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L. Ron Hubbard and his works of fiction or
Was L. Ron Hubbard foremost a ‘science fiction’ writer? |
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“‘Hubbard is a science fiction writer.’ (This is not too bad as people respect science fiction writers. But it is false. Hubbard only wrote 1,000,000 words of science fiction over a short period and wrote 14,000,000 words on other things. They plug ‘fiction’ to connect it to Scientology. Subtly clever.)” |
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L. Ron Hubbard |
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 (from HCO PL 9 Jun 75 “The Enemy Line”) |
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Dedicated to Virgil Wilhite (1942/2004), collector & LRH* researcher.
This page has been released April 11, 2005, exactly one year after his passing.
L. Ron Hubbard and his works of fiction (page 1, index page)
| This page was originally an initiative to counteract the frequent claim forwarded by the common anti-Scientologist propagandist as if L. Ron Hubbard would have been principally a science fiction writer. This in a deliberate effort to have the subject matters Dianetics and Scientology associated with that as well and therewith at forehand attempt to persuade a receiving public to regard it all as nonsense and then have them walk past it. |
| Since then the focus has been extended to include seeking an answer for why the Church of Scientology and its representatives have given so much attention to his works of fiction (with a particular focus on the works of science fiction), all this since the early ’80s. More directly the question would be why, through this association, does the church itself discredit these subject matters of Dianetics and Scientology? |
Index:
 How to go about performing independent research?
| How does one perform independent research? With this is meant how does one avoid subjecting oneself to any outer control that may influence, give direction to or may even own the results of your research. You see, it can always end up in the hands of some entity or person that may wish to use it for something else than you intended it to be used for. |
| Well, to be able to perform research, then you simply need funds. If you have no funds, you can not research. Where do you get your funding? Here it may get a bit tricky. |
Government funding: You could apply for government funding which then would have to be channeled through various approval committees and that sort of thing. You need to be able to speak for your case and thoroughly explain why funds should be coming your direction. After that, you may wish to continue the research that you started for which you have to offer results. Thus you have to do your best to convince the persons appearing on these channels that these results gotten are good enough to have you advance. Many a person may apply for such government funding, but only a limited amount of persons in the end will be approved.
Private funding: Another way would be seeking private funding for which you have to get in contact with wealthy and/or influential individuals, or established companies that may have laboratories or other means you may require. Here however you may be risking that the results of your research may get disowned, and there most likely will be contractual obligations of sorts.
Personal funding: If you do not wish to subject yourself to this, get rejected, or have it disowned, then you have only one final option. Which then is that you must provide and/or secure your own funding. It would appear that L. Ron Hubbard had chosen for this option. L. Ron Hubbard apparently had skills, one of them being writing. This initial research into Dianetics and Scientology had been funded amongst other through this writing and publication of fiction stories as well as non-fiction articles.
| Note: The full introductory words to this work where this is taken from can be consulted here. |
These lines were written in 1957. It says “that this took seven years” (‘Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health’ was published in 1950), directly followed with the comment “Actually, it took more than twenty-five.”, which gets us to 1932 (works of fiction were published during 1932-50).
People in general however tend to want to believe that such scenarios concerning enforced outer control would be imaginary or at least exaggerated. Well, they may not be. Every person that performed a vast study of history knows these things to be quite real. Today these elements of control are as real as they were earlier in history. As an example Ben Stein's film ‘Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed’ (2008) addresses these matters.
A fiction legacy (1932-50)
The fiction legacy of L. Ron Hubbard
vs Redefining
words
| L. Ron Hubbard himself has said in regards to the development of these subjects of Dianetics and Scientology that “It was financed at first by my writings and expeditions. Some 15,000,000 words of fact and fiction articles ranging from political articles to western were consumed in a large part by this research ... .” LRH (from ‘Scientology: Clear Procedure, Issue One’, “Introduction” (1957)) |
An effort however has been made by various individuals to deem L. Ron Hubbard as primarily and foremost a writer of science fiction. All this even in spite of that he had written rather many more words in the subjects of Dianetics and Scientology, which is not science fiction or even fiction. This appears done in an attempt to place a deliberate association with these subject matters of Dianetics and Scientology, and simply to discredit these subjects at forehand. Is one then not allowed to be a writer of fiction stories and being an actual researcher? Once fiction having been written, everything written onward must also be fiction, seems to be the concept. According to the relay in ‘Scientology: Clear Procedure, Issue One’, “Introduction” (1957) fiction writing does not appear to have been by first choice. |
| Additionally a thought may be given to that there are quite a few writers of fiction around that base their stories on the realm of actual science and the latest discoveries. Jules Verne for example predicted and even researched many future inventions in his novels. Some people have suggested that we may be are just remembering our past, and simply are rediscovering that which once was reality by writing. May be, may be not. But there is nothing that dictates one thing excludes the other. |
Out on the Internet you will find a variety of websites that tell about L. Ron Hubbard his fiction work, mostly they would then focus on the science fiction and the fantasy stories, as these appeared more popular. None of these websites however give you a complete listing of his actual fiction legacy, why would they as most of these websites in fact focus on and address science fiction. Either way it will be hard to establish how much of all the fiction written was truly science fiction. It would then also be desirable to have a brief synopsis of each of such stories. A variety of the titles of these stories would be self-explaining. For example ‘Ride 'Em, Cowboy!’ is likely to be a western story. A title like ‘Forbidden Voyage’ on the other hand may be a harder task. It may be just an adventure or a fantasy story, but it could be a science fiction story. Would you have a synopsis of the story, it would enable you to categorize them.
The initial reason for this page being written was to enable anyone to find out and verify for him/herself what is true about those claims being made that L. Ron Hubbard would be primarily a science fiction writer and that Dianetics and Scientology was a natural continuation of that (also fiction). Provided here is a complete listing of these works of fiction in chronological publication order, which is then followed by a listing of his unpublished fiction stories. All this is offered as information, the various genres and the synopsis are indicated. You can also see very clearly when he wrote a certain genre of stories. It basically starts with predominant adventure/western type stories, later they tend to be more science fiction/fantasy type stories. Which is not very surprising as during the ’40s and ’50s particularly science fiction was in really huge demand, not only in writing but also in the cinema.
