Norman Spinrad LoneStarCon 3

I was really excited that LoneStarCon 3 won the bid to host WorldCon. I was more excited to see that Norman Spinrad was the Guest of Honor.  Based on those 2 things, I was pretty sure I was attending the convention, even only for a day or two.

I’ve gotten his signature before but I ran across something I thought would be very cool to get signed; an old Star Trek script of Doomsday Machine.  It’s one of my favorite episodes and has some really great lines to quote.  Don’t worry, I won’t quote them now.  The wife would never forgive me for punishing you with quips like: Vulcans never bluff.  (Sorry, I HAD to say just one.  Please don’t tell her I did that.)

I bought the script as child. I had it for decades. It was buried in a box of odds and ends and then forgotten.  As I was cleaning out a closet so some friends could visit, I found the script. I put it aside so I won’t lose it. And as is often the case, I lost it.

Plan A was out the window of getting the script signed.  Sigh.

I did have a very old beaten up paperback novel of his. I bought it from a used book store that was down the street of my hometown.  I would visit the bookstore once a week or so and buy old sci fi novels.  Some of the books were great. Some of them I never understood. One of the books I never understood was Agents of Chaos by Norman Spinrad.

I have read the book a few times as I grew up. I thought as I matured and learned more about the world, something would click. It never did.

But I still had that very old beat up copy and it wasn’t lost.

When I handed over the book, Norman paused, showed it to his wife(?).  He said something and I had to lean very close to her. He said it was the 3^rd cover for the book (I could have that wrong).  He flipped it open.  Then pointed to the price and laughed.  The cover price was $1.50.

He signed it and I made him laugh.  Pretty cool.

AH