What do you think?
Rate this book
Hell's Legionnaire
American Ann Halliday is as sexy as Rita Hayworth and as fiery as the Sahara sun. And now she’s feeling some real heat, as the prize captive of the Berber leader Abd el Malek . . . also known as “The Killer.”
But Abd el Malek wants Ann alive—and in chains—subject to his every whim and fantasy. Dusty Colton, however, an American deserter from the French Foreign Legion, has a different idea. With all the swagger of Robert Mitchum, he’s determined to give “The Killer” a taste of his own bloody medicine. The only problem is . . . Dusty himself is wanted for murder.
Can Ann and Dusty team up and turn evil on its head? One thing’s for sure—between Ann and the Hell’s Legionnaire, the temperature is about to get even hotter.
Also includes the adventure stories, The Barbarians, in which a Legionnaire sets out to avenge a savage killing and makes a stunning discovery, and The Squad That Never Came Back, the story of a man who has uncovered the secret to a city of gold—a secret that could turn into a death sentence.
“Action-packed . . . standout . . . hard-core graphic.” —Library Journal
But Abd el Malek wants Ann alive—and in chains—subject to his every whim and fantasy. Dusty Colton, however, an American deserter from the French Foreign Legion, has a different idea. With all the swagger of Robert Mitchum, he’s determined to give “The Killer” a taste of his own bloody medicine. The only problem is . . . Dusty himself is wanted for murder.
Can Ann and Dusty team up and turn evil on its head? One thing’s for sure—between Ann and the Hell’s Legionnaire, the temperature is about to get even hotter.
Also includes the adventure stories, The Barbarians, in which a Legionnaire sets out to avenge a savage killing and makes a stunning discovery, and The Squad That Never Came Back, the story of a man who has uncovered the secret to a city of gold—a secret that could turn into a death sentence.
“Action-packed . . . standout . . . hard-core graphic.” —Library Journal
- GenresFiction
152 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 2012
181 people want to read
About the author
L. Ron Hubbard
2,018 books668 followersL. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) was an American pulp fiction author who founded the Church of Scientology. After a career writing science fiction, he published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health in 1950, later developing its techniques into Scientology in 1952. His life, including his naval service, is marked by dramatic disparities between his self-narratives and official records.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 9, 2021
I received Hell's Legionnaire from Library Thing Member Giveaway. Hell's Legionnaire by L Ron Hubbard is about American Dusty Colton who flees the French Foreign Legion. To his horror he rushes headlong into a Berber tribal lair. He finds a captive American woman. Dusty needs to find a way to get both him and the woman out of the Berber camp. Then Dusty has to get both of them out the country alive, with the Berbers and the French Foreign Legion hot on their heels.
Hell's Legionnaire is a multicast performance with music and sound effects featuring Phil Proctor. This is so much more than just an audio book. Hell's Legionnaire from Galaxy Press is extremely entertaining. Galaxy Press has many entertaining stories from The Golden Age of publishing. The Pulp Era. I enjoy listening to these stories. It makes me feel like I am back in the 1930's. During the Pulp era, storytelling was fun and exciting. If you want to have fun reading, read Hell's Legionnaire from L. Ron Hubbard. ( Or listen to the audio book.)
Hell's Legionnaire is a multicast performance with music and sound effects featuring Phil Proctor. This is so much more than just an audio book. Hell's Legionnaire from Galaxy Press is extremely entertaining. Galaxy Press has many entertaining stories from The Golden Age of publishing. The Pulp Era. I enjoy listening to these stories. It makes me feel like I am back in the 1930's. During the Pulp era, storytelling was fun and exciting. If you want to have fun reading, read Hell's Legionnaire from L. Ron Hubbard. ( Or listen to the audio book.)
