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| Mission Earth by L.Ron Hubbard |
Mission Earth by L.Ron Hubbard
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Mission Earth is a ten-volume science fiction novel series by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. Hubbard died three months after the publication of volume 1, the rest of the book being published posthumously.
The series' initial publisher, Bridge Publications coined the word
dekalogy, meaning "a series of ten
books", to describe and promote the novel. Made up of about 1.2 million
words, the epic is a "satirical science fiction adventure set in the
far future." It made it to the top of bestseller lists, same as the
subsequent volumes in the series.
The first five volumes of the Mission Earth series, several of which
have been published posthumously, include The Invaders Plan (1985),
Black Genesis: Fortress of Evil (1986), The Enemy Within (1986), An
Alien Affair (1986), and Fortune and Fear (1986).
Brief Summary:
The books are written as the confessions of Soltan Gris, an agent of
the CIA on the planet Voltar (the Coordinated Information Apparatus or,
more simply, The Apparatus, which is run with an iron hand by its boss,
Lombar Hisst), as an exposé. Each book begins with a disclaimer from
Lord Invay, the head Censor, denying the very existence of the planet
Earth itself and denouncing the story as rankest fiction, despite the
inclusion of characters who are real and known public figures in the
novel's fictional world, such as Jettero Heller and the Countess Krak.
The Voltar Confederacy wishes to conquer the planet Earth, which they
regard as an important potential base on the main route of their
planned invasion of the galactic centre. The conquest of Earth is
scheduled for over 100 years in the future, but the Grand Council of
Voltar becomes convinced that it must send a mission to prevent Earth
from destroying itself through pollution and possibly war, so as not to
disrupt the future timetable of conquest. The mission is assigned to
Fleet Combat Engineer Jettero Heller, a character of perfection and
incorruptibility. Soon after reaching Earth, he heads to New York City.
He investigates why Earth is self-destructing, unaware that he is being
tracked and that factions on Voltar want his mission to fail.
Unknown to Heller, Earth is also the base for a secret plan put into
action by the insane, diabolically evil Lombar Hisst to seize the throne
of the Empire of Voltar for himself. Hisst has been importing illegal
narcotic drugs from Earth and using them to enslave the entire
population of aristocratic heads of government on Voltar. By turning the
entire government into drug addicts, Hisst plans to take control of the
Empire for himself. Because of Earth's role as a supplier of drugs,
Hisst decides that Heller's mission to save the planet must not succeed.
Lombar Hisst assigns a cowardly, sadistic, greedy stooge named Soltan
Gris to supervise the mission to Earth, in order to sabotage it and
destroy Jettero Heller. The majority of the story is told from Gris'
point of view, with an emphasis on the comical situations Gris ends up
in as he tries to stop Heller. Over the course of the novel, Gris finds
himself in possession of twelve tons of pure gold, which he tries to launder through a Swiss bank account in order to keep it all for himself; he becomes a prisoner of two man-hating lesbians
(who end up marrying Gris after he rapes them and thereby "cures" them
of their lesbianism, but not before various ingenious tortures, one of
which involve a cheese grater and chili powder); he repeatedly finds
himself losing large amounts of money, becoming broke, and having to
concoct wild schemes to save himself from his creditors; he has an
affair with a young nymphomaniac teenage girl whom he cannot escape; he
hires a hit man to kill Heller's fiancé, only to stumble through the
affair and end up being a target for the hit man himself; he embarks on a
long cruise through the Mediterranean (mirroring Hubbard's own voyages
through the area in the 1970s); and finally, Gris becomes the target
after Heller realizes that he is behind the operation to disrupt his
mission.
Heller's investigations of Earth soon reveal to him that the entire
planet is in the grip of a vast organized corporate conspiracy headed by
the Rockecenter corporation and its head, Delbert John Rockecenter (the similarity to "John D. Rockefeller"
is one of many blatant puns and references included in the series by
Hubbard). Rockecenter is the head of a vast oil-producing corporation
that keeps the population of Earth under control by using drugs and rock and roll music to keep the population sedate. (Rock music is used in the novel to spread sexual deviancy, especially homosexuality, among the population of Earth.)
Heller's attempts to break the demonic control of Earth by
Rockecenter make him a target, and the corporation uses its most
dangerous weapons to destroy him: psychiatry and psychology, and a mad,
idealistic public relations genius by the name of J. Walter Madison
(known as "J. Warbler Madman"). Madison initiates a wide-reaching
public relations campaign to make Heller known to the world as the "Whiz
Kid", but results in destroying Heller's reputation so that all of
Heller's efforts to save the planet come to naught, as Madison's
employer, Rockecenter, wanted. Fortunately, Heller's outstanding skills
and abilities are reinforced by the arrival on Earth of his fiancée, the
Countess Krak, and the alliance and friendship of the Mafia — specifically the Corleone family.
After a series of world-shattering events, which include the impact
of an ice meteor on the Soviet Union, the world's entire oil supply
being turned radioactive, and a black hole
orbiting the Earth (providing free energy for Heller to harness and
make available to the world), Heller returns to Voltar to find that not
only have Lombar Hisst's plans to enslave the government nearly
succeeded, but Madison the PR madman has been loosed on the empire of
Voltar and is in the process of starting a galactic civil war.
After the defeat of Hisst and Madison, a massive cover-up operation
commences to wipe out the effects of PR, psychology and psychiatry, and
the CIA from Voltar's empire. All mention of these subjects is censored
and the planet Earth is eradicated from all star charts and similar
items. As far as the Voltarans are concerned, there is no such place as
planet Earth.
Volumes:
- The Invaders Plan (October 1985, ISBN 1-59212-022-9), 559 pages
- Black Genesis (March 1986, ISBN 1-59212-023-7), 431 pages
- The Enemy Within (May 1986, ISBN 1-59212-024-5), 393 pages
- An Alien Affair (August 1986, ISBN 1-59212-025-3), 329 pages
- Fortune of Fear (October 1986, ISBN 1-59212-026-1), 329 pages
- Death Quest (January 1987, ISBN 1-59212-027-X), 490 pages
- Voyage of Vengeance (May 1987, ISBN 1-59212-028-8), 381 pages
- Disaster (June 1987, ISBN 1-59212-029-6), 337 pages
- Villainy Victorious (September 1987, ISBN 1-59212-030-X), 410 pages
- The Doomed Planet (September 1987, ISBN 1-59212-031-8), 333 pages
Page counts are from hardcover editions, and total 3992 pages.
Sales controversy:
The
Mission Earth books were a major sales success, particularly the earlier volumes in the series, with all individual volumes reaching the New York Times bestseller list.
The extent to which this reflects actual popularity is strongly questioned.
A large number of booksellers, publishing executives, and former
Scientologists state that, as with other Hubbard books, the Church of
Scientology engaged in a massive book-buying campaign, similar to the
campaign to promote
Battlefield Earth, so as to deliberately inflate sales of the series in order to promote it as a best-selling work of literature.
Stories of the books being sent to stores bearing other store's price
tags circulated throughout the science fiction fan community.
In a two-year span, Hubbard logged 14 consecutive books on the New
York Times list. Adam Clymer, a New York Times executive, said that,
while the books have been sold in sufficient numbers to justify their
bestseller status, "we don't know to whom they were sold." He said the
newspaper uncovered no instances in which vast quantities of books were
being sold to single individuals.
Source: Wikipedia