The following work has been found invaluable for this initiative:
William J. Widder, M.A.
The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A comprehensive bibliography & reference guide to published and selected unpublished works.
Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.; Bridge Publications, Incorporated, 1994; 373pp.
© 1994 L. Ron Hubbard Library
ISBN 0-88404-936-1
This work gives a treasure of very detailed background information. It gives full details about any of the published and even a record of unpublished stories, also listing incomplete stories, film scripts and so on. Details are given of where, when and who had published these, including any reprints, and any translations. Further it provides for much background data concerning how these stories came about or what L. Ron Hubbard was involved with at the time if this was relating to the stories written. All the entries are cross indexed in various ways in this work. I have only extracted that information that was to fulfil the purpose of my initiative. I have followed the story publication sequence as given in this work. The synopses are also taken from this work. And thus sufficient information is provided for enabling any person to positively establish and verify the actual genre of each of these stories. Making for a solid argument to counter the claims of critics that willfully wish to associate Dianetics and Scientology as being science fiction as well. Might it be said that these propagandists were exceedingly persistent with their claim for which reason I had to go to this length making a case.
The indicated genres found in this book are also the ones that are given on this page. They are divided up in the categories adventure, fantasy, mystery/detective, romance, science fiction and western.
There exists also a more recent publication about the fiction of L. Ron Hubbard from the same compiler:
William J. Widder, M.A.
Master Storyteller: An illustrated tour of the fiction of L. Ron Hubbard.
Hollywood, California, U.S.A.; Galaxy Press Inc, 2003; 194pp.
ISBN 1-59212-054-7
I do not have a copy of this second book, but judging from the reviews I have read this seems to work best as a display of the artwork associated with L.
Ron Hubbard's fiction writing career.
Virgil Wilhite, ‘L. Ron Hubbard collector’ and his role in the Widder Bibliography
Virgil Wilhite was probably the person that had the most extensive L. Ron Hubbard collection in existence. He told me that he already during the ’70s went to Scientology organizations and purchased interesting items from their old stock. In 1989 he opened a small bookshop in downtown Clearwater (Fl), close to the Fort Harrison hotel. It was in this very bookshop that I got acquainted with him, and learned about his passion about books and collecting. His area of collecting was basically anything that falls in relation to L. Ron Hubbard, his fiction as well as his non-fiction works. He had also included those works that were not written but recommended by L. Ron Hubbard. For a great number of years he traveled acquiring materials and indexing information. When I left for Europe I sort of lost track of him. I rekindled my contact with him when I found him again a few years later while I searched for him on the Internet. Since that time we had regular contact through emails, had various lengthy discussions on a variety of subjects, exchanged information and helped each other with our collecting. It was Virgil that I had asked about the L. Ron Hubbard recommendation for the World Book Dictionary (see my page “L. Ron Hubbard about dictionaries”, visit here, separate window). It was Virgil that told me that I could find it in the previous 1976 release of ‘The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology’ volumes.
It was rather unexpectedly when I learned from his wife that he had suddenly passed away. I had lost a good companion, a source of information and listener.
| On a Memorial page on a website about Science Fiction I found the following notice about Virgil: |
| “Bookstore owner Virgil Wilhite (b.1942) died on April 11, 2004. Wilhite was also a small press publisher specializing in the early works of L. Ron Hubbard and uncovered many of Hubbard's early pseudonyms.” |
| It was his research that laid the basis for William J. Widder's ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A comprehensive bibliography’ (1994). But nonetheless he was not given any credit for it. |
| My copy of this bibliography carries a personal inscription from Virgil. |
| [Printed: “To Michel, I may have put the main portion of this book together, in so far as the basic research goes, but the Sea Org did a great job in creating a Valuable Final Product!! Virgil Wilhite 4/14/98”] |
Pen names
L. Ron Hubbard is known to have made use of various pseudonyms for writing his fiction stories and even some of his non-fiction writings. It is rumoured that he was asked to do so because he wrote these stories with such a high velocity. Just for not letting it appear that so many of these stories that appeared in these pulp fiction publications were actually written by the same person.
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Fiction |
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Non-fiction |
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Winchester Remington Colt
Lt. Jonathan Daly
Capt. Charles Gordon
Capt. L. Ron Hubbard
Bernard Hubbel
Michael Keith
René Lafayette
Legionnaire 148 |
Legionnaire 14830
Ken Martin
Scott Morgan
Lt. Scott Morgan
Kurt von Rachen
Barry Randolph
Capt. Humbert Reynolds
John Seabrook |
Tom Esterbrook
George Kellogg
Capt. B.A. Northrop
Mr. Spectator |
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| Many of these pseudonyms came to light through the research of Virgil Wilhite. All the above ones are as found listed on page 273 in William J. Widder's ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A comprehensive bibliography’ (1994). |
| May it be noted though that within this ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A comprehensive bibliography’ we find no magazine fiction stories attributed to Legionnaire 14830, Scott Morgan, Lt. Scott Morgan nor John Seabrook. They could either have be used in reprints, different countries or for poems. I have no particular reason though to question the findings of Virgil Wilhite whom I had known personally for a number of years. I perceived he was rather conscientious about to get it right. |
| An additional option for a pseudonym has surfaced since: Frederick Engelhardt. But I failed to find a confirmation from any Church of Scientology representative for this. The Scientology corporation Author Services, Inc. on its website lists for the fiction oeuvre “fifteen pseudonyms”, it thus dropped the last one, John Seabrook (external link) (it was lastly found listed at link address in early 2018, the link given leads to an Internet web archive). |
| The fiction writing communities however do appear to have accepted Frederick Engelhardt as a valid pen name used by L. Ron Hubbard. It is a pity that I can't ask Virgil Wilhite to look into this anymore as unfortunately he has since passed away. Either way, in my main list I did include the 5 stories indicated as having been written by Frederick Engelhardt. |
But then, what to do with for example Fred Engelhardt? Is that a real identity? I guess I will let some other people battling about all this...
