Reading Minds: The CoastGab Book Club

[zeebo]

Wasn't there a whole subgenre of fatasy/scifi slave erotica in the 70s? I was a kid but I seem to remember seeing a series of books pertaining to a planet of slave women or something. 

I'm re-reading my old classic Conan set, an early pioneer of the slave-girl motif.  Check out the covers of the books & comics for multiple examples lol. 

I do also remember the theme showing up in 70's pulp - I sort of recall the Gor series by John Norman having such racy elements.

[Camazotz Automat]

I'm re-reading my old classic Conan set, an early pioneer of the slave-girl motif.  Check out the covers of the books & comics for multiple examples lol. 

I do also remember the theme showing up in 70's pulp - I sort of recall the Gor series by John Norman having such racy elements.

Norman's 34th GOR book - Plunder of Gor - was published this year.

I'm delightfully stunned that Mr. Norman - age 85 - is still going at it.  If I reach that age I will consider myself lucky if I am able to successfully herd a cube of orange Jello across various plate trays while mumbling about the good old days when Jello was faster moving. 

While Norman's Time Slave occurs on Earth and is not in the planet Gor series, it supposedly has those racy "sword and porn" elements, except set in our distant past.  So far, the first part of the book is describing the time machine designed by a madman.  I'm sure the story will get "blue" soon enough, but compared to the current spectrum available on the internet, it will be ridiculously tame.

I was ignorant of Gor and Gorian philosophy, until MST3K introduced it to me via the Ballyhoo documentary Writer of Gor : The Novels of John Norman on the Shout! MST3K Volume XXX set featuring the riffed film, "Outlaw of Gor."  (said film features a highly riffable performance by the brilliant Jack Palance.)

Some say if you read the first four or five Gor novels, you can stop there, because it's just more of the same.  The same could be said of MANY authors working in the genres of western, detective, romance, etc.

Love him or hate him, one can always admire Norman's longevity and consistency.

Eighty-five-years-old! 

Holy Pulp Paper Christos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Norman

[zeebo]

Norman's 34th GOR book - Plunder of Gor - was published this year.

Wow I too am pleasantly shocked at the news.  I did read probably the first five or so back when they were probably just released, - my adolescent eyes marvelling at their covers' provocative mix of swords, concubines, and enigmatic aliens.  I missed that MST3K reference somehow, I'll have to catch that one - had no idea there was a movie!  And I do remember being intrigued by the esoteric philosophies of Gor's Priest-kings. 

[albrecht]

Norman's 34th GOR book - Plunder of Gor - was published this year.

I'm delightfully stunned that Mr. Norman - age 85 - is still going at it.  If I reach that age I will consider myself lucky if I am able to successfully herd a cube of orange Jello across various plate trays while mumbling about the good old days when Jello was faster moving. 

While Norman's Time Slave occurs on Earth and is not in the planet Gor series, it supposedly has those racy "sword and porn" elements, except set in our distant past.  So far, the first part of the book is describing the time machine designed by a madman.  I'm sure the story will get "blue" soon enough, but compared to the current spectrum available on the internet, it will be ridiculously tame.

I was ignorant of Gor and Gorian philosophy, until MST3K introduced it to me via the Ballyhoo documentary Writer of Gor : The Novels of John Norman on the Shout! MST3K Volume XXX set featuring the riffed film, "Outlaw of Gor."  (said film features a highly riffable performance by the brilliant Jack Palance.)

Some say if you read the first four or five Gor novels, you can stop there, because it's just more of the same.  The same could be said of MANY authors working in the genres of western, detective, romance, etc.

Love him or hate him, one can always admire Norman's longevity and consistency.

Eighty-five-years-old! 

Holy Pulp Paper Christos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Norman

Wow, I will add "thriller/action" to your genre. I recall Executioner (or some such) series that went into infinity. Sort of a low-rent James Bond/Merc I think? With regard to slave-women etc. I remember seeing "novels" at some airports back in the day that were quite risque, ,aybe even outright (if photographed or sent across state lines) illegal in their subject matter. I remember seeing some old guy reading something like "Daddy Punishes Daughter" with a lurid, but since drawing, I assume legal, "novel" on a Braniff Flight when smoking was also still legal.

