Stories from the Golden Age
101 total works
Who is Wind-Gone-Mad? He is an ace pilot, a fearless fighter, and the ultimate defender of a war-torn China. But like the storied hero Batman, he is also an enigma, a man in disguise, his true identity shrouded in mystery. And, as with the Caped Crusader and the Joker, he faces one ruthless nemesis above all . . . a man known simply as "The Butcher." The epic battle has been set into motion by Jim Dahlgren-an American executive with the Amalgamated Aeronautical Company. He is determined to give China a fighting chance against The Butcher . . . and against the Western diplomats whose sole interest in the country is to profit from its internal strife. China's only chance, Dahlgren realizes, is the legendary Wind-Gone-Mad. . . . To The Butcher, China is a side of beef to carve up and serve at his pleasure. But when Wind-Gone-Mad flies into the action, it may well be The Butcher who ends up being dead meat. Ultimately, the only thing more thrilling than the mystery man's fighting spirit is the true nature of his identity. . . . As a young man, Hubbard visited pre-Communist China three times, where his closest friend headed up British intelligence. In a land where communists, nationalists, warlords and foreign adventurers schemed for control, Hubbard gained a unique insight into the treacherous and bloody battles for domination in the region. In addition, his personal experiences as a pilot gave his air stories a vivid sense of reality that no other writer could match. Combining this with his first-hand knowledge of China gave him the opportunity to create stories such as Wind-Gone-Mad, which left readers feeling like they had lived the adventures themselves. Also includes the Asian adventures, Tah , the tragic story of a twelve-year-old boy betrayed by his father . . . and by his life; and Yellow Loot , in which the pursuit of a priceless stash of ancient amber leads to a heart-stopping chase on the Great Wall of China. "Excellent." -Midwest Book Review
Spring has come to White Bear Landing - and so has the law, in the hands of Royal Mounted policeman Bob Dixon, a man as gruff, tough and good - looking as Russell Crowe. More than once Dixon has meted out justice with hard fists and hot lead, but now the tables have turned. He's been set up as a murder suspect. 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 redemption - on Arctic Wings.
Striking gold, Tim Beckdolt is a man on the brink of a new life until a killer forces him at gunpoint to mine it jumping his claim. Tim manages to escape, but soon finds himself being pursued like an animal in a bloodthirsty manhunt through vicious terrain.
As brash and bold and daring as Steve McQueen, Lieutenant Lee Briscoe will never back away from a good cause or good fight. And when it comes to heroism, he and McQueen are in the same band of brothers. Briscoe's gone undercover to infiltrate a slave-labor camp on an island in Southeast Asia, knowing full well that once he goes in, he may never get out. Posing as a man on the run for murder, he may soon wish he had run in the opposite direction. His adversary on the island is Schwenk-a man who is not only a connoisseur of cruelty, but an expert at delivering it. And for Briscoe, the stakes have just shot up. An innocent young woman has landed on the island and fallen into Schwenk's clutches, sold to him to do with her as he pleases. Escape is the only option . . . or both Briscoe and the girl are sure to face a fate worse than death. L. Ron Hubbard once wrote in his journal: "There must be wide spaces in which to think, strange music to hear, odd costumes to see and the elements to battle against. Money, nice cars, good food and a -good job' mean nothing to me when compared to being able to possess the thought that there is a surprise over the horizon." Venturing toward that horizon, at age seventeen Ron set sail for the South Pacific in July 1927, and after spending time getting to know the local natives, he signed aboard a working schooner bound for China's coast. Along the way, Ron encountered many dangers lurking in the thick jungle mists-firsthand experience that contributed to stories like The Bold Dare All.
