Thursday, September 17, 2009

“When Shadows Fall” by L. Ron Hubbard

“When Shadows Fall”
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast performance
Produced by Galaxy Press
Approx 2 hours

Once again I sit back with an audio book and have some fun. This time it's as if I'm jumping back in a time machine and going back about 50 or so years, and picking up some science-fiction pulp stories. That's right it's another L. Ron Hubbard audio book collection of his short stories. Hubbard wrote many short stories during the '30s through the '50s, they range in genre from westerns to sci-fi, from fantasy to piracy, and every one of his early stories have been packaged up in both book and audio book form. They consist of two or three stories within the same genre to fill up the audio book with two hours of listening pleasure.

Galaxy audio has produced the audio books with multi-cast performances, sound effects and incidental music that not only assist in the story telling but also give the feel of the times the stories were written. The characterizations from the performers' voices create an ambiance that boosts you into a jet pack and thrusts you into the hey day of sci-fi storytelling.

This collection, "When Shadows Fall" includes the following stories; the title story "When Shadows Fall," "Tough Old Man," and "Battling Bolto." Each one has the L. Ron Hubbard twist to the end that leaves the listener smiling or saying, "hmmm...." or both. Either way they are very fun to hear.

"When Shadows Fall" tells the story of Earth after most of its population has left to colonize the universe leaving the planet depleted of its natural resources. The few inhabitants have very little food, fuel, air or water. The Earth president and council decide to make a last ditch effort and pool all remaining resources to send out among the stars to ask for help. They only come up with enough for three expeditions each led by a completely different personality, one a military leader, another a financial leader and the third an artisan/story teller. Will any of these expeditions be able to gather help to save Earth?

"Tough Old Man" is an adventurous and fun story about a man named Moffat who is sent for final training under the Senior Constable of the Frontier Patrol, old Keno. All the others sent to train under old Keno have returned to turn in their badges because they couldn't keep up with the old man. Moffet is determined. He powers through the severities of the planets climates of extreme cold, extreme heat and rocky landscape. What it takes to be Senior Constable is a a surprise to Moffat.

"Battling Bolto" is a hilarious space age snake oil salesman story. A young hick is hired as a smith to create robot skins for a man selling robots to planets on the fring, you know, backwoods planets. He soon dons one of the robot skins and is set out to deceive the hicks by acting as a fighting robot. This one has one of the best twists I've ever read in a story and is a must listen.

So go on out pick up the collection "When Shadows Fall" and have some fun with an audio book.




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posted by Gil T. @ 8:25 PM Comments: 0

Thursday, September 10, 2009

"The Professor was a Thief" by L. Ron Hubbard

"The Professor was a Thief"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast performance
Produced by Galaxy Press
Approx 2 hours

Remember the days of the "Pulps?" The small magazines that printed short stories that ranged from westerns to pirate adventures to science-fiction were a staple for many readers during the early part of the 20th century. I was always a fan of comic books and on occasion bought the Isaac Asimov monthly magazines. But the real pulps preceded comic books, with titles like "Fantastic Adventures" and "Astounding Science-Fiction." Well L. Ron Hubbard wrote many stories that appeared in many of those pulps and now Galaxy Press is putting those stories together in collections of two or three stories in one book or in this case in one audio book. Let me tell you not only are they interesting stories but they are very fun to hear.

In this audio book there are three fun science-fiction stories written in the 1930s through the 1950s. The title story in the collection, "The Professor was a Thief" was even adapted as a radio play for the early 50s radio program "Dimension X."

"The Professor was a Thief" is about an ace reporter, Pop, as he is called by the staff, who is being forced to retire from a New York newspaper and before his retirement he is demoted to less important stories. Pop is given a magazine article about a physicist that has been shunned by the scientific community. It seems the professor has some outrageous claims about making the shipping industry almost otherworldly. After visiting the eccentric professor at his home, Pop is shown the professor's train collection which is in a room that is a scale model of the United states. the trains are there but no cities. Pop leaves not finding a decent story in the case and finds himself back in the office when calls begin coming in about major New York landmarks disappearing, Grant's Tomb, Pennsylvania Station and the Empire State Building completely gone. Soon Pop discovers the professor has a secret and that he is a thief.

The second story in this collection "Battle of Wizards," is a fun science-fiction story that pits Science up against Magic. Earth’s Mineralogy Service has its sights set on Deltoid, a planet rich in “catalyst crystals in a natural state.” Angus McBane, a Civil Affairs officer, is sent to Deltoid to resolve the conflict between the humans and the planet’s native inhabitants. This sets the stage for a battle between science (McBane) and magic (a local tribal chief). The winner gets rights to the planet and it's resources.

Finally we come to the third story in this audio book, "The Dangerous Dimension." This story is a humorous story with a touch of a morality tale. This is the story of a professor who discovers an equation that allows him to teleport himself anywhere he can imagine, whether he wants to or not. It is actually a pretty funny little story and does bring to question if someone discovers such a thing should the knowledge be shared.

The voice work, music and sound effects in this production all work together to give the listener an authentic mid-20th century pulp magazine feel.

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posted by Gil T. @ 9:23 PM Comments: 0