Old fiction republished and a return(?) to fiction writing (1980- )
Republication initiatives of these fiction tales in more recent years
Needless to say that many of these original throw-away magazines are today a bit hard to find. For this reason there have been various initiatives to make them more easily available.
| A first such an initiative to note had been realized by Virgil Wilhite. He issued a compilation of a total of 17 of these hard to find stories (originally published during 1936-37) and republished them under the title ‘Lives You Wished to Lead But Never Dared’ (1978, Theta Books, Inc.). |
| In the previous year he had already republished the book ‘Buckskin Brigades’ (1977, Theta Books, Inc.), originally published 1937. |
‘L. Ron Hubbard Classic Fiction Series’ (1990-99) |
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| In 1990 it was the turn for the copyright holders of ‘L. Ron Hubbard Library’ to take on the next initiative. From 1990 to 1999 a massive project had been realized which intended to republish the complete fiction legacy of L. Ron Hubbard from 1932-50, although including even 2 stories from 1981-82. During 1990-99 a total of 107 volumes were published. The release was a bit lavish, all leatherbound with gilt edges. It was said that only 2,500 copies of each would be printed. They were published by Author Services Inc. (ASI) which is the entity within the Church of Scientology that at this point in time was responsible for the fiction legacy of L. Ron Hubbard. This corporation in turn is owned by Church of Spiritual Technology (CST). |
| It should however be understood that the research as carried out by Virgil Wilhite, that was published in the book ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard’ (1994), had been taken as a basis for the release of this series. |
| At its release each of these volumes were priced at $60.00 if bought individually. If one subscribed to the full series each volume would cost $45.00 (still adding a $9.00 postage cost (pending weight and location) giving thus an approximate $50.00-54.00 per volume). Pamphlets from 1991 were introducing this release as “affordable”, although in the end, after purchasing 106 volumes, you still would be looking at a considerable amount of money. I guess it is all pending what type of public you are talking to. |
| Besides that it is indeed a very nice looking series. Each volume had also included various introductions and gave background information of each of the individual stories. The leather bindings were divided up in 4 categories these being: |
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Mystery/Suspense stories: |
Black leather |
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Adventure stories: |
Burgundy (dark-red) leather |
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Western stories: |
Tan (light-brown) leather |
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Science fiction/Fantasy stories: |
Teal (blue-green) leather |
| A (considerable in my opinion) downside of this release is that it is not accompanied with the original artwork or applicable bookcovers of the original magazine publications. |
| The regular series had 106 listed volumes. A 107th volume had been distributed at no cost to Scientology parishioners with “Compliments of International Management” this all “In Commemoration of the Freewinds Maiden Voyage 3rd Anniversary” (from the insert following the book). A copy was provided to those persons that were present at this celebration which was at special invitation only. It was further noted in the page facing the frontispiece in this book that this was an “Exclusive Limited Edition”. It contained 3 stories that we find are actually not issued in the regular series of 106 volumes. This was issued in 1991 under the title ‘L. Ron Hubbard Classic Fiction: A special Collection of Short Stories’. Note that it also didn't say: ‘L. Ron Hubbard Classic Fiction Series’ as the volumes in the regular series did. Its binding also had a different colour, it came in Purple leather. |
| This particular volume was never on sale and appears today very hard to find indeed. The volumes of the regular series however appear fairly widely available offered for rather cheap prices on the second-hand bookmarket. It is not known exactly how many were actually printed of this special volume, but probably not more than may be a few hundred copies. |
| This special 1991 volume contained the stories: ‘Hell's Legionnaire’ (Jul '35), ‘The Conroy Diary’ (May '49) & ‘Buckley Plays a Hunch’ (Sept '35). |
The various stories were not republished in any chronological (original publication) order. Many volumes in the series carried a collection of 2, 3 or 4 stories, but the sequence is apparently chosen at random. You can however easily divide them up by genre, as they come in various differently coloured leather bindings.
| I did the effort to index all the stories that are contained in these 107 volumes. It counts 217 stories, of which 215 are from the 1932-50 time frame, and 2 from 1981-82. |
| The story ‘Boomerang Bomber’ got me first going as I could not find this earlier having been published. It appeared that this was the re-issue title from 1938 of the story ‘The Contraband Crate’ (Aug ’35). Here it bothered me why a re-issue title had been used in this series, as it is more logical to then use the original release title. |
| That mystery being solved I was rather surprised that I still was unable to locate 2 additional stories. It made me wonder if there would exist a 2nd special volume that would then contain these 2 stories. Thus far I have not found a definite answer to this. Either (1) such a volume exists (not likely also as there is not enough material to fill an additional volume), (2) they are represented under other titles in the series (unlikely), (3) were unavailable at the time of release for the series, (4) were skipped for any practical reasons, or (5) they have simply been missed. The missing stories in this series are ‘The God Smiles’ (May ’32) & ‘Flaming Arrows’ (Oct ’36). |
| I did however find an entry in the book ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard’ (1994) that notes that ‘Flaming Arrows’ was “Scheduled for publication” in this series in “fall 1995”. This was to be ‘Adventure Short Stories Volume 8’, but by consulting the published volume of this it appeared that this 3rd listed story had been exchanged with the story ‘Wings Over Ethiopia’ (Feb ’39). |
| Finally it can be noted here that each of these volumes in this series carry a last chapter (titled “Classic Fiction by L. Ron Hubbard”) in where it lists the story titles issued in the series divided up by genre. Earlier released volumes had a shorter list, and thus I pulled the last volume issued which is “The End Is Not Yet” (released 1999). I found here that just 206 story titles were listed, although 217 story titles actually had been released. Either way, interesting is that it did list the missing story ‘Flaming Arrows’, but failed to list the other missing story ‘The God Smiles’. And by the way the 3 stories contained in that special 1991 edition, bound in purple leather, we do find listed there. |
| As a side note these 2 stories are not either presented in the 80 paperbacks planned to be released during 2008-14 by Galaxy Press. |
I did contact the publisher Author Services, Inc. about the 2 missing stories, but thus far I have not received an answer. Quite frankly I don't expect to receive any response either way. After all this has been noted as a for profit cooperation. My request for information does not directly involve buying anything, or it must be that there exists a special (thin) additional volume carrying these 2 stories they could sell to me. Also it is noted that the series had been concluded back in 1999, and I contacted them as late as 2013. Even if 2 stories had been omitted by mistake or other reason they are not going to admit that to me, now would they!
