Saturday, January 28, 2017

On planning for succession

Mercedes Lackey on Gor author John Norman:
My editor Betsy Wollheim could not WAIT to bounce him off the DAW list when she finally became editor in chief after her father died. I think it was the first thing she did.
This is why men should be cautious about permitting their daughters to succeed them. Female succession is something that has observably played a major role in the SJW convergence of the publishing industry.

The irony, of course, is that the Gor novels continue to sell better than the average DAW novel. Notice that Betsy Wollheim was not offended by the child-abusing feminist pedophile, Marion Zimmer Bradley, nor did she bounce Bradley off the DAW list. In fact, Marion Zimmer Bradley is still listed as the leading "luminary" published by the company.

"the company published numerous books by well-respected authors in the 1970s, including such luminaries as Marion Zimmer Bradley, Fritz Leiber, Edward Llewellyn, Jerry Pournelle, Roger Zelazny and many others."

19 comments:

Dexter said...

Is Norman still writing?

The Observer said...

Reminds me of the wife who drove Archie comics into the ground after her husband died.

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

WRE

Polynices said...

Look how well female succession worked for Gustavus Adolphus!

Aurini said...

I've only heard about the Gor novels from Gammas and feminists, and the fandom - from what I gather - is full of couples where the female "tops from the bottom". Am I wrong about this? Are the novels worth my time?

Nate73 said...

I've read a fair bit of manosphere blogs including /RedPill but I still can't warp my head around the idea that women are generally bad in leadership positions. I have anecdotal evidence (me and my cousin have both had "bossy" female bosses). Amelia Earhart didn't know Morse code and paid for it. And even if they are, why would men safeguard against SJWs while women would promote them?

Anonymous said...

One hopes it's one of his sons, rather than Ivanka, that Trump is preparing for succession.

PA

MycroftJones said...

The novels are an interesting combination of sci fi in the old John Carter of Mars style, but also female-oriented romance novels with a soft bdsm flavor, and a bunch of philosophical ruminating about the nature of men, women, bondage, dominance, etc.

MycroftJones said...

As a historian, Aurini may appreciate the world building of Gor; John Norman was a professor for a long time, and brought a very red pill attitude to all the interactions. He based the world on the Greeks, Romans, and many other ancient societies, in a caste based system. But then for the female readers he added in the necessary elements to keep them involved too.

Still may not be worth your time. I read a few, but haven't felt like reading the whole series. John Norman is really verbose. If you don't mind Trump saying "bigly", then you won't mind Norman saying "muchly".

tweell said...

John Norman is 85, his last book was published 5 years ago.

Dexter said...

The Gor series is amusing if repetitive.

Rex Little said...

I'm not familiar with the Gor books or with Norman, so I don't know what Betsy's objection to them was. But if she's purging anti-SJW authors, shouldn't Pournelle be high on her hit list?

Vaughan Williams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tex said...

For those who came in late...

https://infogalactic.com/info/John_Norman

And his last book, Plunder of Gor, was published in June 2016.

Tex
(who read his first Gor novel 35 years ago)

Anonymous said...

You can buy the whole 33 book GOR series from Amazon on Kindle. For about 100 bucks, or about 2 bucks each for the early books.

Bob Loblaw said...

Yeah, he's still writing. Or at least he was as of last year.

Which is, frankly, amazing. It's not exactly highbrow fiction, and after so many books set in the same universe he's bound to be repeating himself, but I have to respect any author that keeps a series going for five decades.

That the feminists would like to make him go away doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

Russ said...

Whatever their shortcomings, when I was a boy the God novels were a point of resistance for me- the only thing told me that being sweet, sensitive son of a single mom was poisoning my soul.

As it happens, John and Norman are family names on my father's side, so when my son was born, his first and middle names were easy to choose.

Dark Herald said...

DAW used to be a reliable source for that sort of thing. The racier stuff from L. Sprague de Camp. The Jalav books. Basically anything where you got to find out what happened in between Princess Leia getting captured and Luke first seeing her in that slave girl outfit.

Now of course DAW is completely respectable publishing only such totally uncreepy luminaries as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Jim Hines.

jhawkgirl said...

@Russ It's just too bad Tarl and Cabot weren't your family names. ;)

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