiction.

  In evidence of exactly that, by 1936 L. Ron Hubbard was literally leading pulp fiction’s elite as president of New York’s American Fiction Guild. Members included a veritable pulp hall of fame: Lester “Doc Savage” Dent, Walter “The Shadow” Gibson, and the legendary Dashiell Hammett—to cite but a few.

  Also in evidence of just where L. Ron Hubbard stood within his first two years on the American pulp circuit: By the spring of 1937, he was ensconced in Hollywood, adopting a Caribbean thriller for Columbia Pictures, remembered today as The Secret of Treasure Island. Comprising fifteen thirty-minute episodes, the L. Ron Hubbard screenplay led to the most profitable matinée serial in Hollywood history. In accord with Hollywood culture, he was thereafter continually called upon 41

  ♦ L . R O N H U B B A R D ♦

  to rewrite/doctor scripts—most

  famously for long-time friend and

  fellow adventurer Clark Gable.

  In the interim—and herein lies

  another distinctive chapter of

  the L. Ron Hubbard story—he

  continually worked to open Pulp

  Kingdom gates to up-and-coming

  authors. Or, for that matter, anyone

  who wished to write. It was a fairly

  The 1937 Secret of

  unconventional stance, as markets were already thin Treasure Island, a

  fifteen-episode serial

  and competit
ion razor sharp. But the fact remains, it

  adapted for the screen

  was an L. Ron Hubbard hallmark that he vehemently

  by L. Ron Hubbard

  from his novel,

  lobbied on behalf of young authors—regularly Murder at Pirate

  supplying instructional articles to trade journals, Castle.

  guest-lecturing to short story classes at George Washington University and Harvard, and even founding his own creative writing competition. It was established in 1940, dubbed the Golden Pen, and guaranteed winners both New York representation and publication in Argosy.

  But it was John W. Campbell Jr.’s Astounding Science Fiction that finally proved the most memorable LRH vehicle. While every fan of L. Ron Hubbard’s galactic epics undoubtedly knows the story, it nonetheless bears repeating: By late 1938, the pulp publishing magnate of Street & Smith was determined to revamp Astounding Science Fiction for broader readership.

  In particular, senior editorial director F. Orlin Tremaine called for stories with a stronger human element. When acting editor John W. Campbell balked, preferring his spaceship-driven 42

  A M E R I C A N ♦

  P U ♦L P F I C T I O N

  tales, Tremaine enlisted Hubbard. Hubbard, in turn, replied with the genre’s first truly character-driven works, wherein heroes are pitted not against bug-eyed monsters but the mystery and majesty of deep space itself—and thus was launched the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

  The names alone are enough to quicken the pulse of any science fiction aficionado, including LRH friend and protégé, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt and Ray Bradbury. Moreover, when coupled with LRH stories of fantasy, we further come to what’s rightly been described as the foundation of every modern tale of

  horror: L. Ron Hubbard’s immortal

  Fear. It was rightly proclaimed by Stephen King as one of the very

  few works to genuinely warrant that

  overworked term “classic”—as in:

  “This is a classic tale of creeping, surreal menace and horror. . . . This is one of the really, really good ones.”

  To accommodate the greater body

  of L. Ron Hubbard fantasies, Street & Smith

  L. Ron Hubbard,

  1948, among fellow

  inaugurated Unknown—a classic pulp if there ever

  science fiction

  was one, and wherein readers were soon thrilling to

  luminaries at the

  World Science

  the likes of Typewriter in the Sky and Slaves of Sleep Fiction Convention

  in Toronto.

  of which Frederik Pohl would declare: “There are bits and pieces from Ron’s work that became part of the language in ways that very few other writers managed.”

  And, indeed, at J. W. Campbell Jr.’s insistence, Ron was regularly drawing on themes from the Arabian Nights and 43

  ♦ L . R O N H U B B A R D ♦

  so introducing readers to a world of genies, jinn, Aladdin and Sinbad—all of which, of course, continue to float through cultural mythology to this day.

  At least as influential in terms of post-apocalypse stories was L. Ron Hubbard’s 1940 Final Blackout. Generally acclaimed as the finest anti-war novel of the decade and among the ten best works of the genre ever authored—here, too, was a tale that would live on in ways few other writers imagined.

  Hence, the later Robert Heinlein

  verdict: “ Final Blackout is as perfect a piece of science fiction as has ever been written.”

  Like many another who both

  lived and wrote American pulp

  adventure, the war proved a tragic

  end to Ron’s sojourn in the pulps.

  He served with distinction in four

  theaters and was highly decorated

  Portland,

  for commanding corvettes in the North Pacific. He

  Oregon, 1943;

  L. Ron Hubbard,

  was also grievously wounded in combat, lost many a

  captain of the

  close friend and colleague and thus resolved to say

  US Navy subchaser

  PC 815.

  farewell to pulp fiction and devote himself to what it had supported these many years—namely, his serious research.

