This is an article that first appeared on alt.books.gor and that I've saved. As I remark, sooner or later I'll rewrite it into a more considered and comprehensive article.
You can return to the files page now if you like.
In article <01bca783$b271fb60$2e4d32cc@default>, Peter Lake Hm, 'even' the Telnarian Histories? As far as SF goes, they don't seem to
measure up to the Gor series; while the latter is a somewhat cliched formula
sword & sorcery/SF world, the former is pure pulp, and not very well done at
that (IMHO). John Norman is good at a number of things, but dealing with
high technology, quite honestly, isn't one of them.
Gor is, if not likely, at least self consistent. The unusual technology
is enforced by more advanced aliens, who have their own (occasionally weird
or confusing) reasons to act as they do--I can deal with this. Compare this to the Telnarian Histories; we're asked to believe in a long
standing interstellar empire that has energy weapons and starships but not
alcohol fueled engines or airplanes! The explanation of 'depleted resources'
only goes so far, especially with a mature starfaring civilization; subtle
mistakes are one thing (converting a planet into an asteroid belt should
liberate resources, not consume them), but I expect the obvious ones to be
noticed. (By the way, if the civilizations have been using up resources for
millions of years, where do the barbarians get the coal that they presumably
use to add carbon to iron for those steel swords they carry?) By the by, apparently there have been some biological changes over these
'millions of years'...notice that nobody seems to remember how to make black
powder? Yet John Norman mentions forests (wood + fire = charcoal), fields of
grain (compost piles + rain + time = potassium nitrate, AKA saltpeter ), and
people (my Pocket Ref says that the human body is 0.25% sulfer; it must be
there somewhere if humans can survive). They also seem to have plenty of fruit for those feasts John Norman writes
about, and several kinds of metal for coins. Does anyone think to put some
silver and copper plates in fruit juice, making a weak battery? (For more
power, use the battery current to make electromagnets and cast raw iron into
permanent magnets, then build a generator. The eco-friendly options of sun,
wind, water and wood will all run your power plants. Incidentally, that
electricity can also crack water molecules apart for hydrogen that will
lift lighter-than-air vehicles.) And so on... As you can see, what the Telnarian Empire has is not a resource shortage
but an idea shortage...John Norman is well educated in history (sometimes I
can spot his sources) but his imagination is not oriented to technological
wizardry. Personally, I hope he returns to writing Gor novels. *grin* I've got a Gor website (http://www.rdrop.com/users/wyvern/gor.html);
sooner or later, I keep saying, I'll write up an essay on this subject
for it.
>The D/s definatley;Norman's SF sounds dated and corny(even in his last,most
>recent Telnarian series) but when it comes to exploring the darker side of
>Man's sexual nature, the man is a master(pun intended!).
> Iraclese, of Snowdon.