Editing L. Ron Hubbard (section)

====Pre-war fiction====
{{main|Written works of L. Ron Hubbard|Excalibur (L. Ron Hubbard)}}
[[File:New mystery adventures 193508.jpg|thumb|right|Hubbard's adventure story "Yukon Madness" which was published in 1935.]]

In 1933, Hubbard renewed a relationship with a fellow glider pilot, [[Margaret Grubb|Margaret "Polly" Grubb]]{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=59}} and the two were quickly married on April 13.{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=61}}
The following year, she gave birth to a son who was named [[Ronald DeWolf|Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, Jr.]], later nicknamed "Nibs".{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=64}} A second child, Katherine May, was born two years later.{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=70}} The Hubbards lived for a while in [[Laytonsville, Maryland]], but were chronically short of money. In the spring of 1936, they moved to [[Bremerton, Washington]]. They lived there for a time with Hubbard's aunts and grandmother before finding a place of their own at nearby [[South Colby, Washington|South Colby]]. According to one of his friends at the time, [[Robert MacDonald Ford]], the Hubbards were "in fairly dire straits for money" but sustained themselves on the income from Hubbard's writing.{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=74}}{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=62}}

Hubbard began a writing career and tried to write for mainstream publications. Hubbard soon found his niche in the [[pulp magazine|pulp fiction magazines]], becoming a prolific and prominent writer in the medium. From 1934 until 1940, Hubbard produced hundreds of short stories and novels.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About L. Ron Hubbard&nbsp;— Master Storyteller |url=http://www.galaxypress.com/l-ron-hubbard |access-date=February 8, 2011 |publisher=Galaxy Press |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711070539/http://www.galaxypress.com/l-ron-hubbard |archive-date=July 11, 2011 }}</ref> Hubbard is remembered for his "prodigious output" across a variety of genres, including adventure fiction, aviation, travel, mysteries, westerns, romance, and science fiction.<ref name="Frenschkowski">{{Cite journal |last=Frenschkowski |first=Marco |date=July 1999 |title=L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology: An annotated bibliographical survey of primary and selected secondary literature |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144316914.pdf|via=[[CORE (research service)|CORE]]|doi=10.17192/mjr.1999.4.3760|publisher=[[University of Marburg]]|journal=[[Marburg Journal of Religion]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427171605/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144316914.pdf|archive-date=April 27, 2021 |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=15 |url-status=live|access-date=May 13, 2015 |doi-access=free }}</ref> His first full-length novel, ''[[Buckskin Brigades]]'', was published in 1937.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Staff |date=July 30, 1937 |title=Books Published Today |page=17 |work=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref> The novel told the story of "Yellow Hair", a white man adopted into the Blackfeet tribe, with promotional material claiming the author had been a "bloodbrother" of the Blackfeet. ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' praised the book, writing "Mr. Hubbard has reversed a time-honored formula and has given a thriller to which, at the end of every chapter or so, another paleface bites the dust."<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMAfAQAAMAAJ | title=The New York Times Book Review | date=July 1937 }}</ref>

[[File:Dentist's office, early 1930s - Arppeanum - DSC05417 (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|upright|Museum recreation of a 1930s dentist office; the setting where Hubbard reported having a "near-death experience".]]

On New Year's Day, 1938, Hubbard reportedly underwent a dental procedure and reacted to the anesthetic gas used in the procedure.{{sfn|Wright|2013|p=29}} According to his account, this triggered a revelatory [[near-death experience]]. Allegedly inspired by this experience, Hubbard composed a manuscript, which was never published, with working titles of ''The One Command'' and ''Excalibur''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 24, 2013 |title='Going Clear': A New Book Delves Into Scientology |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/01/24/170010096/going-clear-a-new-book-delves-into-scientology |publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref name="lermanet.com">{{Cite web |title=The History of Excalibur |url=http://www.lermanet.com/excalibur/ |website=lermanet.com}}</ref> Hubbard sent telegrams to several book publishers, but nobody bought the manuscript.<ref name="Burks">{{Cite web |last=Burks |first=Arthur J. |date=December 1961 |title=Yes, There Was A Book Called "Excalibur" By L. Ron Hubbard |url=http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/essays/burks.html |website=The Aberee |via=[[David S. Touretzky]]}}</ref> Hubbard wrote to his wife:

{{blockquote|Sooner or later ''Excalibur'' will be published... I have high hopes of smashing my name into history so violently that it will take a legendary form even if all books are destroyed. That goal is the real goal as far as I am concerned.<ref name="Letter-1938">Letter from L. Ron Hubbard, October 1938, quoted in [[#CITEREFMiller1987|Miller 1987]], p. 81</ref>}}

Hubbard found greater success after being taken under the supervision of editor [[John W. Campbell]], who published many of Hubbard's short stories and serialized [[Novella|novelettes]] in his magazines ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]]'' and ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Astounding Science Fiction]]''.{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=86}}<ref name="Stableford">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |title=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8108-4938-9 |location=Lanham, MD |page=164}}</ref> Hubbard's novel ''[[Final Blackout]]'' told the story of a low-ranking British army officer who rises to become dictator of the United Kingdom.<ref name="sf-encyclopedia.com">{{Cite web | url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hubbard_l_ron | title=SFE: Hubbard, L Ron }}</ref> In July 1940, Campbell magazine ''Unknown'' published a psychological horror by Hubbard titled ''[[Fear (Hubbard novella)|Fear]]'' about an ethnologist who becomes paranoid that demons are out to get him—the work was well-received, drawing praise from [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Isaac Asimov]], and others. In November and December 1940, ''Unknown'' serialized Hubbard's novel ''[[Typewriter in the Sky]]'' about a pulp fiction writer whose friend becomes trapped inside one of his stories.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kent |first1=Stephen A. |last2=Raine |first2=Susan |title=Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4408-3249-9 }}</ref>