ePULP WINNER ANNOUNCED
by Captain Bryce

One lucky landlubber won the treasured ePulp contest we launched a few weeks ago. The fellow, who correctly answered the question: "What was the name of the pirate ship Bristol commanded when he attacked the stronghold of the Lord High Governor—a greedy man seeking the one thing Bristol treasures most?"

The answer: The Terror

The winner: Jesse Hill of Kirkland, Washington

Congratulations mate!

The Stories from the Golden Age collection is more than a library of tales that will enchant and engage you—in fact, many of these yarns were skillfully spun by L. Ron Hubbard by drawing from his wealth of travels and personal adventures to bring you, the reader, realistic, visceral and unforgettable stories.

The swashbuckling pirate story, Under the Black Ensign is no exception, but actually takes things a step further in setting the history books straight. You see, L. Ron Hubbard was not an armchair naval captain, directing his ship from the helm of his typewriter. In fact, he had ventured a quarter of a million miles and had crossed the Pacific three times by the time he was nineteen. In later years he also plied the waters of the Caribbean and would sail considerable distances across the Atlantic; and during World War II he served with distinction in four theaters and was highly decorated for commanding corvettes in the North Pacific.

As a Master Mariner, he was licensed to pilot any vessel, of any tonnage in any ocean, and he had investigated a great deal into the history of the mighty sailing vessels of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was this knowledge which helped inspire the thrilling tale, Under the Black Ensign. Of these ancient vessels, he not only knew their tonnage, their speed and sails but he understood their battle tactics and what their trade routes were. And he understood that for the past 400 years, historians (possibly employed by the royal navies of Britain, Spain and France) had purposely and with malice aforethought, tainted the profession of the pirate.

To fully appreciate this, we must return to the time of 1680, when Spanish men-o'-war battled with the fleets of England and France over the spoils to be won in the New World.

The buccaneers of that bygone era have always been depicted as bloodthirsty pirates, eager for a fight and careless of life. Ron had come to know their world, and what he found was something quite different. And because he was a sailor himself, he was able to see beyond the facts and into the hearts of the sailors who called themselves buccaneers.

He wrote an essay about it, entitled "Yesterday, You Might Have Been a Pirate," wherein he revealed the truth about the lives of the men who roamed the Spanish main seeking their fortunes and futures by their wit and skill alone. In this essay he states:

"Of late, in researching the field, I have thought to myself that the buccaneer is certainly getting a lacing he does not deserve and he cannot rise up from Davy Jones' locker to answer....

"What about those colorful, romantic 17th and 18th centuries? How about the gallant boys who gave their all for king and country?..."

"They were treated like cattle and they died like ants under a heel. They were flogged if they didn't work and fight and thereby died. And if they worked and fought they died anyway....

"Wasn't it natural that he would desert at his first opportunity? He'd brave the sharks in a foreign harbor at night to swim away from his floating hell.

"He'd gladly ship with the first better ship which came along. He'd do anything to escape this living death.

"And so, pirates were born....

"No I do not believe in the historian's pirate. I believe that the ferocity was a name born of the cowardice of merchantmen who did not have the heart to stand up against attack and who therefore invented the stories to cleanse their own honor."

And the story, Under the Black Ensign is indeed a true glimpse into the life of a buccaneer.

Under the Black Ensign was originally published in the August 1935 issue of Five Novels Monthly magazine. It was the same year that US President Roosevelt opened the second phase of the New Deal, when the Nazis refused to recognize the Versailles Treaty and introduced compulsory military service and admitted the existence of an air force, the year when the Monopoly game board was first introduced and when the grand romantic comedy It Happened One Night starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert won the Oscar for best picture. It was a year that provided a backdrop that would inspire fear and awe, hope, possibility, and even love —ingredients which are brought to vivid life in the adventures of Tom Bristol, a sailor unfairly sentenced to death by the way of the cat-o'-nine whose life changes course when his ship is overtaken by pirates.

Ahoy ye wild buccaneers! It's time to test your mettle and see if you've got what it takes to talk like a pirate and brave the mighty seas. Let's see just how savvy and dangerous ye really are and answer the following:

Q.Who or what are powder monkeys?
a) Boys employed on warships to carry gunpowder from the magazine to the guns.
b) Cannons of various sizes running on either side of a merchant ship, used from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century.
c) A pair of long guns mounted forward in the bow of a sailing warship to fire directly ahead; used when chasing an enemy to shoot away her sails and rigging.

Think you know the answer? Here's a clue, Tom Bristol of Under the Black Ensign surely did. Send in your answer to editor@galaxypress.com with your mailing address and I'll send the first ten buccaneers's who get the answer right a copy of the never-before-published essay by L. Ron Hubbard "Yesterday, You Might Have Been a Pirate."

The premiere speculative fiction web site SFSite.com reviewed The Great Secret audiobook and gave it a thumbs up!

In the words of the reviewer:

"This is the stuff of pulp fiction and L. Ron Hubbard was a master of the form."

Here is the link to the audio podcast, SF Site published with excerpts from several science fiction pulp stories including The Great Secret, Space Can and The Slaver.

This coming Saturday, October 25th, is the showing of L. Ron Hubbard's gritty detective story, The Chee-Chalker at the Golden Age Theater at Author Services in Hollywood, California. It started running last week and has been an exciting live-wire event with a very talented cast including Tait Ruppert, Michael Gough, Bob Caso, Cathy Schenkelberg and Josh R. Thompson.

For a schedule of events, and to order tickets, go to:
http://www.goldenagestories.com/html/theater.php

To watch a podcast of The Iron Duke at the Golden Age Theater go to:
http://www.goldenagestories.com/html/podcasts.php