Dobbs is the leader of a New Wave cult group called the SubGenius, whose
principles first were espoused in a 1978 pamphlet that has become an
underground classic. The Dallas-based cult's newest offering is the
best-selling "Book of the SubGenius" (MacGraw-Hill, $9.95).
The transition from pamphlet to a professionally produced book wasn't
anything planned by Smith and the rest of Dobbs' disciples. Last year,
McGraw-Hill contacted Smith with a book offer after one of its editors had been
slipped the pamphlet at a company picnic. That, along with news of the
peculiar First World SubGenius Convention actually held at Dealey Plaza on Nov.
22, 1981 was enough for publishers to think money could be made by spreading
Dr. Bob's gospel.
Smith hired a Chicago agent he describes as a "very sane, 50-year-old woman
not addicted to drugs or anything," who started a bidding war for the book,
which doubled the hefty advance money. McGraw-Hill's Tim McGuiness sold the
publishing company's marketing division on the idea of the book.
