Sky Birds Dare!
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
When it comes to flying gliders, ace pilot Breeze Callaghan is as smooth as they come. He perfects a skill that will prove vitally important for decades to come—even into the jet age, as demonstrated by Captain Sully Sullenberger, who famously landed his disabled passenger plane on the Hudson River.
Sully’s jet was brought down by a flock of geese, while Breeze is going up against a vulture named Badger O’Dowell. Both pilots are vying for a Navy contract, and Badger would love to shoot the Breeze … literally. Short of that he’ll do everything he can to sabotage Breeze in flight.
It’s game on, and as Breeze is about to discover, Badger’s an expert at playing dirty. And there’s much more than money at stake: there’s his reputation, his life, and his love of a beautiful woman. A storm is brewing, and as for danger, the sky’s the limit when Sky Birds Dare!
During his undergraduate days, L. Ron Hubbard served as the president of the George Washington Glider Club. He held numerous records for sustained powerless flight and was renowned for his wild aerial antics that, according to an eyewitness, “made women scream and strong men weep.” In short, there wasn’t a single flying feat in Sky Birds Dare! that Hubbard himself hadn’t dared to do on his own.
“Highly recommended for aviation action/adventure pulp fiction fans.” —Midwest Book Review
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.
Read more from L. Ron Hubbard
Battlefield Earth: Science Fiction New York Times Best Seller Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Final Blackout Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Under the Black Ensign: A Pirate Adventure of Loot, Love and War on the Open Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Secret: An Intergalactic Tale of Madness, Obsession, and Startling Revelations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Sky Birds Dare!
Related ebooks
The Phantom Patrol: The Story of a Coast Guard Officer, a Drug Runner, and a Sea of Trouble Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shadows from Boot Hill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Baron of Coyote River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tramp Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Historical Fiction Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Military & War Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHostage to Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrouble on His Wings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under the Diehard Brand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Men Kill: A Murder Mystery of Wealth, Power, and the Living Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Falcon Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chee-Chalker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Six-Gun Caballero Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spy Killer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hell's Legionnaire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inky Odds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sky-Crasher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man-Killers of the Air Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yukon Madness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hurricane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sabotage in the Sky: A Heated Rivalry, a Heated Romance, and High-flying Danger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Shadows Fall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Professor Was a Thief Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cargo of Coffins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orders is Orders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Death Over China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Golden Hell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Branded Outlaw: A Tale of Wild Hearts in the Wild West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Waits at Sundown: A Wild West Showdown Between the Good, the Bad, and the Deadly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Suspense For You
The Perfect Marriage: A Completely Gripping Psychological Suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl Who Was Taken: A Gripping Psychological Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Luckiest Girl Alive: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kind Worth Killing: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Housemaid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If We Were Villains: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whisper Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy Summers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Misery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Walk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lying Game: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zero Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Sky Birds Dare!
5 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another great story from L. Ron Hubbard. This one is an air adventure story featuring Breeze Callahan who works diligently at proving the effectiveness of gliders to the US Government. Hubbard's love of flying comes across in this story which was originally published in 1936. Air adventure stories are a thing of the past and these reprints remind us how popular a genre it was, and how good the stories could be when written by Hubbard, the master storyteller himself!
Book preview
Sky Birds Dare! - L. Ron Hubbard
SELECTED FICTION WORKS
BY L. RON HUBBARD
FANTASY
The Case of the Friendly Corpse
Death’s Deputy
Fear
The Ghoul
The Indigestible Triton
Slaves of Sleep & The Masters of Sleep
Typewriter in the Sky
The Ultimate Adventure
SCIENCE FICTION
Battlefield Earth
The Conquest of Space
The End Is Not Yet
Final Blackout
The Kilkenny Cats
The Kingslayer
The Mission Earth Dekalogy*
Ole Doc Methuselah
To the Stars
ADVENTURE
The Hell Job series
WESTERN
Buckskin Brigades
Empty Saddles
Guns of Mark Jardine
Hot Lead Payoff
A full list of L. Ron Hubbard’s
novellas and short stories is provided at the back.
*Dekalogy: a group of ten volumes
TitlePgArt.jpgPublished by
Galaxy Press, LLC
7051 Hollywood Boulevard, Suite 200
Hollywood, CA 90028
© 2008 L. Ron Hubbard Library. All Rights Reserved.
Any unauthorized copying, translation, duplication, importation or distribution,
in whole or in part, by any means, including electronic copying, storage or
transmission, is a violation of applicable laws.
Mission Earth is a trademark owned by L. Ron Hubbard Library and
is used with permission. Battlefield Earth is a trademark owned
by Author Services, Inc. and is used with permission.
Horsemen illustration from Western Story Magazine and story preview
cover art from Top Notch Magazineis © and ™ Condé Nast
Publications and is used with their permission. Fantasy, Far-Flung
Adventure and Science Fiction illustrations: Unknown
and Astounding Science Fiction copyright © by Street & Smith
Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Penny Publications, LLC.
