From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written



On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
Nevala-Lee

A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

Hubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got gullible people to
take him seriously. I read his first article on Dianetics in Astounding
and noticed that
it sounded like a scam and when he turned it into Scientology I was
confirmed.
He just wanted to avoid taxes so he could get rich.

bliss - wonders who has read "Gladiator" the Philip Wylie book
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
Nevala-Lee

A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

-a-a-a-aHubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got gullible people to
take him seriously.

I would include A.E. Van Vogt who was very prolific in those years, and
whose writings were influential even decades later.

Hubbard was for a while also frequently published in Astounding, but I
feel that his later notoriety was what got him entry to this book.

But anybody who takes Patterson seriously is not themselves worth taking seriously.

William Hyde

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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

In article <105tvau$1h16c$2@dont-email.me>,
Bobbie Sellers <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:

On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
Nevala-Lee

A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

Hubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got gullible
people to take him seriously.

A: Lots of skiffy folk loved diaretics, including JWC. It definitely
left a mark.

B: Via the Writers of the Future project, Hubbard (or his successors)
still influence SF.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

In article <105tvau$1h16c$2@dont-email.me>,
Bobbie Sellers <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:

On 7/24/25 06:06, James Nicoll wrote:

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein,
L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec
Nevala-Lee

A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fab-four

Hubbard should be excluded as he is/was a fantasist who got gullible
people to
take him seriously. I read his first article on Dianetics in Astounding
and noticed that
it sounded like a scam and when he turned it into Scientology I was >confirmed.
He just wanted to avoid taxes so he could get rich.

This would seem to be a reason to include him even more strongly. He not
only shaped American SF, but he managed to create a fraudulent religion
from it!
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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