  But in no way was the LRH literary saga at an end, for as he wrote some thirty years later, in 1980:

  “Recently there came a period when I had little to do. This was novel in a life so crammed with busy years, and I decided to amuse myself by writing a novel that was pure science fiction.”

  44

  A M E R I C A N ♦

  P U ♦L P F I C T I O N

  That work was Battlefield Earth:

  A Saga of the Year 3000. It was an Final Blackout

  immediate New York Times bestseller is as perfect

  and, in fact, the first international

  a piece of

  science fiction blockbuster in

  science fiction

  decades. It was not, however,

  as has ever

  L. Ron Hubbard’s magnum opus, as

  been written.

  that distinction is generally reserved

  for his next and final work: The 1.2

  —Robert Heinlein

  million word Mission Earth.

  How he managed those 1.2 million words in just over twelve months is yet another piece of the L. Ron Hubbard legend.

  But the fact remains, he did indeed author a ten-volume dekalogy that lives in publishing history for the fact that each and every volume of the series was also a New York Times bestseller.

  Moreover, as subsequent generations discovered L. Ron Hubbard through republished works and novelizations of his screenplays, the mere fact of his name on a cover signaled an international bestseller. . . . Until, to date, sales of his works exceed hundreds of millions, and he otherwise remains among the most enduring and widely read authors in literary history. Although as a final word on the tales of L. Ron Hubbard, perhaps it’s enough to simply reiterate what editors told readers in the glory days of American Pulp Fiction: He writes the way he does, brothers, because he’s been there, seen it and done it!

  45

  The Stories from the Golden

  ♦

  ♦

  T H E S T O R I E S F R O M T H E

  G O L D E N A G E

  Your ticket to adventure starts here with the Stories from the Golden Age collection by master storyteller L. Ron Hubbard.

  These gripping tales are set in a kaleidoscope of exotic locales and brim with fascinating characters, including some of the most vile villains, dangerous dames and brazen heroes you’ll ever get to meet.

  The entire collection of over one hundred and fifty stories is being released in a series of eighty books and audiobooks.

  For an up-to-date listing of available titles, go to www.goldenagestories.com.

  A I R A D V E N T U R E

  Arctic Wings

  Man-Killers of the Air

  The Battling Pilot

  On Blazing Wings

  Boomerang Bomber

  Red Death Over China

  The Crate Killer

  Sabotage in the Sky

  The Dive Bomber

  Sky Birds Dare!

  Forbidden Gold

  The Sky-Crasher

  Hurtling Wings

  Trouble on His Wings

  The Lieutenant Takes the Sky

  Wings Over Ethiopia

  47

  S T O R I E ♦S LF .

  R R

  OO N

  M H

  T U

  H B

  E B A

  G R

  O D

  L D ♦

  E N A G E

  F A R - F L U N G A D V E N T U R E

  The Adventure of “X”

  Hurricane

  All Frontiers Are Jealous

  The Iron Duke

  The Barbarians

 
; Machine Gun 21,000

  The Black Sultan

  Medals for Mahoney

  Black Towers to Danger

  Price of a Hat

  The Bold Dare All

  Red Sand

  Buckley Plays a Hunch

  The Sky Devil

  The Cossack

  The Small Boss of Nunaloha

  Destiny’s Drum

  The Squad That Never Came Back

  Escape for Three

  Starch and Stripes

  Fifty-Fifty O’Brien

  Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead

  The Headhunters

  Trick Soldier

  Hell’s Legionnaire

  While Bugles Blow!

  He Walked to War

  Yukon Madness

  Hostage to Death

  S E A A D V E N T U R E

  Cargo of Co ns

  The Phantom Patrol

  The Drowned City

  Sea Fangs

  False Cargo

  Submarine

  Grounded

  Twenty Fathoms Down

  Loot of the Shanung

  Under the Black Ensign

  Mister Tidwell, Gunner

  48

  S T O R I E S F R O M ♦ T ♦

  H E G O L D E N A G E

  T A L E S F R O M T H E O R I E N T

  The Devil— With Wings

  Pearl Pirate

  The Falcon Killer

  The Red Dragon

  Five Mex for a Million

  Spy Killer

  Golden Hell

  Tah

  The Green God

  The Trail of the Red Diamonds

  Hurricane’s Roar

  Wind-Gone-Mad

  Inky Odds

  Yellow Loot

  Orders Is Orders

  M Y S T E R Y

  The Blow Torch Murder

  The Grease Spot

  Brass Keys to Murder

  Killer Ape

  Calling Squad Cars!

  Killer’s Law

  The Carnival of Death

  The Mad Dog Murder

  The Chee-Chalker

  Mouthpiece

  Dead Men Kill

  Murder Afloat

  The Death Flyer

  The Slickers

  Flame City

  They Killed Him Dead

  49

  S T O R I E ♦S LF .

  R R

  OO N

  M H

  T U

  H B

  E B A

  G R