[Camazotz Automat]

Wow I too am pleasantly shocked at the news.  I did read probably the first five or so back when they were probably just released, - my adolescent eyes marvelling at their covers' provocative mix of swords, concubines, and enigmatic aliens.  I missed that MST3K reference somehow, I'll have to catch that one - had no idea there was a movie!  And I do remember being intrigued by the esoteric philosophies of Gor's Priest-kings.

There were two Gor films, but I've seen only the second one, known both as "Outlaw" and "Outlaw of Gor," and have seen just the riffed version of it.

The first one is simply called "Gor."  If I'm not mistaken, the same actor plays the main character in both films.

What was funny, at the used book store - where I bought seven Norman books the other day - I also picked up The Idiot by Dostoyevsky.  The sweet little old lady who owns the store is about twenty times more well read than I am.  She then told me she remembered when the GOR books were traded in and how she wasn't sure if she should take them because they were in somewhat poor shape.  Anyway, did this dear cerebral woman pay ANY attention to my purchase of The Idiot?  No, she continued talking about Gor and how a movie should be made of the novel(s).  At that point I told her that in fact two movies had been made and that they were pretty badly done.

You never know who is willing to read what.  She is in her seventies and when I purchased a book by Thomas Wolfe a while back, she immediately started talking about having read his work fifty years ago in her twenties.

I didn't picture her being a GOR fan; I thought she would negatively judge my purchase of "trash," but it turned out, she had been the person who had decided that "someone" would surely want the books despite their condition.  hahaha.

Wow, I will add "thriller/action" to your genre. I recall Executioner (or some such) series that went into infinity. Sort of a low-rent James Bond/Merc I think? With regard to slave-women etc. I remember seeing "novels" at some airports back in the day that were quite risque, ,aybe even outright (if photographed or sent across state lines) illegal in their subject matter. I remember seeing some old guy reading something like "Daddy Punishes Daughter" with a lurid, but since drawing, I assume legal, "novel" on a Braniff Flight when smoking was also still legal.

Airports are such pimps.  And they act surprised that we don't want to be frisked by the TSA.


edit:  Oh, and I would find it difficult to believe that it was a coincidence that Shout! Factory chose to include Outlaw of Gor and three GOR documentaries on the Mystery Science Theater set that happened to be volume number "XXX."

[Dr. MD MD]

I'm re-reading my old classic Conan set, an early pioneer of the slave-girl motif.  Check out the covers of the books & comics for multiple examples lol. 

I do also remember the theme showing up in 70's pulp - I sort of recall the Gor series by John Norman having such racy elements.

Yeah, I think that's it.

[Dr. MD MD]

Norman's 34th GOR book - Plunder of Gor - was published this year.

Love him or hate him, one can always admire Norman's longevity and consistency.

Eighty-five-years-old! 

Holy Pulp Paper Christos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Norman

He can genuinely call himself a dirty old man now and also say that's what he does for a living. 

[Dr. MD MD]

I'm re-reading my old classic Conan set, an early pioneer of the slave-girl motif.  Check out the covers of the books & comics for multiple examples lol.

I had a thing for Red Sonja as a kid. They drew her so sexy it really couldn't be helped. 

[Chine]

My God, I need a nap after trying to find this thread.

I am finishing Carly Simon's memoir "Boys in Trees".. more than halfway through

Picked up Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I'm going to be in Savannah, GA for next week.

Bought Springstreen's new memoir.

[Camazotz Automat]

My God, I need a nap after trying to find this thread.

I am finishing Carly Simon's memoir "Boys in Trees".. more than halfway through

Picked up Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I'm going to be in Savannah, GA for next week.

Bought Springstreen's new memoir.

Yeah, I've had trouble finding it before.  The less posting activity a topic gets, the further down it naturally migrates and adding new topics to the group speeds up the effect considerably.

[Chine]

Yeah, I know.. I just had to keep clicking onto the next page to get to it. Amusing to read some of the thread titles along the way. Such a goofy and creative bunch here on BG.

I forgot how much I miss curling up with a great book.

[21st Century Man]

My God, I need a nap after trying to find this thread.

