Conference noted::sf

What is it with L. Ron Hubbard, anyway? First the guy writes SF, then goes and
starts several religions (Dianetics and others), and he expects people to take
him seriously. I'm reminded of Zambendorf in "Code of the Lifemakers" by Hogan.
He was a crafty fraud, sort of a cross between Kreskin and James Phillip Agee.

(Trivia quiz: Who is James Phillip Agee?)

I think the recent controversy about L. Ron (no relation to Elrond) is wether
or not he's dead. Several people in his church have asserted that he's dead,
and his sizable estate should be settled. His personal servants say he's very
much alive - the church says they're lying and bilking the estate. L Ron hasn't
made a known public appearance for six years, sort of a noveau-Hughes. Very
strange, and take a lesson from this: Don't go to California. This is what all
that sunshine does to you...

So if he's dead, who really wrote "Battlefield Earth"? What a spectacle.

Actually, it's not Scientology Church people that are claiming that he's dead,
it's his son that's making that claim, also saying that the Church is ripping
off the estate that rightfully belongs to Hubbard's family.

---jayembee (Jerry Boyajian)

re .3

If we are talking about the same James Agee, he was a novelist and screenwriter
who, among other things, wrote the screenplay for "The African Queen", the text
that  accompanied  Walker  Evans'  pictures  for the classic "Let Us Now Praise
Famous Men", and the prizewinning unfinished novel "A Death in the Family" that
was published after Agee's death.

Since  the demised dude I have described above is 180 degrees away from being a
fraud and a boson, I must have the wrong James Agee.

bob

With regard to Battlefield Earth: There are about 250 excess pages in it, but
it's not too bad if you you can stomach barbarian super-heroes.

                       Charlie Parsons

Rumour has it that the publication of the Hubbard book is part of a plan
to convince people he's alive...

		bob wyman

	Right! Zounds, now I remember - it was his family. I think they made a
	60 Minutes segment about it - at least I have Mike Wallace in the
	picture somewhere. My mind is like a roach motel - facts go in, but
	they seldom come out.

	James Phillip Agee (no relation to the screenplay artist) was a CIA
	case officer in Ecuador, Peru and Uraguay during the late sixties and
	early seventies. He grew disillusioned with the job the CIA was doing
	(he believed they were supporting democracy - but the people were so
	poor in these countries that democracy made little improvement in the
	quality of their horrible lives). He then went out and wrote a book
	about it ("The CIA Diaries") in London, where he lives to this day.
	He named names. Lots of names. There's an appendix FULL of names of
	people who were CIA agents in these or other countries. A lot of these
	people are dead now. Agee is an American citizen living in exile -
	should he return to the US, he will be arrested and tried for treason.
	Hopefully, he will be shot.

	Nicely documented guess, though - I had never heard of the other James
	Agee.

There was a move on last year to nominate "Battlefield Earth" for the Hugo.
I think Charles Platt started it to finally do in the Hugo awards.  He 
reasoned that since it takes so few votes to win ( a few hundred ), and it
costs relatively little to be a voting member ( ~ $ 20), the Scientologists
could buy their founder the award for only a few K.  Fortunately for fandom
it never made it on the ballot.
/jlr

Did anyone else catch the small ad on the movie page of yesterday's Boston
Globe:

		L. Ron Hubbard's
		Battlefield Earth
		      ...
		Soon to be TWO
		Major Motion Pictures

TWO ?!?!

-- Bill

I've heard that one of the S.F. stories that L. Ron Hubbard wrote early
in his SF writing days concerned a man who founded a bogus church and made
millions of dollars from it. I have never read this story and have no idea
if it is true or not. Anyone else out there know?

A base canard (that's also the center in a pyramid of ducks). I think it's
one of those rumours that sounds so good it should be true...

Everytime I reread "Stranger in a Strange Land" I wonder if Heinlein based
the Fosterites on Scientologists. 

You've probably read "Battlefield Earth" by now (a year later) and formed
your own opinions. But didn't anyone like it except me??? I thought it was
a classic, "Golden Age"-type story. Not a great book, but a good read.

By the way, I saw an ad for the soundtrack(!) to the book, with music by
Chick Corea!!! Can the movie be far behind?

Rico

    I enjoyed Battlefield Earth -- although it was overlong...I am not
    aware of a movie (movies?) resulting from it...

    Speaking of "Big Books", is anybody reading his Decalogy: "Invasion
    Earth"? 10 thick books looks like quite an epic, is it any good?
    Also, I have now seen 5 volumes in hardcover, and 0 in paperback.
    Do they really expect to sell 10 $15 books per person? 
    
