L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 30 edited by Dave Wolverton

L. Ron Hubbard has been many different things to many different people, and it is undeniable that his legacy is tainted for many people.  However, everyone can agree that one of Hubbard’s greatest contributions to science fiction and fantasy is the Writers of the Future competition, which has jumpstarted the early careers of many writers who have gone on to make an impact in the field.  Each year, the top stories from the competition are put together in a book, along with articles on the craft from well-known writers.  Each story is illustrated by winners of the Illustrators of the Future competition, making the book a multimedia approach to the next generation of writers in the field.  This year, in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 30, stories by Orson Scott Card and Mike Resnick, both judges of the competition, are also included, along with a story from L. Ron Hubbard himself.

As with any anthology, especially an unthemed one, the contents have the potential to be a mixed bag, and this year was no different.  Some of the stories felt a little flat, while others showed potential.  However, the one that really gripped me and had the strength I was looking for was “Beneath the Surface of Two Kills” by Shauna O’Meara, which followed a hunter who is struggling with the ethics of killing.  It was a gripping story with a strong protagonist that wasted no time getting to its emotional impact. 

The essays are rather middling, with a pedantic list from Hubbard and an essay that is mostly direct quotes from previous essays in the series by Robert Silverberg.  It all felt rather uninspired.

Perhaps it is a sign that the future of the genre is not where my tastes lie, but I didn’t find this volume as gripping as I had hoped.  Fans of the series will enjoy the new crop of stories, but for people looking for polished, exciting tales, this book may be worth a skip.

A Matter of Matter by L. Ron Hubbard

NOTE: A Matter of Matter was a free review copy provided to Luke Reviews by Galaxy Press.


I have enjoyed Galaxy Press’ rerelease of L. Ron Hubbard’s early stories in their Stories from the Golden Age series, particularly the short stories over the novellas, and so I was excited to receive another collection, this time the latest science fiction release in the series, A Matter of Matter, which contains four stories.

“A Matter of Matter”: Chuck Lambert is a little too given to flights of fancy, so when he sees an offer to buy his own planet, he goes for it without seeing the warning signs. After years of labor, Chuck is in for a surprise when he lands on Planet 19453X, his very own world, where things don’t seem to follow quite the same physical rules. Oddly, the title story for this volume is the weakest. Its playful nature didn’t work for me, the characters were flat, and the story felt more like an outline. Not bad, but not too memorable.

“The Conroy Diary”: The story of a man who set up humanity’s future in the stars by mocking it, this one gets a little too ridiculous at times, but is a fun tale with a twist that, while not a surprise like it wanted to be, is still satisfying.

“The Planet Makers”: In a future where planets can be designed according to blueprints, it is the job of people like “Sleepy” McGee to do the engineering. However, between someone set out to make the project fail, and Sleepy’s laidback nature, it doesn’t seem like the project will ever succeed. This story is quite a bit of fun. Sleepy is a fun character, and while he doesn’t show a lot of depth, you root for him to pull through, in part because you know he isn’t as out of the loop as he seems.

“The Obsolete Weapon”: The longest story of the volume, this tale follows an American soldier who slips back in time and fights in the gladiatorial arena of Rome. This one packs in the action and is a fun romp. The time travel angle is glossed over, so it may not be for those who need every plot point justified, but it is great for those who want a fun, fast, action-packed story.

This volume also contains the usual features of the series: the foreword, “Stories from Pulp Fiction’s Golden Age,” by Kevin J. Anderson, a preview of the next volume, Greed, a glossary of potentially archaic terms, the biographical “L. Ron Hubbard and American Pulp Fiction,” and a list of all of the stories to be released in the Stories from the Golden Age series.

This volume isn’t without its issues. Beyond those mentioned in the story comments above, there are two that spring immediately to mind. First, the racism found in the stories. “The Obsolete Weapon” can’t get over “the shiny black skin” of the African gladiators, and reiterates their skin color over and over. “The Planet Makers” has Barteber, the black cook, who also happens to be the only character in the story who speaks grammatically incorrect English, along with the usual phonetically-spelled mispronunciations, and who is the only character who has to call everyone “Mister [insert name]” instead of being on a first name basis.

“A Matter of Matter” sees the natives of Planet 19453X as simple savages who are only too happy to submit to Chuck Lambert’s self-proclaimed rule. He buys a planet that is already occupied and owned by the people who live there, asserts his own authority, strips the planet of its resources, takes the credit and the reward, and still claims to be the leader of his “subjects,” in what amounts to a rather despicable glamorization of a repeat of what happened in the American west between the native tribes and the European-American settlers. This in part crushed the story for me. As a fan of early pulp era work, the occasional derogatory racial remarks do come up, even among the greats of the era (e.g. H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, etc.), and you can try to rationalize some as being the feelings of the time, and the works as products of the time, but that works in cases with Lovecraft and Howard because they don’t frequently dominate the entirety of the story. In cases like “A Matter of Matter,” when that does happen, it just loses some of its appeal.

