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The Crossroads
The Crossroads
The Crossroads
Ebook134 pages1 hour

The Crossroads

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Think you know what's going on in the world? Think again. Long before Rod Serling took us into The Twilight Zone, L. Ron Hubbard brought us to The Crossroads—a place where thought-provoking twists and turns are delivered with plenty of wit and wisdom.

Farmer Eben Smith is fed up with big government telling him how to run his life and his business. They pay him to bury his crops while folks starve in the streets, and he's not going to take it anymore. He's declaring his independence, loading up his fruits and vegetables, and heading for the city to wheel and deal.….

But before he can trade in his turnips, Eben'll have to deal with something bigger—a break in the space/time continuum. He's at The Crossroads, where reality is turned upside-down and inside out. And before it's over, he'll turn his turnips into liquor, and the liquor into guns and gold, as he plunges into strange new worlds … finding ways to wreak havoc in all of them.

The Crossroads first appeared in the February 1941 issue of Unknown Fantasy Fiction. By then Hubbard's stature as a writer was well established. As author and critic Robert Silverberg puts it: he had become a "master of the art of narrative" Hubbard's editors urged him to apply his gift for succinct characterization, original plot, deft pacing and imaginative action to a genre that was new, and essentially foreign, to him—science fiction and fantasy. The rest is history.

Also includes the fantasy adventures, “Borrowed Glory,” the haunting story of two immortals who wager on two mortals given a single day of love … a wager that leads to heartbreak and tragedy; and “The Devil's Rescue” based on the legend of The Flying Dutchman, in which the sole survivor of a disaster at sea is "rescued" by the devil himself and finds that fate rests on a roll of the dice.

“Amusing … a nostalgic delight.” —Publishers Weekly

* An International Book Awards Finalists

LanguageEnglish
PublisherGalaxy Press
Release dateJun 21, 2010
ISBN9781592125326
Author

L. Ron Hubbard

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring 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. Then too, of course, there is all L. Ron Hubbard represents as the Founder of Dianetics and Scientology and thus the only major religion born in the 20th century.

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Crossroads is a satire dating from the February 1941 issue of "Unknown" magazine. Hubbard was no stranger to satire. Portions of Battlefield Earth were satirical representations, i.e., characters like Rogodeter Snowl and Roof Arsebogger are cut from the fabric of satire while The House of Plunder is Hubbard's satirical reference to a Tolnep legislative center. His final work, Mission Earth, is a satire. The Crossroads is written in the same style as Mission Earth. Farmer Eben Smith, encountering a military officer at a crossroads in a future where gold is banned, is told simply: "...you do not realize that a totalitarian state is far too powerful to be overthrown. You have seen what happens to the enemies of the Greater Dictatorship." Throughout his career Hubbard was consistent in lampooning corrupt public officials and warning of the dangers of a totalitarian society. Such warnings were not merely the imaginative work of a pulp writer, but rather the raw perception of a man who witnessed the polemics that resulted in socialism and communism. And that Hubbard recognized the manifestation of these elements in American culture is a telling point. Readers of fantasy will enjoy this satirical and humorous tale. Included in this reprinting are the stories "Borrowed Glory" which is an acknowledged classic; and "The Devil's Rescue" which deserves a wide audience. As always, I also recommend the audio book. Each audio book features a multicast performance with music and sound effects reminiscent of radio's golden age.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I also saw a live performance of it in Hollywood. Story lines are in other reviews. I do like the whimsical stories of Mr Hubbard quite a lot and Eben the farmer is a hoot in this one. A practical yankee trader with some quite peculiar circumstances at THE CROSSROADS.

    Highly recommended for fun and chuckles and surprises.

    Very Imaginative! You will laugh!!!

Book preview

The Crossroads - L. Ron Hubbard

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