| Norman Spinrad | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 15, 1940 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author.[1]
Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, and now lives in Paris. He married fellow novelist N. Lee Wood in 1990; they divorced in 2005. They had no children. Spinrad served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1980 to 1982 and again from 2001 to 2002.
In an interview with Locus magazine in 1999, Spinrad described himself as an "anarchist" and a "syndicalist".[2]
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The Iron Dream is an alternate history novel, the bulk of which consists of a fictional fantasy classic entitled Lord of the Swastika, written by one Adolf Hitler, who in the novel is a writer rather than a demagogue. The remainder of the book is critical commentary on the text.[3] According to an article attributed to Spinrad[4], the book was banned for eight years in Germany, but was finally exonerated after appeals. More accurately, the sale of the book was permitted, but the public display of the book or its covers was prohibited, despite the fact that there were no swastikas on the cover of the indexed first German edition.
Child of Fortune deals with the adventures of a young woman, Moussa, in her search for her true calling. In Moussa's culture, young people of her age and class undertake a wanderjahr during which they wander from planet to planet, free to go wherever and do whatever they wish. While on their travels they are known as Children of Fortune, and are treated with indulgence and kindness by most in memory of their own wanderjahr. The Children of Fortune blend elements of gypsies, hippies of 1960s America, and other groups and legends, including Peter Pan. While some parents give their children a great deal of money for the trip, Moussa's parents believe that she will learn more with a true wanderjahr rather than a subsidized tour, so they give her nothing but a voucher for a one-way ticket home. Moussa becomes a "ruespieler" or storyteller, and takes the name "Wendy" in honor of Pater Pan, the man she meets, loves, and loses during her wanderjahr.
The wanderjahr bears a superficial resemblance to the Grand Tour which many upper-class young men undertook after finishing school, the difference being that Children of Fortune are expected to have explored themselves as well as the world during their travels, and to come home knowing who they are and what place they want for themselves.
Bug Jack Barron (1969), a pre-cyberpunk tale of a cynical, exploitative talk-show host who gradually uncovers a conspiracy concerning an immortality treatment and the methods used in that treatment, was serialised in the British magazine New Worlds during Michael Moorcock's editorship. With its explicit language and cynical attitude to politicians, it roused one British Member of Parliament's ire at the magazine's partial funding by the British Arts Council. A memorable quote from this novel is, "The saddest day of your life isn't when you decide to sell out. The saddest day of your life is when you decide to sell out and nobody wants to buy."
A World Between (1979) tells of a mildly turbulent period on the planet of Pacifica, a eutopic, democratic electronically mediated society, on which lands a ship from each of the two factions in the "Pink and Blue War": the patronisingly paternalistic Institute of Transcendental Science on the one side, and the rabidly man-hating lesbian Femocrats on the other. Nobody suffers a worse fate than political embarrassment, and status quo is restored by the simple fact of Pacifican society being better than that of either of the off-world factions.
Spinrad wrote the script for an episode of the original Star Trek television series entitled "The Doomsday Machine" (1967).
The Druid King is a historical novel about the conflict between Vercingetorix and the Roman Empire.[5]
His short story "Down the Rabbit Hole" (1966) was published in the anthology The War Book (edited by James Sallis, 1969).