TARNSMAN OF GOR....a review...

Cover art:
Boris Vallejo

Tal!

This girl had forgotten just how exciting Tarnsman of Gor was!! Reading the novel again felt as if this girl had come home! It was like visiting old friends...Tarl, Talena, Nar of the Spider People,(whatever happened to Nar?), Kazrak, Mintar of the Merchant Caste, Marlenus, Matthew Cabot, The older Tarl, Torm of the Caste of Scribes,  Pa-Kur the assassin, Ar, Ko-ro-ba, that great river the Vosk, the Voltai Range, and the great tarn, Ubar of the Skies! This girl always chuckles when Tarl first meets his savage mount. There is so much humor in this novel.  One of this girls favorite characters is Torm the scribe.  This girl delighted in poor Tarl being struck over the head repeatedly with a scroll when the warrior didn't get something right. Norman truly made each character in the book memorable, at least to this girl.

This girl also remembers eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. Eager to find out what happens to Tarl and when  he returns to the planet will he find his beloved Talena? Norman brought the world to life, and can one blame this girl, truly, if she wished that she too could travel to Counter-Earth and experience the wide open spaces, the soaring cylinder cities, perhaps tread upon one of the high bridges and see a tarn in flight with a warrior on his back? It is hoped that a girl is forgiven for wishing such a foolish thing.  Someone, in this girls opinion, should make a video game out of these novels.

In the first novel the institution of slavery is briefly mentioned but one accepts it as part of that world. Tarl is nothing like he later became. But then he also went through the ringer in the later books. In the first novel a slave was praised for her "spirit" but in later novels it seemed, at least to this girl, that the slaves spirit must be broken. Or perhaps it is just the Earth womans spirit that must be crushed and subdued. For this girl, ironically enough, the novel that started the series was TO short. She wished it had been longer and in more detail in regards to the culture that Tarl finds himself becoming a part of.

This girl has read that John Norman wasn't much of an author, to this she disagrees. He writes very well and with Tarnsman, had her entranced from the very first page. Even after all these years she could not put the novel down (though she had to to tend to every day things) until she finished it.

On a scale of one to five stars, this girl would give it a full five. For the humor, the adventure and of course the romance that is between the pages of this fantastic novel.

This girl has added the cover (one of many different ones produced for the series) from her collection. This girls favorite artist has always been Boris Vallejo and his Gor covers are some of his best work. But then perhaps this girl  is just a little biased due to the nature of the books themselves.

When next we 'meet' this girl will give a review of Outlaw of Gor, which she is half-way through and should finish soon.

Until then...

I wish you well.

Talender

A passage from the novel...

"I drew back on the one-strap and, filled with terror and exhilaration, felt the power of the gigantic wings beating on the invisible air. My body lurched wildly, but the saddle belt held., I couldn't breathe for a minute, but clung, frightened and thrilled, to the saddle-ring, my hand wrapped in the one-strap. The tarn continued to climb, and I saw the City of Cylinders dropping far below me, like a set of rounded children's blocks set in the gleaming green hills."...TARNSMAN OF GOR...Page 56

PRIZE OF GOR...a review

Tal,

This girl finally finished Prize of Gor and as promised this girl will now give her opinion of the novel.

For the most part this girl enjoyed it. She liked the fact that an older lady, for she herself is getting up there in age, was taken to the planet and made a slave girl. Yes, yes, this girl realizes that it is not done to read about a woman being enslaved but as this girl has said earlier, such is the way of Gor. One accepts the civilization one reads about.  

 It is NOT Earth, nor, this girl hopes, will it ever be like Earth. It is,   after all science-fiction and is supposed to take you from your modern life and transport you to a whole different world. The novel for the most part did but it was far to long. It was a struggle for this girl to wade through the ideaology  to get to the developing conflict between Selius and Ellen. One thing that annoyed this girl as well, Ellen's on again, off again, feelings about what it felt like to be a slave girl. If you're going to fight against your "natural self" then do so instead of giving in, then fighting it, giving in, then fighting it, which ran through most of the book. Please do not misunderstand, this girl did enjoy the book, but it didn't need to be so long and was filled with the usual tiatribe that earlier books have. Without all the Master/slave ideaology, this girl figures the book would have been the standard 200 and some odd pages long. It does have merit but you do have to wade through a lot before you can find it. On a scale of 1 to 5 stars this girl gives it a 4, mainly for the romance between

Selius and Ellen. As this girl said, Norman could have developed the characters better and at least had Ellen over hear what was happening between Ar and Cos\

Perhaps by not mentioning too much of the conflict between Ar and Cos Norman is whetting our appetites for what is to happen in future novels. This girl hopes so.

I have begun to re-read Tarnsman and will review it when next we 'meet'. Until then....

I wish you well.

A post script...I have included a drawing I did many years ago of the male version of a paper doll set that I was making. It is hoped that you will find pleasure in downloading him and coloring him yourself. If you have the older Gor novels you can use it as a guide to color in the costume. Be sure to color his hair red. :)

Greetings...or as it is said on Gor...Tal!

