Where on Earth is Xenu's mountain prison?

We are now drifting somewhat off topic, but given that we want to truly understand the role of L. Ron Hubbard as a science fiction writer, I will reply anyway.

Science fiction of the 1950's was quite different than science fiction of the 1940's. It's like comparing popular music of the 1940's, such as Benny Goodman and the Andrews Sisters, to popular music of the 1950's, such as Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly.

Isaac Asimov was a great writer whose fiction I can still re-read with pleasure, after all these years. You really do have to put the science fiction of L. Ron Hubbard in context, to understand why he wrote the way he did. Don't compare him to Asimov, compare him to Edgar Rice Burroughs (who started writing well before the 1940's, but was still a huge influence in the 1940's).

If you really think that science fiction of the past is better than current science fiction, you are missing something. Have you read novels by David Brin, Vernor Vinge, Greg Bear, Bruce Stirling, Lois McMaster Bujold, John Varley, or the short fiction of the inimitable Ted Chiang? These are truly brilliant writers. They have done amazing work which is distinctly better than earlier SF. And that is not an exhaustive list, by any means. If you want to consider the state of speculative fiction on television, Joss Whedon has done magnificent work in a number of different series (although his current series, Agents of SHIELD is not my favorite). The "Firefly" series is probably the single most beautiful work of science fiction on television (but only lasted one season). So no, SF did not reach its pinnacle in the 1950's. I don't see how you can think that.

/r/scientology Thread Parent