| Anyhow, because of 2 missing stories and a special volume containing 3 more stories that is rather hard to get and that never even has been on sale. Well, it would be a bit hard to obtain a complete series. This contrary to the promotional promise from 1991: (underlining is mine) |
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“But now you can share Ron's adventures and join in the excitement of his many action-filled stories by reading The L. Ron Hubbard Classic Fiction Series - - the first-ever republication of the entire library of L. Ron Hubbard fiction works in newly produced leatherbound books.”
(from promotional folder issued by Author Services, Inc. (1991) |
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| A republication thus, that will be missing 5 stories for the common collector, and missing 2 stories for the hardcore collector. |
Another obstacle arises in the surfacing of additional pen names, for example that Frederick Engelhardt. The Church of Scientology representatives are entirely silent about it, where the fiction writing communities confirm this. This would add another 5 stories not presented in this luxurious release.
Releases of ‘Galaxy Press’ (2008-14)
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| The first 5 that were issued in this series, these all in Jul 2008. |
| Since the early 2000s we have the new corporation Galaxy Press, which is basically just a business name of Author Services Inc., that in turn still answers to (owned by) Church of Spiritual Technology. It is this new corporation that would now publish the fiction works of L. Ron Hubbard. Starting in 2008 it was now publishing paperback releases of these works of fiction. |
| It would appear that these releases are accompanied with the original artwork that were in the original magazine publications. |
| They have this website at http://www.galaxypress.com. The related Galaxy Press shop at least until the end of 2014 was found at https://nh131.infusionsoft.com. Since 2015 it was instead included as part of the first mentioned website. They were/are being offered at the affordable price of $9.95 each. The plan was to release a collection of 80 paperbacks, and full-cast audio dramatizations of these, during the Jul 2008/Nov 2014 time frame. It would appear that still in 2019 the website lists exactly 80 paperbacks priced at $9.95, each containing one short story. |
| There was a second website for these releases that was found at http://www.goldenagestories.com. Here you could view additional information of various sorts. You could even download e-book and audio-book samples at no cost. Today (at least since 2019) it would appear that if you visit this Internet address that you get redirected to http://www.galaxypress.com. |
A new fiction legacy established?
L. Ron Hubbard returning to fiction writing since the late ’70s?
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“MONUMENTAL RETURN TO FICTION 1980–1981 |
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During 1980–1981, Hubbard produces two million words of fiction. Among his writings are two unpublished feature-length screenplays, Ai! Pedrito!, and A Very Strange Trip, as well as his highly successful published works. These include the largest single-volume science fiction novel ever written, Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000, and his masterpiece of comic satire, Mission Earth–an unprecedented 1.2 million word science fiction novel in ten volumes, which he describes with the word dekalogy.” |
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(from William J. Widder: ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard’ (1994), page 32-33) |
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The following information can thus be extracted from above named bibliography:
| ‘Revolt in the Stars’ |
full-length science fiction screenplay |
written 1976-77* |
unpublished |
| unnamed movie plot |
synopsis of a mystery-detective movie |
written 1979/Jun* |
unpublished |
| ‘Battlefield Earth’ |
science fiction |
written 1980* |
published 1982 |
| ‘Ai! Pedrito!’ |
full-length comedy screenplay |
written 1981* |
published 1998/Jun |
| ‘A Very Strange Trip’ |
full-length time-travel comedy screenplay |
written 1981* |
published 1999/Jun |
| ‘The Were-Human’ |
fantasy |
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published 1981/Oct* |
| ‘He Found God’ |
science fiction |
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published 1982/Sept* |
| ‘Mission Earth’ (10 vols) |
science fiction |
written 1981-82* |
published 1985-87 |
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* page 216 of bibliography dates this to 1977, whereas page 32 dates it to 1976
* see page 216 of bibliography
* see page 32 and 216 of bibliography
* see page 32 and 217 of bibliography
* see page 169 of bibliography
* see page 32 of bibliography |
These are the only writings of fiction that, per the information forwarded by this bibliography, that actually can be dated to either have been written and/or published in the 1976-82 time frame.
| For starters we are being informed that L. Ron Hubbard had been writing his works of fiction to raise funds for his research in order to perform independent research (1932-50). Then the research had commenced, and things developed prosperously with the establishment of Dianetics since 1950 and Scientology since December 1951. The organization had been founded and was receiving income for services being delivered. Raising funds for research through writing fiction was just not a requirement anymore and for that reason discarded off. He was now spending his time full time to research these subjects relating to the mind. |
| He had thus not written any fiction nor had it published since the end of 1950. What said reason could there be to once again commence the writing of fiction, at that primarily science fiction, this since the 2nd half of the ’70s? |
| Additionally considering this announcement from 1970: |
| If it was such an issue for him, as has been claimed, to return to the writing of fiction, then why did it not commence already during the early ’70s? As after all there was now time to do so! |
Writing science fiction once again?
