THE RED DRAGON (Action Adventures Short Stories Collection #10) by L. Ron Hubbard




Originally published in 1935 by the magazine "Five Novels"

Re-published in 2013 by Galaxy Press.

Long before L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) became the creator of Scientology, he was a pulp fiction writer. He did this for nearly 20 years, with his first writing credit coming in 1932. The Red Dragon was originally written for a monthly publication called Five Novels.

Synopsis

The Red Dragon starts out very much like an Indiana Jones movie - an American damsel in distress is in China looking for the archaeological find her father had told her about. He has left clues to its location and she is seeking someone to help her. The site is located in Manchuria - a disputed zone under Japanese control in what would eventually become the beginnings of World War II in Asia (unknown to Hubbard at the time because Pearl Harbor attack was more than six years away).

The mysterious Michael Stuart has stepped up to help. His nickname is The Red Dragon because he is audacious and because he had red hair. He is disreputable in both the Japanese and Chinese controlled areas for reasons never made clear in this 92 page novella.

So, Stuart and the damsel in distress head off into Manchuria with assassins following and the Japanese Army waiting...

My Review

This adventure story has a little bit of everything - car chases, pistol fights in hotel rooms, a pistol fight on the Great Wall of China, love, daring escapes, clever disguises. But, the story sort of peters out at about two-thirds of the way through.

Be aware that this story is 90 years old and it shows its age when it comes to racial stereotypes.

For me, the funniest scene in the book is completely unintentional. At one point The Red Dragon steals the uniform of a Japanese officer and sneaks into a hut/pub to get some information. He blacked his hair with cooking grease, rubbed yellow dust all over his skin to give it a different color (not kidding), and taped back his eyes to make them look more Asian. With all of these questionable tricks, he is concerned that the locals will notice his gray eyes - not the tape on the eyes!

I rate this novella 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Red Dragon by L. Ron Hubbard.




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