Birdwatching and Gory details

[azurelunatic]

Little Fayoumis is with Grandma & Grandpa for the day, perhaps the weekend (I wasn't clear on details).

I'm mouldering around the house, reading trash novels and working up the courage to tackle the catboxes. Also, I'll be wanting to go to the library and/or TJ's today. (Well, definitely the library.)

I hear from the List that the earliest Gor novels are not bad. I looked at the labelling on this one that I'd come by (not the one boojum sent as the bad example, but a different one) and the front said it was within the first six volumes, which were the best, and the story is not half bad. The BDSM has been just on the "Wow, this is a squicky alien society, and I'm glad our female character is enjoying it" side of the scale. Norman has evidently not yet found his soapbox.

It's very much in the style of that writer who evidently Heinlein idolized, the stuffy one who I could never get into. I think a main character name was John. Only Norman doesn't seem to have such a stilted writing style yet. And there's more sex.

Comments

[blackavar.livejournal.com]

Yup, I read some of the earlier novels 20+ years ago, and found them somewhat like an attempt at Burroughs' style. (Heh, now if he only had a little more William Seward than Edgar Rice...) They got more boring as they went further on, and Professor Lange(John Norman) gave up his skill, such as it was, in storycraft and moved towards what were essentially a series of near-religious instruction manuals with a tiny bit of story holding them together.
Recently, I decided to make a focused effort and burn through the full set, no matter how bad it was, so I could at least try to parse the motivations of what seem to be a huge number of Gor fans that have been appearing in the scene for a few years now.
Generally, I have very, very high tolerance for low writing skill, and can, if necessary suspend disbelief for very improbable worldviews, if the story or at least the idea is good. I also read pretty quickly, generally a novel or more a day, so even if there are one or two bad novels in a series, I can put up for them for the time it takes to get to the next. (WOT comes to mind).
However, even with that, I got through only 10 of the 26 (!) books in the series before finally giving up, truly weary of Lange beating his particular dead horse, and seeing the same characters appear over and over with different names. The last few books were starting to take days to finish, just because the thought of opening them was just so wearying. This, for someone who will happily read the back of cereal boxes multiple times, is a very unusual occurrence.

[azurelunatic]

I tried to read what was evidently one of the later ones some years ago, and determined that when I learn to shoot, and shoot well, that book will be shot.

I read cereal boxes, and I also am so loath to put down a book that I have nearly perfected the art of reading while walking.