| 4 reasons could be considered: |
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a) Filling up a gap of some sort? To account for the time that no new technology was going to be developed? The Bridge was announced done in 1970, with Expanded Dianetics and Primary Rundown we get to 1972, then a gap again until about 1977, and finally a Bridge turnaround 1978-81; |
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b) For financial profit purposes. Something new to sell and promote. Author Services Inc. had come into being (incorporated: 13 Oct 1981), as a for profit corporation, which was selling these fiction books and various materials such as signed posters, books, limited/luxury editions and so on; |
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c) To make it appear as if he was still occupied with various things (passion for writing fiction) and so this could be used as an excuse to not appear in public anymore, and thus make it appear as if he was still really alive and well. Issues to that effect had been raised during 1982-83 at which time his first-born son went to court to apply for his inheritance while make a claim that his father had died. Details about this and its odd solution to settle it, can be consulted here (separate window); |
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d) To purposely introduce an association of the subject of Dianetics and Scientology with science fiction in the mind of the public. After all the fiction that which was published was primarily science fiction. But why would you do such a thing? |
Regarding the authorship of ‘Battlefield Earth’ (1980) and ‘Mission Earth’ (1981-82)
There is also another version of this. Which is found in affidavits and communications from and concerning Robert Vaughn Young. He was a member of the Church of Scientology for a period of 20 years (1969-1989), he had worked in many areas within the organization including the highest management
echelons. The below information is presented as I found them. I excerpted the parts relating to the writing of ‘Battlefield Earth’ and ‘Mission Earth’.
| There is: |
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“ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG AFFIDAVIT
Copyright (C) 1994 Robert Vaughn Young
Redistribution rights granted for non commercial purposes. |
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DECLARATION OF ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG |
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I, ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG, declare as follows: |
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Extract: “102. I was also Hubbard's editor for Mission Earth, a one-million-plus word work that was delivered to ASI. I cut it into 10 books, proposed the titles, wrote introductory material and got the work ready for publication.” |
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I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this 25 day of October 1993, at Los Angeles California. Robert Vaughn Young” |
| And there is this: |
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“IN THE UNITED STATES
DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO - Civil
Action No. 95-K-2143: Declaration of Robert Vaughn Young in Support of Defendant's Opposition to the Motion of Bridge Publications, Inc. for Summary Judgment Against all Defendants for Copyright Infringement. Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of February, 1997, Robert Vaughn
Young.” |
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Extract: “30. I was also his editor for ‘Battlefield Earth’ which became a 10-part series. The manuscript came to me as one story and it was my job to cut it up into books. I did so and gave titles to the volumes which he approved, making changes in two of the titles. I wrote the introduction to the first volume. This introduction dealt with the subject of satire. I do not know, but I was told that he had seen it and approved it. However, as the other volumes of this 10-part series were developed, I had to compose introductory material to the other volumes. This included writing a summary and other introductory notes that went into the front of each volume. These were done without his approval or consent because most of them were done after he died in January of 1986. I also wrote material that went into the body of the work. All of this was put out under his name and he was given the copyright for it.” |
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| The dekalogy ‘Mission Earth’ is noted as a sequel to ‘Battlefield Earth’ which turned into this 10-part series. |
A more detailed overview of the supposed
involvement of Robert Vaughn Young was posted on a newsgroup on the Internet. It seems verified that this indeed was posted by him. It was entitled: “L. RON HUBBARD'S MISSION EARTH: the rest of the story”. It appears also posted on various websites on the Internet. You may consult it in full here (pop-up window). How you as the reader are going to look upon this, well that's up to you. I provide it solely as information. I perceive that I can not just go around it, or even ignore it. The person of Robert Vaughn Young does carry a particular significance in the tale of how these books came about.
It has been proposed that both ‘Battlefield Earth’ and its sequel ‘Mission Earth’ had in fact been written by L. Ron Hubbard for real, but possibly already at a much earlier date. There is something peculiar with these books. Various persons have perceived as if these books would contain technical information and a noted relation to what is happening these days on this planet. Some persons have been looking for messages in these volumes and more such things. This of course is pure speculation, nonetheless if L. Ron Hubbard was not around anymore at the time that these volumes were published, this does not necessarily have to mean that he did not author them. We should however not either overlook the fact that these books were issued by Author Services Incorporated (ASI) which is noted as a for profit corporation. Either way we are being forwarded various interesting factors. It reminds me somewhat of the novel ‘The Mighty Atom’ written by the Victorian authoress Marie Corelli in 1896, also this book as some have thought (and still are thinking) is claimed to contain a secret formula of some sort that could be uncovered if read in a certain way.
What about the long list of unpublished works of fiction?
| There is claimed to exist a rather extensive amount of unpublished works of fiction. These unpublished stories are listed at length in the book ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard’ (1994). I list these in full in chapter “Complete works of fiction in chronological order”, see section “Unpublished works of fiction”. They do not say when they were originally written, but we have factors that give an indication that at least some of them are dating back to the pre-1950 era. |
| We are being informed in that bibliography about that “During 1980–1981, Hubbard produces two million words of fiction.”. This however included the writing of ‘Battlefield Earth’ and ‘Mission Earth’. Per the http://writer.lronhubbard.org website they are respectively listed to make up for “428,750 words” and “1.2 million words”, combined we thus get to at least 1.6 million words. Probably the remainder of the fiction stories that have been published and have been dated to 1980-81 would make up for the remaining 371.250 or so words. So, when were these thus far unpublished stories written? |
The fiction stories that are listed as unpublished amounts to 98 stories. The bibliography notes on page 171: “Dates are indicated only where verified.”. It appears that only stories U:59 and U:88 give a time indication, respectively 1937 and 1921. Which would give the impression that these 98 unpublished stories all would or could be (probably are) deriving from the early fiction writing years. The question arises though why there are so many of these unpublished stories. Considering that during 1932-50 a total of 217 stories were actually published which sufficed making a living and perform said research during close to 20 years. In that respect 98 stories is quite a lot! So, are all these may be (very) short tales? We are not supplied with that information. The bibliography additionally lists 71 entries listed as “Incomplete stories and fragments”.
| Will these unpublished stories ever see the light of day and get printed? We'll have to wait and see, but this may not be so very likely to happen. Simply because that didn't happen thus far. What did happen thus far is the release of a leatherbound series released during 1990-99, and 80 stories have enjoyed another reprint in paperback format during their release for 2008-14. So, why not publishing the unpublished stories in an additional release? |
| In a sense it is rather odd though that this many of these fiction stories did not make it to the press. Do these listed tales actually all exist? After all if the aim of L. Ron Hubbard was to finance the initial research of Dianetics and Scientology with writing these stories of fiction, then what purpose would it serve to have an excess of total 98 fiction stories shelved, that thus, for one reason or another, did not make it to the printing press at the time they were written? |
The role of the Church of Scientology
Why this renewed focus on science fiction?
