Unknown - April, 1939 "The Ultimate Adventure"
- The Ultimate Adventure · L. Ron Hubbard
- The Changeling · Arthur J. Burks
- You Thought Me Dead · William G. Bogart
- Death Time · D. M. Bricker
- Strange Gateway · E. Hoffman Price
- Divide And Rule! · L. Sprague de Camp
- Cover by Graves Gladney
Book price: $20 - $50 - $100
In the July 1939 issue a reader said:
"The Ultimate Adventure' was pretty good. Gad! A horrible thought just came to me. What if they had made Stevie read one of Lovecraft's stories! If 'Ultimate Adventure' is ever made into a movie I can just picture the three Ritz brothers as the three ghouls."
Another said:
"The April issue was a knockout. "The Ultimate Adventure" is the best fantasy I have read in years. It surpasses everything Hubbard has done."
Unknown - May, 1939 "Danger In The Dark"
- Returned From Hell · Steve Fisher
- Danger In The Dark · L. Ron Hubbard
- The Missing Ocean · H. W. Guernsey
- The Cloak · Robert Bloch
- The Piping Death · Robert Moore Williams
- Whatever · Mona Farnsworth
- Divide And Rule! · L. Sprague de Camp
Book price: $20 - $50 - $100
In the August 1939 issue a reader said:
"Danger inThe Dark' was one of the best in it's line I have read, with very few points of incredibility to mar it."
Unknown - July, 1939 "Slaves Of Sleep"
- Slaves Of Sleep · L. Ron Hubbard
- Nothing In The Rules · L. Sprague de Camp
- The Elemental · Frank Belknap Long, Jr.
- Way Station · Herb Weiss
- The Joker · Mona Farnsworth
Book price: $20 - $50 - $100
Unknown - August, 1939 "The Ghoul"
- The Ghoul · L. Ron Hubbard
- Two Sought Adventure · Fritz Leiber, Jr. [First published story]
- Don't Dream · Donald Wandrei
- Forsaking All Others · Lester del Rey
- The Misguided Halo · Henry Kuttner
Book price: $25 - $60 - $125
Unknown - February, 1940 "Deaths Deputy"
- Deaths Deputy · L. Ron Hubbard
- The Wisdom of an Ass · Silaki Ali Hassan
- Call of Duty · Laurence Bour, Jr.
- The Psychomorph · E. A. Grosser
- When It Was Moonlight · Manly Wade Wellman
- On The Knees of the Gods · J. Allan Dunn
- Cover by Edd Cartier
Book price: $20 - $50 - $100
In the April 1940 issue a reader said:
"Cheerio Campbell:"
"Have just finished 'Deaths Deputy."
"I hope you added 'that extra hundred dallars' to Hubbard's check!"
"Unknown's best novel since 'Sinister Barrier,' bar none!"
Unknown - April, 1940 "The Indigestible Triton"
- The Indigestible Triton · L. Ron Hubbard under pen name Rene Lafayette
- He Shuttles · Theodore Sturgeon
- The African Trick · H. W. Guernsey
- All is Illusion · Henry Kuttner
- The Reign of Wizardry · Jack Williamson
- Cover by Edd Cartie
Book price: $20 - $50 - $100
According to the manuscript, the original title for "The Indigestible Triton" was "Man Eats Monster". The title was changed again when the story was Published by Fantasy Publishing Company Inc.,1949 in book form as "Triton".
In the back of this issue there is a "Top Ten Best of 1939" pick by famous science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov. Here is what he said.
"Dear Mr. Campbell:"
"I'm going to like this. I can imagine no more congenial job than picking the ten best stories Unknown printed in the year 1939. For one thing, it enables me to give due credit to two of my favorite authors: L. Sprague de Camp and L. Ron Hubbard."
"Without further introduction, I dash right into the list:"
"I nominate as the ten best stories in Unknown for the year 1939, the following:"
"1. Lest Darkness Fall,.......L. Sprague de Camp"
2. Divide and Rule,.............L. Sprague de Camp
3. Ultimate Adventure,........L. Ron Hubbard
4. The Ghoul,.....................L. Ron Hubbard
5. Sinister Barrier,..............Eric Frank Russell
6. Enchanted Week End,....John MacCormac
7. Trouble with Water,.........H. L. Gold
8. Flame Winds,.................Norvell W. Page
9. Slaves of Sleep,.............L. Ron Hubbard
10. The Gnarly Man,...........L. Sprague de Camp"
"That's three apiece for De Camp and Hubbard."
"Incidentally, the first six of those ten are five-star yarns, and i'll eat my hat - without ketchup - if any reader can show me ten consecutive issues of any other magazine in science or fantastic fiction (including Astounding) with six fivers. And four of those fivers were lead novels and a fifth was a serial. That's what I call providing entertainment in carload lots."
"I dare you keep it up, Mr. Campbell. -"
"Isaac Asimov, 174 Windsor Place, Brooklyn, N.Y."
Unknown - July, 1940 "Fear"
- Fear · L. Ron Hubbard
- The Dream · Jane Rice
- Fisherman's Luck · Frank Belknap Long
- The Flayed Wolf · P. Schuyler Miller
- Spontaneous Frogation · Eric Frank Russell
- The Spark of Allah · Marian O'Hearn
Book price: $15 - $35 - $75
Following this issue, letters began to come in from readers regarding "Fear". Notably, the October, 1940 issue is packed with comments on "Fear". See below.
