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biography. His story of himself reads like that of an orphan who has invented his own way in the world. One of his lovers later said that he told her that his mother was a whore and a lesbian, and that he had found her in bed with another woman. His mistress also admitted, “I never knew what to believe.”
    Hubbard made two voyages to visit his parents in Guam. One trip included a detour toChina, where he supposedly began his study of Eastern religions after encountering magicians and holy men. According to the church’s narrative, “He braved typhoonsaboard a working schooner to finally land on the China coast.… He then made his way inland to finally venture deep into forbidden Buddhist lamaseries.” He watched monks meditating “for weeks on end.” Everywhere he went, the narrative goes, the teenage Hubbard was preoccupied with a central question: “ ‘Why?’ Why so muchhuman suffering and misery? Why was man, with all his ancient wisdom and knowledge accumulated in learned texts and temples, unable to solve such basic problems as war, insanity and unhappiness?”
    In fact, Hubbard’s contemporary journals don’t really engage such philosophical points. His trip to China, which was organized by the YMCA,lasted only ten days. His parents accompanied him, although they are not mentioned in his journals. He did encounter monks, whom he described as croaking like bullfrogs. The journals reflect the mind of a budding young imperialist, who summons an unearned authority over an exotic and unfamiliar culture. “The very nature of the Chinamanholds him back,” Hubbard observes on the ship back to Guam. “The trouble with China is, there are too many chinks here.”
    The journals provide a portrait of an adolescent writer trying on his future craft by cataloguing plot ideas, such as, “A young American in India with an organized army for rent to the various rajahs. Usual plot complications.” Another idea: “Love story. Goes to France. Meets swell broad in Marseilles.” He is trying uncertainly to find his voice:
    Rex Fraser mounted the knoll and setting his hat more securely against the wind squinted at the huddle of unpainted shacks below him.
    “So this,” he said to his horse, “is Montana City.”
    Hubbard entered the School of Engineering atGeorge Washington University in the fall of 1930. He was a poor student—failing German and calculus—but he excelled in extracurricular activities. He began writing for the school newspaper. A new literary magazineat GWU provided a venue for his first published works of fiction. He became director of the gliding club, a thrilling new pastime that was just catching on (Hubbard’s gliding license was #385). The actual study of engineering was a secondary pursuit, as his failing grades reflected.
    In September 1931, Hubbard and his friendPhilip “Flip” Browning took a few weeks off tobarnstorm through the Midwest in an Arrow Sport biplane. “We carefully wrappedour ‘baggage,’ threw the fire extinguisher out to save half a horsepower, patched a hole in the upper wing, and started off to skim over four or five states with the wind as our only compass,” Hubbard writes. By now, he had taken to calling himself “Flash.”
    Hubbard’s account of this adventure, “Tailwind Willies,” was his first commercially published story, appearing in
The Sportsman Pilot
in January 1932. It was the launch of an unprecedented career. (He would go on to publish more books than any other author, according to the 2006
Guinness World Records
, with 1,084 titles.)
    In the spring of 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Hubbardundertook a venture that displayed many of the hallmarks of his future exploits. He posted a notice on several university campuses: “Restless young menwith wanderlust wanted for theCaribbean Motion Picture Expedition. Cost to applicant $250 payable at the dock in Baltimore before sailing. Must be healthy, dependable, resourceful, imaginative, and