Not so long ago a buddy and I were having a chat about the worst books that we'd ever read.  I sort of waffled about a bit, and then rather sheepishly admitted to reading The Mission Earth series by L. Ron Hubbard.  He gasped, and I looked at my feet and said that I didn't just read the first book, I actually plodded my way through all ten of the buggers.  Heck, Old Mudder Hubbard even thought up a new word to describe his monstrous opus: DEKALOGY (perhaps DREKALOGY would have been more fitting).

Now in defense of the dearly departed, let me say that I read Battlefield Earth, and as a fan of pulpy 50s styled sci-fi I got a real kick out of that book (I didn't see the movie - and I don't want to).  Even my mother got a guilty pleasure from the nearly thousand page monster (I had the hardcover).  I also enjoyed Buckskin Brigade, and even thought that Typewriter in the Sky was a cute idea.

Now there are those revisionist types who are trying to hail Mr. Hubbard as one of the founding fathers of modern science fiction.  Sorry, but when I think of the great masters the name Hubbard doesn't spring to mind.

So this brings me to the very worst books I've ever read.  Now, I'll bet you're thinking how could I bring myself to read all ten?  Well, in truth it's a simple matter of economics.  I managed to collect all of them in hardcover at various book sales (I'm a sucker for tacky cover art).  I was determined not to start the series until I had all of them in my possession and then I'd plow through them in a week or so.

The first book was really good.  I'm not just saying that.  Wow, I thought to myself.  So I plunged into the second.  Hmm, not bad, but not great.  Then I began to notice a disturbing trend.  The books were getting worse as the series went along.  By book six I was reading just to finish the series.  Then came book seven.  I think it was seven.  It was the first book to be written after Ron's passing (did I say that? I don't have any proof, but that's the rumour) - you could say it was written by a ghost writer.  Hey, this one showed promise.  The shift in narrative style sent a jolt through my little moth worn brain.  The series was starting to pick up steam again. But alas, sadly it was only steam, and it soon ran out.  The rest of the books were a blur and when I finished it was with a sense of relief that I closed the cover and laid them to rest.