Final Blackout

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Final Blackout
Image:Final blackout.jpg
Dust-jacket from the first edition
Author L. Ron Hubbard
Illustrator Betty Wells Halladay
Cover artist Betty Wells Halladay
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publisher The Hadley Publishing Co.
Publication date 1948
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 154 pp
ISBN ISBN 0884043401
OCLC 18604884

Final Blackout is a dystopic science fiction novel by author L. Ron Hubbard. The novel is set in the future and follows a man known as "the Lieutenant" as he restores order to England after a world war. First published in serialized format in 1940 in Astounding Science Fiction, Final Blackout was published in book form in 1948 by The Hadley Publishing Co. Author Services Inc. published a hardcover edition of the book in 1988, and in 1989 the Church of Scientology-affiliated organization Bridge Publications announced that film director Christopher Cain had signed a contract to write and direct a movie version based on the book.

The novel was generally well received by literature critics, and is seen as an early classic of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. It has received positive mention in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily News of Los Angeles and has been used in a science-fiction writing class at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Contents

[edit] Publication history

The story appeared in print in a 3-part serialized format,[1] beginning with the April 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.[2] Final Blackout was first published in book form in 1948 by The Hadley Publishing Co. in an edition of 1,000 copies and with a new preface by Hubbard.[3] The book was re-released in a hardcover format in 1988 by the Church of Spiritual Technology subsidiary company Author Services Inc.[4]

In 1989, Young Guns film director Christopher Cain optioned the rights to Final Blackout and developed a script for a possible film-version of the book.[5] According to the Church of Scientology company Bridge Publications, Cain signed a contract to write a screenplay based on the book and to direct the film.[6] "The book is massive in scope and transcends time. It's a powerful look at the idiocy and futility of war. I look forward to making 'Final Blackout' into a major movie," said Cain in a press release put out by Bridge Publications.[6]

An audiobook was released by Bridge Publications in 1991 and read by Planet of the Apes actor Roddy McDowall, who also voiced audiobook versions of Hubbard's novels Battlefield Earth and Fear.[7]

[edit] Plot

Set in the future, the novel concerns the rise of a Lieutenant (known in the book only as "the Lieutenant") to dictator of England after a world war. The Lieutenant leads a ragtag army fighting for survival after Europe has been ravaged by 30 years of atomic, biological and conventional warfare.

[edit] Reception

Final Blackout is seen as an early classic of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.[8][9] In his book The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Donald H. Tuck described the book as "Hubbard's masterpiece".[1] Thomas D. Clareson writes in Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction that prior to formalizing Dianetics and Scientology, Hubbard was "perhaps best known for Final Blackout".[10] In his book Scientology: The Now Religion, George Malko writes that Hubbard's works including Slaves of Sleep, Kingslayer, Typewriter in the Sky, Fear, Death's Deputy, and Final Blackout "were eagerly welcomed by devoted fans".[11] In his 1967 book Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction, Sam Moskowitz writes that the book "... was a stunning achievement, certainly the most powerful and readable 'warning' story that had appeared in science fiction to that date."[12] Moskowitz comments: "The progress of today's events has made much of Final Blackout prophetic".[12]

Roland J. Green of the Chicago Sun-Times called the book "One of the highwater marks of his [Hubbard's] literary career", and "perhaps the best single novel yet of what the Pentagon once so charmingly christened 'the broken-backed war' after a nuclear exchange".[13] Science fiction writer John W. Campbell wrote of the book: "H.G. Wells... never wrote anything more powerful than [Hubbard's] 'Final Blackout'".[14] Jon Stone of NewsNet5.com described Final Blackout and Fear as "pulp in composition and not great in length, they are straight stories with few or no elements of Hubbard's other career", and compared the "pages of battles and tactics" in Final Blackout to Hubbard's later work Battlefield Earth.[15] Final Blackout and Fear are often cited by critics as the best examples of Hubbard's pulp fiction works.[16] Chuck Moss of Daily News of Los Angeles called the book "extremely good science fiction".[17]

The book has been included in the curriculum of a science-fiction writing class at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.[18] Cal Poly Pomona professor Steve Whaley told The Press-Enterprise that he thinks Hubbard was a "damn good storyteller".[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent, 233. ISBN 0-911682-20-1. 
  2. ^ Robinson, Frank M.; Lawrence Davidson (1998). Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines. Collectors Press, Inc., 183. ISBN 1888054123. 
  3. ^ Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd., 343. 
  4. ^ Welch, Scott; Simone Welch (L. Ron Hubbard Publications). "Book Characters Come to Life at American Bookseller Convention", PR Newswire, June 3, 1988. 
  5. ^ Honeycutt, Kirk. "Cinefile", Los Angeles Times, November 5, 1989, p. 28. 
  6. ^ a b Welch, Scott (Bridge Publications). "FINAL-BLACKOUT; L. Ron Hubbard's Final Blackout goes to screen", Business Wire, Business Wire, Inc, August 22, 1989. 
  7. ^ Robison, Ken. "McDowall Reads Hubbard For Sci-Fi Fans", The Fresno Bee, December 22, 1991, p. F20. 
  8. ^ Milan. "The Invaders Plan MISSION EARTH VOLUME I by L. Ron Hubbard", Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1986, p. 6. 
  9. ^ McIntyre, Mike. "Hubbard hot-author status called illusion", The San Diego Union, Union-Tribune Publishing Co., April 15, 1990, p. A-1. 
  10. ^ Clareson, Thomas D. (1992). Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction: The Formative Period, 1926 - 1970. University of South Carolina Press, 73. ISBN 0872498700. 
  11. ^ Malko, George (1970). Scientology: The Now Religion. Delacorte Press, 34. ISBN 1112963731. 
  12. ^ a b Moskowitz, Sam (1967). Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction. Ballantine Books, 411. 
  13. ^ Green, Roland J.. "Some good old prose by Wolfe and Heinlein", Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Inc., April 5, 1992, p. 13. 
  14. ^ Westfahl, Gary (1998). The Mechanics of Wonder: The Creation of the Idea of Science Fiction. Liverpool University Press, 215-216. ISBN 0853235635. 
  15. ^ Stone, Jon (May 12, 2000). Hubbard Opus Delivers, Breaks Little Ground: 'Battlefield Earth' Takes Over 1,000 Pages To Show Readers Nothing New. NewsNet5.com. www.newsnet5.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
  16. ^ Testa, Anthony (2006). The Key of the Abyss: Jack Parsons, the Babalon Working and the Black Pilgrimage Decoded. Lulu.com, 15. ISBN 1430301600. 
  17. ^ Moss, Chuck. "Science Fiction - A Glimpse of the Future, From Present-Day Writers", Daily News of Los Angeles, March 15, 1992, p. L23. 
  18. ^ a b Thurston, Susan. "Hubbard's 'Battlefield' opens: Scientology's Inland film unit wasn't in on the movie of the sect founder's epic sci-fi novel", The Press-Enterprise, The Press-Enterprise Co., May 12, 2000, p. A01. 

[edit] External links

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