Post originally by Manga Boogie Man at 2004-12-31 22:08:25
Converted from Phorums BB System

"So THAT is where "Battlefield Earth" got it's plot from!!! ;-) "

I've never seen that one, or read it. Don't ever plan to. After a lot of different sources yielded up info about L. Ron Hubbard and the scientology cult (one or two of those sources were novels of his, the rest were magazine articles that I dearly wish I could find again), I have personally boycotted any and all of his works. When you consider that my policy on literature used to be "read all you can find. Even the bad stuff can yield a few good things, or at least tell you how NOT to do it," you get the idea just how strong my feelings are about this hack.

There's times that I think that this guy never had an original thought when it came to literature. And the one or two he did have were originally someone else's cast-off ideas.

I have no intention of stepping on anyone's toes about this (live and let live, says I), but that's what I think. It would take a counterargument with the strength of a tactical nuclear warhead to change my mind about Hubbard. And delivered in a reasonable tone, to boot.

For those of you interested in Buck Rogers history, Philip Francis Nowlan (Knowlan?) wrote "Armagedon 2419: The seminal Buck Rogers novel" sometime in the late 1960's or early 1970's. This is the most recent adaptation of the first Buck Rogers story, the one that started it all (it's also very readable for such an early work). It can be easily found in paperback in most used bookstores, although the condition may not be too good. I'm also sure that the old Buck Rogers comic strips from the 1920's can be found in collected form somewhere, but I have no idea where or at what price (probably high).