Norman Spinrad Interview


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Lisan Al-Gaib
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Post by Lisan Al-Gaib »

Freakzilla wrote:
Care to share the contents with the banned?
Agreed. 8)
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Post by Tleszer »

Freakzilla wrote:
Care to share the contents with the banned?
Omph had posted a link to Spinrad's article on DN. When I last checked, Byron had yet to respond (Omph posted it April 1, 2007) :wink:
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Post by Freakzilla »

:lol:

Sometimes it takes Byron a couple days.
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Post by SandRider »

great. so you mean I'm waiting for Merritt to stumble across the
original 15+ year old Spinrad essay, then wait for him to
realize that things still occur in real time ?

pffft.
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Post by Ghost »

That thread is from 2007 :lol:
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Post by Omphalos »

Tleszer wrote:
Freakzilla wrote:
Care to share the contents with the banned?
Omph had posted a link to Spinrad's article on DN. When I last checked, Byron had yet to respond (Omph posted it April 1, 2007) :wink:
I knew that I had seen that article before, but I forgot that I had tried to bait Byron with it.

Maybe he thought it was only an April Fool's joke? :lol:
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Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Nice work Sandrider, that was a pretty good read. I think that pretty effectively adds to the pile of evidence for the "we followed the Notes" argument being full of shit.
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Post by GamePlayer »

NS: Maybe. Frank kept going as long as the big money kept rolling in. Knowing Frank's political philosophy, I once asked him how he could keep writing this royalist stuff. He told me he planned to end the series with a novel that would transition to a fictional universe of democratic rule. Never wrote it, of course. And Brian and Kevin certainly didn't from any 7 notes.
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That was an excellent read. Thanks for posting it SR.
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Post by Seraphan »

Excelent. This one should definitely be a sticky.
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Post by Freakzilla »

Seraphan wrote:Excelent. This one should definitely be a sticky.
I must admit, this guy knows Dune, that intro is outstanding!
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Post by Schu »

Get him to write the sequel! (even if he seems rather jaded about them - or perhaps especially since he's jaded about it)

Excellent introduction. Especially the bit about transforming your consciousness in a positive way.
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Post by Freakzilla »

Schu wrote:Get him to write the sequel! (even if he seems rather jaded about them - or perhaps especially since he's jaded about it)

Excellent introduction. Especially the bit about transforming your consciousness in a positive way.
That's exactly how I felt when I first read Dune, except I was into LSD. Never been able to find mescaline around here.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by Phaedrus »

Both the interview and the introductory essay are jewels. Spinrad definitely knows what's up.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by SandChigger »

Spinrad evidently has cancer. He's been posting about undergoing chemo on Facebook.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by SandRider »

man, I don't even want to hear about that shit ....
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by Kensai »

Thats was a really insightfull enjoyable read. Thanks for posting it.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by Omphalos »

SandChigger wrote:Spinrad evidently has cancer. He's been posting about undergoing chemo on Facebook.
Ive been reluctant to talk about this. I hope to god he comes through it fine.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by SandRider »

Knowing Frank's political philosophy, I once asked him how he could keep writing this royalist stuff. He told me he planned to end the series with a novel that would transition to a fictional universe of democratic rule.

~Norman Spinrad, a man who carried on actual conversations with Frank Herbert.


assuming Spinrad's telling the truth here, or remembering correctly, is this the
ONLY EXISTING PUBLIC FUCKING CLUE about Frank's possible intentions for Dune7 ?
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by Lolronica »

Really interesting, Spinrad has done some great work, and nice to see that he will still connect on that level (random person gets in contact, seems serious, Spinrad replies to questions). The only part I doubt is the comment about Frank saying he wanted to push it towards democracy, as all here would know, there is not the slightest sign of that up to the end of his work on Dune.
May just be Spinrad joking about politics of the time (certainly a master of black humour on many occasions), or maybe he wasn't happy with anti-democratic tendencies of Frank's writing and threw it in for disinfo. We're unlikely ever to know. Maybe it really was the plan for Dune 7.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by gwern »

The democracy bit is neither provable nor disprovable at this point... It's certainly consistent with his essays on Dune, or his writings on the recordings, where he consistently harshly criticizes strong leaders and the Atreides (see viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2690" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ), to have an ending in democracy. If only the Atreides are fit to self-govern, if they're the 'adults' the Bene Gesserit strive for, then everyone having Atreides genes and powers would rather imply some sort of anarchy or democracy and not an aristocracy or monarchy.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by SandRider »

thanks for surfacing this one;
I was in a blind drunk for most of February, seems I somehow missed most of the Lolronica Dramaticon,
which is a shame, because while I cannot recall at the moment any of the other foolishness he/she/it posted
that led to whatever hissy-fit/butt-hurt/don't-let-the-waterseal-slam-your-ass-on-your-way-out Glory-blaze
and his/her/its departure, I regret having missed this jewel of Misunderstanding Dune: I Read It, But I Don't Get It


Lolronica wrote: I doubt ... the comment about Frank saying he wanted to push it towards democracy,
as all here would know, there is not the slightest sign of that up to the end of his work on Dune.
May just be Spinrad joking about politics of the time .... or maybe he wasn't happy with anti-democratic
tendencies of Frank's writing and threw it in for disinfo.
We're unlikely ever to know. Maybe it really was the plan for Dune 7.
................ I exist only to amuse myself ................
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I personally feel that this message board, Jacurutu, is full of hateful folks who don't know
how to fully interact with people.
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by SandChigger »

Ah, Lolronica... That reminds me! :D
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by Serkanner »

SandChigger wrote:Ah, Lolronica... That reminds me! :D
... you still owe me contribution number 5. :evil:
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by SandChigger »

I owe you NOTHING! NOTHING you hear! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! :)
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Re: Norman Spinrad Interview

Post by valys »

A couple of years late, but thanks SandRider for taking the time to interview mr. Spinrad. And the introduction he wrote for Dune ain't too shabby either :)
Like I said before, I never repeat myself.
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