Under the Black Ensign (Stories from the Golden Age) (English and English Edition) [Paperback]

L. Ron Hubbard (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stories from the Golden Age | Publication Date: September 8, 2008

Golden Age story. Sea Adventure. Originally published in the 1935 August issue of Five Novels Monthly

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Errol Flynn would feel quite at home in Hubbard's ripping yarn of Caribbean piracy in the year 1680, first published in 1935. Press-ganged into the Royal Navy, Tom Bristol faces 100 lashes just as buccaneers attack the British man-o'-war on which he reluctantly serves. Tom soon realizes the pirate life is for him, a life replete with swordplay, maroonings and naval battles with ships lost in the roiling fog of cannon smoke. Supplementing the illustrated text are an extensive glossary of nautical and period terms, an essay entitled L. Ron Hubbard and American Pulp Fiction, and a foreword by Kevin J. Anderson on the golden age of pulp fiction. The man who would go on to found Scientology never achieves the visceral intensity of such fellow pulp writers as Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan, but he conducts his minisaga in just the fashion readers of the era expected. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Errol Flynn would feel quite at home in Hubbard's ripping yarn of Caribbean piracy in the year 1680, first published in 1935. Press-ganged into the Royal Navy, Tom Bristol faces 100 lashes just as buccaneers attack the British man-o'-war on which he reluctantly serves. Tom soon realizes the pirate life is for him, a life replete with swordplay, maroonings and naval battles with ships lost in the roiling fog of cannon smoke. Supplementing the illustrated text are an extensive glossary of nautical and period terms, an essay entitled L. Ron Hubbard and American Pulp Fiction, and a foreword by Kevin J. Anderson on the golden age of pulp fiction. The man who would go on to found Scientology never achieves the visceral intensity of such fellow pulp writers as Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan, but he conducts his minisaga in just the fashion readers of the era expected. (Sept.) --Library Journal

This is a gem in American pulp fiction... --Audio File Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 121 pages
• Publisher: Galaxy Press (September 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592123392
• ISBN-13: 978-1592123391
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,300,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 230 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most acclaimed and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Golden Age classic!, August 8, 2009

By 

T.P.M. (Somewhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under the Black Ensign (Stories from the Golden Age) (English and English Edition) (Paperback)

Originally published in the August 1935 issue of "Five Novels Monthly" magazine, L. Ron Hubbard's thrilling "Under the Black Ensign" has been beautifully reprinted in this quality paperback by Galaxy Press as part of their ongoing series of Golden Age stories. "Under the Black Ensign" is especially fascinating because it represents the swashbuckler, a genre now extinct. But at the time this short novel was published the swashbuckler was very much alive in Hollywood and in the dozens of pulp magazines that flourished during the 1930s. Errol Flynn was wooing audiences in "Captain Blood" (based upon the novel by Rafael Sabatini) and the pirate novels of Col. Prentiss Ingaham were being reprinted to great success.

Hubbard's writing career had taken off like a rocket. He demonstrated no fear in tackling every genre the market demanded - westerns, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, air adventure, spy and international intrigue, and sea adventure tales. Hubbard was prolific from the start and his extraordinary talent is apparent on every page.

There's not a dull paragraph to be found in "Under the Black Ensign." Of course, the same can be said of all of Hubbard's golden age stories. The tale recounts the adventures of Tom Bristol who is pressured into joining the crew of the HMS Terror where he experiences firsthand the cruelties of the British navy. When the Terror is overtaken by pirates Bristol life takes a dramatic turn when he is marooned on an island only to be saved by a beautiful girl. Here he plots his revenge and...ah, but here's where you need to stop reading this review and order the book to find out what happens next.

Hubbard was a man of ideas and I was fascinated that "Under the Black Ensign" contained a racial subtext for Tom Bristol is a character that will have nothing to do with racism. After freeing the captives of a slave ship Bristol informs two staid British seamen, "These men are free men, not slaves. I don't happen to be of your stamp, gentleman. When I take lives I use a rapier, not the whipping post and starvation, and yet I am a pirate, while you and your brothers are supposed to be civilized beings."

Bristol, like many of Hubbard's characters, espouses an ideology of freewill, fair play and equality. It was a theme Hubbard returned to time and again, and it adds depth to his adventure tales. As always, the writing is crisp, vivid, and loaded with action.

Each Galaxy Press edition of Hubbard's stories is introduced with a short essay by Kevin J. Anderson and concludes with a biographical profile. "Under the Black Ensign" also includes a glossary of nautical terms and other phrases and a diagram of a full rigged sailing ship. Better yet, you get story previews of forthcoming editions. All of this is inexpensively priced at $9.95 and the Galaxy Press website offers special packages that you won't want to miss. Most of these stories have not been previously reprinted. These are beautifully produced books and I intend on reading them all. And so Avast, you lubbers! Spread the news that Hubbard is back, and fans of the classic era of pulp adventure stories will be thrilled by these magnificent books!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pirates of the Caribbean, March 3, 2010

By 

Arin (Glendale, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under the Black Ensign (Stories from the Golden Age) (English and English Edition) (Paperback)

Great sequence and pacing, loved it. Would make a great back story for games like Sid Meier's Pirates, or Tortuga. The detail and visuals are way beyond most pirate stories, probably because the author actually knew his way around ships!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Under the Black Ensign, October 6, 2008

By 

D. Scott Tregurtha - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under the Black Ensign (Stories from the Golden Age) (English and English Edition) (Paperback)

Under the Black Ensign was one of those really great swashbuckling, action packed, good versus evil type stories. I listened to it on CD and I could feel the warmth my parents have told me of the old radio days. I can't wait to listen to my next Hubbard pulp fiction!