One would assume that the role and purpose of the Church of Scientology and its representatives was to have their focus on getting the technology of Dianetics and Scientology into the hands of the public and in use. After all this had been the sole reason why the organization had been established. At least until 1980 there had not been any attention on initiatives to have any works of fiction written by L. Ron Hubbard getting published or republished.
| The ’80s however marked a difference here. Since 1981 we see fiction once again being published. Not just fiction, the focus is primarily on science fiction. All that with a really massive media coverage and merchandizing campaigns. There are even various musical scores being written and issued for these works of science fiction. |
| Thus, a whole 31 years had past since the last time that any work of fiction had been published. And now we had ‘Battlefield Earth’ (1981), its musical score ‘Space Jazz’ (1982), a 10-volume series issued as ‘Mission Earth’ (1985-87), and its musical score ‘Mission Earth’ (1989). Is it rightfully that we start to ask: “Why is this occurring?”. |
| Did it damage the subjects of Dianetics and Scientology? Most likely it did, as since that time these subjects have predominantly in the media and elsewhere been associated with and/or are being presented as if being fruits of science fiction. |
| Is issuing all these things not just putting oil on the fire? Do we actually remember this one from 1975: |
| |
“‘Hubbard is a science fiction writer.’ (This is not too bad as people respect science fiction writers. But it is false. Hubbard only wrote 1,000,000 words of science fiction over a short period and wrote 14,000,000 words on other things. They plug ‘fiction’ to connect it to Scientology. Subtly clever.)” LRH
(from HCO PL 9 Jun 75 “The Enemy Line”) |
|
| It notes here “1,000,000 words of science fiction”, it likely refers here to the entire fiction oeuvre, thus not only science fiction (just add up the pages from main fiction list). |
| Then William J. Widder's ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard’ (1994), noted on page 32 that “During 1980–1981, Hubbard produces two million words of fiction.” (underlining is mine). |
| And it just does not stop there. During 1990-99 we see that the ‘L. Ron Hubbard Classic Fiction Series’, leather bound and all, is being published. And during 2008-14 we had another reissue this time in paperback format of 80 of these works of fiction, these being released by a company calling itself Galaxy Press, it sure all starts to sound a bit well spacial around here! |
| After this really massively given attention on the fiction oeuvre of L. Ron Hubbard, then how could we avoid not associating Scientology with science fiction? See, it is just a bit well hard to go around that! |
| Remember: (underlining is mine) |
So, how important and valuable was writing works of fiction actually for L. Ron Hubbard? Considering it was done for a purpose that involved being able to finance research in these subjects of Dianetics and Scientology. What logic is there to be found with all that attention and these merchandizing endeavors in the area of works of fiction as so vividly and enthusiastically executed by the Church of Scientology and its representatives? Is it because of a for profit consideration? Is there something else we are not being told here?
The question is if the Church of Scientology doing themselves a disservice here or is it all a carefully planned operation?
Is the Church of Scientology doing themselves a disservice?
In 1982 we see that ‘Battlefield Earth’ was heavily being promoted and since 1985-87 it was the turn for the 10 volumes of ‘Mission Earth’. Both of these releases received a significant media coverage, and these were actual works of science fiction, all of it. The question that may have to be asked is if the fact that this was science fiction, if that was purposely done? Indirect you would stir up in people's minds the association of the subject of Scientology with science fiction. People most certainly do associate, and these releases confirmed the prejudices and the preconceptions that were already placed by the media in the mind of the public.
Coming out with all this science fiction and promote that as heavily as was done, this was like blowing air onto the fire. It is quite clearly countering the intention of promoting the subjects of Dianetics and Scientology. Today when the person L. Ron Hubbard is referred to in the media, then at least 9 out of the 10 times he is persistently referred to as a science fiction writer, and not a just an author or even pulp-fiction author, no it is as a writer of science fiction.
Is it logical to assume that L. Ron Hubbard would put his lifework at risk or damage its effect by releasing science fiction and have this promoted with so much verve during these ’80s? After all he wrote fiction primarily to fund that very research. The writing of works of fiction, as the indications that we have been given, would have been a phase that was over and done with. We should also not forget that the Author Services Inc. was a for profit corporation. Who was actually earning money from these sales?
‘science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard’ (battles fought on Wikipedia)
Could this be a consequence of all these efforts of late by the Chruch of Scientology presenting L. Ron Hubbard as this author of (science) fiction?
These days we are facing new phenomena such as Wikipedia which claims have a encyclopedia status. Which would be a big word for a database in where any non-scholastic (or fool) anonymously can basically spout anything he or she wishes. Its contents is changing from minute to minute. And indeed we find that very many battles are being fought there. Most particularly in the controversial sort of topics we find propagandists. More generally in all topics we find so-called ‘graffiti’ artists (inserting word and phrases here and there). It seems that the biggest job the Wikipedia editor has is to clean up the pages from this unwanted graffiti.
I analyzed this phenomena of Wikipedia rather extensively which study can be consulted in page “Scientology in the media and on the Internet”. The section on this page that specifically addresses the use of the denotative phrase ‘Science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard’ can be consulted here (separate window).
