Planet of the Complete Bloody Psychopaths, Part 5

[bellatrys]

aka "Tarnsman of Gor," © 1966 John Norman

[raps podium] Hey! Anyone here never ever hear of Barsoom before? No hands going up at all? Anybody out there who didn't already know that everyone knows that Gor is a total rip-off of John Carter, with added testosterone & misogyny? --That's what I thought

Comments

[anonymous]

And there are _how_ many of these books? Why? Why!? The only possible use for them (other than recycling) would be some kind of mocking drinking game. Whatever absurdity or revolting theme you picked, you would be certain to be drunk by the end of one book.

You are a brave, brave soul to have read one.

Lots!

[bellatrys]

Lots and lots and lots of them. But Dark Horse is only releasing the first three in an omnibus edition -- to start with.

You are a brave, brave soul to have read one.

Naw, I'm just immune - I was raised a conservative Catholic neo-Traditionalist antifeminist and deprogrammed myself, plus I was a philosophy major surrounded by these types in college and had to read the "scholarly" versions of this crap (and deal with people who believed it,) so it's more the wretched prose that hurts any more. And I've been involved in fanfic for long enough that I'm inured to all but the most gawdawful of writing. (Just don't bring up that Aragorn/Frodo rapefic at LoM, alright?)

"Gor" drinking games are a good idea, though. We should make some.

Re: Lots!

[archangelbeth]

But... surely we'd die of alcohol poisoning if we took a drink every time someone compared Gor to Earth (with Earth coming off unfavorably), or every time some woman Asked For It...

Good gads, however did my mother read this drek?

Wull, yah

[bellatrys]

but you're not really supposed to *play* drinking games, it's just a fun tracking device for Overused Elements ;)

Good gads, however did my mother read this drek?

Train Wreck Syndrome - when it's soooo bad you just can't stop watching.

I suspect that Laurell K. Hamilton fans are the sufferers of it most to be pitied in fandom, these days.

[fledgist]

One of your central points made me think of this:http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2002/12/17/tolkien_brin/index.html

Granted, Tolkien is everything that 'John Norman' is not, still the underlying politics bear a family resemblance.

actually I think Brin is one of the biggest idiots in fandom

[bellatrys]

and a piss-poor reader/comprehender, and have so ever since I caught him mis-invoking the Iliad, invoking him is not going to get any points with me, I'm afraid.

I can't remember if I ever dismantled this piece on a board before, or just meant to, and that would have been a couple hard drives ago, but in short

He can be excused perhaps for not having read any of the backstory, and even for being apparently ignorant of Farmer Giles but not for missing the in-text cues just so that he can thump his chest about what a brave, wise, counter-revolutionary champion of freedom and equality vs. antiquated ideas of heroism and popular trends he is (yes, I've read his anti-Star Wars rants, too, and the handful of good points he makes are a) hardly genius original, being pretty much de riguer among fannish debates, and b) drowned out by his mistakes and infatuation with his own wonderfulness) - and especially this coming from the author of The Postman!

Re: actually I think Brin is one of the biggest idiots in fandom

[fledgist]

I'm not trying to gain points, just to point out that one one point your critique of Gor and his critique of LOTR come close. (OK, enough of the wordplay, Ledgister, just get to the point. Oops.) Sorry, the urge to make puns overcomes me from time to time.

I don't entirely agree with Brin's critique, but it did make me think about how I saw Tolkien (and the point that Brin makes about good guys like Aragorn making monarchical rule more acceptable is one that, it seems to me, has some weight).

I wonder

[deiseach]

How much of Tolkien's lamentable technophobia was down to his experience of Slap Bang Up To The Minute Cutting Edge Latest Scientific Whizz being tanks and poison gas and the modern new-style warfare of the Great War?

Enough to put one off the shiny happy people promising salvation through labcoats, I imagine.

Not to mention Brin's prissy little two-cultures analogy breaks down when you consider that Tolkien was a philologist and rejoiced over his victory in wresting the balance of power in the English Department away from the purely literary criticism guys and making the - dare I say it? - 'scientific' study of language, its roots, its derivations and changes a big and important part of the study of English literature, instead of the tolerated crank status it previously had.

[dryaunda]

[N]ot just getting the Supermodel but having her willingly submit to public humiliating sex with him[.]

I could write, or likely find, fiction based primarily on that premise that'd still be better written than Gor. At the very least, they wouldn't be pushing any politics.

Even better, such a fic with the roles reversed, if only for the novelty value.

[kazeneffera]

What breaks my brain the most is this concept of "shoeing" a "tarn". I don't know why, maybe it just screams lack of research.