Hostage to Death by L. Ron Hubbard

Hostage to Death
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multi-cast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio (2009)
Approx. 2 hours

Once again it's time to dive into the Golden Age of Stories, when many Americans could get great escapism fiction from pulp magazines. One of the most prolific pulp fiction writers was L. Ron Hubbard, writing stories from many genres and being published in nearly all the pulps. This time around we go on a far flung adventure and join up with the French Foreign legion.

I can remember when I was young that a young man would instead of run away and join the circus had the option of running away and joining the Foreign Legion, I think I remember some TV show where a kid threatened to do so but being only 9 years old was talked out of it by his parents. The French Foreign Legion has been known to be an elite force with training that is more intense than any other military allowing anyone from any nationality to serve the French Army.

This story, "Hostage to Death" was originally published in "Five Novels Monthly" July, 1935 and is an adventure that will lead to double crosses within double crosses. Legionnaire Officer, Bill Reilly receives a severed hand that serves as a message and a threat. The hand is that of some unlucky soul that crossed into Abd El-Ulad's territory and that if nothing is done an Englishwoman, Kay MacArthur's hand will be sent next, basically challenging the Legion to rescue her. Knowing it could be a trap, Reilly's sense of honor overrides and he sends his squad in to rescue the woman. The good news, the woman is rescued. The bad news, it was a trap and the railroad they were supposed to be guarding is blown up. Reilly is tried and convicted to 15 years for abandoning his post.

But the Legion has other plans for Reilly. Now that Reilly is known to be sent to the roughest prison in history the Legion plans for his escape so he can infiltrate another enemy's camp, that of Abd El-Krim. Reilly takes to Krim the plans for movement of ammunition and basically sells Krim several trainloads of Legion weapons. The Legion does this so the enemy can attack and weaken Spain, who is threatening the French. The problem is that the French have one more plan of double-crossing Reilly which could put him and Kay MacArthur in the path of certain death.

Once again Galaxy Audio productions along with a superb cast present an adventure from the Stories from the Golden Age. The sound effects alone put you in the middle of the fight with rattling machine guns and clashing of blades. You may find yourself ducking the gunshots while trying to rescue the dame while listening.

"Yukon Madness" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Yukon Madness"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast performance
produced 2010 by Galaxy Audio
Approx 2 hours

I keep diving into my collection of L. Ron Hubbard stories that have been re-released by Galaxy Press and Galaxy Audio. Back in the days of old (okay, the mid-20th century), writers could make money for about a nickel a word by publishing short stories in the pulps. The pulps were magazines that printed short stories that were printed on cheaper paper to keep the price down to about 5 or 10 cents per issue. The cheaper paper was pulpy and lumpy and the stories from that time are referred to as pulp fiction. Hubbard wrote many stories from this time period, often referred to as the Golden Age of Stories. Galaxy Press and Galaxy Audio are keeping the pulp fiction feel by re-printing these stories in short books that closely resemble the old pulps using the original artwork and keeping the books at 120 pages or so and feature from one to three stories. The cool part is that with the audio books they are creating an audio pulp. The audio books all come out to be about 2 hours and feature a fully produced (with sound effects) and multi-cast performance that sound like the old radio dramas from around the same time period.

"Yukon Madness," originally published in"Mystery Adventures" Aug 1935, tells of the hunt for Itauk the Madman who has spread death to the Yukon, throwing the bodies of his victims to his sled team of twelve wolves. Tracking him down are Canadian Mountie Tommy McKenna and his partner Simmons. But when the pair separate to hunt for food, Itauk attacks Simmons and lets his wolves make an unmentionable feast that Tommy later discovers on his return to camp.
Enraged, Tommy follows the maniac's trail to a village and en route he meets an enchanting Eskimo woman named Kaja. Of course, the route's a trap set by Itauk, and the only one who can save Tommy is Kaja, who is engaged to be wed to the ruthless killer, and who plans to serve the Mountie as the next meal for his personal wolf pack. Though wounded, Mounty Tom McKenna uses a ruse to vanquish the rampaging Itauk the Madman, and then leaves him to the wolves. This makes for a fun short story that is over before you know it and just enough time to get your adrenaline up.

"The Cossack" was originally published in the May-June, 1935 issue of "Unknown" This one is a sad tale of love lost and betrayal of a leader. Colonel Komroff has caught the eye of the Duchess in revolutionary Russia. The only problem is; Komroff has a woman waiting for him back home. The Duchess could give him everything including advancements in his career. When she offers him an advancement in rank all she asks in return is a kiss. Komroff spurns her advances and she ships him off to a far off post. For months he waits for a letter from his girl back home but not a single one arrives, when finally he receives notice she was poisoned. When he confronts the Duchess and he still rejects her she has him killed before a firing squad. Luckily Komroff has friends and is snuck out of town. Jump ahead some time and the Duchess is driven out into hiding as the country seeks to destroy communism. She sees Komroff fighting in the enemy's army and in a final confrontation worthy of a great opera the tragedy unfolds.

The Small Boss of Nunaloha "South Sea Stories" Feb 1940
A man short in stature but large in courage, is in charge of a small trading post on the south seas island of Nunahola. When a pirate attempts to take over the man is beaten by the pirate, but continually defies him driving the pirate mad and eventually away from the Island.

So, in this short audio book we travel from The Great White North, to Revolutionary Russia to a South Seas Island, some great adventure with tales that range in emotion as they do locale.