    The sexy dustcover paintings attract the eye, and the idea of a
    ten book series is intriguing, but is it worth it?
                                                   
                  /
                 (  ___
                  ) ///
                 /
    

From just skimming them in the bookstore they look terrible.  They 
read like uneditted dictation.
/jlr

    I may be a sucker, but I've actually read them and they are far
    better than just unedited dictation.  There is some padding (but
    not enough to really notice or complain about) but the overall tone
    is moderately amusing.  The protagonist is a model of virtue who
    seems unable to fail at anything; his antagonist is a hilarious
    send up of classic villains, who can never get anything right but still
    manages to think he is the cleverest thing since sliced bread.
    
    The series is a perfect example of mindless escapist reading.  The
    writing is more obviously satirical than Battlefield Earth and as
    such "works" better.  There are some truly bizarre characters.
    
    I would certainly not recommend them as great science fiction, but
    if you need an extended diversion and can afford them they are
    entertaining.  As in the case of Battlefield Earth, I was initially
    very skeptical, but once into it I was hooked.  Forgive me my reckless
    selfindulgence, but I can use the occasional literary equivalent
    of junk food as a pleasurable change of pace.  Lest you judge me
    too harshly, this sort of pulp (and this is really a perfect example
    of the sort of stuff that constituted the bulk of the pulps during
    the "Golden Age") is *only* a diversion, and not representative
    of most of my SF reading.
                                   
    len.
    

    Yeah.  Battlefield Earth is one big whitehat/blackhat bomber in
    the manner of the Golden Age.
    
    I've heard ruminations that LRH had written this thing years (that
    is, decades) ago.  It had been only recently dusted off for
    publication, maybe even for the reasons given earlier.  Has anyone
    heard this?
    
    BTW, it's not surprising that Chick Corea did the sound track. 
    He's rumored to be a Scientologist, too.
    
    Basically, tho, BE is lotsa fun SF mass-quantity junk fare.
    Read it one time.
    
    
                        

    
    
    I confess to having read Battlefield Earth three times and thoroughly
    enjoying it each time. I admit the ending is a little contrived,
    but what the heck.....
    
    
    Paul V

    
    
    	Any more news on the movie(s)?  Just curious :-)
    
    			Going thru B.E. for the 2nd time,
    
    							mike

    
    The only news I've seen about the movies is what's written on the
    cover of the book !
    
    Paul V

    re: .21,.22
    
    You have read this book how many times?!?
    I have just purchased BE and am intimidated by the sheer volume.
    (This from someone who did RED STORM RISING in two sittings)
    I want to read BE, but can read 5 or 6 others in the same time.
    My question.  Is BE worth giving up 5 or 6 other books?
    -Dave
    

    
    I am not a fast reader and so BE's 1066 pages usually take me about
    3 to 4 weeks. But then a 100 page book sometimes takes 2 weeks.
    I suppose this is because I usually only read in bed at night and
    so never spend more than about 15 minutes a day.
    
    I really enjoyed the book. It as the sort of book which I found
    hard to put down. It is a typical swashbuckler with lots of action.
    I think it's worth at least one read. Just think, if you read it,
    you still have the other 5 or 6 books to look forward to.
    
    I can't say if you'll enjoy it, only I enjoyed it enough to read
    it 3 times. I've only read Lord Of The Rings twice !
    
    Paul V
    A Harry Harrison fan

    I liked it too.
    

    re .21, .21:
    Yea, rah!
    I read it three time, too.   Since I do read fairly fast, I can
    usually do it in a week or 10 days. (Still managing to eat and
    sleep....    B^>    )   
    
    It's not exactly high literature, but it's alot of fun, in an escapist
    sort of way.  Lots of action.
    
    As far as the "Mission Earth" decalogy, it has started to be put
    out in paper-back (People were wondering about this several replies
    ago.)  They had never planned to put it out in paperback until
    all the hardcover volumes were out.   I've only read vol. I, since
    that's the only one that's out yet in paperback, and it was a little
    slow I thought.  Then again, god-like heroes tend to annoy me, and
    Heller is one.  Can't do anything wrong.
    And it's very satirical.
    
    As far as Hubbard being daed, re a few back,  I read that he had
    dies right after about two of the hardcover volumes of the dacalogy
    were published, but "Don't worry, the publisher has the manuscripts
    for the remaining" however many.  Needless to say, they were all
    published.   Then I heard that the gov't had actually found him,
    and were trying to extradict him for tax evasion or somesuch.
    
    He's really a publicity hound, and will do anything to make money.
     But his recent SF has been pretty good.
    
                                                               -John.