Greed | ||||||
L. Ron Hubbard | ||||||
Multi-cast performance, unabridged | ||||||
Galaxy Audio, 2 hours | ||||||
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A review by Gil T. Wilson
The production values are set pretty high -- original music helps set the mood of the story and sound effects
are added where needed. These additions are subtle and help to tell the story without overpowering the
dialogue. And speaking of dialogue, the characters are all voiced by actors that portray perfect over-the-top
characters. This installment of the L. Ron Hubbard collection contains three stories that have a unique
approach to science fiction story-telling.
"Greed": Originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, April 1950, "Greed" is a story
that mixes a little bit of philosophy from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged with the typical L. Ron Hubbard science
fiction little twist in the end. The main premise is that space cannot be explored or conquered without
greed. It is greed that guides the conquest of space in that something has to be procured to make
planetary travel worthwhile. This story is about George Marquis Lorrilard, a sometimes lieutenant in the
United Continents Space Navy and space exploiter, as he conquers an Asian-run planet.
"Final Enemy": Super Science Stories originally published this work in September, 1950. It
tells of how travelers of space from the two separate powers on Earth, the Asians and the United States,
seek to explore the outer reaches of space. Each finds stories of how a powerful entity has landed before
and terrorized and nearly wiped out each new planet's population. Upon hearing there is a stronger enemy
out there, the two powers team up to find this other race. The twist in this story is one easily
equivalent to that of a Twilight Zone episode.
"The Automagic Horse": Originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, October 1949, this
is a humorous story in which an engineer for a Hollywood movie production company is seeking to build a
ship to explore space while creating special effects for the movies. His assignment is to build a
realistic looking horse that will bust out of a barn and survive while having a burning barn fall on
the horse. The ASPCA will not allow a real horse, so the engineer makes one. His secret is to raise
money for his side project by getting the movie company to pay more than he needs on the horse. Upon
completion of the horse, the engineer finds some alternate ways to raise money.
For two hours of great audio book entertainment you cannot go wrong with this or any other audio pulp
adventure from Galaxy Audio.
Gil T. has spent a quarter of a century working in radio and has lots of spare time on his hands and reading or listening to books takes up all that time. Check out his blog to find out what he's up to at any given moment. |
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