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Post by dem bones on Jul 28, 2010 5:58:46 GMT
John Norman - Captive Of Gor (Star, 1979: originally Ballantine, 1972) Blurb: Volume seven of the Chronicles of Counter-Earth
Here is the magnificent world of Gor, known also as Counter-Earth, a planet as strangely populated, as threatening, as beautiful as any in fiction. And, snatched from a pampered life on Earth, the girl known on Gor as El-in-or, dancing girl and slave, an unwilling puppet in the schemes of the men of Gor. Bosk, Merchant of Port Kar, who is not what he seems to be, has grown rich and respected in that sea-girt city. But the arm of the Priest-Kings is long, and there are Others who seek a means to destroy him who was once Tarl Cabot of Ko-ro-ba.Following on from the Sarban thread, and I feel a bit rotten to tell the truth. Having read so much about Norman and Gor it's all but impossible for me to approach his work objectively which doesn't seem very fair. Anyway, It was a toss-up between this and Priest-Kings Of Gor which, despite the ace mechanical bug on the cover (Tandem, 1975), had me worried it may be one of the vaguely sensible ones we've been warned about. Just a cursory browse through the chapter headings confirms there are no such concerns with Captive Of Gor! I Must Submit, My Master Will Have His Girl Please Him, I Encounter Targo, Who Is A Slaver, etc.. It's the story of beautiful Elinor Brinton, indulged, preening rich little Earth girl, captured and caged with a bevy of similarly dishy young women, who "must learn to give up her self-pride, to submit, to obey the bidding of men and call them Master." Just the opening chapter down and I'm already wondering how he managed to type 370 pages of this with at least one hand otherwise engaged. Yes, Manowar definitely captured the essence of Norman's vision and no mistake.
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Post by andydecker on Jul 28, 2010 10:13:11 GMT
If I remember correctly, Priest Kings is one of the early ones, where the focus still was on the interplanetary adventure and not on the rape them till they like it aspect. According to stories I read somewhere he, being a college professor - who are all frustrated writers, if you believe Stephen King - took often his female collegues as characters in his novels. Talk about getting even. And liking his Nietzsche.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jul 28, 2010 11:15:13 GMT
I'm guessing you mean 'liking his Nietzsche' in the 'when you come to women don't forget your whip' style. I repeat myself with age but Nietzsche is so often misquoted and placed out of context because of his use by the Nazis that he has been a byword for misogyny and other faults. Its not so well known that he was much embraced by the feminist movement and generally his philosophy is astoundingly good and mostly focused on the individuals ability to change him or herself.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 28, 2010 14:21:11 GMT
If I remember correctly, Priest Kings is one of the early ones, where the focus still was on the interplanetary adventure and not on the rape them till they like it aspect. Then thank God I gave it a miss! Not that Captive is exactly the most riveting read in the accepted sense. Mind you, the nurses looked well impressed when they saw me sat there all deep in concentration over the bride's favourite chapter, My Master Will Have His Girl Please Him. If the Doctor had waited any longer to put in an appearance, phew, there's no telling what Rosie Dixon/ Carry On Up The Chest Clinic frolics may have ensued ...
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Post by andydecker on Jul 28, 2010 18:51:45 GMT
I'm guessing you mean 'liking his Nietzsche' in the 'when you come to women don't forget your whip' style. Lol, I hadn´t thought of that. Mind you, the nurses looked dead impressed when they saw me sat there all deep in concentration over the bride's favourite chapter, My Master Will Have His Girl Please Him. If the Doctor had waited any longer to put in an appearance, phew, there's no telling what Rosie Dixon/ Carry On Up The Chest Clinic frolics may have ensued ... one can dream, eh?
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 29, 2010 12:41:55 GMT
Mind you, the nurses looked dead impressed when they saw me sat there all deep in concentration over the bride's favourite chapter, My Master Will Have His Girl Please Him. If the Doctor had waited any longer to put in an appearance, phew, there's no telling what Rosie Dixon/ Carry On Up The Chest Clinic frolics may have ensued ... A malediction upon you for reminding me of Rosie Dixon! In my days of reviewing films for Radio Merseyside I had to interview one of the starlets after the press show. Poor girl, she was sweet but so nervous and so lacking in answers to even the simplest questions about making the film that after several minutes the publicist asked me to stop the recording and start again. The incident found its way into a tale of mine.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 29, 2010 13:19:50 GMT
one can dream, eh? Funny enough, that's exactly what the nurses sighed as I disappeared into the consultant's room. A malediction upon you for reminding me of Rosie Dixon! In my days of reviewing films for Radio Merseyside I had to interview one of the starlets after the press show. Poor girl, she was sweet but so nervous and so lacking in answers to even the simplest questions about making the film that after several minutes the publicist asked me to stop the recording and start again. The incident found its way into a tale of mine. Have a care, Mr. Campbell! If Franklin reads that you've met Rosie Dixon he'll be all over you like a rash! If you don't mind me asking, what story did the episode find its way into? Oh, and possibly a little indiscreet but Ancient Images. Walter Trantom, author of horror classics The Flaying, The Slobbering, It Crawls Up You, It Crawls Back Up You and Entrails (aka Puke And Die). Would he have been based on ... anyone in particular? Well! my struggles with Captive Of Gor have taken on epic Killercrab-versus- The Wood proportions! For every page read suddenly there seems to be more book to go - am beginning to wonder if I'll be up to lasting the distance. Makes sense to me that he based his, uh, heroines on female colleagues who'd incurred his displeasure (by the looks of it, the entire sex) as he's clearly taken pains to portray victim Elinor as an entirely unsympathetic character and therefore deserving of every humiliation he can heap upon her. Would love to see any positive press review of the novel when Star republished it! On the plus side, Norman's stripped down prose makes for a far less stressful read than Moffat at his most cruelly impenetrable ( Dracula & The Virgins Of The Undead!). Elinor abduction is well handled; first a brand appears on her thigh, then a metal collar encircles her neck but there's no evidence of an intruder. Even the scene where the bogus police show up is reasonably tense. But. oh dear, the dialogue!
