ASI: We have heard of the golden age of science fiction. What was Ron’s place during that time period?

Ron Hubbard was an original and was one of the big three of the golden age of science fiction. No ifs, ands or buts. In the late 1930s, early 1940s, there was Robert Heinlein, A. E. van Vogt and L. Ron Hubbard. Everybody else came in second. Hubbard and Heinlein were very good friends and vied with each other for number one status. Of course, there was also John W. Campbell, Jr.

When Campbell became the editor of Astounding Science Fiction he was looking for a new kind of writer. All three of these writers had their first science fiction story published in Astounding and came to be mainstays for the magazine.

A few writers like Jack Williamson and Murray Leinster were held over from the earlier Astounding, but Campbell created the golden age with new science fiction writers like Hubbard, Heinlein and van Vogt. They were gradually joined by other good writers. The golden age, as far as I am concerned, lasted until 1950, when Astounding suddenly developed serious competition.