L. Ron Hubbard Novel Draws More Than 5,000 in Record Booksigning

Posted on July 6, 1998

The first new L. Ron Hubbard fiction work since his Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth bestsellers a decade ago -- Ai! Pedrito! - When Intelligence Goes Wrong, a humorous adventure about exact look-alike spies based on an original Hubbard story, novelized by author Kevin J. Anderson (X-Files, Star Wars) -- set a record in Los Angeles Friday night when over 5,000 people participated in the booksigning. Prompted by the landmark booksigning by Anderson, the Guinness Book of World Records officially opened an entirely new record category for booksignings.

Highlighting a 26-city author tour by Anderson, the booksigning event transformed L. Ron Hubbard Way -- Los Angeles' newest street -- into a South American rain forest and the site of the first Colodorian Consulate in the United States.

In a writing career that spanned more than 50 years, Hubbard wrote and published more than 260 works of fiction in such genres as science fiction, fantasy, western, mystery, detective and adventure. More than 120 million copies of Hubbard's works have been sold throughout the world. His record of 35 U.S. national bestsellers achieved in less than a decade, remains unparalleled in publishing history.

Anderson has a number of national bestsellers to his credit, including X-Files and Star Wars novels. His research for Ai! Pedrito! included a trip to the Amazon River and Andes Mountains areas of Ecuador to ensure that the authentic details of Hubbard's scenic and cultural descriptions in the original story were accurately duplicated in the novel.