I am finishing Carly Simon's memoir "Boys in Trees".. more than halfway through

Picked up Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I'm going to be in Savannah, GA for next week.

Bought Springstreen's new memoir.

I'm mad at Bruce.  I refuse to buy anything else by him for the time being though I'll listen to his old records.  I did buy the new autobios from Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Dean Torrence though.

[Camazotz Automat]

I'm still mad at Peter Criss.

Yeah, I know.. I just had to keep clicking onto the next page to get to it. Amusing to read some of the thread titles along the way. Such a goofy and creative bunch here on BG.

Yeah, I know you knew.... I'm  just looking for an excuse to post in order to make the topic stay afloat.

Perhaps, if I started blogging here...

[zeebo]

Yeah, I know you knew.... I'm  just looking for an excuse to post in order to make the topic stay afloat.

I keep wanting a reason to bump this up too, but I'm a really slow reader and I don't finish half the books I start.  Right now I'm re-trying Mieville's Perdido Street Station, since last time I got too creeped out by it.  The writing's so good I feel I need to step up and try again.

[Étouffée]

I downloaded The Complete Works of Jane Austen to my Kindle, and realized
I have no desire to read them.

[Camazotz Automat]

I keep wanting a reason to bump this up too, but I'm a really slow reader and I don't finish half the books I start.  Right now I'm re-trying Mieville's Perdido Street Station, since last time I got too creeped out by it.  The writing's so good I feel I need to step up and try again.

After I make it through Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, I am headed toward David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

After that, it will be some science or a biography or something historical. 

Nonfiction will clear the Zotzian dendrite plains of moss-accented monoliths born the last few months, allowing said cyclopean structures to sink into subterranean incubators as writing generators.

It's a process best illustrated by an old OMNI magazine cover.

I downloaded The Complete Works of Jane Austen to my Kindle, and realized
I have no desire to read them.

Heh.  I've experienced Kindle regret/avoidance/apathy in multiple genres.

After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as
wanting.  It is not logical, but often true. -  Mr. Spock, Amok Time.

[zeebo]

After that, it will be some science or a biography or something historical. 

Last good non-fiction book I read was actually a historical math book, on the story of Fermat's Last Theorem and the intrepid souls who tried to solve it: Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh.  Worth a look-see Cam if it sounds like your cup of tea.

[Camazotz Automat]

Last good non-fiction book I read was actually a historical math book, on the story of Fermat's Last Theorem and the intrepid souls who tried to solve it: Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh.  Worth a look-see Cam if it sounds like your cup of tea.

Maybe even two cups of tea.  Thanks.

[Étouffée]

After I make it through Dostoyevsky's The Idiot...

I think Dostoyevsky is a peppier writer than Austen.  I may finally knock off The Idiot.  Thanks, Cam, for the idea (I'd already downloaded it, hah!)

Something jogged my mind about this non-fiction, that I read upon its release in 2006:

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Steven Johnson.

This examination of the Broad Street Cholera epidemic, in Victorian London, is a fascinating, well-paced, and fun read for fans of urban lore, history, statistics, sociology, cartography, and ghoulish medicine.

[zeebo]

...This examination of the Broad Street Cholera epidemic, in Victorian London, is a fascinating, well-paced, and fun read for fans of urban lore, history, statistics, sociology, cartography, and ghoulish medicine.

Sounds intriguing - btw next time just put 'ghoulish medicine' first and you can save yourself some typing. 

[Étouffée]

Sounds intriguing - btw next time just put 'ghoulish medicine' first and you can save yourself some typing.

Hehe, you're right!

Wait till you read about "Night Soil".

[zeebo]

Finished a little adventure novel called "Thunderhead" by the Preston/Child team (I guess they've written a bunch of such pulpy but entertaining fare.)  An archaeology story with a streak of the paranormal.  Easy pleasure reading, this one.  Good for a cold nite by the fire, with a cup of cocoa or perhaps something stronger in hand.  I'll probably check out some of their other stuff for fun.  I think a few have been made into thriller flicks.

