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Fantasy Short Stories Collection #5
The Tramp
Penniless, homeless and virtually lifeless, the vagrant “Doughface” Jack is about to discover that where medical marvels meet the mysteries of the human mind, amazing things happen. Like one of the comic book X-Men mutants, The Tramp acquires a capability beyond his imagination and without equal on Earth.
Riding the rails, Jack runs afoul of a local sheriff and ends up with a crushed skull. He’s as good as dead until a savvy country doctor performs a bit of medical magic. Jack wakes up to find that his brain has been drastically altered. He has the power to save lives—and destroy them—with a single glance.
Will Jack use his astounding power for good … or for evil? His journey of discovery takes him to New York and into the arms of a woman, who has a plan of her own. Together they’re bound for Washington, D.C., and a psychic adventure that could change the shape of history.
“Hubbard is a very highly experienced writer, an author with a tremendous background of writing in every field. He’s one of the few professional writers I know of who gets a genuine kick out of the story he’s writing. In The Tramp, the suspense is intensified step by step, because every step points the same way. There are no backward slips, no scattered accidents that tend in any direction other than the one toward which Hubbard is driving.” —John W. Campbell
Riding the rails, Jack runs afoul of a local sheriff and ends up with a crushed skull. He’s as good as dead until a savvy country doctor performs a bit of medical magic. Jack wakes up to find that his brain has been drastically altered. He has the power to save lives—and destroy them—with a single glance.
Will Jack use his astounding power for good … or for evil? His journey of discovery takes him to New York and into the arms of a woman, who has a plan of her own. Together they’re bound for Washington, D.C., and a psychic adventure that could change the shape of history.
“Hubbard is a very highly experienced writer, an author with a tremendous background of writing in every field. He’s one of the few professional writers I know of who gets a genuine kick out of the story he’s writing. In The Tramp, the suspense is intensified step by step, because every step points the same way. There are no backward slips, no scattered accidents that tend in any direction other than the one toward which Hubbard is driving.” —John W. Campbell
Audio CD
First published October 15, 2011
About the author
L. Ron Hubbard
2,018 books666 followersL. Ron Hubbard is universally acclaimed as the single most influential author and humanitarian of this modern age. His definitive works on the mind and spirit—comprising over 350 million copies in circulation and more than 40 international bestsellers—have resulted in a legacy benefiting millions and a movement spanning all cultures.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 24, 2018
The Tramp
Interesting Hubbard fantasy about a tramp, Doughface Jack. Jack is a bum who lives off trains and wanders about looking for the basic necessities of life. However this day, in escaping the law and running from a sheriff, he has an accident. An accident that nearly kills him but thanks to an old country doctor who knows a thing or two of surgery, puts his left and right hemispheres together and tops it off with a silver bowl. This somehow creates a man who puts out “meta rays.”
If Doughface is happy, people around him get cured of illnesses, the old become young again. But if he glares at you in anger or fear, you’re dead!
Interesting that through most of the story Jack is completely unaware of what he can do although others are certainly aware. Jack wanders about New York, starts accidentally killing animals, then the majority of New York’s finest. Not sure what to do, he cures a blind woman who can now see, is young and strong, and seeks revenge on those who wronged her.
She easily cons Jack into following her lead and soon she uses him as a weapon to take over the US government! What will the good doctor do now?
Typical pulp fiction of the day, but not just a story of power corrupting absolutely but with power, properly applied to help others, can perform miracles. A two-edged sword that keeps you guessing how this will end.
Recommended. Love to hear how the audio version of this sounds.
Interesting Hubbard fantasy about a tramp, Doughface Jack. Jack is a bum who lives off trains and wanders about looking for the basic necessities of life. However this day, in escaping the law and running from a sheriff, he has an accident. An accident that nearly kills him but thanks to an old country doctor who knows a thing or two of surgery, puts his left and right hemispheres together and tops it off with a silver bowl. This somehow creates a man who puts out “meta rays.”
If Doughface is happy, people around him get cured of illnesses, the old become young again. But if he glares at you in anger or fear, you’re dead!
Interesting that through most of the story Jack is completely unaware of what he can do although others are certainly aware. Jack wanders about New York, starts accidentally killing animals, then the majority of New York’s finest. Not sure what to do, he cures a blind woman who can now see, is young and strong, and seeks revenge on those who wronged her.
She easily cons Jack into following her lead and soon she uses him as a weapon to take over the US government! What will the good doctor do now?
Typical pulp fiction of the day, but not just a story of power corrupting absolutely but with power, properly applied to help others, can perform miracles. A two-edged sword that keeps you guessing how this will end.
Recommended. Love to hear how the audio version of this sounds.
