May Book Review

The Introductions to the Masquerade Books editions of Tarnsman of Gor and Priest-Kings of Gor
by Hersius

As everyone knows, John Norman has had a number of publishers for his Gor series. One of the most intriguing has been Masquerade Books, known for publishing a bi-monthly magazine called simply Masquerade, which describes itself as “a publication designed expressly for the connoisseur of the erotic arts,” and for publishing book erotica for BDSM and alternate sexuality readerships. I possess only Books 1 and 3 in their Masquerade editions, so this review limits itself to those introductions.

The challenge for the Masquerade publishers was how to market the Gor series to its audience. It chose three vehicles. Since Masquerade employed a science fiction category, it classified them as accordingly and placed those words under its signature name at the top of the front and back covers. This gave it a distinctive genre compared to the main body of its published titles. It also used new artwork for the front covers. Book 1 shows a scantily-clad “pretty boy” with a hazy tarn in the background, designed to appeal obviously to the gay readership. Book 3 shows a scantily-clad man fighting a giant insect in the background while a woman lays swooned in the foreground, evocative of the damsel-in-distress storyline genre. Most importantly, the publishers provided special introductions targeting their market niche. The Introduction to Book 1 pitches the novel to the female consentual property community, while the Introduction to Book 3 addresses the gay male readership.

Hence, the intriguing nature of the introductions from the perspective of Gorean lifestylers, who must balance disagreement with some of the content of the introductions while respecting John Norman’s wish to market his product to a wider audience. One must therefore consider the introductions not as commentaries or reviews but as commercial advertisements.

The writers of the introductions first identify themselves with their respective target audiences. In her Introduction to Book 1, Celia Tan describes herself as a published author in “the S/M scene” who has “moved among various circles of the leather community“. In his Introduction to Book 3, Michael Rowe calls himself as “a writer of erotic and speculative fiction” who is “an adult gay man” and “an anti-censorship activist.” They each relate how their adolescent sexuality was influenced by novels, with Rowe having discovered the Gor series at age sixteen.

Both writers also highlight the Masquerade publication of the Gor series as a victory against political correctness. Tan tells her readers, “You hold in your hands a landmark book,” and after detailing how hard it has been to find Gor books, she assures her readers, “... the battles of political correctness are still being waged.... Let us forget them for now. Becuase the Gor series is in print again - from a publisher who delights in challenging established norms and ‘correctness’ rhetoric, and who wholeheartedly supports adult explorations of sexual fantasy.” Rowe likewise tells of the difficulties in finding Gor books and hails their “being re-release into general circulation” as “an occasion for celebration.”

The introductions’ specific characterizations of Norman’s works tailor their appeal to distinct audiences.

Tan characterizes the Gor series as, “Here were men and women forming lasting bonds through mastery and slavery; here were codes of conduct that encapsulated the give-and-take of a D/s relationship ... On Gor, a woman may submit to a man, wrists crossed, knowing he may then do as he pleases. But he is bound by his own codes of conduct: if he accepts her submission he accepts the responsibility for protecting her, fighting for her if necessary. ... Norman continually creates situations in which characters choose their roles, walking the fine line of the ethics of consentuality.”

Rowe tells his readers that his solution to the Gor books being “almost cartoonishly heterosexual” was “to transpose gender.” He describes Jason as a man transformed into “a musclular and attentive object of pleasure and desire” whose “suffering was exquisite,” and he concludes that the series is “S/M masquerading as heterosexual sci-fi.” Rowe also states, “For aficionados of SM or alternative sexuality, this novel is replete with ritual and fetish.” He characterizes the Priest-Kings as cleanliness fetishists, quotes the portion of Book 3 that introduces Muls Al-ka and Ba-ta and comments “Yum,” and declares that Tarl Cabot is “clearly not unaware of the homoerotic potential of the male slave.” His summation of the series is, “This is the stuff of the best sword-and-scorcery / sci-fi fantasy ... The Gor novels violate every tenet of good taste and political correctness, and are available to anyone for the price of a paperback.”

Both writers emphasize the fantasy potential of the books, and they restrict its effects to providing fantasy. Tan states that S/M roleplay has its established scenarios suitable for sex play, listing as examples “Nazi and captured Allied pilot, doctor and patient, drill sergeant and raw recruit, pirate and princess,” and presents the Gor series imagery as providing material for distinctively D/s roleplay, proclaiming, “I’ve played the part of Gorean slave; she is feisty and wilful, but also loyal and devoted, in need of correction and her master’s attention, but she takes pride in serving her master well.” Rowe encourages readers to, “shift identification with the characters at will. In Norman’s novels, one can choose the sword and battle-armor of the Gorean Warrior, the robes of a ‘free woman of high caste, ’ the silks of the slave girl, or ... the plastic loincloth and tunic of the mul, the Priest-Kings’ slave.”

Interestingly, both introductions were written and published in 1996, the year that the internet exploded with Gorean “resources” and rpg communities. It seems that hundreds of people have agreed with the writers that the Gor series provides fertile imagery for fantasy roleplay in which people can shift gender and role identity.

Clearly, the Masquerade editions were not marketed to the readership of today’s The Gorean Voice. However, the introductions have a point of commonality with us.

Both writers present the Gor series as having been, in some way, personally transforming for them. Tan found in the books a model for “loyalty, self-discipline, and honor.” Rowe speaks of how the novels made him feel special, how they allowed him to discover his own inner identity, and how it represents for him the “value in shrugging off the hypocrisies and endless grinding codes of conduct by which we live, and experiencing life closer to our most physical natures.” Rowe states that he owes Norman a personal debt.

It is on this, then, that we can collectively agree with the writers of the introductions to the Masquerade editions of Books 1 and 3: John Norman has opened up language where we had none and has given each of us possibilities for personal growth not to be found elsewhere, and he has illustrated life principles for us through exciting stories set on a believable fictional world.