Battlefield Earth was dedicated by L. Ron Hubbard to Robert A. Heinlein, A. E. van Vogt, John W. Campbell, Jr. and “all the merry crew,” a list of over 80 names! Hubbard states, “They are all worth rereading, every one.” This blog is to help shed some light on A.E. van Vogt’s contribution to that “golden age of science fiction.”
“We think nothing of going into an area and taking out minerals at the expense of the plant and animal life. So what would it be like if an advanced race of aliens viewed the entire planet of Earth in the same way?
A couple of years ago I decided to stop blogging in order to focus on improving my fiction, and, well, I just won Writers of the Future, so that seems to have worked.
“It is also a story of superstition and fear and how it is overcome—by children.” — Rocky Mountain News interview with L. Ron Hubbard
“It is also a story of superstition and fear and how it is overcome—by children.” — Rocky Mountain News interview with L. Ron Hubbard
Frank Kelly Freas was the first coordinating judge of the Illustrators of the Future Contest. Already a well established commercial artist and having known L. Ron Hubbard and having observed first hand Ron lending a helping hand to aspiring writers, he was very excited to share his hard-won experience in helping the aspiring artist.
The very last article that Frank Herbert wrote before his passing in February of 1986 was writing advice to contestants of this very contest. His article appeared in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume II. Advice that is just as applicable today as when it was written.
As the author stated in his Rocky Mountain News interview after the book’s publication, “In Battlefield Earth, there is an advanced technology but it is the technology of the aliens and virtually wiped out humanity. Pitted against this is the human spirit. I don’t think I would be giving anything away to say that the human spirit prevails.”
“In Battlefield Earth, I present a situation where mankind has almost been wiped from the face of the Earth by advanced technology and is now imprisoned not so much by the aliens who dominate the planet but by superstition….”
Following the very successful 2016 re-release of Battlefield Earth as a trade paperback and the Audie Award winning full-cast audiobook, both of which went to the #1 spot in the US, we are now preparing for our fall release (September 5th) of the mass market paperback edition. In talking with many of our Battlefield Earth fans both online and in person at conventions, we know they love how the characters come to life in the novel through L. Ron Hubbard’s storytelling ability. So, with that in mind, we assembled some of the principal characters from the book for a photo shoot and we thought you would like a sneak peek.