February 2, 2017
The Tramp is AUDACIOUS in action and hilarious in effect.
A Tramp has a gruesome accident which rips his scalp and skull half off and gets patched up by the local doc in a small town who utilizes a silver dish at hand to replace the top of his pulverized head bone resulting in the outlandish power to heal or kill at a glance depending on the tramp's mood.
Numerous happenings and mishaps follow creating a really fun story in old pulp or perhaps comic book style.
Mr Hubbard is very deft with character creation and dialect variances painting a very vivid Doughface Jack (The Tramp) as well as the rest of the cast.
Superbly done as an audiobook.
A Tramp has a gruesome accident which rips his scalp and skull half off and gets patched up by the local doc in a small town who utilizes a silver dish at hand to replace the top of his pulverized head bone resulting in the outlandish power to heal or kill at a glance depending on the tramp's mood.
Numerous happenings and mishaps follow creating a really fun story in old pulp or perhaps comic book style.
Mr Hubbard is very deft with character creation and dialect variances painting a very vivid Doughface Jack (The Tramp) as well as the rest of the cast.
Superbly done as an audiobook.
December 4, 2013
A very different fantasy story about a tramp that have the top of his head injured and replaced with a silver bowl and after that becomes able to cure people from any illness, but also able to kill with a glance. The story was more intense than I had expected.
November 9, 2016
Doughface Jake, a hobo riding the rails, wakes up in a little town hospital, where the doctor literally had to sew his brain back together after cracking his skull. The operation not only saves his life, but it also gives him new abilities - the power to heal, or to kill. He’s not sure how to handle this new power, and the scientists don’t want responsibility for what he may do. After escaping from the police, he meets an old blind woman and heels her, but now things may get a little stranger.
Rita, the old blind woman had once been a young popular actress, but an accident caused her blindness, along with a destroyed face. Doughface makes her young and beautiful again, but 38 years of rejection from society has turned her against those one-time friends, and she wants vengeance now. She sees opportunity in Doughface, and leads him to the White House to take over the country. Now, the only one who can save America is the doctor who saved Doughface in the beginning, but he must die in order to do it.
Serialized in the Sep, Oct, and Nov issues of Astounding SF, this was an odd story for Hubbard. Usually his lead characters are heroic, and the romance is pure, but in this case we see a poor tramp elevated to the height of power, and the evil Witch Woman who controls him, while thousands lie dead in their wake. Still, it was an interesting yarn as only Hubbard can spin them. Highly recommended.
Rita, the old blind woman had once been a young popular actress, but an accident caused her blindness, along with a destroyed face. Doughface makes her young and beautiful again, but 38 years of rejection from society has turned her against those one-time friends, and she wants vengeance now. She sees opportunity in Doughface, and leads him to the White House to take over the country. Now, the only one who can save America is the doctor who saved Doughface in the beginning, but he must die in order to do it.
Serialized in the Sep, Oct, and Nov issues of Astounding SF, this was an odd story for Hubbard. Usually his lead characters are heroic, and the romance is pure, but in this case we see a poor tramp elevated to the height of power, and the evil Witch Woman who controls him, while thousands lie dead in their wake. Still, it was an interesting yarn as only Hubbard can spin them. Highly recommended.
October 31, 2016
The Tramp is a novel by Hubbard that was originally published in the September, October, and November issues of John Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction magazine in serial format and is published together here for the first time. It's interesting that Galaxy Press used the cover of the September issue on this volume, though the illustration was for another story from that issue, Manly Wade Wellman's Treasure Asteroid. Most of Hubbard's long work for Campbell has been in print for years and many of them are recognized as classic of the field, so I was surprised to stumble across a novel with which I was completely unfamiliar. The simple explanation is that it's not nearly as good as much of the other works; it's not a bad story, but the characters aren't really as likable, the plot doesn't together as well, and the humor is a little lacking. It's a representative piece of pulp fiction from the era; fun to read with occasional superior scenes, but not quite up to Hubbard's usual high standard.
February 10, 2026
Short story, quick read. Interesting premise, it tracked well until Doughface Jack heals the blind woman. From there, the plot gets wild as the United States of America has taken over in a matter of 10 minutes. it is somewhat unbelievable that everybody tries to attack the blind woman, and not a single person thinks to attack Doughface Jack until a second “Frankenstein’s” monster is created.
The longer my review has gotten I actually gave it another star.
The longer my review has gotten I actually gave it another star.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2023
I thought I’d read this because… you know. L Ron writes a pretty generic story. Starts with a weird premise, like lots of science fiction, but doesn’t take anything really deeply.
January 1, 2017
Very interesting and entertaining and scary. I loved it. The Tramp was so human. Poor soul!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews