Has anyone read The Iron Dream?

Ivan Druzhkov

The Red said:
It seems pretty absurd and some of it seems to be ultra conservative fantasy.
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That's the point. Spinrad's whole purpose for Lord of the Swastika (the book Hitler wrote in The Iron Dream) is to savage traditional sword 'n' sorcery by recounting OTL's Hitler rise to power as a Golden Age heroic fantasy.

Interestingly enough, while most people who've critiqued the book complain that Spinrad drags his parody out too long, one online contrarian suggests that the book actually wouldn't work if it wasn't drawn out and repetitive.
 

The Dean

The Dean said:
Spinrad rocks! I think his best book though is The Hegemony of Sol
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Sorry I meant Agent of Chaos, the Hegemony of Sol is the "Evol Empire" in Agent of Chaos. All of Spinrad's book are engaging, Bug Jack Barron predicts the rise of reality TV today with chilling accuracy fifty years ago.
 

xchen08

Ivan Druzhkov said:
That's the point. Spinrad's whole purpose for Lord of the Swastika (the book Hitler wrote in The Iron Dream) is to savage traditional sword 'n' sorcery by recounting OTL's Hitler rise to power as a Golden Age heroic fantasy.

Interestingly enough, while most people who've critiqued the book complain that Spinrad drags his parody out too long, one online contrarian suggests that the book actually wouldn't work if it wasn't drawn out and repetitive.
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My favorite interpretation is that the Spinrad is supporting the idea that it's stupid to think you can support an idea by writing a fictional book where that idea is correct, by writing a fictional book where that idea is correct.
 
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Corbell Mark IV

Ivan Druzhkov said:
That's the point. Spinrad's whole purpose for Lord of the Swastika (the book Hitler wrote in The Iron Dream) is to savage traditional sword 'n' sorcery by recounting OTL's Hitler rise to power as a Golden Age heroic fantasy.

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Sounds very interesting. I will have to look for this.:cool:
 

DCC

A further level of irony: the prologue and afterword strongly imply that Europe is totally dominated by Stalinist states, and the U.S. (as of the early 60s) is losing the Cold War. IE, you have a world where Hitler is a harmless author, and it is in some ways worse than ours.
 

Dave Howery

I've read it; I think Spinrad did a great job. The story simply felt like it was what sci fi would be if written by Hitler...
 
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