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Post by marksamuels on Jul 29, 2010 13:38:10 GMT
I thought all night nurses were good, clean-living ladies like this one: Mark S.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 30, 2010 10:34:25 GMT
The poor starlet ended up in "Midnight Hobo" but survived. Walter Trantom - I think he represented a whole generation of horror writers, or at least horror writers of a particular bent.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 30, 2010 16:44:21 GMT
Thank you Ramsey! ah, as I suspected that will be most of my literary heroes then. Even above Walter Trantom, I adored the guys running his fanzine. Have noticed there are quite a few horror scene stories that brutally dig out authors - Don't Go To The Convention - while we fans get off relatively lightly. Not in this instance and more power to you for it. A re-read of Midnight Hobo it is, part of a double bill with Rising Generation from Mammoth Book Of Zombies which I'd not encountered before. Neat touch of the EC's about that one, I thought. A malediction upon you for reminding me of Rosie Dixon! Maledicted by Ramsey Campbell. It really doesn't get any better than that!
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Post by andydecker on Jul 31, 2010 19:36:46 GMT
Rosie Dixon, this is one of those british sex comedys, right? Is it so awful that it evokes a curse? I recently stumbled about a website dedicated to the british sex movies, Mary Millington and so on. Interesting reading. Never knew that the first victim in Peeping Tom was a "famous" nudie model.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jul 31, 2010 20:05:15 GMT
Rosie Dixon, this is one of those british sex comedys, right? Is it so awful that it evokes a curse? I recently stumbled about a website dedicated to the british sex movies, Mary Millington and so on. Interesting reading. Never knew that the first victim in Peeping Tom was a "famous" nudie model. Yes indeedy! Pamela Green was in Harrison Marks' Naked As Nature Intended which its film-makers claimed was a serious film about the Naturist Movement - apparently they even got the society's president to appear under some pretext! The best history of all this sort of stuff is probably David McGillivray's History of British Sex Movies as he wrote quite a few of them, along with House of Whipcord, Frightmare et al for Pete Walker.
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Post by andydecker on Aug 1, 2010 17:33:44 GMT
Yes indeedy! Pamela Green was in Harrison Marks' Naked As Nature Intended which its film-makers claimed was a serious film about the Naturist Movement - apparently they even got the society's president to appear under some pretext! The best history of all this sort of stuff is probably David McGillivray's History of British Sex Movies as he wrote quite a few of them, along with House of Whipcord, Frightmare et al for Pete Walker. I only watched Walker´s Sex and Blood Show, the other movies are mostly out of print and really expensive. Pamela Green passed away a few month ago. Fascinating woman. Apparently she did more work behind the camera than before. Quite remarkably for a time when this kind of media was borderline illegal. (Yeah, nothing so destructive for society than some nice tits. Comes directly behind comunism and satanism. ) Thanks for the book tip, Lord P.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 6, 2010 19:41:53 GMT
The poor starlet ended up in "Midnight Hobo" but survived. I reread Midnight Hobo in Dark Feasts, keeping an eye out for the 'Rosie Dixon' moment and, didn't have long to wait. The hapless Roy's excruciating run-in with "the female lead from The Man On Top, a limp British sex comedy" sets us up just so for the horrors to come. First time I've returned to Midnight Hobo in three-four years and that little insight only added to my "enjoyment." Also, it provided another handy excuse to relegate Captive Of Gor to the back burner, as it is continuing to prove a hard slog. Am determined to finish it - even, God help me, trying my hardest to like it - but can't help thinking Mr. Norman is more interesting to read about than read. Yes indeedy! Pamela Green was in Harrison Marks' Naked As Nature Intended which its film-makers claimed was a serious film about the Naturist Movement - apparently they even got the society's president to appear under some pretext! Naked As Nature Intended is aka " Paradise", the film Sid James and Bernard Breslaw take Joan Sims and Dilys Laye to watch at the start of Carry On Camping? or have I got that arse over tit, so to speak?
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Post by Johnlprobert on Aug 7, 2010 6:49:51 GMT
Naked As Nature Intended is aka " Paradise", the film Sid James and Bernard Breslaw take Joan Sims and Dilys Laye to watch at the start of Carry On Camping? or have I got that arse over tit, so to speak? Purely in the interests of studied academic research, you understand, the film at the start of Carry on Camping is Nudist Paradise (1958)
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