What about republicing the non-fiction legacy? (1932-50)
Thus works of fiction now have been published. The Church of Scientology however has ignored here the works of non-fiction that also were being written and published during the 1932-50 time span. When does the Church of Scientology plan to republish the complete works of non-fiction from these years? Thus far they have failed even to release a complete listing of these. You see, having given attention to this it may have helped to enervate the attention a bit off of this “Scientology? It's ALL fiction!”.
| Mind the text that says that “Some 15,000,000 words of fact and fiction articles ranging from political articles to western were consumed in a large part by this research ...” LRH (from ‘Scientology: Clear Procedure, Issue One’, “Introduction” (1957)). Thus “15,000,000 words of fact and fiction articles” just until the year 1957. |
| The year 1975 seems to divide this up into “1,000,000 words of science fiction” and “14,000,000 words on other things.” (from HCO PL 9 Jun 75 “The Enemy Line”). What makes one wonder how large a percentage would actually have made up the works of non-fiction during this 1932-50 time period. It sure would be interesting to follow up on that and find out. |
| Thus far we know from William J. Widder's ‘The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A comprehensive bibliography’ (1994) that there were published 27 “articles on writers and writing, aviation and deep-sea diving”. But what about other topics? As this fiction bibliography of course only focuses on non-fiction articles somehow relating to the works of fiction written. |
| I may have given a hint here to the Church of Scientology and its representatives to initiate something in this area. |
Indeed, it may be time to ask some questions! Water (fiction) and oil (non-fiction) generally just don't mix very well...
Statistics and lists
Statistics (fiction oeuvre)
(1) General overview
The presented statistical overview you see here finds its base in the information and genre designations found in William J. Widder's “The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard: A comprehensive bibliography & reference guide to published and selected unpublished works.” (1994).
| |
♦ |
‘Feb 1932 - Nov 1950’ time frame (pre-Scientology) |
Fiction publications: 217 |
|
| |
♦ |
‘Dec 1950 - Sept 1981’ time frame |
Fiction publications: none |
|
| |
♦ |
‘Oct 1981 - Jun 1993’ time frame |
Fiction publications: 18 |
|
The table below will give you a summary of all fiction stories counted and divided by their genre. For this list please see at main index: “Complete works of fiction in chronological order”.
| Story genre: |
Adventure |
Fantasy |
Mystery/
Detective |
Romance |
Science
Fiction |
Western |
(Totals) |
| Published: |
92 |
19 |
15 |
5 |
59 |
45 |
(235) |
| Unpublished: |
51 |
7 |
18 |
8 |
3 |
11 |
(98) |
| Combined: |
143 |
26 |
33 |
13 |
62 |
56 |
(333) |
This table compares the science fiction tales with all the other genres combined:
| Story genre: |
Adventure-Fantasy-Mystery/
Detective-Romance-Western |
Science Fiction |
(Totals) |
| Published: |
176 (=74,9 %) |
59 (=25,1 %) |
(235) |
| Unpublished: |
95 (=96,9 %) |
3 (=3,1 %) |
(98) |
| Combined: |
271 (=81,4 %) |
62 (=18,6 %) |
(333) |
Some persons may want to add the fantasy stories to the science fiction stories, which then gives:
| Story genre: |
Adventure-Mystery/
Detective-
Romance-Western |
Fantasy-
Science Fiction |
(Totals) |
| Published: |
157 (=66,8 %) |
78 (=33,2 %) |
(235) |
| Unpublished: |
88 (=89,8 %) |
10 (=10,2 %) |
(98) |
| Combined: |
245 (=73,6 %) |
88 (=26,4 %) |
(333) |
Strictly taken as per the entered titles for the fiction work less than 20% of all these (published & unpublished) can be judged being actual science fiction. If you would add the fantasy stories to the science fiction it is little over 25%. If you would disregard the unpublished material you still would end up with 25% science fiction/fantasy.
| Some consideration however may/must be made in regards to that ‘Battlefield Earth’ (1982) and the ‘Mission Earth’ (1986-87) 10 volume series are no little books. There are two arguments that can be forwarded against that though. |
| |
(1) |
The actual attributed authorship of these volumes has been questioned. See for details about this the chapter on this page “Regarding the authorship of ‘Battlefield Earth’ (1980) and ‘Mission Earth’ (1981-82)”. |
|
| |
(2) |
Additionally consider that these volumes are no part of the fiction published during 1932-50. This rather effectively weakens (or discards of) the claim and argument that is made by some people as if Scientology would be a natural result of science fiction as these volumes had not even been written yet! |
|
Either way would this make L. Ron Hubbard primarily a science fiction writer in regards to all his works of fiction? (as isolated from his non-fiction writings) The here presented statistics should tell you the gist of that.
| It will be of interest to tell here that what it says t it claims in the ‘Writer - The Shaping of Popular Fiction’ (as part of the 16 volume ‘The L. Ron Hubbard Series’, all released in 2012, a Church of Scientology release). We find in this volume on page 120: “Despite the fact that only 10 percent of his total body of fiction is composed of science fiction and fantasy, L. Ron Hubbard helped to create what is still considered the great classic ‘Golden Age of Science Fiction’”. |
| Hmm, “only 10 percent of his total body of fiction” would be “composed of science fiction and fantasy”, and then call that a “fact”? Well, the facts that I have at hand makes a case for that this would be a rather incorrect claim. Would it instead have said “10 percent of his total writing oeuvre is composed of fiction tales”, then possibly you could have made a case with that, but it doesn't say this. Mind that these ‘The L. Ron Hubbard Series’ volumes were issued as late as 2012. The closest you can get to a realistic percentage, per the data at hand, and only if counting both the published and unpublished fiction, is 26,4 percent. So if you would insist on 25 percent, well all right, but not 10 percent! |
(2) The ‘Feb 1932 - Nov 1950’ time frame (pre-Scientology)
No work of fiction was actually published during 31 years after November 1950. Since that time L. Ron Hubbard devoted all of his time to researching and developing the subject of Scientology and Dianetics.
| Story genre: |
Adventure |
Fantasy |
Mystery/
Detective |
Romance |
Science
Fiction |
Western |
(Totals) |
| Published: |
91 |
18 |
15 |
4 |
46 |
43 |
(217) |
| Story genre: |
Adventure-Fantasy-Mystery/
Detective-Romance-Western |
Science Fiction |
(Totals) |
| Published: |
171 (=78,9 %) |
46 (=21,1 %) |
(217) |
| Story genre: |
Adventure-Mystery/
Detective-
Romance-Western |
Fantasy-
Science Fiction |
(Totals) |
| Published: |
153 (=70,5 %) |
64 (=29,5 %) |
(217) |
| With a notice that stories in the science fiction genre where not published until July 1938. And that stories in both the fantasy but especially the science fiction genre turned predominant as time went by. |
It makes for an interesting comparison with the published fiction works in the ‘Oct 1981 - Jun 1993’ time frame.
| Story genre: |
Adventure |
Fantasy |
Mystery/
Detective |
Romance |
Science
Fiction |
Western |
(Totals) |
| Published: |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
2 |
(18) |
Here the focus is obviously put about entirely on the science fiction genre. To be noted is as well that the bulk (11) of these recorded science fiction works were made up with the rather thick volume releases of ‘Battlefield Earth’ and ‘Mission Earth’ series (10 volumes).
