Tag: Gor

Gor The Infamous

On By coilerxiiIn EssayLeave a comment

A while ago on Fuldapocalypse I reviewed the first, comparably sane (but only comparably) entry in the “legendary” Gor series, Tarnsman of Gor. Since then, it quickly devolved into what it became infamous for. Which is to say, a series devoted entirely to talking about how the natural, right, and proper order of things is for men to be masters and women to be slaves. And I mean this literally.

One might think that Gor would have a tiny fig leaf of sword and planet adventure to go into ‘slave sleaze’. While true, it also has a tiny fig leaf of ‘slave sleaze’ to go into talking in gargantuan walls of text repeatedly saying the exact same monologue repeatedly. So why has it become so infamous?

I think there’s a few reasons. The first is that it had a degree of mainstream (by sci-fi standards) exposure. More “importantly”, it had a small degree of mainstream pretentiousness. So in its heyday (and in a smaller book market), you had this thing that acted like heroic fantasy and wasn’t honest enough to admit on the cover that it was smut. And it rubbed a lot of people quite reasonably the wrong way.

Review: Tarnsman of Gor

On By coilerxiiIn Review1 Comment

Tarnsman of Gor

The Gor series is perhaps the most infamous science fiction one ever. Yet you’d never know it from the beginning entry, Tarnsman of Gor. What that is is a somewhat sleazier and really, really blatant John Carter of Mars knockoff. As transported Earthman Tarl Cabot goes to a world of barbarians, slavery, and giant birds (the titular “tarns”), a clunky narrative ensues.

The series devolved fairly quickly into what is best known as slave sleaze, where it becomes filled with blocky rants about how men holding women as slaves is the best, most natural form of society, and how many Earthwomen suddenly find themselves loving being slaves. This isn’t as present in the first installment, but Cabot is still not exactly the most ideal protagonist.

More interesting than the blocky prose is how the series got its reputation: I mean, there’s certainly no shortage of outright and far more explicit sleaze fiction, whether in the 1960s-70s or today. So why do sci-fi/fantasy fans turn their anger more on Gor and not those? I’d argue that it’s because it makes the fig leaf of “sword and planet adventure” too blatant, putting it in a different standard. Even Dray Prescot got into mocking Gor, naming a barbaric continent of slavers “Gah”.

But yeah, even in the early, less problematic books, I can unhesitatingly say: Skip Gor. Author John Norman rivals William W. Johnstone for “worst mainstream published author”, and that is no small feat.