[Étouffée]

Finished a little adventure novel called "Thunderhead" by the Preston/Child team (I guess they've written a bunch of such pulpy but entertaining fare.)  An archaeology story with a streak of the paranormal.  Easy pleasure reading, this one.  Good for a cold nite by the fire, with a cup of cocoa or perhaps something stronger in hand.  I'll probably check out some of their other stuff for fun.  I think a few have been made into thriller flicks.

I like the fact that Douglas Preston actually worked at a museum, and how he incorporates archeology and museum-sleuthing into his "Preston & Childs" thrillers. 

I wholeheartedly recommend the duo's "The Cabinet of Curiosities", which showcases the brilliant and peculiar Special FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast, and is largely set in the atmospheric and spooky NY Museum of Natural History.

It is nominally part of a series, but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone read.  That's how I did it, and it's a very fun read.  A little fluffy, but  gruesome enough!

[zeebo]

...I wholeheartedly recommend the duo's "The Cabinet of Curiosities", which showcases the brilliant and peculiar Special FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast, and is largely set in the atmospheric and spooky NY Museum of Natural History.

Sounds cool, will check it out, thanks.  I was impressed in the one I read how much they seemed to know about how actual archaeology is done and how such research centers operate.  Some pretty evocative prose too for a breezy kind of book. 

[Chine]

Finished Carly Simon's memoir "Boys in Trees" ... it was fantastic.

I'm 72 pages into Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" which is fucking brilliant.

[Jackstar]

Why do people adopt different political ideologies? How can seemingly equal intellects, presented with the same facts and circumstances disagree so vehemently over how society should be structured? What psychological undercurrents guide people to adopt Conservative or Liberal political beliefs, and where did they come from?

The answer lies in a well known concept in biology, termed r/K Selection Theory. r/K Theory examines how all populations tend to adopt one of two psychologies as a means of adapting their behavior to the presence or absence of environmental resources. The two strategies, termed r and K, each correlate perfectly with the psychologies underlying Liberalism and Conservatism.

One strategy, named the r-strategy, imbues those who are programmed with it to be averse to all peer on peer competition, embrace promiscuity, embrace single parenting, and support early onset sexual activity in youth. Obviously, this mirrors the Liberal philosophy’s aversion to individual Darwinian competitions such as capitalism and self defense with firearms, as well as group competitions such as war. Likewise, Liberalism is tolerant of promiscuity, tolerant of single parenting, and more prone to support early sex education for children and the sexualization of cultural influences. Designed to exploit a plethora of resources, one will often find this r-type strategy embodied within prey species, where predation has lowered the population’s numbers, and thereby increased the resources available to it’s individuals.

The other strategy, termed the K-strategy, imbues those who pursue it with a fierce competitiveness, as well as tendencies towards abstinence until monogamy, two-parent parenting, and delaying sexual activity until later in life. Obviously, this mirrors Conservatism’s acceptance of all sorts of competitive social schemes, from free market capitalism, to war, to individuals owning and carrying private weapons for self defense. Conservatives also tend to favor abstinence until monogamy, two parent parenting with an emphasis upon “family values,” and children being shielded from any sexualized stimuli until later in life. This strategy is found most commonly in species which lack predation, and whose population’s have grown to the point individuals must compete with each other for the limited environmental resources that they are rapidly running out of.

Meticulously substantiated with the latest research in fields from neurobiology to human behavioral ecology, this work offers an unprecedented view into not just what governs our political battles, but why these battles have arisen within our species in the first place. From showing how these two strategies adapt in other more complex species in nature, to examining what genetic and neurostructural mechanisms may produce these divergences between individuals, to showing what this theory indicates our future may hold, this work is the most thorough analysis to date of just why we have two political ideologies, why they will never agree, and why we will tend to become even more partisan in the future.


Seems legit.

[Juan]

How does it explain the crybullies?  They believe in all the liberal stuff but are extremely competitive when they encounter a triggering event.  Then they go full-on steamroller.  Witness any Bellgab political thread.

[Jackstar]

How does it explain the crybullies?

Praise MV!

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

.

[Lt.Uhura]

This looks like a good read.  A true story, including espionage, Czech numbers stations, a long-lost "fake" mother.  A movie can't be far behind.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38261956