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I have mixed feelings about the Gor novels of John Norman. On one hand they have some stuff I find really hot; on the other hand, they have a lot of bits I find really annoying. It isn’t the ‘males are masters, females are slaves’ bit that particularly bothers me either – I have a high tolerance for that sort of unabashed male chauvinism in my fantasies. And Mr. Norman does have the right idea about keeping slavegirls barefoot (“It is a rare girl, and a high girl, who is allowed sandals.”)
But in among the bondage, there’s too much D/s and SM for my taste. Not to mention the droning philosophy lectures. Gor novels are like moonshine whiskey: Uneven and generally low quality, have an “underground market” feel about them, are faintly toxic, and yet pack a real 100 proof emotional punch that makes people like (and hate) them beyond reason.
So I’d like to put in a half-hearted request that Hywel do some Gorean-style slave-capture & slave auction sets.
And here’s the plug: I’ve found the Gor novels to be so annoying and yet so hot that I really wanted to find similar books that left the annoying parts out. That offered a smoother & sweeter tipple with a 100 proof kick – brandy rather than whiskey. I have yet to find such a thing – so I ended up writing a novel myself. The first five chapters are a freebie at http://www.geocities.com/lurker60031/utility/Agent_of_Cern_1_to_5.rtf and the rest is available at the damsel theater token site http://www.damseltheater.com/galleries.php?id=Sablesword
I have to admit that I haven’t read any of Norman’s Novels. But I heard and read a lot about that gorean … well… “cult” that is turning around his books, and a few excerpts.
What disturbs me the most, is that apparently some people tend to see a deeper meaning in Norman’s “Vision”, in a philosophical and political way. They insist that the world of gor is not just a cheap excuse for kinky fantasies, but some kind of social utopia.
So, in my opinion Norman is widely overestimated, although… well… some things he thought of are indeed pretty sexy!The “cult” was part of what I was thinking of when I said that the 100 proof emotional punch of the books make people love them beyond reason.
(It also makes people hate the books beyond reason, e.g. screaming and jumping up and down as they insist that the Gor novels are “Boring! Boring!!! BORING!!!” – um, if they’re so boring, why are you getting so excited over them?)
Anyway I still want to read stories in the “good parts of Gor” genre, other than those I’ve written myself.
On the off chance that anyone is still interested, Agent of Cern (the whole thing) is now available at http://www.authonomy.com/ which is HarperCollins public slush site. The direct link would be http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=4374
The first few chapters of the sequel, An Antidote to Fire, is up on my Authonomy page as well. (The first draft is done, and I’m putting chapters up as I finish revising them.)
I think that the Gor novels (with the possible exceptions of #5 and #24) are at best adolesent male fantasies. Long before I should have, I have outgrown them.
And, except for kajira dressed only in jewels, or in stocks, I’m not sure what a Gor theme would be.
But I have read the novel, and it is superb. Maybe a little strange, but the notions are wonderful. I may offend some, but I do think that a lot of earth women would like to be owned in that realm.
I don’t think that women would like to be owned on Gor.
Maybe you can give Ariel some more explicit ideas about Gor bondage scenes? It has been more than 30 years since I have read the Gor books.
I figured the Gor books to be purely male fantasies too. Not so much “adolescent” – they strike me as being post-adolescent-cynical about women – but still the sort of thing that would appeal to a 98% male audience. I was surprised to learn that roughly half the buyers of Gor books were female.
As for gorean “themes,” Ariel’s famous “slave positions” set was vaguely gorean. Also, the older “woman sold at auction to be a sex slave” sets could be given a gorean cast with very little work: Put the model on a display platform or auction block, be sure that’s she’s nude at least by the end of the set, and supply an appropriate patter of how she was captured by raiders from SPAAACE!!! and is now being sold on a barbaric planet. Models dressed in short, sleeveless tunics (at least at the start of the set) could also be given a gorean cast with the appropriate patter.
A lot of gorean stuff would be too dark & grotty for RE (slaves getting branded with hot irons? No thanks!) But some of the lighter stuff could work.
I’m glad you liked my own novel, and actually pleased that you found it a “little strange.” I did put a lot of thought into making things weird and wonderful in the setting. (I like working out settings, and also characters. That’s why I never saw much point to doing fan fiction: Why let someone else do all the fun parts of creating the setting and characters, leaving you with only the chore of plotting and writing the story?)
I just joined RE, and this is my first post on the forums. When I was the ‘Gor’ post, well, I just had to chime in…
Being a lifelong fan of the GOR novels, I would like to add my 2 cents worth.
If there is going to be a ‘gor like’ theme for a set or two, lets make sure that all the models are marked (as the slaves in the books are marked). I do not refer to a brand, naturally, but a collar. For RE, this doesn’t need to be a metal collar at all, but could be any of the sexy little ‘chokers’ that ladies wear.
Most of the ‘slave collars’ and ‘slave bracelets’ that I have seen on the internet are just simple, plain pieces of custodial hardware, with little of beauty about them. In the books, such items would be crafted to be not just effective in rendering their captives helplessly held, but beautifully so.
I would love to see the lovely ladies of RE in the Camisk and Ta-Teera (not sure of the spelling of these slave girl fashions), but they are described in the books and would be interesting to see the RE versions of them. Best of all, they would be very cheap to make, so that part of the overhead wouldn’t be to bad at all.
The Camisk could most easily be made from a mans night shirt, with a bit of alteration of course. The main points being off the shoulder, tightly belted at the waist, and short, with the hem slit up both sides. 😉
@lurker wrote:
I have mixed feelings about the Gor novels of John Norman…But in among the bondage, there’s too much D/s and SM for my taste.
LOL. That’s like saying there’s too much romance in Mills & Boon novels (and yes I have read one).
But as always, very interesting to hear other people’s reactions.
Tal and be well. 😉
_Sake_
There are many species where the males fight each other for dominance, and the strongest 10% of the males get all the females. Maybe the popularity of Gor reflects the fact that the same instinct is at work in humans.
I would like to see three or four slave girls dancing to entertain their master, collared and chained of course.
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