Mister Tidwell Gunner: A 19th Century Seafaring Saga of War, Self-reliance, and Survival (Historical Fiction Short Stories Collection)

by L. Ron Hubbard, R.F. Daley (Narrator), Christina Huntington (Performer)

Imagine a young Laurence Olivier cast as a scholarly Oxford professor—an academic snatched out of his bookish world and pressed into service aboard Lord Nelson’s legendary British fleet—in the position of schoolmaster. Such is the life of the land-loving, seafaring Mister Tidwell, Gunner.

Thrust into service at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, Tidwell soon finds himself directly in the line of fire and way out of his depth. Fate has cast him into a terrible and terrifying spot—alone on deck to face the fearsome approach of a French man-o’-war.

The professor is about to get an object lesson in war, self-reliance … and survival. Overwhelmed by the smell of gunpowder, the sound of cannons, and the sight of death, he will either experience the sweet taste of victory … or the bitter taste of his own blood.

Also includes the sea adventures The Drowned City, the story of two deep-sea divers who set out in search of a long-lost treasure only to find that the waters are full of treacherous currents and even more treacherous men; and Submarine, in which a young sailor on leave enjoys a quiet interlude with his girlfriend—only to have it interrupted by a call to duty and danger.

Genres: Historical Fiction

2 pages, Audio CD

First published June 23, 2014

About the author

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard. Then too, of course, there is all L. Ron Hubbard represents as the Founder of Dianetics and Scientology and thus the only major religion born in the 20th century.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Steven Brandt]

Mister Tidwell is the soft-spoken, scholarly type; a professor at Oxford University no less. His relatively quiet, well-ordered life is suddenly turned topsy-turvy when he is pressed into service in Admiral Nelson’s British fleet as a schoolmaster. The Napoleonic Wars are in full swing and Professor Tidwell is terrified and overwhelmed to find his ship the target of French man-o’wars and every man, including himself, must fight. It is a defining moment in his sedentary life when he comes to the conclusion that this will be a case of kill or be killed.

All authors are often faced with the question, “Where do you get your story ideas?”, and it was no different for L Ron Hubbard. He explains that many of his stories begin with a single hard fact, in the case of Mister Tidwell, Gunner the fact that there actually was a schoolmaster aboard Admiral Nelson’s ship during the Napoleonic Wars. Hubbard went on to say that from that one kernel of truth a fertile imagination could go absolutely anywhere. Well, imaginations don’t come much more fertile than L Ron Hubbard and Mister Tidwell, Gunner is a prime example of that.

Also included in this 2-disk set are the sea adventures The Drowned City, the story of two deep-sea divers who set out in search of a lost treasure only to find that the waters are full of treacherous currents and even more treacherous men; and Submarine, in which a young sailor on leave enjoys a quiet interlude with his girlfriend—only to have it interrupted by a call to duty and danger.

Many readers of fiction know L Ron Hubbard as a master of science fiction, but it is perhaps less well known that he was actually a master of almost every genre of fiction: sea adventures like this one, air adventures, fantasy, mysteries, even westerns. During the 1930’s and ‘40’s Hubbard wrote literally hundreds of short stories for various magazines of the day covering just about every genre there is. I’m happy to say that Galaxy Audio has taken on the monumental task of collecting those stories into brand new audio editions complete with music, sound effects, and a talented cast of voice actors. The completed work is a delight to the ears and if you haven’t tried one of these yet you’re missing out on something special.

Mister Tidwell, Gunner features the talented voices of Enn Reitel, Jim Meskimen, and Christina Huntington, Submarine was narrated by R F Daley and voiced by Michael Yurchak, Brooke Bloom, Jim Meskimen, and Melissa Kirkland, and The Drowned City was voiced by Rob Paulson, Michael Yurchak, Jim Meskimen, and R F Daley. They don’t just read these stories, they actually act them out and they’re very good at it.

Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven

[Nick]

The title story was a real treat. Based on a real series of events from the Napoleonic Wars, the actions in the story take place during one of the most peculiar decisive moments in naval history. The Battle of the Nile was where Lord Nelson defeated a powerful French fleet, one whose admiral and captains snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by repeated mistakes. You can't make mistakes and win against Nelson.
Anyway, Mister Tidwell is the ship's tutor, on board to teach mathematics to the swarm of midshipmen who, if they survive, will be officers one day. He's only there as punishment for understanding academics better than politics.
His logical mind and cool head are what got him in trouble, so it's only fair that they are his main weapons for survival. Really great story.
Submarine was far less interesting. It was a nice story fragment, but felt really incomplete.
Drowned City was more interesting, again based on a real incident in which a city in the Caribbean was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami. The possibility that treasure went down with the town brings our intrepid heroes on a quest to find it. A couple of scenes were a little forced, but fit the pulp period in which the story was written.
So, two really good stories out of three, with the third a bit weaker, unless you like semi-military romance stories.

[Bruce Deming]

This was an excellent story from the same era of Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien. The sound in the audiobook was as strikingly realistic as the movie Master and Commander.

Tidwell is forced into British Naval service after writing a mild treatise opposing taxes and thrust into the brutal reality of service and war on the tall ships, finally ending with a meeting with Lord Nelson himself.

A good tale of applied intelligence and use of some study overcoming crude brute force and chaos.

A standout in this excellent Golden Age Stories on audio.

(I obtained this audio performance earlier than this CD was issued buying a collector's Ipod from the publisher).

[Craig]

This is a collection of three stories, part of the Galaxy Press uniform editions that collect Hubbard's previously uncollected pulp works. It includes The Drowned City from the May, 1935 issue of Top Notch Magazine, Submarine from the George Washington University Hatchett Literary Review from November of 1932, and the title story which originally was published in Adventure Magazine in September of 1936. The Drowned City was my favorite of the trio; it's a quest for sunken treasure in the West Indies. Mister Tidwell, Gunner, is an historical tale set in Nelson's British Navy's time. It features an unlikely hero in unusual circumstances, the best character in the book. Submarine seems to have been Hubbard's fourth published story and has little to recommend it. It's not really a story, but rather a series of events that didn't engage me; it's mercifully quite short. All of the Galaxy Hubbard Golden Age books feature the original illustrations, nice folded end papers on the thick-stock covers, and an interesting glossary; this volume includes a nice period illustration of a large vessel with a key explaining the sails and rigging.

[Paul Black]

Three short stories: "Mister Tidwell, Gunner", "Submarine", and "The Drowned City". The first is explained in the book commentary. The second is a sailor getting some short shore leave between cruises. Instead of being able to spend the time with his girl, the whole crew is unexpectedly called back. It ends with his girl sitting on the dock watching him go off into the fog. Maybe it had a deeper meaning that I didn't grasp . . .

The third one is an adventure mystery. How do you dive for a vast treasure in a sunken city when two other better-funded parties prefer you dead and a hurricane is coming? Where did your partner's body disappear to? And finally, since monkeys do not swim, how does the band of monkeys cross from one island to the other? At least, someone gets what's coming to him.

[Jacqueline Driggers]

This book actually has 3 short stories in it, the book title being one of the stories. They all deal with ships and the sea, back in the old days of vessels with sails; and all are very well written. I think that the title story is my favorite among them all. A quick, fun read for those who love stories about the old sailing ships. The book also includes a very good biography of the author, including some great pictures.

[Joyce]

Sea-faring adventures from Hubbard's collection of pulp fiction from 1930s-50s, these three stories feature action on the high seas. In the title story, Hubbard relies on a remembered fact that schoolmasters were aboard British ships to school young midshipman. Here the soft-spoken, mild-mannered schoolmaster gets a chance to prove his mettle and the usefulness of mathematics in a battle during the Napoleonic Wars. "Submarine" is a moody tale of a member of a submarine crew, given leave and meeting his girl, only to be called back for a dangerous mission. "Drowned City" is an exciting adventure of scavengers in search of undersea treasure. Full cast performances in all cases with dramatic music underlying the action.

[Bill]

What a treat! Three adventure tales from the guy who knew how to write terrific exciting stories that hardly let you get your breath. I love his stories and for teachers they make the perfect reading for the guys in the class who would rather do 1,000 other things rather than read a book.

But they also make great reading for anyone – and if they aren’t always totally believable – who cares? Live itself is not always totally believable!

[Frank]

The audiobook version is very well done. This story as well as the other two - "Submarine" and "the Drowned City" - are excellent and make for an enjoyable two hours of listening.