The second issue I would cite is the value for your money. For ten dollars, you get four stories that take up only 98 pages, and that is with separate title pages for each story, occasional illustrations (which are a nice touch, but also take up extra pages), and VERY large font size. This one won’t take long to read at all. The stories in here are fun, but for a few bucks less, you could pick up copies of The Year’s Best SF 15, The New Space Opera, Legends of the Space Marines, etc., and get far more content. If you aren’t interested in the best science fiction of 2009, space opera, or Warhammer 40,000, then obviously those volumes won’t be of interest, although there are a number of other volumes out there for the same mass market cover charge. If you are a huge fan of pulp era fiction, then you may be willing to pay the high entrance fee.

Judging solely on content, not price, the volume is fun, if short. It stars on a lower note, but picks up at the end, with “The Planet Makers” and “The Obsolete Weapon” being some of my favorite works by Hubbard that I have read so far. Fans of Stories from the Golden Age will find a lot to like in this volume, and it would be a good entry point for those just wanting to get a taste.

8/10

The Crossroads by L. Ron Hubbard

NOTE: The Crossroads was a free review copy provided to Luke Reviews by Galaxy Press.


Galaxy Press continues its series of reprints of L. Ron Hubbard’s pulp stories, this time with a new collection of fantasy tales. Below are short bits on each story:

“The Crossroads”: A farmer decides to make a stand against the government’s policies and take his surplus food to town to sell. However, he reaches a unique crossroads, one that takes him to other dimensions. This light tale of a man in over his head, and who should be careful what he wishes for, is entertaining, with a humorous undertone that builds upon the increasing absurdity of the farmer’s predicament.

“Borrowed Glory”: A story I had come across previously (in Galaxy Press’ release of Fear by L. Ron Hubbard), I remembered enjoying it. I sat down wondering how this tale of an angel’s pulling of strings in one woman’s life would proceed on a second read. As it turned out, “Borrowed Glory” was just as much fun, and remains in my mind as my favorite of the Hubbard stories I have read.

“The Devil’s Rescue”: A man on the verge of death, afloat in the middle of the ocean, seeks salvation on a passing ship. However, there is a very dark history for the passing boat, and the desperate sailor may be farther from safety than ever before. This one wasn’t quite as engaging as the first two tales in this volume, although it does an interesting job of trying to wrap together a few of the genres Hubbard was fond of writing in, those being sea adventures, fantasy, and horror.

All-in-all, this new collection of Hubbard’s works is a mostly solid book. The first two tales, in particular, show Hubbard at some of his pulp fantasy best, and are, beyond anything else, simply fun to read. The Crossroads is a very short addition to one’s library, but it is a very fun one.

7/10

Hostage to Death by L. Ron Hubbard

After reading a string of novels, some of them longer than average, I felt it was time to read some short stuff. It started with a look at this month’s Asimov’s Science Fiction and When Shadows Fall, the collection by L. Ron Hubbard. I briefly went back to novels with the brilliant Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue by Hugh Howey, but I’m back to the shorter stuff. To start that off, I dove into another Hubbard book, this time an adventure novella, another book that is part of the Stories from the Golden Age series out from Galaxy Press.

Hostage to Death follows Lieutenant Edouard William deReilly, of the French Foreign Legion, stationed in Morocco to protect the train lines being used by the Spanish. However, upon receiving a note and gruesome trophy from Abd el-Ulad, a local Berber and enemy of the Spanish, with the threat of dismemberment of an innocent American woman if Reilly and his men didn’t come and save her. The obvious trap is sprung, and Reilly misses the attack on the train lines. His court martial is all a set up for a future plan that will take Bill Reilly farther than he has ever had to go before.

Along with the series introduction by Kevin J. Anderson, we are given a preview of the next volume in the Far-Flung Adventure branch of the series, Yukon Madness, a glossary of some of the more archaic words that might be found in fiction from the first half of the twentieth century, and finally an extended about the author section and listing of the stories to appear in Stories from the Golden Age.

Reilly’s tale starts off a bit unengaging, but that certainly picks up after the first couple chapters. His tale ends up to be rather exciting, despite the undertones of racism during a fight with troops from Senegal. Reilly struggles with disillusionment with the army he has fought with for so long, yet still sticks to his duty, all while saving the girl. While not the best of the reprints from Stories from the Golden Age, Hostage to the Death is still a fun diversion from the everyday.

7/10

When Shadows Fall by L. Ron Hubbard

As noted in both a previous review (If I Were You) as well as in the interview with John Goodwin, President of Galaxy Press, the aforementioned publisher is in the middle of a series entitled Stories from the Golden Age, a republishing in 80 volumes of the complete pulp-era short stories of L. Ron Hubbard. In their latest volume in the Science Fiction category, When Shadows Fall, we are given three short works. After the series introduction by Kevin J. Anderson, the tales begin.

“When Shadows Fall”: The title story of this volume follows an Earth that has reached its end, and is slowly drying up. In a last ditch effort, three separate expeditions are sent out through the galaxy, seeking aid. This was a slow start to the volume, as all of the action happened off-scene, and the conclusion seemed a touch predictable.