Saddle up for excitement with this riveting tale. When Lynn Taylor's kid brother, Lee, gets framed for stage robbery, cattle rustling and murder, the boy swears his innocence and instead accuses McCloud, head of the vigilante committee responsible for removing the town's former sheriff.To save Lee from hanging the following night, Lynn hatches a wild plan to rob the next stagecoach with the help of the ex - sheriff - hoping it will raise doubts about Lee's guilt if the crimes continue. But Lynn gets more than he bargained for when he's snared by McCloud's men, and the time to the hanging gallops rapidly his way. ALSO INCLUDES THE WESTERN STORIES "RIDE 'EM COWBOY" AND "THE BOSS OF THE LAZY B" "Hubbard's trio has one thing in common - rough and tumble action with a twist, and all are a great read." - True West Magazine
A blind obsession. A driving ambition. A relentless, unrestrained, single-minded pursuit of a shiny metal. These are the symptoms of a condition known as gold fever, and, like Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, American mining engineer Captain Humbert Reynolds has got it bad. Possible side effects include: temporary insanity, a propensity for violence, and death. The search for gold has taken Reynolds from the ruins of the Yucatan to the mountains of Ecuador to the wilderness of northern Canada. Now, his search for a yellow brick bonanza has brought him halfway around the world, to the Gobi desert. But the lure of the precious metal is about to lead Reynolds into a Golden Hell, as he plunges into an inferno-a mountain of horrors run by an unspeakably evil gang. And if he doesn't find a way out, a path to redemption, he may find that instead of snatching the ultimate prize he will have to pay the ultimate price. In 1927 Hubbard served aboard a schooner sailing across the South Pacific bound for the coast of China. Making his way inland, he ventured deep into forbidden Buddhist lamaseries, shopped at the Thieves Market, made camp with Mongolian bandits, and witnessed the trade in stolen Chinese treasures. Drawing on those experiences as well as his time as a gold prospector, Hubbard infuses Golden Hell with extraordinary historical authenticity. Also includes the adventure "Pearl Pirate," a story of betrayal and deceit in which an American captain loses his ship to a money-lender, and the only way to get it back is to outfight and outfox a ruthless pirate and bring home a fortune in black pearls.
Every man walks with a shadow . . . but what happens when he acquires a second one? Just ask Brazos-a dead ringer for Jack Palance who's a cold-blooded killer for hire with blood on his hands and a posse on his tail. Desperate for cash, Brazos accepts $200 to gun down a local man named Brant. He'll earn every penny . . . but in the end there'll be the devil to pay. Because to put a bullet in Brant means putting one in his partner as well-an eerie stranger schooled in the black art of witchcraft. This is one killing that brings with it a deadly curse-and a second shadow. As Brazos is about to discover, the Wild West doesn't get any wilder than when a man is damned to live-and die-in the Shadows from Boot Hill. A note from L. Ron Hubbard, written many years ago, that could as well be addressed to you, today's reader: "Dear Range Boss: Four million of my words have been published in fifty different magazines. . . . Just now I'm larruping fantasy fiction more than anything else, though I've been writing Westerns for some time, too. Hope your readers like Shadows from Boot Hill. The Old West was superstitious in the extreme and . . . reeks with more fantasy than The Arabian Nights." Also includes the Western adventures The Gunner from Gehenna Gunman! , the story of an aging gunfighter turned lawman who shows his town what a real man is made of. "A minor masterpiece." -author Will Murray
Legionnaire Bill Reilly was given specific orders to guard a railroad station where nightly trains carrying Spanish supplies and troops pass by. He would have done so had it not been for a severed hand that arrived in his camp. The grizzled token carried a taunting message from a renegade Berber chieftain, claiming capture of an Englishwoman named Kay MacArthur and challenging the Legion to rescue her. Reilly's sense of honor overrides all. He takes up the gauntlet knowing full well he could be walking into a trap with deadly consequences.
Sunset Maloney is about to find big trouble in the Big Sky country of Montana. Like Alan Ladd as Shane, he's riding into the middle of a ruthless land grab, and his fight for what's right takes an unexpected turn . . . in the face of a young, attractive woman. Slim Trotwood is a cruel, greedy tinhorn-a gambler with little money and less skill-who's determined to take possession of all the land in Puma Pass, whether by fraud or by force. And Sunset's the only man willing to take him on. Faster than greased lightning with his six-gun, nothing can stop him from taking Trotwood down . . . until he meets Tinhorn's Daughter. Just arrived from Boston, she's as naive as she is beautiful, and Sunset falls hard for her. But if he can't make her see what kind of man her father really is, he may fall even harder. Because if he loses this fight, Sunset may never see the sunrise again. Hailing from the western states of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Montana, Hubbard grew up surrounded by grizzled frontiersmen and leather-tough cowboys. When he chose to write stories of the Old West, Hubbard didn't have to go far to do his research, drawing on his own memories of a youth steeped in the life and legends of the American frontier. Also includes the Western adventure When Gilhooly Was in Flower , in which there's romance on the range, as an unlikely cowpuncher mixes lassos with literature to find love in Gunpowder Gulch.
