Chronicles of Gor

[Ma****]

John Norman's Gor series tell the tale of the "counter-earth", invisibly orbiting opposite Earth, subtly ruled by the Priest-Kings who aggressively limit technology, in some wsys - and under protracted attack by the Kur.

The early books in particular are very entertaining, and the slave traditions, rituals etc inform the Gorean sub-culture - I owned a Gorean slave for several years. The first 18-20 I think books are many decades old, then after a break of a decade or two the count jumped to 32, although I've never made it past book 16 or so.

Norman's views on women are obviously extreme, and extend beyond his fiction - after the first dozen (or less) books, he gets so extensively and monotonously preachy, it ruins the stories. And some people seem to take it far too seriously as some kind of guide or philosophy...

And yet, it set out a number of Master/slave traditions that many people follow even if they don't know the source - collaring, postures, Master always eats first, branding (tattoos).

Ever seen a cursive K tattoo on a slave? That is the letter "Kef" in Gorean, the first letter of the Gorean word for slave - kajira.

I don't recommend taking is as a life philosophy - accept it as entertaining fiction, if you enjoy it. Explore some of the rituals or ideas if you like them (maybe, a slaves lips may never rest where her Master's have - she must not drink from the same point on a cup).

Or ignore the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel if it doesn't appeal to you. The world-building and different cultures etc are entertaining, especially in the first say half a dozen books.

But after the first several, it's heavily focused on Norman's attitudes towards women, "true slaves" etc - the story doesn't take a back seat, it's tied to the trailer far behind.

What of the slavery I hear you ask? Gor is incredibly barbaric, where every woman belongs to any man from another city/tribe who can take her - possession is complete, slaves are almost like livestock. And yet...they can be treasured, even cherished - which is an intriguing counterpoint to the typical presentation. "Only a fool frees a slave" is a recurring message - along with the reasons a Master might free a slave - and why she might refuse the offer.

[Ma****]

(I recently reviewed in broad strokes, the later books via "ai" summary of the overall series, a few interesting story arcs like Ko-Ro-Ba and the Kur - and how the quality never really recovered, but apparently can still be bearable if one skips the multi-page monologue rants.
.
I may revisit Gor soon, but I found some different literary vistas to explore. Maybe I will head back to Gor after these few dozen series - more likely I fill find other directions to seek "ai" recommendations for.)

[An****]

Okay, fun topic. Back in the 90s there were a whole lot of “gorean masters/slaves” around. Some of those people took it way far. I heard a story a little while ago one of those masters suggested trading his slave for a game console. Like for real.

However, my opinion regarding those books is that it was a mediocre fantasy series that hit the spot. Very similar to 50 shades in that regard.

Honestly, the writing is sub par, mc armour present in every way possible. And it was obvious the author didn’t like women except to bed them.

I’ll end my little rant here.

[Ba****]

Well norman is heavy on the soapboxing in this series but i find the assertion that the book have an opinion on „women“ in general to be quite dishonest
I read up to about book 17 if i remember it right, the are basically 2types of woman the locals who grew up in their cultures and the handpicked earthling, the only thing universal about all named women I’ve seen is that they want to be claimed by someone worthy of them, even the ones who fled their own people to live among other refugees in the forrest usually didn’t flee from slavery but arranged marriage
But the first 6 books are a great fish out of water story about a white knight who keeps getting confused about why the women he sets free tend to retaliate for abandoning them alone somewhere in a world where having no community is worse than slavery or why he keeps getting used and manipulated by women for whom his weakness and stupidity means unnecessary extra suffering

But if you can get over normans philosophical grandstanding or his inability to understand the actual definition of r@pe then it’s a great series, the world building is so well done that I’m confident i could make most of the fashion and furniture described in these books and even the technically racist stereotypes tend to have character depth and progression

[ch****]

It says that there are 28 comments on here but I can only view 5 of them, I lied the 5 I could see, I personally don't subscribe to the lifestyle they impart completely , I am more of a pleasure dom. I enjoy bringing my partner to as many and varied O's as possible. His version does seem Stockholm isk. I do really enjoy hearing people voice their thoughts on this. So again thank you very much for participating in this discussion.

[ey****]

it's interesting in the sense that... they are ultimately fantasy books.    They had no rooting in actual kink dynamics or practices.   However in the very early days of the internet they were a big part of fantasy for some guys, some of who did pass it off to women as being some form of "traditional" BDSM - and it's not. 

I guess it serves as an example of how many ideas in kink folk think are "ancient traditions" actually have very little history.  

[Ro****]

It ties in with a lot of the fantasy literature of the time like many of the Conan books in that there's sex and nudity and a bit of kink. Even Wonder Woman had a lot of situations where she hot tied up (and there's a whole thing about the creator of Wobder Woman and his polyamourous kink friendly pro homosexuality thing) but Norman took it further than mere titilation. As others day I suspect there was serious misogyny involved. But, yes, there is a whole Gorean kink lifestyle. Some of them seem to be very arrogant and one true wayish, as if they're the only allowed kink. But I've met others who are cool. Things like the slave positions even make it into more general kink lifestyles and if you ever played Second Life they are programmed into the animations. There was later an idea of female dominants but they were still subservient to men.

[li****]

The full set of books is hard to find. I think I used to have them in pdf on my old computer but it died in the trunk of my car after a head on collision… I think you can still find them online though. I only read the first book but I only dabble in the lifestyle.

[ch****]

I have found the series on audible if that helps.

[Lo****]

I read them back in the day. The turn off for me is the non consensual aspects. The idea that woman need to be owned and controlled for the protection turns me off. I have met several gorgarians within my community. They often feel that if you do not practice their way you are not doing kink correctly. That to me is jorse hockey, we are all individuals and have our own needs and desires. There is no one way fits all, in my opinion. Which is fine all should be welcomed with no judgements

[ch****]

I agree to each their own, within legal limits. I don't really like inflicting ***, and definitely nothing without consent.

[MasterTalathian47342]

11 minutes ago, LordSirskitten said:

I read them back in the day. The turn off for me is the non consensual aspects. The idea that woman need to be owned and controlled for the protection turns me off. I have met several gorgarians within my community. They often feel that if you do not practice their way you are not doing kink correctly. That to me is jorse hockey, we are all individuals and have our own needs and desires. There is no one way fits all, in my opinion. Which is fine all should be welcomed with no judgements

Well said

[Do****]

I have a partner who RP’s as a gorean slave on 2nd life. It is a very dangerous philosophy for women to practice irl because buying and selling slaves is completely okay. Her friend who was also into it was actually sold by her master to another before she left. So in an online environment I say eat your heart out but irl it’s a completely different story. Tread extremely carefully and expect the worse if you dive in too deep.