Books by L. Ron Hubbard

Winchester Remington Smith is a crack shot. Problem is, surrounded by roller coasters and merry-go-rounds, his talent is going to waste, knocking down ducks in a carnival shooting gallery. Win wants some real action, and like Gary Cooper as Sergeant York, he's going to warrunning off to join the U.S. Marines to fight a guerilla insurgency south of the border. In the jungles of Central America, Win takes a different kind of roller coaster ride. Quick and quiet, he's now a runner. It's a vital role, but he feels like a messenger boy, unable to put his rifle to good use. Even when he saves the life of First Sergeant Fifty-Fifty O'Briena Marine so gung-ho he has about a fifty-fifty chance of survivalWin ends up facing a disciplinary hearing for disobeying orders. Can the young sharpshooter redeem himself? Win's about to get his chance, an opportunity to deliver a message that the Marines will never forget.Hubbard knew exactly what it meant to be a Marine. As he wrote in 1935: ';Most of the fiction written about [Marines] is of an intensely dramatic type, all do-or-die and Semper Fidelis.' But the reality, he said, was far different. ';I've known the Corps from Quantico to Peiping, from the South Pacific to the West Indies, and I've never seen any flag-waving. The most refreshing part of the U.S.M.C. is that they get their orders . . . and do the job and that's that.' It's that kind of unique and pointed insight that he brings to stories like Fifty-Fifty O'Brien. Also includes the military adventures The Adventure of X, in which a French Foreign Legionnaire's intelligence mission leads him into an enemy ambush, and he has to warn his fellow Legionnaires before they walk into a massacre; and Red Sand, the story of a disgraced Chicago cop who joins the Legionnaires and finds his investigative skills invaluable in the desert.

Stop the presses! One hundred thousand dollar reward offered for the return of George Harley Rockham! That's more than enough to turn Shanghai newspaperman Jimmy Vance's head. Throw in the gorgeous dame who's offering the rewardRockham's daughter Virginiaand he might lose his head altogether. As fast-talking as Jimmy Stewart in The Philadelphia Story, Vance jumps at the chance . . . the money . . . and the girl.But as Jimmy quickly discovers, there are several billion reasons to watch his back. Because that's how much Rockham is worth, and there are some very hard cases out there willing to kill to separate the old man from his money.Next thing Jimmy knows, Virginia's tied to a chair, and he's got a couple of guns pointed at his head. But it'll take more than a little rope and a couple of firearms to keep this reporter down. The truth is tied to the mysterious fate of a steamship named Shanungand what Jimmy finds could be the biggest story of his life . . . if he lives to tell it. In the issue of Smashing Novels where this story first appeared the editor wrote: ';Loot of the Shanung is a soul-stirring tale of the China Sea, a story of modern piracy set in the Far East. L. Ron Hubbard wrote it. He knows China. He has been there. He traveled through the country and met the people and observed their customs. Smashing Novels will have other stories from himstories of far-off places and little known people. He knows of what he writes.'

Cast Spencer Tracy as Speed Kyle, master-builder of the hottest, fastest planes around. Then give the role of Cal Bradley, daredevil test pilot who pushes those planes to the limit, to a young hotshot like Tony Curtis. Add Grace Kelly as Speed's blond bombshell daughter who fears that Cal will go too farand you've got a winner. And as far as Speed and Cal are concerned, winning is everything. Speed's company is bleeding cash, and they need money quick. They're competing in the upcoming National Air Meet, and to the victor goes the spoilssome extremely lucrative contracts. But there's sabotage in the air and love on the groundand together they make a very volatile mix. If you love fast planes, fast action and unforgettable women, grab onto Hurtling Wings and hold on for dear life.As a barnstorming pilot in the early days of aviation, Hubbard was dubbed ';Flash' Hubbard by the aviation magazines of the day. He covered air meets and the latest developments in aviation, advising pilots on flying in adverse conditions. His unique and pioneering insight of flight streaks across the page in novels like Hurtling Wings.

