What else can we read?

Many of us have already read all of the Gor novels and John Norman does not write new ones very quickly. (There are 25 Gor novels, three Telnarian Histories, two unconnected novels and a nonfiction book, Imaginative Sex. The 26th Gor novel, Witness of Gor is completed but not yet on the shelves; the 27th is still being written.) So here are a few suggestions of other books to read. These are just some that came to mind; if you can think of something good that's not on this list, by all means email me and tell me about it.

The page is divided up into lists of fiction and nonfiction books, magazines, comics, and movies.

You can go back to the files page or the home page, too, if you like.

Burroughs, Edger Rice: The Martian Tales

The early Gor novels are strongly reminiscent of ERB's Mars – compare Tarnsman of Gor and A Princess of Mars. These stories are quite chaste by modern standards, of course; don't let that stop you! John Carter and Dejah Thoris are quite recognizable to readers familiar with Tarl Cabot and Talena of the first book; a sleen is essentially a calot without enough legs, and a Jetan board will look very familiar to anyone who's seen a Kaissa board. I have discovered that the first five books are available on the net.

Cleve, John: Spaceways series

A very pulp scifi series running to about twenty books, with an ample amount of sex (and sex slaves). Particularly notable is book #4, Satana Enslaved, in which a mostly female starship crew is stranded on an uncharted planet and enslaved by the barbaric Knormen. The writing style can be dense even for those of us used to John Norman's prose, apparently as an affectation. ('John Cleve' was a house pseudonym, though most of the writing under this name was committed by Andrew J. Offutt.)

Green, Sharron : well, actually, just about anything she's written...

She's been compared to John Norman before and with some reason, and from a technical standpoint she's probably a better writer. (In my opinion, though, the flaw that appears in John Norman's female protagonist works occurs in many of her novels as well – I want to take the main character and slap her for being such a jerk! But the books are definitely worth picking up.) The Jalav - Amazon Warrior series is particularly worth a look.

Forest, Dael: Slaves of the Empire series

Five very hard to find books from Ballentine, about slaves and masters in ancient Rome. The books are Barba the Slaver, Haesel the Slave, Brotan the Breeder, Gracus the Centurion, and Corissa the Vestal Virgin. (If you can find that last one, I want it.) The cover art shows up on Gorean sites regularly.

Horner, Lance: Rogue Roman

Another sex & slavery story set in the Roman Empire. (A bit male/male for some Gorean tastes, but no more so than was normal in that era.)

Lord, Jeffrey: The Richard Blade series.

An ongoing series of pulpish adventures about an Earthman (an Englishman, no less) who gets transported to any number of alternate dimensions. Plenty of sex and violence; Tarl Cabot would be quite at home in this series.

Morris, Janet: The Silistra series

A fantastic-world science fiction story, the high courtesan Estri Hadrath diet Estrazi has adventures, is enslaved, is take away to learn strange supernatural powers, is enslaved again... Aw, go read the books – they're worth it!

Offutt, Andrew J.: King Dragon, others.

While he's done quite a lot of interesting things, such as the Spaceways series (see above, under Cleve), 'King Dragon' is notable for the internal illustrations, particularly of the half-naked slave girl Johara. The rest of his works are also often worth a look, such as Ardor on Aros, Messenger of Zhuvastou, and My Lord Barbarian.

Roquelaure, A.N. (Anne Rice): The Sleeping Beauty trilogy

Okay, so nobody in the BDSM community is going to be surprised to hear about this rewrite of the old fairy tale; it's still an interesting and noteworthy work.

Stone, Charlotte: Cheon of Weltanland, Book I: The Four Wishes

A fine sword-weilding heroine not quite of the Red Sonja mold; there's plenty of sex, violence, and some slave girls, too. (Some readers might not like the protagonist's attraction to other women, though.) The only complaint I have about this novel is that it appears to be the first book of a series – however, no furthur books were ever published!

Tan, Cecilia (ed): Forged Bonds (collection)

From Circlet Press, this contains three fine stories of slaves (if you like enslaved elves, you're definitely in luck). This is very good for whetting our appetites for the full novel length tales...

Nonfiction

Berman, Edgar: The Compleat Chauvinist: A Survival Guide for the Bedeviled Male

An amusing book, although it takes itself too seriously sometimes.

Lange, John: The Cognitivity Paradox: An Inquiriy Concerning the Claims of Philosophy

For the raving completist, some professional nonfiction unconnected to the pen name John Norman. It's actually much more readable than the title would suggest.

McCullough, Colleen: the Masters of Rome series, starting with The First Man of Rome

This has only been recommended to me, so I cannot comment firsthand upon it--but it sounds helpful and informative, and I'll be looking for it.

Meltzer, Milton: Slavery I: From the Rise of Western Civilization to the Renaissance

A fine and well written overview of real world slavery; this is the first of a pair of books, but the second deals with slavery in the American South, a distinctly different environment from most slave holding societies.

Patterson, Orlando: Slavery and Social Death

A piece of breathtaking scholarship that is still readable. It addresses only real-world slavery, of course, but in great detail.