“Tough Old Man”: The longest tale in the collection, this story follows George Moffat, young new officer in the Frontier Patrol, as he meets his match in Old Keno Martin, the aged an over-the-hill constable on a planet of bizarre extremes. This story picks up significantly from the previous, moving quickly through the plot as our protagonist fights to figure out what makes this old man so much better than him. The conclusion was not a surprise, as it seemed to have been intended to be, but it added to the nostalgic touch of the story in a nice way.

“Battling Bolto”: The best story of the bunch, “Battling Bolto” tells the tale of a man who was tricked into working for a shady robot salesman as the titular hero, a robot fighter that wins matches to prove how great the robots his boss sells are. Disillusioned upon discovering the secret of the trade, our hero tries to right his wrongs, in an exciting, extremely entertaining tale.

After these three tales, we are given a preview of the next volume in the Science Fiction branch of the series, One Was Stubborn, a glossary of some of the more archaic words that might be found in fiction from the first half of the twentieth century, and finally an extended about the author section and listing of the stories to appear in Stories from the Golden Age.

These three stories, but in particular the last two, held exactly what I was hoping to find here: the style that emanates pulp fiction, the tumultuous hero, and action-filled plots, that, when read, can’t help but leave the reader with a nostalgia-filled trip to a time when fiction was fun, fast, and free of restraint. The pulp era stories are exactly what Luke Reviews is all about: reading for the sheer joy, pleasure, and fun that good escapist fiction is all about. This is a wonderful addition to a solid series.

9/10

Interview with Galaxy Press President John Goodwin

Many of you know of Galaxy Press, famed publisher of all things L. Ron Hubbard. Those of you around from the beginning will remember a review of one of the new books featured in their Stories from the Golden Age line up, If I Were You. As L. Ron Hubbard is no longer around to interview for this site, Luke Reviews proudly presents a short interview with President of Galaxy Press, John Goodwin.

John, thank you for the interview!

You guys are approaching the 25th volume of L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future, that is excellent! A quarter of a century is quite a feat for an annual anthology series like that. Congratulations! Can you give us any hints on what we have to look forward to with this next volume?

We just held our 25th anniversary event. You can see find out what happened at http://www.writersofthefuture.com/ where the blog will list a day by day photo gallery of the workshop leading up to the event. The homepage also has the release video graphic on volume 25.

Galaxy Press is currently releasing all of L. Ron Hubbard's pulp fiction works, in a series of 80 volumes entitled Stories From the Golden Age. What was the drive behind releasing all of these works again, and in this format?

We found an increasing interest in that time period – Hollywood has already known the value of these stories. You can review all the top money makers and perhaps with the exception of Titanic, they were either directly from, or had their roots in, pulp fiction.

After this series finishes, what is next for Galaxy Press?

We have also prepared his 20+ novels also written during that time period along with Mission Earth and Battlefield Earth in the 80s to start re-releasing with modern packaging starting in 2010. The release schedule will be modified against any movie interests that may be generated as we roll with our current campaign.

I'm sure you've been asked this before, but as the key publisher of L. Ron Hubbard's fiction, which of his works is your favorite, and why?

I’ve taken a particular interest to his Westerns. A bit of a surprise, I must admit. The females are usually very strong characters and the good guy, although with a few smudges on his otherwise white hat, is able to rise to the occasion and win out in the end – regardless how many times he is beat up and shot.

Eventually, you will have put back in print all of the works of L. Ron Hubbard. Besides continuing L. Ron Hubbard's Writer's of the Future, what will be the long term future of Galaxy Press?

Well this will keep me going for 10 years or so. Plus we have 15 languages in the long term strategy.

Thank you once again for your time, John, and I can't wait to see what you have coming up next!

Sure thing. Sorry to take so long to answer.

If I Were You by L. Ron Hubbard

While L. Ron Hubbard's name has lost some of its luster with the general populace, there is no doubt that he was certainly a capable story-teller. While bloated books such as his novel Mission Earth (ten volumes long) add far more quantity than quality to his canon, Hubbard's early pulp work still holds some power. With Galaxy Press' massive release of Hubbard's golden age works in their Stories From the Golden Age series, much of Hubbard's most engaging and, for lack of a better word, truly fun works are appearing in print once again.

My first dip into this vast reissue of tales was with this volume, If I Were You. The title story is about a circus dwarf named Tom Little, who desires nothing more than to be big, like the feared ringmaster. Tom gets his wish, and far more than he bargained for in the process. Very much the cautionary story, this tale epitomizes "be careful what you wish for," yet it also lets Tom grow in spirit, and realize what is truly important to him.

As an extra bonus, this book also contains the short story "The Last Drop," co-written with L. Sprague de Camp, who is sadly uncredited anywhere except on the copyright page. This story is also about growth, although in a slightly different manner. In this quick tale, one man grows and grows while another shrinks down to miniature size, all while combating gangsters. While not as deep as the title story, it too is a fun romp.

This book makes no claims to be great literature, and in all honesty it isn't. It is not the next great literary epic, and it won't be studied in school (unless there is a class on pulp era literature, which would be an amazing thing of itself). However, that isn't the point of this. It is to have fun. To read a story (or two) and have a really neat, intriguing yarn laid out for your enjoyment. And in that, If I Were You succeeds brilliantly.

8/10