Tal, to all those who have enjoyed the Gor manuscripts.

This blog, as the title entails, will contain, from time to time, musings by one named Talender. Yes, named after the small delicate yellow flower so common on Gor.  One does not need to know what ones name in the context of Earth really is, but just know that this girl is most fond of those manuscripts and has been reading them since she was no more than a young girl of fourteen. Perhaps to young, you say, given how they are written now? Ah, but back then they weren't as you may know them today. This girl grew fond of the one called Tarl Cabot later named Bosk of Port Kar. Was enthralled by a world filled with saddle birds called Tarns, tharlarions, urts, tarsks, tabuks, osts and the various other animals mentioned between the pages of this wonderful series. It's a wild world, so unlike Earth, beautiful and savage.  With cities filled with cylinders and high bridges. Cities with names such as Ar, Ko-ro-ba, Treve, Venna, and Port Kar and with characters brought vividly to life by one John Norman. The novels entranced this girl and many a night she lay curled avidly reading about Tarl Cabot's exploits on this savage world where guns and modern weapons were forbidden technology.

But there is the enslavement of women, one might protest. And to that I say so? Was not that the case many centuries ago? It was natural for a more dominate society to conquer and enslave another, both men and women. It is just that on Gor the women, for the most part, are the ones enslaved. Perhaps the author goes on and on a bit much in regards to this issue but if one can get around that fact and ignore it, (it doesn't do to skip over this part of the novels due to the fact one might miss an important fact pertaining to what is happening to the character that might be later mentioned) the novels are still very interesting and one might add exciting. This girl finds she is still entralled by the planet Gor and all it entails...including the Master/slave scenario. Does this girl want to live as a slave? No, but that doesn't mean she cannot read about it and think about a strong man such as Tarl Cabot and being at his feet. Does this girl wish to be beaten? No, of course not nor does it mean she enjoys reading about a woman being beaten with a whip for whatever reason, but one must understand, it is a book, a novel, not reality. It is a different society that came from the

fertile imagination of the author. These novels were mainly geared for the male of Earth's society and some how, this girl thinks a wife got a hold of one of the books and began to think her husband, or boyfriend wanted her to be as the women in the novels. My question is this: Why is it okay for a female to read about a big strong man sweeping her off her feet, and wrong for a man to read about a woman being at his feet? This girl feels that it is a double standard. Surely the male of the species should be allowed his fantasies? His dream female. Romantic novels that the woman reads are riddled with strong males who, taking a fancy to the female character, kidnap them and force them into marriage. She fights her feelings for said ''brute" but in the end falls in love with him. I challenge any Earth female to find one romantic novel where the male hero is a "whimp".

Am I the only one who has noticed that these novels, upon occassion, are romances as well? Take for example the characters of Ellen, Mirus and Selius in Prize of Gor. Mirus enslaves Ellen, his former Professor, and brings her to Gor. Through a series of adventures she ends up with Selius who took a fancy to her while she was the slave of his employer. (Selius is a tarnster) Like all women who find men attractive, she flirts with him, teasing and taunting him, knowing that without his employers permission he can't touch her. So it comes to pass that Selius purchases her at (gasp of horror) a slave auction. Now he owns her, but through the story, if one reads between the lines, one realizes that he cares for said slave girl. Loves her even. He's Gorean and they aren't supposed to love their slave or perhaps one should say admit to loving their slave. She loves him in return, and is even prepared (against his wishes naturally) to give her life to save his. Mirus on the other hand, an Earth man who somehow, (and this girl would like to know the backstory on this) came to Gor, finds Ellen even more attractive than when he first knew her because she's "found herself". Yes it is in the context of being a slave, but as I've stated, they are JUST stories and one must see them and accept them as such. He doesn't love her but is fasinated by the fact that she is even more female than when he first kidnapped her. One might say that there is a love triangle happening. So the male of the species can enjoy a good romance too, but not necessarily in the same context that a women would. One is dealing with a whole nother mind set when it comes to what a man might like to read. This girl doubts a man will admit to reading a love story, rather he would admit to reading an adventure but never a love story.

So in this girls way of thinking, these novels are romances (as well as adventures) geared toward men rather than women. I've already stated what attracted me to the manuscripts in the first place. In the beginning they were an adventure story along the lines of John Carter of Mars. They still are and despite the Master/slave aspects of the books, this girl still enjoys reading about the planet and it's hero Tarl Cabot. This girl is pleased that the author is writing them again. She is also pleased that he has such a large following.

Well, looking back upon my lengthy musing it perhaps is time for this girl to find a quiet place to curl up and finish reading Prize of Gor. It is this girls hope that you not be offended by what she has written. It is also this girls hope that you will visit again to see what other thoughts might be in this girls mind regarding the subject covered. If it pleases you I will even write my thoughts about the manuscript I am reading. It has been many years since I read Cabot's adventures so I hope to read them again  from the beginning soon and perhaps share my opinion of them through this blog.

 

I wish you well...

 

Talender