wrote:
Has this happened in fiction before, and/or is it common where an
author seems to take aim at another? Obviously in Academia,
dissenting ideas get published regularly, but what about fiction?

I seem to remember an allegation that
Norman Spinrad's "The Iron Dream"
(that ingenious alternative history
that had Hitler going to New York
and becoming a science fiction writer
rather than embarking on a "political
career; sort of like, "If Hitler had been
a fiction writer, what would he have
'written?") was satirically aimed at
the Gor series by John Norman.
Whether or not the fact that "Norman"
is part of each writer's name had
anything to do with the matter, I
cannot say...

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

Lawrence Person
Lame Excuse Books
Stock available online at www.tomfolio.com (searched by
www.bookfinder.com), or at:
http://home.austin.rr.com/lperson/lame.html