ISBN 978-1-59212-612-5 ePub version
ISBN 978-1-59212-786-3 Kindle version
ISBN 978-1-59212-300-7 print version
ISBN 978-1-59212-231-0 audiobook version
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007927677
Contents
FOREWORD
SKY BIRDS DARE!
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
STORY PREVIEW:
TROUBLE ON HIS WINGS
GLOSSARY
L. RON HUBBARD
IN THE GOLDEN AGE
OF PULP FICTION
THE STORIES FROM THE
GOLDEN AGE
FOREWORD
Stories from Pulp Fiction’s Golden Age
AND it was a golden age.
The 1930s and 1940s were a vibrant, seminal time for a gigantic audience of eager readers, probably the largest per capita audience of readers in American history. The magazine racks were chock-full of publications with ragged trims, garish cover art, cheap brown pulp paper, low cover prices—and the most excitement you could hold in your hands.
Pulp
magazines, named for their rough-cut, pulpwood paper, were a vehicle for more amazing tales than Scheherazade could have told in a million and one nights. Set apart from higher-class slick
magazines, printed on fancy glossy paper with quality artwork and superior production values, the pulps were for the rest of us,
adventure story after adventure story for people who liked to read. Pulp fiction authors were no-holds-barred entertainers—real storytellers. They were more interested in a thrilling plot twist, a horrific villain or a white-knuckle adventure than they were in lavish prose or convoluted metaphors.
The sheer volume of tales released during this wondrous golden age remains unmatched in any other period of literary history—hundreds of thousands of published stories in over nine hundred different magazines. Some titles lasted only an issue or two; many magazines succumbed to paper shortages during World War II, while others endured for decades yet. Pulp fiction remains as a treasure trove of stories you can read, stories you can love, stories you can remember. The stories were driven by plot and character, with grand heroes, terrible villains, beautiful damsels (often in distress), diabolical plots, amazing places, breathless romances. The readers wanted to be taken beyond the mundane, to live adventures far removed from their ordinary lives—and the pulps rarely failed to deliver.
In that regard, pulp fiction stands in the tradition of all memorable literature. For as history has shown, good stories are much more than fancy prose. William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas—many of the greatest literary figures wrote their fiction for the readers, not simply literary colleagues and academic admirers. And writers for pulp magazines were no exception. These publications reached an audience that dwarfed the circulations of today’s short story magazines. Issues of the pulps were scooped up and read by over thirty million avid readers each month.
Because pulp fiction writers were often paid no more than a cent a word, they had to become prolific or starve. They also had to write aggressively. As Richard Kyle, publisher and editor of Argosy, the first and most long-lived of the pulps, so pointedly explained: The pulp magazine writers, the best of them, worked for markets that did not write for critics or attempt to satisfy timid advertisers. Not having to answer to anyone other than their readers, they wrote about human beings on the edges of the unknown, in those new lands the future would explore. They wrote for what we would become, not for what we had already been.
Some of the more lasting names that graced the pulps include H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Max Brand, Louis L’Amour, Elmore Leonard, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, John D. MacDonald, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein—and, of course, L. Ron Hubbard.
In a word, he was among the most prolific and popular writers of the era. He was also the most enduring—hence this series—and certainly among the most legendary. It all began only months after he first tried his hand at fiction, with L. Ron Hubbard tales appearing in Thrilling Adventures, Argosy, Five-Novels Monthly, Detective Fiction Weekly, Top-Notch, Texas Ranger, War Birds, Western Stories, even Romantic Range. He could write on any subject, in any genre, from jungle explorers to deep-sea divers, from G-men and gangsters, cowboys and flying aces to mountain climbers, hard-boiled detectives and spies. But he really began to shine when he turned his talent to science fiction and fantasy of which he authored nearly fifty novels or novelettes to forever change the shape of those genres.
Following in the tradition of such famed authors as Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Jack London and Ernest Hemingway, Ron Hubbard actually lived adventures that his own characters would have admired—as an ethnologist among primitive tribes, as prospector and engineer in hostile climes, as a captain of vessels on four oceans. He even wrote a series of articles for Argosy, called Hell Job,
in which he lived and told of the most dangerous professions a man could put his hand to.
Finally, and just for good measure, he was also an accomplished photographer, artist, filmmaker, musician and educator. But he was first and foremost a writer, and that’s the L. Ron Hubbard we come to know through the pages of this volume.
This library of Stories from the Golden Age presents the best of L. Ron Hubbard’s fiction from the heyday of storytelling, the Golden Age of the pulp magazines. In these eighty volumes, readers are treated to a full banquet of 153 stories, a kaleidoscope of tales representing every imaginable genre: science fiction, fantasy, western, mystery, thriller, horror, even romance—action of all kinds and in all places.
Because the pulps themselves were printed on such inexpensive paper with high acid content, issues were not meant to endure. As the years go by, the original issues of every pulp from Argosy through Zeppelin Stories continue crumbling into brittle, brown dust. This library preserves the L. Ron Hubbard tales from that era, presented with