When former captain of this army and that, Phil Sheridan, lands on the shore of the forgotten Indonesian island of Kamling-jewel of the Banda Sea-he's captured instead of welcomed by warriors of a primitive and bloodthirsty tribe. Marched to the natives' camp, he meets Jose Emanuel Batista-one-time slave trafficker, long-time murderer, and now self-appointed tyrant. Using his smooth-talking tongue and shooting skills to escape, Sheridan finds temporary shelter at the lodgings of a miner and his beautiful daughter. With limited arms and supplies to hold off Batista and his men, Sheridan must take a desperate chance and journey ever deeper into the jungle. His plan? Enlist the help of headhunters who may be more interested in his head than in driving out Batista's regime and ending its tyrannical reign.

In The Great Escape and Papillon, Steve McQueen embodied the tough guy on the run from captivity and injustice. But when it comes to toughness, McQueen is following in the daring and determined footsteps of Captain Spar. Wrongfully accused, Spar has been condemned to suffer the brutality of the guards and the conditions on Devil's Island. But they haven't broken his will, and now, escaping, he has one mission in life: revenge. Spar's out to kill the man who put him into the devil's hands. But he'll have to take on a gallery of rogues who are as treacherous as the waters of the Caribbean. Pressure is rising and a storm is brewing. But even in the face of a natural disaster, Spar discovers that nothing is more volatile than human natureas temptation and danger are about to collide with Hurricane force.In 1937 L. Ron Hubbard wrote to one of his editors: ';You might have noticed that I am intensely wary of becoming any kind of a story specialist. I have sold the gamut of types: air war, air, western, detective, love, terror. . . . My one passion is to build a name for variety. . . . I like my freedom. I fight hard for independent individualism. I love to tie into a yarn and make it blaze in print.' Hubbard's passion for writing, creativity and individualism certainly blazes across the page in stories like Hurricane.';Hurricane will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end as it unfolds.' Mommy's Favorite Things * An International Book Awards Finalists

Insurance investigator Brent Calloway may be too hard-boiled to crack a smile, but he'll go to any length to crack a case. As tough, terse and tireless as insurance man Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity, Calloway's about to go to extremes to see to it that one ship makes it safely from Hawaii to the mainland. Going undercover and posing as ruthless killer Spike O'Brien, Calloway quickly discovers that on this ship nothing is what it seems, and no one can be trusted. With so much insurance money at stake, and the whole crew apparently in on the scam, this could end up being a voyage to the bottom of the sea. . . . And when the real Spike O'Brien shows up, it's Calloway who'll need a good insurance policy. Because life is cheap when the stakes are so highon a ship of lies bearing a False Cargo.A veteran sailor who had voyaged long and far, L. Ron Hubbard knew well the life at sea. He once wrote in his journal: ';There is something magnificently terrible about a savage sea in the unwholesome green of half-dawn. . . . The ship is an unreal, fragile thing, full of strange groans, and engine and sails are dwarfed in their puny power when matched to all the countless horsepower in wave and wind and current. The whole world is an awesome threat. Alone, wet, hungry, hand cramped upon a tiller, a sailor knows more truth in those hours than all mankind in his millions of years.' Also includes the sea adventure Grounded, in which a Royal Air Force lieutenant loses a friend and tarnishes his reputation, and sets out in search of redemption . . . no matter the price.

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Steve Craig is in one hell of a mess. Being accused of murder is bad enough, but the local police are convinced he's killed his own father. Alfred Hitchcock couldn't have conceived a more diabolical plot for Cary Grant . . . and now, for Steve Craig, the plot is about to get down and dirty.Steve's safe from the cops as long as he stays aboard his Navy shipbut the word safe isn't in his vocabulary. He slips off the vessel and vanishes into the seamy underside of the city, determined to find out who took his father's life . . . even if it means risking his own.He follows a trail of smoke and mirrors and sudden violence to the Brass Keys to Murder. With them, Steve will seek to unlock the terrible truth behind his father's death . . . and an astonishing secret that will change his lifeand that of the woman he lovesforever.Ron knew well the life at sea and the world surrounding it. Not only was he the son of a naval officer, he traveled back and forth across the Pacific, plied the China coast in a working schooner and commanded an expedition aboard a four-masted ship to the Caribbean. He walked the waterfronts of countless ports, sharing stories with the colorfuland often shadycharacters inhabiting them. Originally published in April 1935 under the pen name Michael Keith, Brass Keys to Murder is a direct result of those adventures.