A triumphant tale. Sentenced to a French penal colony for killing an officer (in self - defense), American Dusty Colton flees the French Foreign Legion he so willingly joined and rushes headlong into a Berber tribal lair. To his horror, he discovers a captive American woman who's in the process of being whipped and tortured by the bandit leader.Despite the low odds of him winning out against the entire Berber tribe alone, Dusty can't leave the woman behind. Even if he figures out an escape from the camp, he still has to manage a way to get them both out of the country alive with both the Foreign Legion and the Berbers at their heels. ALSO INCLUDES THE ADVENTURE STORIES "THE BARBARIANS" AND "THE SQUAD THAT NEVER CAME BACK" "...pulse - pounding...The opening pulls readers in..." - Publishers Weekly
Bat Conroy-cut him and he'd bleed ink, he's a born newspaperman. Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid-the 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 mystifying-and aggravating-when 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 Japan-a knowledge that informs stories like Inky Odds.
Some men look to keep the peace. Others look to make trouble. But sometimes even the most law-abiding of men are compelled to cross the line.... Easy Bill Gates is just such a man-as quick with a smile and as slow to anger as Gary Cooper in High Noon. He's a model of restraint...until he's forced to strap on a holster and kill the outlaw who murdered his brother. But more than his honor is at stake. A ruthless land baron is out to grab Bill's ranch and he's hired a gang of gunslingers to get Bill out of the way. Between the rancher who wants to take his land, and the young guns who want to take his life, Easy Bill will have to make some hard choices-and fast draws-to avoid becoming just another notch in the Gunman's Tally. Hailing from the western states of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Montana, Hubbard grew up surrounded by grizzled frontiersmen and leather-tough cowboys, counting a Native American medicine man as one of his closest friends. When he chose to write stories of the Old West, Hubbard didn't have to go far to do his research, drawing on his own memories of a youth steeped in the life and legends of the American frontier. Also includes the Western adventure, Ruin at Rio Piedras, the story of a young cowboy kicked off a ranch for falling in love with the owner's daughter...only to devise a whip-smart plan to win the day-and the girl. "Outstanding." -Midwest Book Review
A perfect role for a young Robert Redford, saddle tramp Petey McGuire doesn't have much to live for. The trail in front of him stretches out long and hot, and there's no end in sight. He's been beaten down, beaten up, and kicked around so long, he'd run away from his own shadow if he could. But there's one fight he can't run from-the fight against hunger. Petey needs a job quick, before he drops dead in the dust. But the only way to get one is to act cool and talk tough-in other words, become the exact opposite of Petey McGuire. Putting on a performance worthy of a Shakespearean actor, he succeeds all too well-landing in the saddle with the Arizona Rangers. Talking tough is one thing, but backing it up is another. Because Petey's about to discover exactly what it takes-and how much he has to risk-to face the meanest outlaw, win the prettiest girl, and become The Toughest Ranger. Born and raised in the twilight of the Old West-from Nebraska plain to the mountains of Montana-L. Ron Hubbard grew up in the company of real cowboys and rugged frontiersmen, even becoming a blood brother to a Blackfoot medicine man. His firsthand knowledge allowed him to instill a grit and authenticity into his stories that made him one of the leading writers of Westerns, publishing a total of 34 of them by the 1950s. Also includes the Western adventures, Silent Pards, in which an old prospector takes on a couple of wicked enemies with the help of some surprising friends, and The Ranch That No One Would Buy, the story of a young stranger who's about to pull off a killer of a deception. "An exciting Western story filled with both action and adventure." -Mommy's Favorite Things
