Greed

July 4, 2011
This slim volume of three stories and a novel excerpt from the 1950s is part of an ongoing 80-volume collection of short stories by the prolific and controversial Dianetics guru, L. Ron Hubbard (1911â1986). He had numerous adventures, and the works here all star his avatars: daring, magnetic, flawed personalities who exploit the weaknesses of their opponents against enormous odds. The dated gee-whiz narrative voice falls flat in "Greed" and "The Automagic Horse," achieves terminal pomposity in "Final Enemy," and dominates the four-page snippet of Beyond All Weapons, an account of a Martian colony's revolt against an oppressive Mother Earth. (The whole novel can be ordered, a not-so-discreet footnote announces.) Even a glossary of 1950s catchphrases can't make this highly commercial promo for Galaxy's "Golden Age Book Club" relevant to 21st-century readers.

February 1, 2012

Hubbard's trio offer vintage action, adventure, and romance. The Falcon Killer (1939), the longest of the group, follows Bill Gaylord, an American-born pilot who became known to the locals as Tzun Kai after joining the Chinese air corps to help fight the Japanese invaders. When his plane is downed, Gaylord is hidden from the enemy by American industrialist Henry Thompson and his beautiful daughter (can you say love interest?), who stand to lose it all if the Japanese prove triumphant. A spy in their midst could spell disaster, so Gaylord has to sniff him out while trying to elude capture and keep his head.

Greed (1950), which also includes the short stories "Final Enemy" (1950) and "The Automagic Horse" (1949), represents Hubbard's numerous sf writings. In the distant future, man has turned to the stars to hunt for precious stones and metals, and there are billions to be made if you have the stomach for space travel and raping planets and their inhabitants of their natural resources. "Final Enemy" has a clever twist ending as Earth learns that the long-feared invader from space is man himself. "The Automagic Horse" is a humorous story of movie special effects genius Gadgett O'Dowd's mission to build a realistic fake equine for a film. When a hard-nosed studio accountant starts nickel-and-diming him, O'Dowd picks up some extra scratch racing his creation at the track.

Tomb (1936), the standout of the bunch, is like a good Indiana Jones adventure. Gordon, a pilot hired to fly archaeologists on a dig, is framed for a team member's murder. He escapes but is prodded into helping the group's guide locate Alexander the Great's fortune in buried treasure. The loot is guarded by Alexander's troops, but they're long dead--or are they? This title also includes the shorts "The Price of a Hat" and "Starch and Stripes" (both 1936), offering more adventure. These full-cast productions quickly become addictive. Their brevity also makes for perfect commuter fare. Anyone who enjoys hard-boiled pulp writing or old-time radio will be rewarded.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.