Series
of stories (these stories are also represented in the chronological list)
Various stories have a related theme, have the same characters, or simply were sequels. On the various websites they may be referred to as series, or they may also be referred to as individual stories. For the clarity I have listed them below.
Addenda: # - indicates the numbering as used on the chronological list of all fiction stories (see main index). A synopsis of the individual stories can also be found on that list.
| 1. Hazardous Professions (The Hell-Job Series) |
| A series of 17 thematically related stories based on hazardous occupations experienced, or researched, by L. Ron Hubbard. The stories were published between Jul 1936 and Dec 1937. |
| 1. (#66) |
2. (#67) |
3. (#77) |
4. (#78) |
5. (#79) |
6. (#80) |
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 |
 |
| ‘Sleepy McGee’ |
‘Don't Rush Me’ |
‘Mr. Luck’ |
‘Test Pilot’ |
‘Deep-Sea Diver’ |
‘The Big Cats’ |
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|
|
|
|
|
| 7. (#84) |
8. (#85) |
9. (#87) |
10. (#88) |
11. (#90) |
12. (#91) |
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 |
| ‘River Driver’ |
‘The Ethnologist’ |
‘Mine Inspector’ |
‘The Shooter’ |
‘Steeplejack’ |
‘Flying Trapeze’ |
| |
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|
| 13. (#92) |
14. (#96) |
15. (#101) |
16. (#106) |
17. (#108) |
|
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|
| ‘Mountaineer’ |
‘A Lesson in Lightning’ |
‘Nine Lives’ |
‘Cargo of Coffins’ |
‘Orders Is Orders’ |
|
| 2. Kilkenny Cats |
| A series of five stories related by setting and characterization which were written under the pen name Kurt von Rachen. They were published between Jul 1940 and Feb 1942. |
| In the year 2893, after a number of revolutions have taken place, the government attempts to rid itself of future threats by sending rival forces to colonize a planet—knowing that they will destroy each other. Among them, however, are two rebels who devise means to prevent the rival groups of scientists and longshoremen from killing each other, and whose goal is to return to Earth and topple the dictatorial regime. |
| 1. (#153) |
2. (#155) |
3. (#159) |
4. (#157) |
5. (#168) |
|
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|
| ‘The Idealist’ |
‘The Kilkenny Cats’ |
‘The Traitor’ |
‘The Mutineers’ |
‘The Rebels’ |
|
| 3. Ole Doc Methuselah |
| A collection of seven short stories related by characterization and theme, written under the pen name Rene Lafayette. The stories were published between Oct 1947 and Jan 1950. |
| A seven-hundred-year-old Soldier of Light, ‘Ole Doc Methuselah,’ travels throughout the galaxy performing medical miracles, and gets involved in planetary politics—violating the rules of his profession. |
| 1. (#178) |
2. (#179) |
3. (#180) |
4. (#184) |
5. (#191) |
6. (#191) |
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 |
 |
 |
 |
| ‘Ole Doc Methuselah’ |
‘The Expensive Slaves’ |
‘Her Majesty's Aberration’ |
‘The Great Air Monopoly’ |
‘Plague’ |
‘A Sound Investment’ |
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| 7. (#209) |
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| ‘Ole Mother Methuselah’ |
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| 4. The Conquest of Space |
| Nine stories related by theme, settings and characterization which were published between Jul 1948 and Nov 1950. |
| The stories are based on information obtained from archives in the future—after man has conquered space—that deal with the human barriers that man must overcome to reach the stars. |
| 1. (#183) |
2. (#187) |
3. (#189) |
4. (#194) |
5. (#197) |
6. (#200) |
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 |
| ‘When Shadows Fall’ |
‘Forbidden Voyage’ |
‘The Magnificent Failure’ |
‘The Incredible Destination’ |
‘The Unwilling Hero’ |
‘Beyond the Black Nebula’ |
| |
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|
| 7. (#205) |
8. (#212) |
9. (#222) |
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| ‘The Emperor of the Universe’ |
‘The Last Admiral’ |
‘Tough Old Man’ |
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|
| 5. Mission Earth |
| A science fiction satire in ten volumes. Written during 1981-82. The volumes were published between Oct 1985 and Nov 1987. |
| 1. (#226) |
2. (#227) |
3. (#228) |
4. (#229) |
5. (#230) |
6. (#231) |
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| |
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| 7. (#232) |
8. (#233) |
9. (#234) |
10. (#235) |
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Vocabulary:
LRH:
An usual abbreviation for ‘L. Ron Hubbard’.
Sea Org (SO):
Short for ‘Sea Organization’. This is the senior organization within the Church of Scientology that see to it that Advanced Organizations (AOs) and the Class IV-V organizations do function well. They send out so-called missions if there are indications or if they find that improvement or corrections are called for. They also provide for dissemination and other programs that the Scientology organizations are to comply with. Missions may be send out to implement these and instruct the organizations.
‘The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology’:
This is a series of books that contain the HCOBs, and any references that are primarily dealing with technical matters. The HCOBs are printed in red ink on white paper, and the volumes themselves come in red bindings. The references are arranged in chronological release order (per issue date). These books may also be referred to as the ‘red volumes’. The ‘old red volumes’ then would refer to the 1976-80 release, the ‘new red volumes’ instead to the 1991 release. See a listing of published volumes here (pop-up window).
Copyright © 2005, 2008, 2013, 2019 Michel
Snoeck. All rights reserved.
This page revised:
10 March, 2024
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