Hell’s Legionnaire

The pulp fictions of the late Hubbard—who wrote numerous New York Times bestsellers and founded the Church of Scientology—are immeasurably improved for modern audiences in these entertaining full-cast radio dramas, complete with slick production, sound effects, and rousing musical themes straight out of a Saturday serial. In this collection of stories—which includes a bodice-ripper action piece with a stock bad guy and a damsel in distress—the capable cast turns in a series of polished performances. The collection’s high point is “The Squad That Never Came Back,” a gripping story of greed and death narrated by the sole survivor of a Foreign Legion contingent based in Morocco. Fans of radio dramas and the pulp novels of 1930s and 1940s will be delighted. A Galaxy paperback. (Mar.)