May 28, 2016
This is a collection of three stories that share the unlikely common background of The French Foreign Legion. The best and longest of the trio is The Squad That Never Came Back from the May, 1935 issue of Thrilling Adventures Magazine, where for some unknown reason it appeared under the title of Legionnaire 148. It's a good pulp adventure, complete with treasure and a lost city. The middle story is The Barbarians, which originally appeared in the December, 1935 issue of Dime Adventures Magazine. It's a surprisingly gruesome tale with an uncharacteristically philosophical twist; the civilized good guys are no less savage than the evil natives. The title story, which appeared with the title "Captain" before the author's name in the July, 1935 issue of Mystery Adventures, is really bad. It's a mercifully short sexist and racist mess that should have stayed buried. Ann is riding along with her father and his geographical survey expedition in Morocco when they're attacked and everyone but Ann is killed. She's taken to the evil chieftain, who ties her up, rips off her dress, and: "Then, seizing a crude riding whip, he commenced to lash her body with all the lustful, sadistic passion one finds in the Riffs, the Berbers, and the Jebel Druses- a lust to slay, to punish." Suddenly the Legion attacks and Ann is rescued... but wait, it's just one guy, a Legion deserter who's fleeing because he killed one of his comrades, but he tricks the natives into thinking it's a major attack because he stole a bugle while he was deserting. Huh? Anyway, he and Ann (who never seems to be particularly bothered by her abuse or by the fact that her father and companions have all just been slaughtered around her) escape, then decide they need money to buy tickets on a steamship, so they go back into the bandit stronghold and steal his money after machine-gunning everybody, then ride off to, presumably, live happily ever after... The other two stories are okay, but skip this one.
March 22, 2013
Won the audio book from librarything. This was my first audio book I have listened too and I totally enjoyed it. The different characters and the sound effects made it seem like your right in the story. The two stories had characters that just were not scared to complete there task.Traders from every angle. Greed and power made these men fight and kill each other. When they would kill someone it was just in the most gruesome way. It being stories from the old age I readily enjoyed having the opportunity to have heard this book while driving to work.
April 28, 2013
I listened to this book on CD. I found this book thoroughly entertaining.
To read my entire review check out http://www.peanutbutterandwhine.com/2...
The book on CD is like listening to to old time radio. AWESOME!!!
Multi cast reading with sound effects.
To read my entire review check out http://www.peanutbutterandwhine.com/2...
The book on CD is like listening to to old time radio. AWESOME!!!
Multi cast reading with sound effects.
September 23, 2020
This volume is two short stories and a novelette. The first, "Hell's Legionnaire", has some descriptions that are too racy for very young readers.
The second, "The Barbarians", is pretty gruesome.
The third, "The Squad That Never Came Back", is another adventure set in north Africa in the middle of the 20th century. Danger and greed grows when our Corporal's squad learns of a lost Roman treasure city.
All three are pretty good reads.
The back of the book (page 111) has a glossary of words used for guns, places, and terms in the French Foreign Legion.
The second, "The Barbarians", is pretty gruesome.
The third, "The Squad That Never Came Back", is another adventure set in north Africa in the middle of the 20th century. Danger and greed grows when our Corporal's squad learns of a lost Roman treasure city.
All three are pretty good reads.
The back of the book (page 111) has a glossary of words used for guns, places, and terms in the French Foreign Legion.
September 9, 2014
Playing Jokers Blog: all suits of genres and bookish news
Ever contemplated joining the French Foreign Legion? Ever made a joke about them? Or perhaps listened to the Decemberists’ song, “The Legionnaire’s Lament”? Hell’s Legionnaire is two things: the title of a short story as well as the title of the audiobook containing three stories, all about the French Foreign Legion in Northern Africa.
As a collection, I enjoyed it. I liked that the stories while not connected by any kind of plot or character, were connected by the shared setting and type of character. As all of the stories were fairly short, it made sense to place them together into a single two-hour audiobook with multi-cast performance. The sound effects and the performances were excellently done. I thoroughly enjoyed the production. But, the stories were not equal in their quality.