"Inky Odds" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Inky Odds"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multi-cast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio
Approx 2 hours.

I'm really having a lot of fun exploring in the orient with L. Ron Hubbard. Okay what this means, in case you are new to the Stories from the Golden Age, is that one of the genres L. Ron Hubbard wrote in when he wrote for the pulp fiction magazines back in the early to mid 20th century was "Adventures in the Orient" and listening to the recently released audio books produced by Galaxy Audio I am having a blast and each story seems as though I'm transported through time and space to visit the lands and time of which Hubbard wrote these intriguing stories.

Actually out of all the genres I can't pick which is my favorite. There are Air adventures, Sea Adventures, Far Flung Adventures, Adventures in the Orient, Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Westerns. Okay, really I can say that the Sci-fi and Fantasy are my faves but as for the others they all are fun to hear. Especially with the outstanding production quality issued by Galaxy Audio. Excellent voice actors, special effects and original music push these stories out to create a life of their own.

This adventure in the orient is called "Inky Odds" was originally published in June of 1940 and tells the tale of the best newspaper correspondent in China, Bat Conroy of World Press, and an ambitious new correspondent, Perry Lane of International Service, who beats him to the “scoop,” cross paths in the war-ravaged country. Actually the story is Bat's story and trying to figure out who this Perry Lane is and how he's scooping Bat on every story. Now as a listener in the 21st century the mystery is not so much of a mystery. But when putting the story in the perspective of the time it was written, they mystery remains a mystery to Bat Conroy until the very end. This is another story that shows how L. Ron Hubbard's fiction writing was a bit ahead of its time.

The biggest story of the war between Japan and China breaks out and Bat is not only there to report on it but he helps in the story. A group of Americans are holed up in the Consulate in a Chinese city that is under siege by the Japanese army. Among the Americans is a doctor whose wife has found her long lost husband and insists on going up river with Bat and a rescue team. The rescue team is bring medical supplies to the Americans. Bat gets a boat hired and has to write the story of the event and not let this Perry Lane scoop him.

Stowing away on the boat is a woman who each time she meets Bat she gives him a different name, and after the third time he goes with calling her all 3, Lois Dorothy Alice. The whole boat trip is being reported via International Services' Perry Lane. Bat cannot figure out how this is happening. The rescue boat is attacked by Japanese bombers as they head up the Yang Tze river to rescue the Americans. Bat gets everyone off the boat but not before saving the medical supplies. Bat convinces a Chinese army General to loan him an armored vehicle so he can deliver the supplies.

Bat drives to the Consulate but is attacked before arriving and is knocked unconscious during the attack. When he awakens he not only is being treated by one of the American doctors but he finds he's not fired because the his stories have scooped International Services, but how, he's been unconscious for 5 days.

With some great humor and adventure this story is yet another story from L. Ron Hubbard that will amaze you with the depth of information. In fact with all the detail Hubbard throws into his stories you know, he had to have lived some aspect of the stories, and that's what makes them so fun the hear as an audio book or read the printed page, the detail and depth.

"The Trail of the Red Diamonds" by L. Ron Hubbard

"The Trail of the Red Diamonds"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio, 2010
Approx. 2 hours.

This September marks another month where Galaxy Audio and Galaxy Press release another set of "Stories from the Golden Age." This audio pulp will take you on an adventure with a couple of tales from the Orient. The book is also availaby from Galaxy Press in a pulp version you can hold in your hand and read but this review covers the audio book version.

All the audio books from Galaxy Audio have all been a pleasure to hear. I started out with my interest in Science Fiction (which Hubbard wrote some really fun sci-fi) but since discovering these releases from Galaxy Audio, I have been testing out all the genres. I'm still waiting to sample some of the westerns, but I have a feeling that'll be coming soon. I mean it's gotta be good if any of the others are a sign. All these audio books have superb voice acting, original music and subtle yet effective sound effects. These all combine with the excitement and thrills of the twists and turns of Hubbard's writing to make for an experience that will leave you looking for more.

The two stories in this collection are:

"The Trail of the Red Diamonds," originally published in "Thrilling Adventure" magazine January, 1935 and is a story of betrayal, espionage, death and adventure. This story was originally written under the pseudonym of Lt. Jonathan Daly, who by chance, but more likely by design, is the main character in the story. This story mixes in a lot of reality in that the authenticity comes from Hubbard's many experiences in China.

Lt. Daly translates an original manuscript of Marco Polo's travels and discovers that Kublai Khan was buried with some rare red diamonds. The diamonds were to light the Kahn's way to heaven. Lt. Daly sets out to follow Marco Polo's directions to find the red diamonds. Along the way are double crosses, death and deception. At what cost to Daly is the trail to these diamonds? Untold riches sound good but when the Chinese army and renegades want those riches for themselves, Daly has some competition.

"The Hurricane's Roar," originally published in "Thrilling Adventure" magazine April, 1939 is another story of betrayal, espionage, death and adventure. Hubbard's second story about the man the Chinese call “Feng-Feng” or “Wind-Gone-Mad" the true interpretation for the Chinese slange for hurricane, actually pilot-adventurer Jim Dahlgren—and a conspiracy to incite a provincial war. "Wind-gone mad" plays both sides of a provincial war against each other to have them discover they have already been played against each other, along the same lines he stops a war by creating a war between the provinces. As you can tell this story is full of twists and turns and double crosses that only L. Ron Hubbard does so well.

These two stories are a perfect pairing for some adventures in the orient that will be the perfect companion in your next audio adventure.