1934

“The Green God” published in February 1934

“The Green God,” L. Ron Hubbard’s first fiction story to be published in a popular fiction magazine, appears in Thrilling Adventures in February. By December, after placing numerous stories, he hires an agent to represent his work. Employing a variety of pen names, he publishes an average of more than one story every two weeks—adding up to some 138 novels, novelettes, and short stories in a six-year period. The stories cover a wide spectrum of genres, including adventure, western, mystery, and detective.

1935

The New York Chapter of the American Fiction Guild elects him president, and Ron lends his leadership skills to a group that includes Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His articles about writing appear in the Author & Journalist and Writer’s Review and he guests on radio shows to discuss ways aspiring writers can improve the quality and salability of their stories.

1936

Buckskin Brigades first published in 1937

L. Ron Hubbard completes his first hardcover novel, Buckskin Brigades, in November. It is published in July 1937 by the Macaulay Company. The work is drawn, in part, from his youthful experiences with Montana’s Blackfeet tribesmen.

1937

Columbia Pictures purchases film rights to his novel Murder at Pirate Castle and asks him to write the screenplay adaptation, which is produced under the title The Secret of Treasure Island. He works on other big-screen serials for Columbia—The Adventures of the Mysterious Pilot and The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok. He also collaborates on The Spider series with Norvell Page at Columbia Pictures. During his ten weeks in Hollywood, he writes a quarter of a million words for scripts and continues to produce stories for his New York editors.

The Secret of Treasure Island adapted for the screen by L. Ron Hubbard from his novel Murder at Pirate Castle