Luke Rhinehart is the pen name of the author George Cockcroft (see that entry for a biography). Alternatively, one could say that George Cockcroft is the legal name of the diceperson Luke Rhinehart. Luke Rhinehart is also a character in some of George Cockcroft's books: to avoid confusion, in this article "George Cockcroft" will refer to the author, while "Luke Rhinehart" will refer to the character.
In accordance with Finagle's law, many websites refer to him as George Cockroft, without a "c".
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Much of George Cockcroft's writing follows the styles of his first book: The Dice Man. He switches rapidly between a first and third person view, and intersperses that narrative flow with (fictional) excerpts from journals, minutes of meetings, and other sources. This gives the impression of a larger story, of which just a glimpse is being seen. In one case he even quoted from a future book that he did not actually write until over two decades later. The moods of the book change rapidly too; a single book might have sections of erotica, thriller, comedy, psychology, romance, philosophy, and detective in it - not mixed together, but standing side by side with only a chapter number, if that, between them. Many believe that the best parts of the stories are the sections of sheer hilarity, which come in brief ten page bursts. These sections of carefully timed comic relief include a sex scene in the middle of a river, various dice parties, and a hallucinogenic tomato plant.
On the other hand, Long Voyage Back, and Matari show that he is entirely comfortable writing somewhat more traditional fiction, and Book of Est shows that he is capable of writing wholly factual accounts too. In all his books, George Cockcroft focuses attention on only a few characters: typically less than five. Other characters are introduced, but solely as caricatures or plot devices.
There are also continuing plans to release the story of either Luke, Larry, or Wim as a movie. Luke has written a number of screenplays himself, including one on The Dice Man, and WHIM, in an effort to accelerate the process, and both projects are being pushed forward on several fronts.
Companies have often attempted to profit from the ideas of The Dice Man, and a few such ventures are noted below. The ideas in the book have also influenced a wide range of musicians, writers, artists, some of whom are listed below.
Dice have always been colloquially referred to as rocks and the makers of Rolling Rock lager, sensing a good tie-in, launched a series of adverts based around the diceman theme, and even a Diceliving website (now defunct), and have since been associated with Luke's books. Indeed, the rise from the dead of Rolling Rock in the late 1990s has partially been attributed to the rise of dicing at around the same time, fueled, perhaps, by Internet chat rooms where role-playing is common.
It has been claimed that 'Barter Books' in Alnwick, England is or was a dice centre.
The Dice Man has turned up in several songs:
Art which exploits the principle of randomness is called aleatory. Several pieces of aleatory art have been partially inspired by the writings of George Cockcroft.
The Discovery Channel recently hired a pair of part-time dicers to do a Diceman Travel programme based on the dice. Where they go, what they see, and what they do, all are based on the roll of a dice. Apparently it's been popular, though the tendency of the dice to steer the couple off in strange directions has caused problems for the producers and editors.
On film, there have been at least three documentaries on diceliving and the philosophy of the dice, including one 50-minute short film called Dice World by Paul Wilmshurst, and published by Channel Four in the USA.
Ben Marshall, of Loaded magazine, spent two years from 1998 to 2000 experimenting with being a diceman, and writing up his experiences in the magazine. This seems to have been a big hit with the readers, and Loaded subsequently named Luke Rhinehart as writer of the century. Praise indeed.
Larnie Reid Fox invented (or popularised) the idea of the DiceWalk, which was featured in the May 28, 2003 edition of sfweekly, students of psychogeography having already pioneered the art or science of random or whimsical excursions.
The Books
Bibliography
Forthcoming
Spin-offs and Influences
Commercial Ventures
Music references
Other music connections:
Other Art
External Links