Hell’s Legionnaire
To me, the title story was the one that fell flattest. An American woman on an expeditionary trip through Morocco is ambushed by Berbers. (Remember, this early twentieth century pulp fiction. Therefore, there is still a strong sense of orientalism and cardboard caricatures of the ‘other’.) Everyone in her party is murdered and she is taken as a captive by the Berber leader. A Legionnaire deserter finds her and they try to figure out what they can do to escape. The story was just okay; it wasn’t compelling to me and I found it too quick to resolve. I hadn’t been expecting the title story to be quite so short. Additionally, if someone has an issue with suggested attempted rape, I wouldn’t recommend this story. If I were to rate this story alone, I’d give it 2/5.
The Barbarians
The second story was “The Barbarians”. Told primarily from the point of view of a Legionnaire infantry soldier, he embarks on a revenge mission against the Berbers for their killing of another Legionnaire. Action-packed, the main character seems to feel no real emotion other than perhaps the resentment against the Legion. “For France,” he would say, without real emotion or perhaps with a grudging tone. The action engaged me better for this story and I wanted to know more about the characters. I’d give this story 3/5.
The Squad That Never Came Back
By far, my favorite story of the entire collection. Without a doubt, 5/5. The story is told by a Corporal in the Legion. The beginning of the story has him explaining why he is now telling this story, then going back in time to explain why he got to where he is now. Stuck on a remote outpost in the desert, fighting against the Berbers and lack of food and water, his squad discovers a treasure map. The Corporal is forced to accompany his men in deserting the Legion to go on a treasure hunt. In this story, there were real characters. Their motivations were clearer, and the action exciting. At times, it reminded me of parts of the beginning of Aladdin (yes, I’ve only seen the Disney cartoon version). This was a story that I would have wanted to own separate and probably reread.
Overall, I enjoyed the audiobook. It has made me curious to read more about the French Foreign Legion and their adventures.
Ever contemplated joining the French Foreign Legion? Ever made a joke about them? Or perhaps listened to the Decemberists’ song, “The Legionnaire’s Lament”? Hell’s Legionnaire is two things: the title of a short story as well as the title of the audiobook containing three stories, all about the French Foreign Legion in Northern Africa.
As a collection, I enjoyed it. I liked that the stories while not connected by any kind of plot or character, were connected by the shared setting and type of character. As all of the stories were fairly short, it made sense to place them together into a single two-hour audiobook with multi-cast performance. The sound effects and the performances were excellently done. I thoroughly enjoyed the production. But, the stories were not equal in their quality.
Hell’s Legionnaire
To me, the title story was the one that fell flattest. An American woman on an expeditionary trip through Morocco is ambushed by Berbers. (Remember, this early twentieth century pulp fiction. Therefore, there is still a strong sense of orientalism and cardboard caricatures of the ‘other’.) Everyone in her party is murdered and she is taken as a captive by the Berber leader. A Legionnaire deserter finds her and they try to figure out what they can do to escape. The story was just okay; it wasn’t compelling to me and I found it too quick to resolve. I hadn’t been expecting the title story to be quite so short. Additionally, if someone has an issue with suggested attempted rape, I wouldn’t recommend this story. If I were to rate this story alone, I’d give it 2/5.
The Barbarians
The second story was “The Barbarians”. Told primarily from the point of view of a Legionnaire infantry soldier, he embarks on a revenge mission against the Berbers for their killing of another Legionnaire. Action-packed, the main character seems to feel no real emotion other than perhaps the resentment against the Legion. “For France,” he would say, without real emotion or perhaps with a grudging tone. The action engaged me better for this story and I wanted to know more about the characters. I’d give this story 3/5.
The Squad That Never Came Back
By far, my favorite story of the entire collection. Without a doubt, 5/5. The story is told by a Corporal in the Legion. The beginning of the story has him explaining why he is now telling this story, then going back in time to explain why he got to where he is now. Stuck on a remote outpost in the desert, fighting against the Berbers and lack of food and water, his squad discovers a treasure map. The Corporal is forced to accompany his men in deserting the Legion to go on a treasure hunt. In this story, there were real characters. Their motivations were clearer, and the action exciting. At times, it reminded me of parts of the beginning of Aladdin (yes, I’ve only seen the Disney cartoon version). This was a story that I would have wanted to own separate and probably reread.
