Today, the name L. Ron Hubbard is automatically referenced as the founder of the Church of Scientology, the celebrity-laden super-rich pyramid faith that has spread around the world with controversies and scandals following at every step.
That the religion’s tenets, mostly of attaining consciousness commensurate with a gang of intergalactic superbeings, were dreamed up by Hubbard is well known. Perhaps it is more affirming than surprising then, to find that when spending a few idle hours flicking through old American pulp fiction magazines of the 1930s – Thrilling Adventures, Five-Novels Monthly, Detective Fiction – you’ll often see Hubbard’s byline.