Sheriff Kyle of Deadeye, Nevada, is headed east to the nation's capital. Like Dennis Weaver in the television series McCloud, Kyle's about to discover that the law can be even wilder in the big city than in the Wild West. It's a fact that hits home when he's the one accused . . . of murder. Kyle's come to the city to give a report to his senator on the misdeeds of Nevada's filthy rich copper kings. But before he has a chance, he's knocked unconscious, later coming to alongside his senatornow dead, with Kyle's knife imbedded in the corpse. Welcome to Washington D.C., where corruption, intrigue and murder are all in a day's work. Kyle's got no alibi, no memory, and apparently doesn't have a prayer . . . unless he can find a way to outwit, outfox and outmaneuver the masters of deception and double-crosses.Much like Kyle, L. Ron Hubbard was born and bred on the western frontier and made his way east to explore and experience life in Washington, D.C. But unlike the sheriff, Hubbard enjoyed his time in the capital, where he went to college at Georgetown. He came to know the ins and outs of the city as well as he knew the arroyos and canyons of the west, giving him the kind of insights he needed to write stories like Killers Law. Also includes the mysteries They Killed Him Dead, in which a respected homicide detective solves a murder several times over, only to be proved wrong again and again, to the amusement of his fellow cops; Mad Dog Murder, the story of a patrol officer who dreams of joining the homicide squad, and finds that the ticket to advancementand romancemay be a Pekinese dog; and The Blow Torch Murders, in which every criminal in town is eager to turn himself in . . . and the reason is a real killer....some of the most carefully and beautifully crafted trade paperbacks of our time. Mystery Scene

Imagine that your father is one of New York City's top gangsters, and that you want nothing to do with him or his criminal empire. Now imagine he's been murdered . . . and the only person who gives a damn is you. Meet Mat Lawrence, a stand-up guythink Gary Cooperwho's got one thing on his mind: revenge. The last place Mat wants to go is back to New York, but that's where the killers are, and he won't stop until they're dead . . . or he is. And there's only one man who can help him track them down: his father's criminal attorneythe Mouthpiece. But there's more than a desire for revenge at play in this deadly game. When Mat's old man went down, a million dollars went missing. Put it all togethera cold-blooded murder and a cool million goneand it's a pretty good bet that the one thing Mat is sure to find is some serious heat.Mouthpiece was originally published in the September, 1934, edition of Thrilling Detective. That same year, as the youngest writer ever to serve as president of the New York Chapter of the American Fiction Guild, L. Ron Hubbard sought to promote greater accuracy in the writing of detective and mystery stories. To that end he invited the coroner to speak to the Guild members over lunch. He later recounted that ';they would go away from the luncheon the weirdest shade of green.' But, we can assume, they also went away better informed. Years later, expanding his studies in the area, Hubbard became a special officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. Also includes the tales of mystery, Flame City, the story of one man's harrowing attempt to save his father and the city from a serial arsonist; Calling Squad Cars!, in which a police dispatcher goes to extraordinary lengths to bring down a gang of bank robbers after he is accused of working with them; and Grease Spot, the story of a former racecar driver, now the owner of a wrecking company, who plays fast and loose with the police . . . and may have to pay for it. * A Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award Winner

