By L. Ron Hubbard
Title: Battlefield Earth
Author: L. Ron Hubbard
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Pages: 1080
Genre: Science Fiction
BOOK BLURB:
In response to Voyager I, the human race was nearly wiped out by an alien invader of superior strength and weapons so technologically advanced that any counterattack was futile.
After a thousand years of dystopian terror, one courageous man attempts to gather the scattered tribes of humanity and reclaim the planet. He must unite a beaten people and uncover any possible weakness in the alien’s hold on our world.
Already pitted against overwhelming odds, Jonnie is being secretly undermined by an unexpected enemy within his own people, who will stop at nothing to destroy him.
This carefully plotted journey of the fate of humankind has captivated readers for more than 40 years and earned its place as one of the most beloved science fiction novels of all time.
A Random House Modern Readers Library poll voted Battlefield Earth one of the Best 100 English-Language Novels of the 20th Century.
“L. Ron Hubbard was one of the big change agents of science fiction. He helped shift the genre from a cold exploration of machines, technology, and alien worlds, to a warm exploration of human beings and how they reacted to such machines, technologies, and worlds. Battlefield Earth is a prime example, a character-driven epic that grabs you from the start and never lets go. You root for the heroes and despise the villains, all the while becoming immersed in a compulsively-readable science-fiction tour de force, complete with breathtaking action, non-stop adventure, and enough creativity to fill a dozen novels.” —Douglas E. Richards (author of Unidentified)
“Battlefield Earth is one of my favorite works of science fiction ever. I’ve probably read it eight times or so. It’s always in my top five. As a writer myself, I think about the pacing and the plotting of that book and just marvel that he pulled it off. It’s really brilliant.” —Hugh Howey (author of Wool)
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-Earth-Arrival-Invasion-Post-Apocalyptic/dp/1592129579
Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/battlefield-earth-l-ron-hubbard/1100824883?ean=9781592129577
Booksamillion:
https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Battlefield-Earth/L-Ron-Hubbard/9781592129577
The hairy paws of the Chamco brothers hung suspended above the broad keys of the laser-bash game. The cliffs of Char’s eyebones drew down over his yellow orbs as he looked up in mystery. Even the steward, who had been padding quietly about picking up her saucepans, lumbered to a halt and stared.
Terl could not have produced a more profound effect had he thrown a meat-girl naked into the middle of the room.
The clear dome of the Intergalactic Mining Company employee recreation hall shone black around and above them, silvered at its crossbars by the pale glow of the Earth’s single moon, half full on this late summer night.
Terl lifted his large amber eyes from the tome that rested minutely in his massive claws and looked around the room. He was suddenly aware of the effect he had produced, and it amused him. Anything to relieve the humdrum monotony of a ten-year duty tour in this gods-abandoned mining camp, way out here on the edge of a minor galaxy.
In an even more professorial voice, already deep and roaring enough, Terl repeated his thought. “Man is an endangered species.”
Char glowered at him. “What in the name of diseased crap are you reading?”
Terl did not much care for his tone. After all, Char was simply one of several mine managers, but he, Terl, was chief of minesite security. “I didn’t read it. I thought it.”
“You must’ve got it from somewhere,” growled Char. “What is that book?” Terl held it up so Char could see its back. It said General Report of Geological Minesites, Volume 250,369. Like all such books, it was huge. Time, distance and weight have been translated in all cases throughout this book to old Earth time, distance and weight systems for the sake of uniformity and to prevent confusion in the various systems employed by the Psychlos but printed on material that made it almost weightless, particularly on a low-gravity planet such as Earth, a triumph of design and manufacture that did not cut heavily into the payloads of freighters.
“Rughr,” growled Char in disgust. “That must be two, three hundred Earth-years old. If you want to prowl around in books, I got an up-to-date general board of directors’ report that says we’re thirty-five freighters behind in bauxite deliveries.”
The Chamco brothers looked at each other and then at their game to see where they had gotten to in shooting down the live mayflies in the air box. But Terl’s next words distracted them again. “Today,” said Terl, brushing Char’s push for work aside, “I got a sighting report from a recon drone that recorded only thirty-five men in that valley near that peak.”
Terl waved his paw westward toward the towering mountain range silhouetted by the moon.
“So?” said Char.
“So I dug up the books out of curiosity. There used to be hundreds in that valley. And furthermore,” continued Terl with his professorial ways coming back, “there used to be thousands and thousands of them on this planet.”
“You can’t believe all you read,” said Char heavily. “On my last duty tour—it was Arcturus IV—”
“This book,” said Terl, lifting it impressively, “was compiled by the Culture and Ethnology Department of the Intergalactic Mining Company.”
The larger Chamco brother batted his eyebones. “I didn’t know we had one.”
– Excerpted from Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard, Galaxy Press, 2016. Reprinted with permission.
With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.
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