When it comes to boiling up a pot of coffee or stirring up a pot of stew, Old Laramie's about as good a man as you're going to find. But other than cooking three squares a day for the cowpunchers over at the Lazy G ranch, Laramie's not good for much. He's about as heroic as Walter Brennan on a bender. But Laramie's luck-and life-are about to take an amazing turn. Quite by accident, he somehow manages to save a family of Mexicans from bandits, and as a token of their gratitude they give him The Magic Quirt-a horsewhip that he's told will turn him into a new man. The transformation is indeed magical. Suddenly Laramie is performing feats of ingenuity and courage that would make even the Lone Ranger proud. But magic is a funny thing-and as Laramie's about to discover, sometimes it's all an illusion. L. Ron Hubbard wrote of his childhood: "The weather of Montana is, of course, brutal. The country is immense and swallows up men rather easily, hence they have to live bigger than life to survive. There were still Indians around living in forlorn and isolated tepees. Notable among them was Old Tom, a full-fledged Blackfoot medicine man." Hubbard and Old Tom became blood brothers, and the medicine man shared with him the kind of lore that make stories like The Magic Quirt as compelling as they are. Also includes the Western adventures, "Vengeance Is Mine!", the story of a young man who sets out to avenge his father's death only to commit an act beyond redemption, and "Stacked Bullets," in which a game of chance is fixed, a whole town is cheated, and nothing but a stack of bullets can make things right. "Pure entertainment from first page to last with that L. Ron Hubbard touch giving this tale an enduring reading engagement from beginning to end." -Midwest Book Review
Kurt Reid may be innocent of the murder he's charged with (and of grand larceny, for that matter), but he's got no time to be thrown in jail and defend himself. Instead, Reid flees to pre-Communist China and Shanghai, the exotic city of mystery and death. Reid takes refuge in a tea house where he meets White Russian Varinka Savischna, whom he manages to rescue from certain death. As beautiful as she is smart, she recruits him in her crusade against Chinese intelligence services. Unfortunately, Reid manages to get himself captured by the Chinese and blackmailed into pursuing and assassinating a Japanese spy. Now Reid must enter the cloak-and-dagger world of espionage and intrigue, where everything and everyone is not who or what they appear to be.
Chinook Shannon seeks the real identity of the man who killed his grandfather and is now after his ranch with forgery, sabotage and murder riding by his side.
Embittered by past failures and broken dreams, American fighter pilot David Duane believes in but one cause-his 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 journey-On Blazing Wings-to 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
Think you know what's going on in the world? Think again. Long before Rod Serling took us into The Twilight Zone, L. Ron Hubbard brought us to The Crossroads-a place where thought-provoking twists and turns are delivered with plenty of wit and wisdom. Farmer Eben Smith is fed up with big government telling him how to run his life and his business. They pay him to bury his crops while folks starve in the streets, and he's not going to take it anymore. He's declaring his independence, loading up his fruits and vegetables, and heading for the city to wheel and deal..... But before he can trade in his turnips, Eben'll have to deal with something bigger-a break in the space/time continuum. He's at The Crossroads, where reality is turned upside-down and inside out. And before it's over, he'll turn his turnips into liquor, and the liquor into guns and gold, as he plunges into strange new worlds ... finding ways to wreak havoc in all of them. The Crossroads first appeared in the February 1941 issue of Unknown Fantasy Fiction. By then 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 him-science fiction and fantasy. The rest is history. Also includes the fantasy adventures, "Borrowed Glory," the haunting story of two immortals who wager on two mortals given a single day of love ... a wager that leads to heartbreak and tragedy; and "The Devil's Rescue" based on the legend of The Flying Dutchman, in which the sole survivor of a disaster at sea is "rescued" by the devil himself and finds that fate rests on a roll of the dice. "Amusing ... a nostalgic delight." -Publishers Weekly * An International Book Awards Finalists
Take a touch of Charles Lindbergh, mix in a dash of Evel Knievel, throw in one man-killing cat-and 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 Comet-with his pet cheetah Patty coming along for the ride-across 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 girl-who's determined to bring him down to earth. One thing you can count on-in the air, in a fight, or in his girlfriend's arms-he'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