American Ann Halliday is as sexy as Rita Hayworth and as fiery as the Sahara sun. And now she's feeling some real heat, as the prize captive of the Berber leader Abd el Malek . . . also known as ';The Killer.'But Abd el Malek wants Ann aliveand in chainssubject to his every whim and fantasy. Dusty Colton, however, an American deserter from the French Foreign Legion, has a different idea. With all the swagger of Robert Mitchum, he's determined to give ';The Killer' a taste of his own bloody medicine. The only problem is . . . Dusty himself is wanted for murder.Can Ann and Dusty team up and turn evil on its head? One thing's for surebetween Ann and the Hell's Legionnaire, the temperature is about to get even hotter.On the subject of North Africa, Hubbard said that writers too often ';forget a great deal of the languorous quality which made the Arabian Nights so pleasing. Jewels, beautiful women, towering cities filled with mysterious shadows, sultans equally handy with robes of honor and the beheading sword.' Hubbard brings this unique insight to his stories of North Africa and the Legionnaires, investing them with an authenticity of time, place and character that will keep you asking for more.Also includes the adventure stories, The Barbarians, in which a Legionnaire sets out to avenge a savage killing and makes a stunning discovery, and The Squad That Never Came Back, the story of a man who has uncovered the secret to a city of golda secret that could turn into a death sentence. ';Action-packed . . . standout . . . hard-core graphic.' Library Journal

Han Solo of Star Wars could learn a thing or two from Firsten Guide, the tough, wise-cracking rebel leader who's light years ahead of his timeand about to lead his crew into a battle that's Beyond All Weapons. Because the force is most assuredly with Firsten.He and his fellow colonizers of Mars have faced a brutal crackdown engineered by Earth's tyrannical government. But the resourceful Firsten has developed an extraordinary new fuel that enables him and his hardy band to escape into spaceand time.Escape, however, is not enough. Firsten wants revenge. But the universe is full of unexpected twists and turns. Just as Prometheus flew too close to the sun, Firsten will soon discover that when you break the laws of physics, you can get burned.Hubbard was a pioneer in his use and development of Einstein's theories of space and time as a plot point in his fiction. In Beyond All Weapons, he explains: ';As mass approaches the speed of light . . . it approaches infinity. And, as mass approaches infinity, time approaches zero. It was only nine days back from Alpha. But in those nine days, six thousand years have passed by Earth.' It stands as one of the earliestand most succinctdescriptions of the theory.Also includes the science fiction adventures Strain, the story of a space war's brutality and one man's struggle to keep a secret under the pain of torture, and The Invaders, in which the distant crystal mines are under attack until a technician crystallizes a unique strategy to undermine the attackers.';A thrilling space adventure . . . the terror and excitement builds through to the end.' Publishers Weekly

Things are disappearing. Parts of buildings, parts of people, parts of the whole worldthey're here today, gone tomorrow. Old Shellbacka character as crazy-smart as Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Futurethinks he needs glasses. But all he really has to do is open his eyes . . . and see the light.Or so says George Smileyotherwise known as the Messiah. George claims that the reason things are vanishing is because he wants them to go away. He has no more use for the world . . . and so it goes. Say goodbye. But Old Shellback has a different idea, and since he is the most stubborn man in the universe, you might want to hear him out.What's Shellback's idea? That two can play at this game. While George is making this world disappear, Old Shellback will make another one appear. Join him on an amazing odysseyas he heads back to a future of his own making.By the spring of 1938, Hubbard's stature as a writer was well established. As author and critic Robert Silverberg puts it: he had become a ';master of the art of narrative.' Hubbard's editors urged him to apply his gift for succinct characterization, original plot, deft pacing and imaginative action to a genre that was new, and essentially foreign, to himscience fiction and fantasy. The rest is Sci-Fi history.Also includes the Science Fiction adventures, A Can of Vacuum, in which a practical joke on a space station proves that a good sense of humor is timeless, and 240,000 Miles Straight Up, the thrilling story of a race to the moon . . . and the one man who may be able to save the earth from Armageddon.

Meet Chuck Lambert, who, though not exactly a fool, is guilty of letting his imagination get the best of his wits. That's because our young, naive Lambert wants his own planet. But rather than purchase one legally from the Interior Department of the Outer Galactic Control, he soon succumbs to the flashy advertising of an unsavory galactic swindler named Madman Murphy- the purported King of Planetary Realtors. What Madman is the king of, is selling the unwary a planet that isn't quite right, a planet where one can't sit down because there's something the matter with its matter. And that's exactly what becomes the matter for our unlucky voyager, after Chuck toils for eleven grueling years to scrape together enough money to finally buy a planet of his own.

Is Greed good? The future of Earth and all of mankind may hang on that one question. And George Marquis Lorrilarda space age ace-pilot, adventurer and fortune-hunter to rival Hans Solo of Star Warsis just the man to answer it. The world is divided between Asia and the United Continentstwo great super powers locked in eternal warfare. But the balance of power is about to shift in Asia's favor. They have developed a top-secret weaponthe cohesion projectorthat could lead to annihilation on an unprecedented scale. . . . But as far as Lorrilard is concerned, the number one problem with the projector is that it stands in the way of his profits. Can he find a way to subvert the powerful weapon and resume his enterprising exploits? For millions of people on Earth survival may ultimately depend on the power of one man's Greed.Greed was the last L. Ron Hubbard story published in Astounding Science Fiction in April 1950, marking the end of an era. Over a decade before, he had been a key figure in the opening of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Now, as he turned his attention to other writings, the Golden Age drew to a close. But some three decades after this story appeared, Hubbard would make a triumphant return to the field with the publication of his bestselling novel Battlefield Earth and the extraordinary ten-volume series Mission Earth. Also includes the science fiction adventures, The Final Enemy, in which Earth discovers it faces a distant, yet devastating new foe, the identity of which is the most shocking blow of all, and The Automagic Horse, the story of a Hollywood special effects wizard who is about to apply his movie magic to a project that is out of this world.A wonderfully rich and textured experience, complete with realistic sound effects and moody atmospheric music. Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award winner for 2008

Drilling for oil is a dirty business, and for Bill Murphy, it's about to turn positively filthy. But Murphy's as big and tough as his home state of Texasa man in the mold of a young John Wayneand he's more than a match for everything the oil-rich land of Venezuela can throw at him. Everything, that is, except for one woman . . .Her name is Marcia Stewart. She's fiery, she's brave, and she's beautiful . . . and she'd like nothing better than to see Bill Murphy dead. Her oilman father's been killed, and Marcia tags Murphy as the murderer.Murphy's guilty of a lot of things, but murder's not one of them. He's drilling down for the truth, and now it's his land, his love for Marciaand his lifethat are on the line. With so much at stake, he'll go to any length to come out on top of the Black Towers to Danger.When Black Towers to Danger was first published in 1936, the editor wrote: ';L. Ron Hubbard, as you know, is a pilot, a writer and an engineer. The one thing he doesn't work at is engineering. He was in China at 15 and has covered a lot of territory since then. If he's on a flying fieldor anywhere elseyou can't miss himhe's a tall, slender chap with very fair skin and bright red hair. Something picturesque about him as there should be about a flyer.' And not only was he a man with a commanding presence, so too did he have command over his material, researching the entire oil drilling process for this story.Roars to life. Publishers Weekly

Embittered by past failures and broken dreams, American fighter pilot David Duane believes in but one causehis own. Europe is at war, and he'll fight it for a price, selling his deadly flying skills to the highest bidder.Just as Bogart came to Casablanca to escape his past, Duane has come to the icy white wastes of Scandinavia to wage a private war in the skies. But he's about to take off on a flight and undertake an unforgettable journeyOn Blazing Wingsto a place beyond the imagination . . . leading to a revelation that will open his eyes and his heart. In a world divided by war, Duane discovers that sometimes you have to make a choice, and that making the wrong one could cost him the woman he loves. . . .As a barnstorming pilot in the early days of aviation, Hubbard was dubbed ';Flash' Hubbard by the aviation magazines of the day. His unique personal and pioneering knowledge of flight streaks across the page in novels like On Blazing Wings. ';Expect twists and turns to the very end.' Yahoo Voices* International Book Award Winner

Spring has come to White Bear Landingand so has the law, in the firm hands of Royal Mounted policeman and pilot Bob Dixon. Dixon's as gruff, tough and good-looking as Russell Crowe, and in this outpost halfway between the arctic mines and civilization, he's known for taking the law to extremes.More than once Dixon has meted out his own brand of rough justice with hard fists and hot lead, but now the tables have turned. The past has come back to haunt him, he's been set up as a murder suspect, and a rogue's gallery of enemies are lining up to settle old scores . . .Out on the icy tundra, on the edge of the world, revenge can be coldand brutal. Dixon's only hope is to let the trust of a good friend and the love of a good woman lead the way to true justice and redemptionon Arctic Wings.Hubbard never wrote a word, conceived a character, or described a setting without first finding out all he could about the people and places that drove his stories. He wrote: ';I began to search for research on the theory that if I could get a glimmering of anything lying beyond a certain horizon, I could go deep enough to find an excellent story. I read exhaustively. I wanted information and nothing else.' His exhaustive researchand search for the excellent storycomes through brilliantly in Arctic Wings.

Take a touch of Charles Lindbergh, mix in a dash of Evel Knievel, throw in one man-killing catand you've got a recipe for a rip-roaring adventure featuring the high-flying, hard-living Smoke Burnham.There's not a dare Smoke won't take, and there's not a wager he won't make. Now he's betting his life that he can fly his plane, Super Cometwith his pet cheetah Patty coming along for the rideacross the mountains and jungles of South America to a prize-winning payday. All he has to do is out-race the competition, out-maneuver a saboteur, and make out with his girlwho's determined to bring him down to earth. One thing you can count onin the air, in a fight, or in his girlfriend's armshe's a man who likes to turn up the heat. Because where there's Smoke, there's fire.In 1931, as a student at George Washington University, Hubbard founded the college Glider Club and within a few months a respected columnist said ';he is recognized as one of the outstanding glider pilots in the country.' Later he wrote as the aviation correspondent for the prestigious flying magazine Sportsman Pilot. His combined writing and flying expertise comprised the perfect recipe to give stories like Man-Killers of the Air their authentic flavor.';Great adventure to keep you on the edge of your seat.' Gather.com

Sailor Bob Sherman has his hands full trying to save the ocean yacht Bonito from capsizing in hurricane waters off Venezuela's coast- no thanks to the know-it-all attitude and incompetence of the vessel's captain. Sherman's rugged good looks and seafaring skills at least bring him the attentions of Phyllis Marmion, a raven-haired beauty and daughter of the yacht's owner. Unfortunately, Sherman's also the bitter enemy of the girl's father who, with the support of corrupt officials, had stripped him of a highly profitable drilling business and taken his land years before. More's at stake than oil fields when the ship is attacked by modern pirates and are all taken captive. Soon Sherman, crew and passengers find themselves in a dungeon jail on an uncharted island known locally as the Island of Death- a place where no one escapes, and Sherman's futile efforts have marked him for an early death.

Bat Conroycut him and he'd bleed ink, he's a born newspaperman. Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareidthe greatest American journalists of the 20th century all made their names as war correspondents, but none of them would have beat out Bat Conroy to a good story.Which makes it that much more mystifyingand aggravatingwhen an unknown writer, filing under the byline Perry Lane, scoops Bat on every story that comes along. Bat's always been the go-to reporter covering the Japanese invasion of China . . . until this Perry Lane person came along to steal his thunder and maybe even his job.Now, the biggest story of the war is about to hit the fan, and Bat's going to get to the source first if it kills him. But the most shocking news of all is the true identity of the elusive Perry Lane. As a young man, Hubbard visited Manchuria, where his closest friend headed up British intelligence in northern China. Hubbard gained a unique insight into the intelligence operations and spy-craft in the region as well as the hostile political climate between China and Japana knowledge that informs stories like Inky Odds.

Built around the Hubbard Chart of Human Evaluation, Science of Survival provides the first accurate prediction of human behavior.

Provides answers and solutions to key problems common to most peoples lives, allowing the individual to overcome those problems and gain a better understanding of life.