wrote:
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.]

I know people are not supposed to raise
questions about their just-posted theories,
at the risk of being accused of merely
chewing their cud while acting as if they
are doing some serious thinking, but
after I made the earlier post on this thread
I did some checking and found that John
Norman had only published three of his
Gor books before Spinrad published "The
Iron Dream" so now I am wondering if
Norman ("John", I mean) would have
even been prominent enough in
Norman's "Spinrad's," I mean)
thoughts to merit Spinrad aiming
an entire book at him. Maybe
those who maintain that Spinrad
was mocking a trend he felt he
saw in science fiction are on the
right track...

[Memo from the upstairs office.]

Lawrence Person
Lame Excuse Books
Stock available online at www.tomfolio.com (searched by
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