Unknown - October, 1940 "The Devil's Rescue"
- The Wheels of IF · L. Sprague de Camp
- Fruit Of Knowledge · C. L. Moore
- The Haters · Donald A. Wollheim
- The Devil's Rescue · L. Ron Hubbard
- Warm, Dark Places · H. L. Gold
- Prowler · Frances Hall
- The Tommyknocker · Thomas Calvert McClary
Book price: $12 - $30 - $60
In the readers section of this issue, there is letter after letter from the readers about "Fear". Some praised it. One reader states "You could almost get along with only Hubbard..."
There are others that clearly got a bit too scared i.e. "...I do mind very much the change from humorous fantasy to some form of fear psychology. After all this is an escape medium... I refer, of course to the novel "Fear' in the July issue..." This reader continued with "Fear" is doubtless an excellent thesis in story form, on the mental reactions of a deranged mind, and the picture of disassociation and hysteria is excellent. The author is doubtless well versed in the psychology of mental illness..." The reader closes his letter with "I'll have to start looking around for something more cheerful. I guess I just cant take it!"
Another reader wrote to to find out about how Ron writes. He asks, "Does Hubbard do any revising? Or does he whack it out as he goes along and send it in without looking at it again? His turnout is almost unbelievable... Hubbard's rapidity is amazing because he's just a darn good writer His writing is invariably up to a standard, and it's a high one."
Be sure to read the description of the December, 1940 issue below. There is a great anecdote from the editor, John W. Campbell, about Ron's similar experience to the one in "The Devil's Rescue".
Unknown - November, 1940 "Typewriter in the Sky [Part 1]"
- Typewriter in the Sky [Part 1] · L. Ron Hubbard
- Cargo · Theodore Sturgeon
- The Gods Gil Made · Ross Rocklynne
- Cartwright's Camera · Nelson S. Bond
- The Bleak Shore · Fritz Leiber, Jr.
- Are You There? · Mona Farnsworth
- The Tommyknocker · Thomas Calvert McClary
Book price: $15 - $35 - $75
Unknown - December, 1940 "Typewriter in the Sky [Part 2]"
- Darker Then You Think · Jack Williamson
- Two For A Bargain · Dorothy Quick
- Threshold · Henry Kuttner
- Black Cats · Cristel Hastings
- Typewriter in the Sky [Part 2] · L. Ron Hubbard
Book price: $12 - $30 - $60
In the section "Of Things Beyond" of this issue, the editor John W. Campbell gives the readers an update on Ron's sailing trip to Alaska. It was more then just a sailing trip, it was a coastal charting expedition that Ron was doing in connection with The Explorers Club. Here is what Mr. Campbell had to say:
"Incidentally, L. Ron Hubbard, a usually regular contributor to these pages, has been absent from the scene for some time. He's been charting the coast of Alaska. One of his recent stories was "The Devil's Rescue," if you remember, a tale written some six months ago. Maybe the Devil didn't like his yarn. Anyway, latest information has it that, while not in far southern waters, Ron Hubbard's had a slight case of shipwreck himself - off the Alaskan coast. It happened about the time that story came out."
"The ship, it happens, was his ketch, 'Magician II.' Maybe that Magician had unfortunate dealings with the Devil?"
At present, Ron Hubbard's heading for home and more stories are expected; he made land successfully, but claims he had some difficulty distinguishing it from the sea. It was apparently, doing something fancy in the line of raining."
As a side note Ron had stayed in Ketchikan, Alaska on this trip and wrote "The Chee-Chalker" which was published in Five Novels Monthly, July - August 1947. See the Five Novels section in this website.
Unknown - February, 1941 "The Crossroads"
- The Crossroads · L. Ron Hubbard
- Doubled and Redoubled · Malcolm Jameson
- The Professor's Hobby · Robert Arthur
- Shottle Bop · Theodore Sturgeon
- TThe Mislaid Charm · A. M. Phillips
Book price: $12 - $30 - $60
Unknown - August, 1941 "The Case of the Friendly Corps"
- The Case of the Friendly Corpse · L. Ron Hubbard
- The Devil We Know · Henry Kuttner
- The Golden Egg · Theodore Sturgeon
- The Road Beyond · Norman A. Daniels
- Mr. Jinx · Robert Arthur
- Armageddon · Fredric Brown
- Take My Drum to England - · Nelson S. Bond
- Even The Angels · Malcolm Jameson
Book price: $12 - $30 - $60
Unknown - October, 1941 "Borrowed Glory"
- The Land of Unreason · L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
- A Good Knight's Work · Robert Bloch
- A Gnome There Was · Henry Kuttner
- No News Today · Cleve Cartmill
- Prescience · Nelson S. Bond
- Finger! Finger! · Margaret Ronan
- Borrowed Glory · L. Ron Hubbard
- Smoke Ghost · Fritz Leiber, Jr.
- The Dolphin's Doubloons · Silaki Ali Hassan
- On A Limb · Anthony Boucher
Book price: $10 - $25 - $50
Unknown - February, 1942 "He Didn't Like Cats"
- The Undesired Princess · L. Sprague de Camp
- Design For Dreaming · Henry Kuttner
- Etaoin Shrdlu · Fredric Brown
- The Shoes · Robert Bloch
- He Didn't Like Cats · L. Ron Hubbard
- The Refugees · Frank Belknap Long
- The Sunken Land · Fritz Leiber, Jr.
- In His Own Image · Malcolm Jameson
Book price: $10 - $25 - $50
Unknown - April, 1942 "The Room"
- Prelude To Armageddon · Cleve Cartmill
- The Compleat Werewolf · Anthony Boucher
- Pobby · Jane Rice
- Jesus Shoes · Allan R. Bosworth
- The Room · L. Ron Hubbard
Book price: $10 - $25 - $50