L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) was an American pulp fiction author and the founder of the Church of Scientology. With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 230 million copies of his works in circulation, Hubbard is among the most acclaimed and widely read authors of all time.
Hubbard tops today’s Buffet with Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead, a great example of the action-packed, thrilling yarns people read in the days before Indiana Jones. An expedition to the Pakistan desert to locate the lost loot of Alexander the Great erupts in murder and mayhem when greed gets the better of its members.
After establishing a career as a writer, becoming best known for his science fiction and fantasy stories, he developed a self-help system called Dianetics. He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals as part of a new religious movement that he called Scientology.
Hubbard became a well-known and prolific writer for pulp fiction magazines during the 1930s. Although he was best known for his fantasy and science fiction stories, Hubbard wrote in a wide variety of genres, including adventure fiction, aviation, travel, mysteries, westerns and even romance. Not only was Hubbard steeped in the history of the ancient world, he was also an avid adventurer—both in his own right and as a respected member of the famed Explorers Club, and he brought a wealth of insight, experience and authenticity to all his tales of adventure.
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Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead
Captain Gordon is hired to fly a team of American anthropologists on an expedition near the Arabian Sea. All goes well until an ancient map leading to untold treasure is discovered and all academic niceties vanish–replaced by murder and bloody deception to protect the secrets of the map.
Before Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark were even a gleam in Spielberg’s eye, one intrepid pilot flew out of the sky in search of treasure … only to find a bit of hell on earth.
Captain Gordon lives like he flies—by the seat of his pants, taking on any job and all comers. Now he’s bound for the forbidding mountains along the shores of the Arabian Sea, transporting a team of anthropologists on the trail of Alexander the Great. But ancient history is about to come to dangerous life with the discovery of a long-buried map—a map leading to high adventure, untold treasure, and cold-blooded murder…
Gordon’s headed deep into The Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead—unearthing a secret that could bury him.
Inescapable
Romance > Amish > Mystery & Suspense
Author: Nancy Mehl
Lizzie Engel is used to running away. At 18, she left her Mennonite hometown, her family, and her faith with plans never to return. Five years later, Lizzie finds she’ll have to run again. False accusations at her job, a stalker, and a string of anonymous threatening letters have left her with no other options. This time, however, her escape is back to Kingdom, her hometown.
As Lizzie becomes reacquainted with Kingdom, she realizes she may not have left her Mennonite roots and her faith as firmly in the past as she thought. She draws on the support of Noah Housler, an old friend, as she hides out and attempts to plan her next steps.
When it becomes painfully clear that the danger has followed Lizzie to Kingdom, suspicions and tensions run high, and she no longer knows who to trust. With her life and the lives of those she loves at risk, Lizzie will have to run one last time–to a Father whose love is inescapable.
Wild Thing
Children’s Fiction
Author: Dandi Daley Mackall
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Twelve-year-old Winnie Willis has a way with horses. She can gentle the wildest mare, but other parts of her life don’t always come as easily. Along with her dad and sister, Lizzy, Winnie is learning how to live without her mom, who was also a natural horse gentler. As Winnie teaches her horses about unconditional love and blind trust, God shows Winnie that he can be trusted too. Readers will be hooked on the series’ vivid characters, whose quirky personalities fill Winnie’s life with friendship and adventure.
How (Not) to Kiss a Toad
Fantasy > Fairy Tales > Mythology
Author: Elizabeth A Reeves
Cindy Eller is a witch with a gift for creating decadent desserts highlighting the exotic and spicy flavors of her native Southwest. However, life isn’t always sweet for this magical baker. All her life she’s been cursed– every man she’s ever kissed has turned into a toad. Love isn’t likely to come her way, she knows.
If that weren’t a big enough problem, her ‘curse’ has come to the attention of the Council of Magic and she may never be able to use her powers.
Enter the perfect man– handsome, sweet, and loves food just as much as Cindy does. It would seem to be a match made in Heaven, or is it?
Cindy isn’t the only one keeping secrets. With toads, cupcakes, romance, magic and ice cream, life never has time to get dull!
Montega’s Mistress
Romance > Contemporary > Military
Author: Doreen Owens Malek
Helen Demarest’s peaceful, orderly existence was shattered forever the night Matteo Montega burst into her life. Armed and wounded, Montega was a man on the run with a secret mission to complete. At first frightened, then fascinated, Helen had chosen to help her midnight intruder and thus was drawn into the web of danger and intrigue that surrounded him.
From the Florida beach where they first met to his Central American homeland, Montega showed Helen a new world filled with passion, risk and the commitment to dare everything for a goal she came to share. But when the adventure was over and he had his victory-would she have won or lost?
A Promise to Remember
Religious Fiction > Women’s Fiction
Author: Kathryn Cushman
When a car accident kills two teens from opposite sides of the tracks, the aftermath threatens to tear a community apart. On one side, Melanie Johnston–a grieving single mother–is convinced her son will be forgotten. On the other is Andie Phelps, a reserved woman who retreats even further into herself with grief.
Readers’ emotions are torn between these two sympathetic characters as each fights her way through grief and pain–sometimes wisely and sometimes with choices that have the power to divide family, church, and even their small, sea-side town.
The Beloved Daughter
Christian Fiction > Suspense
Author: Alana Terry
In a small North Korean village, a young girl struggles to survive. But it is her father’s faith, not the famine of North Hamyong Province, that most threatens Chung-Cha’s well-being. Is Chung-Cha’s father right to be such a vocal believer? Or is he a fool to bring danger on the head of his only daughter? Chung-Cha is only a girl of twelve and is too young to answer such questions. Yet she is not too young to face a life of imprisonment and forced labor. Her crime? Being the daughter of a political traitor.
The Someday List
Religious Fiction
Author: Stacy Hawkins Adams
Rachelle Covington has it all. A fabulous home, a handsome and prestigious husband, two beautiful children, and a place in the upper crust that’s quite comfortable. But her life is not all it’s cracked up to be. When her husband goes away on business trip and the kids are sent off to the grandparents for a month, Rachelle takes up the challenge of a dying friend to start a list of things to do before she dies. She heads back to Jubilant, Texas, to reconnect with her past, her purpose, and herself. But when her ex shows up in town looking very fine and very single, Rachelle must confront feelings she thought she’d long buried. Will she give up everything to recover the past? Or will she find a reason to plan for the future?
ASBO: A Novel of Extreme Terror
Crime Fiction > Thrillers
Author: Iain Rob Wright
Andrew’s life is one of bored contentedness: a teenage daughter, a faithful wife, and a middle-class job. He even has a Mercedes. His life is without drama, and the comfort of middle-age is setting in.
That all changes when he refuses to buy a pack of cigarettes for the local gang of youths. Led by the emotionally unstable, and sadistic, Frankie, the gang target Andrew and his family in an escalating campaign of terror and violence that threatens their very lives. It isn’t long before Andrew starts to wish that he’d just brought those damn cigarettes.
Larkspur Cove
Religious Fiction
Author: Lisa Wingate
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Adventure is the last thing on Andrea Henderson’s mind when she moves to Moses Lake. After surviving the worst year of her life, she’s struggling to build a new life for herself and her son as a social worker. Perhaps in doing a job that makes a difference, she can find some sense of purpose and solace in her shattered faith.
For new Moses Lake game warden Mart McClendon, finding a sense of purpose in life isn’t an issue. He took the job to get out of southwest Texas and the constant reminders of a tragedy for which he can’t forgive himself.
But when a little girl is seen with the town recluse, Mart and Andrea are drawn together in the search for her identity. The little girl offers them both a new chance at redemption and hope–and may bring them closer than either ever planned.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2