Stang, Rev Ivan
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of US film-maker, cultural critic, hoaxer, and author Douglas St Clair Smith (1953- ), taking the title "Reverend" from the Church of the SubGenius – an elaborately nonsensical spoof Religion he claimed not to have founded by himself. He edited The Book of the SubGenius (anth 1983), a Satire on other religions and cults in the form of densely packed clip art and surreal text relating the teachings of J R "Bob" Dobbs, a former encyclopedia salesman whose grinning face (with pipe) is an Icon of the pseudo-cult. The crackpot literature that inspired the book is reviewed in the nonfiction High Weirdness by Mail: A Directory of the Fringe-Made Prophets, Crackpots & True Visionaries (1988). Stang also edited Three-Fisted Tales of "Bob": Short Stories in the SubGenius Mythos (anth 1990), much of whose content is sf. One of his short films is Let's Visit the World of the Future (1973), which he wrote, directed and appeared in. [NT]
Douglas St Clair Smith
born Washington, District of Columbia: 21 August 1953
works as editor
- The Book of the SubGenius (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983) [anth: hb/]
- Three-Fisted Tales of "Bob": Short Stories in the SubGenius Mythos (New York: Simon and Schuster/Fireside, 1990) [anth: pb/Paul Mavrides]
nonfiction
- High Weirdness by Mail: A Directory of the Fringe-Made Prophets, Crackpots & True Visionaries (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988) [nonfiction: coll: pb/]
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