Overall, I enjoyed the audiobook. It has made me curious to read more about the French Foreign Legion and their adventures.
September 2, 2013
L Ron Hubbard and Galaxy Audio are back with three more thrilling adventure stories from the golden age. Okay, Hubbard isn’t literally back, he’s still dead, but his golden age stories are discovering a new life through the capable hands of Galaxy Audio.
Hell’s Legionnaire
is just the latest installment in an ambitious project to transform more than 200 of Hubbard’s stories from the pulp fiction era into multi-cast audio productions complete with stunning digital quality music and sound effects.
This 2-disk set includes the stories Hell’s Legionnaire , The Barbarians, and The Squad That Never Came Back. Here’s a quick preview:
In Hell’s Legionnaire , an American woman is captured by a tribe of Berber’s after her entire geological survey team is slaughtered. Dusty Colton (also an American, coincidentally enough) witnessed the massacre and trails the raiding party to see if there are any survivors to rescue. He manages to free the young woman from the Berber camp, but they have a long way to go before they reach safety.
In The Barbarians, the Berber hordes have been thumbing their noses at the French Foreign Legion for too long, and the commander of “La Legione” has had enough. He needs someone to fly in behind enemy lines, scout out the area, and return with news, and with a prisoner if possible. It’s a job for flying ace Captain Jack Harvey. When Harvey is captured and sees his enemy up close for the first time, he begins to wonder who the real barbarians are.
In The Squad That Never Came Back, a small band of Foreign Legionnaires catch wind of an immense fortune in gold and jewels hidden deep within Berber territory and decide to make a try for it. They will soon find, however, that the Berber’s are not the only ones they need to watch out for. Greed rears its ugly head as the band becomes smaller and smaller.
While Hubbard’s tales are fictional and fanciful, the war between the Berbers and the French Foreign Legion is real enough. It began in 1921 as a war between the Berbers and Spain, but France joined in soon enough employing, among others, Foreign Legion units. Just a bit of trivia for you.
Cast members include Phil Proctor, R F Daley, Brooke Bloom, Jim Meskimen, Gino Montesinos, Enn Reitel, and Michael Yurchak. These are the voices that you’ll hear in most of the L Ron Hubbard Galaxy Audio productions and they’re pretty good ones. From brash young heroes, to tough yet feminine damsels in distress, to evil barbarian dictators, these voice actors know their stuff and are very convincing in the roles they perform.
Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
This 2-disk set includes the stories Hell’s Legionnaire , The Barbarians, and The Squad That Never Came Back. Here’s a quick preview:
In Hell’s Legionnaire , an American woman is captured by a tribe of Berber’s after her entire geological survey team is slaughtered. Dusty Colton (also an American, coincidentally enough) witnessed the massacre and trails the raiding party to see if there are any survivors to rescue. He manages to free the young woman from the Berber camp, but they have a long way to go before they reach safety.
In The Barbarians, the Berber hordes have been thumbing their noses at the French Foreign Legion for too long, and the commander of “La Legione” has had enough. He needs someone to fly in behind enemy lines, scout out the area, and return with news, and with a prisoner if possible. It’s a job for flying ace Captain Jack Harvey. When Harvey is captured and sees his enemy up close for the first time, he begins to wonder who the real barbarians are.
In The Squad That Never Came Back, a small band of Foreign Legionnaires catch wind of an immense fortune in gold and jewels hidden deep within Berber territory and decide to make a try for it. They will soon find, however, that the Berber’s are not the only ones they need to watch out for. Greed rears its ugly head as the band becomes smaller and smaller.
While Hubbard’s tales are fictional and fanciful, the war between the Berbers and the French Foreign Legion is real enough. It began in 1921 as a war between the Berbers and Spain, but France joined in soon enough employing, among others, Foreign Legion units. Just a bit of trivia for you.
