I want to express my shock and disbelief at the disregard for facts and fairness displayed by John Kass in his Dec. 11 column “The moral here is: Give–or at least stay out of bookstores.”
It might have helped immeasurably if he had actually read the science-fiction works of L. Ron Hubbard that he refers to in his column (which by his own admission he has not), the most celebrated of which undoubtedly are Mr. Hubbard’s international best-selling novels “Battlefield Earth” and the 10-volume “Mission Earth.”
Mr. Kass surely has a professional obligation to his readers to tell them that “Battlefield Earth,” for example, was voted one of the best science-fiction novels of all time in a poll of more than 500,000 science-fiction readers conducted by the Waldenbooks chain. That it has sold more than 5 million copies in 14 languages throughout the world. And that the novel continues to garner literary honors–in the U.S., Italy, France and elsewhere–and to inspire wide and enthusiastic critical recognition.
Surely, Mr. Kass would have better served the interest of the readers of his column if he had informed them of the true scope of L. Ron Hubbard’s work in a more than 50-year career as one of the most prolific, versatile and influential writers of our century.