Magazines

This list is a bit different from the others... Naturally, the first magazine any Gor fan might want to see is the Gor Magazine from Vision Entertainment! Sadly, that flopped – but at least one to three issues were completed; what happened to them? Will anyone ever see them?

In the meantime, readers might find John Norman's appearances in The New York Review of Science Fiction interesting; back issues are still available. The issues of interest that I'm aware of to date are: Issue #83 (July '95), which I believe contains John Norman relevant texts of some sort by Elisabeth Vanarberg and Charles Platt; Issue #85 (Sep '95), with an open letter from John Norman entitled How Far is Too Far?; Issue #87 (Nov '95), with some letters back to John Norman replying to his letter in Issue #85; Issue #92 (April '96), featuring the first half of an interview with John Norman by David Alexander Smith entitled No More Gor: A Conversation with John Norman; and Issue #96 (Aug '96), wherein is found the second half of that interview.

Comic books

There must be more good Goresque comics...but I can't think of any to suggest at the moment. If you can, please let me know. Sadly, the ones that do appear don't seem to last very long.

Barbarienne, Harrier comics #1-6 and Eros Comix #1-4

A fine Sword & Slavery epic unfortunately limited to entirely too few issues. In the first issue of the Harrier comics run (which is first chronologically) a warrior named Charol finds a young woman, Memree, in a chained in a dungeon; complications ensue. :-) In the second issue the two go to a tribe called the Churmuk that will seem very familiar to anyone who's read Nomads of Gor. In the second series, Memree poses as a long lost noblewoman, with Charol as one of her slave girls. I'll note that both runs are well worth reading but that the second is more explicit in terms of nudity and sex.

Redfox #6, Harrier Comics

The heroine, an underdressed barbarian warrior woman named Redfox, is captured by slavers. (See the cover picture at right.) The rest of the series has little to do with Gorean phenomena, but the slave traders here are quite interesting.

Silverfawn, Caliber Press

An elf woman is captured, enslaved, branded and sold from an auction block to a cruel human master. Unfortunately, this appears to be a one-shot and she ends the story free.

Movies

This section should be larger; I expect there are good movies that I haven't discovered yet; however, it's a good start. Notice that I have not included the two Gor movies...

9 1/2 Weeks

An adequate movie based on the book by Elizabeth McNeill. It'll be at your local video store; try to get an unexpurgiated version (apparently there are several). R/unrated, 2hr MGM/UA 1986.

Barbarella

The sci-fi classic B movie. I've lost count of how many times the orgasm organ scene has been parodied... It's good for a laugh as well, and general fluff video fun. PG 1h38m Paramount 1980.

Caligula

What, have you been living under a rock that you haven't heard of this? A vision of Roman decadence that probably would have shocked even the average Roman... There's abundant nudity and sex, some death; a downright shortage of proper Gorean posturing machismo, though.

Dinosaur Island

A movie which aspires to (but does not reach) B-movies status but which Gor fans may find amusing. The obligatory tribe of mostly blonde amazons in chamois bikinis is threatened by rubber dinosaurs (and rubber acting). The panther girl-like tribe is taught dinosaur killing and kissing by a bunch of US Army frat boys...er, soldiers. (There's a bit too much nudity for MST3K.) It may be difficult to find this one. R, 1h25m, Hew Horizons Home Video 1994.

Dragon Pink

Find this! It's a fantasy setting adult video featuring three wandering warriors and a cat-eared slave girl named Pink (and Pink's owner, Santa, is a bit of a jerk – but Pink is treated as a slave girl should be, by everyone!) Japanese animation, available from SoftCel Pictures; as far as I know it's not out on DVD yet.

Fencer of Minerva

This is another must-find anime release. By the time the opening credits have rolled, any John Norman reader will have noticed that the creators also have picked up a Gor novel or two in their time, and it doesn't stop there. See the jollyroper comments. The American version is available on two tapes from US Manga Corps, redubbed or with subtitles according to your taste; I'm hoping for a DVD release.

Legend of Lemnear

A scantily clad warrior woman (see right)in a fantasy setting runs around saving the day and losing her clothes; personally I find some of this strongly reminiscent of the Taarna sequence in Heavy Metal. Particularly good is the sequence in the slave trader's fortress – at last, there's someone in fiction who knows how to treat female slaves! Gor fans may notice early on when three moons are clearly visible in the sky. (A synopsis is available.) Japanese animation, N/R 45m US Manga Corps 1989.

One Million B.C.

Features Raquel Welch in a fur one-piece (see above). Also features stop-motion dinosaurs, grunting cavemen, and very little in the way of plot or dialog...but who cares? N/R 2hr 20thCFox 1967.

Planet of the Apes and sequels.

John Norman holds that the novels are better; as I've not read them I cannot comment.

Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity

A movie which, astonishingly, does not live up to the quality one would expect from the title. Some nudity and plenty of plastic acting. (Too much filler plot and action, not nearly enough slave girls and action.) A fine match for the Telnarian Histories novels, in my opinion.

You can go back to the files page or the home page now if you like.