Cast members include Phil Proctor, R F Daley, Brooke Bloom, Jim Meskimen, Gino Montesinos, Enn Reitel, and Michael Yurchak. These are the voices that you’ll hear in most of the L Ron Hubbard Galaxy Audio productions and they’re pretty good ones. From brash young heroes, to tough yet feminine damsels in distress, to evil barbarian dictators, these voice actors know their stuff and are very convincing in the roles they perform.
Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
June 4, 2013
Free book giveaway
Normally, I'm not the biggest fan of pulp fiction from the 30s and 40s, although I do have a favorite - Robert E. Howard (Conan stories and others). The only book I've read written by L. Ron Hubbard was Battlefield: Earth (It was okay just not good). So...I wasn't expecting much. I was surprised. I enjoyed these stories - three and an excerpt plus some history of the author's writing during this period as well as a biography about his experiences during World War II.
I enjoyed the book, but if you don't like pulp fiction, you won't like this. If you do or at least want to try some pulp fiction, this is a good place to start. (Robert E. Howard is better in my opinion)
Normally, I'm not the biggest fan of pulp fiction from the 30s and 40s, although I do have a favorite - Robert E. Howard (Conan stories and others). The only book I've read written by L. Ron Hubbard was Battlefield: Earth (It was okay just not good). So...I wasn't expecting much. I was surprised. I enjoyed these stories - three and an excerpt plus some history of the author's writing during this period as well as a biography about his experiences during World War II.
I enjoyed the book, but if you don't like pulp fiction, you won't like this. If you do or at least want to try some pulp fiction, this is a good place to start. (Robert E. Howard is better in my opinion)
July 19, 2015
I'm usually very bad with audiobooks, but the short length of this story kept me interested.
It helps that there were different voices for the characters.
The beginning caught me off-guard. Even though the story was fully published in 2011/2012, it was originally written in the 1930s. So some of the behaviors didn't surprise me but others did.
Ann Halliday was captured by the Berber leader and rescued by Dusty Colton, a deserter of the French Legion.
The two go through a series of issues trying to fully escape the scene and make their way to safety. It's quite an interesting war story.
It helps that there were different voices for the characters.
The beginning caught me off-guard. Even though the story was fully published in 2011/2012, it was originally written in the 1930s. So some of the behaviors didn't surprise me but others did.
Ann Halliday was captured by the Berber leader and rescued by Dusty Colton, a deserter of the French Legion.
The two go through a series of issues trying to fully escape the scene and make their way to safety. It's quite an interesting war story.
August 9, 2013
When I first started reading this book it had almost a full page of words and things I did not understand and almost (Almost) quit reading. I turned the page and the words started to make sense and it kept me interested in all three of the stories, Danger in each one. Loved it, would love to read more stories by this author
October 26, 2015
I got a free download of this book at book-con and it was pretty good. It was a short novella at least to me. Filled with gun fights, damsel in distressed, ruggedly handsome men, rough down and dirty ruffians. It was a great read. I would definitely read other or hear other of L. Ron Hubbard's books.
March 17, 2013
I want to start off with that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Its a well written book and good story but a little outdated. But that should not be the reason to not buy it. Its an excellent book from its time period.
March 6, 2013
I received a set of L. Ron Hubbard audiobooks to review. This was one of them. The audiobook portion was very well-done and was more like a radio drama of old and less like a traditional audiobook. I did not care for the actual book though.
April 27, 2015
Of the numerous Golden Age audio books I've come across recently, this one has been my least favorite.
A collection of several short stories involving the French Legionnaires.
Good multi-cast performance.
A collection of several short stories involving the French Legionnaires.
Good multi-cast performance.
May 5, 2012
Short stories about the French Foreign Legion.
December 6, 2012
I very enjoyable story of romance and adventure!
March 4, 2013
This was an interesting read. Relatively short with a few drawings throughout. Worth a quick read through.
May 25, 2013
Good old fashioned drama. Clean! Enjoyed the novelette.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews