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Originally Posted by HarryT
I enjoyed "Battlefield Earth", although it is a little over-long (but hardly alone in that fault). Let's not forget that while Hubbard may have had some off-beat religious ideas, he was also a damned good SF author.
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I'd amend that to "He was a damned good
pulp author". He was able to turn out publishable quality work on demand and to deadline. As with any pulp writer, the quality varied widely. For instance, I think the fantasies he did for John W. Campbell's Unknown Worlds hold up, as do works like Fear and Typewriter in the Sky, but the "Old Doc Methuselah" stories are just dreadful.
I don't consider him a damned good
SF author, only a competent one.
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"Mission Earth" is a different kettle of fish altogether. I think it's doubtful that Hubbard had much involvement with the writing of it, and it's pretty bad.
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Hubbard died part way through the series, and there was amusement locally when Bridge Publications took out full page ads in places like Variety commemorating him -- "They actually
admitted he's dead!" There had been local questions about his status earlier. At the same time Battlefield Earth was on the best seller lists, his estranged son was filing a Habeus Corpus suit against the Church of Scientology in Federal court in NYC, essentially saying "You claim my father is alive? Produce him in court where I can
see him!" You would think the status of an author with a book on the NYT best seller list would be better known.
The rumor I heard was that A. E. Van Vogt ghost wrote the later B:E books.
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Dennis