A Matter of Matter

When it comes to big dreams and schemes, young Chuck Lambert would give Walter Mitty a run for his money. In fact, ChuckΓÇÖs biggest dream of all is really out of this world. Because heΓÇÖs got his eyes on a prize in the sky. Chuck wants to buy a planet of his own.... Madman Murphy, the King of Planetary Realtors, is more than happy to oblige. HeΓÇÖs got a whole galaxy of planets for sale. All Chuck needs is money ... and a lot of it. Eleven years later, saving every penny he can scrape up, ChuckΓÇÖs dream comes true. He takes possession and takes off for Planet 19453X..... One problem: Madman Murphy has sold Chuck a world of trouble. Because on Planet 19453X the water is undrinkable, the air is unbreathable, and the laws of physics donΓÇÖt apply. Has ChuckΓÇÖs dream turned into a nightmare? Not quite. As heΓÇÖs about to discover, sometimes, to fulfill your true desire, itΓÇÖs simply a matter of digging a little deeper.
By the time A Matter of Matter appeared in 1949, L. Ron HubbardΓÇÖs stature as a writer was well established. As author and critic Robert Silverberg puts it: he had become a ΓÇ£master of the art of narrative.ΓÇ¥ HubbardΓÇÖs editors urged him to apply his gift for succinct characterization, original plot, deft pacing and imaginative action to the genre of science fiction and fantasy. The rest is Sci-Fi history.
Also includes the science fiction adventures, "The Conroy Diary," in which the man who opens up the universe to mankind also opens himself to charges of fraud and tax evasion; "The Obsolete Weapon," the story of an American GI involved in the 1943 invasion of Italy who slips back in time and finds himself fighting a different kind of battleΓÇöas a gladiator in ancient Rome; and "The Planet Makers," in which a great deal is at stake for the engineers who make planets habitable, but one of them has a surprising plan all his own. *An International Book Awards Finalist