Has anyone ever noticed that 90% of the 2 pages of Japanese language audiobooks on Audible are by L. Ron Hubbard?
If I attempt to read along to or listen to those books will I turn out like Tom Cruise or will it just be some weird (maybe even good!) science fiction?

If they're from before Scientology they're mostly good science fiction, without anything expecially weird in it.

Edit: actually I've read only "Final Blackout", which is not bad (and I didn't feel the urge to join the closer scientology "church", wherever it is, which I suppose is your fear ;-P)... I suppose in the future I'll read more of the things he wrote before scientology.

Consider that he was just a normal science fiction writer before deciding money and tax-exemption were greater goals.

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I had some good laughs reading the first few volumes of Mission Earth which is written from the point of view of the bad guy trying his best to screw up everything and failing miserably now and then. I was a teenager though so I don't know how it holds up now, but it didn't seem too bad.

The only strong view I remember from those books that Hubbard expressed through the characters is that he really didn't like psychologists

edit: Mind, the main humour in Mission Earth is the satire, so I don't know how well it translates.

Well this section of the Wikipedia page echoes my thoughts:

Wikipedia page Wrote:The Mission Earth novels on the whole are a subversive, harsh, poignant attack on American society in the 1980s. As such they have so far received almost no attention, which perhaps they do deserve a bit more. They also have some quite interesting characters, especially when read with a deconstructionist approach. These 11 later novels by Hubbard are not Scientology propaganda literature, but have some topics in common, especially the very strong opposition against 20th century psychology and psychiatry, which is seen as a major source of evil

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Haha I remember now, I think it was funny because from the get go it is written by the "spy" guy (Soltan Gris) who tries to convince the authorities that planet Earth really doesn't exist because they figured out about our drugs, and are trying to get them back to their planet to "corrupt" the government so the army can overthrow it.

Something like that. So the whole story is the hero is going there on behalf of the government to save ourselves from destructing the planet, while the bad guy is pulling strings all the time trying to mess up everything and showing a straight face to the hero.

I can see why I liked it as a teenager, because it was a bit crude at times, it talked about drugs, all sorts of corruption and manipulation. And Soltan Gris, the bad guy, is really nasty! But I think it was funny because you read it from his point of view, and all his disgusting thoughts.

tashippy Wrote:If I attempt to read along to or listen to those books will I turn out like Tom Cruise

Definitely. If you read those books, be prepared to deal with Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes showing up at your doorstep looking to have sex with you.

and be prepared to eat placenta. :o

I can stomach placenta, it's the church I'm concerned about.
Anyway, I researched the titles available and every last one of them is a Scientology book (audible.com, advanced search, language, Japanese).
Maybe I'll just have to get heavily into farcical theology; $cientology and Jehovah'$ Wittnesses seem to make up half of the audiobooks available in Japanese.

tashippy Wrote:I can stomach placenta, it's the church I'm concerned about.
Anyway, I researched the titles available and every last one of them is a Scientology book (audible.com, advanced search, language, Japanese).
Maybe I'll just have to get heavily into farcical theology; $cientology and Jehovah'$ Wittnesses seem to make up half of the audiobooks available in Japanese.

If you want something darker, with a more horrory feel to it, I recommend the good ol' Bible. All the gore and guts you could ask for. Hardly any aliens though. Except the one dude giving the orders. Oh and spoiler alert: Jesus dies at the end.

I don't know, the Bible is a bit cheap, since everyone dies. I really don't care for those kinds of stories.

As for reading the Bible in Japanese, it's already been translated and edited (by the church) into oblivion, so one more translation shouldn't be a problem.

And yeah, it's hard to find good audiobooks, but hopefully they'll pick up in popularity soon.

Oh. Does he stay dead?