Marauders Of Gor

Marauders of Gor by John Norman, published by Universal in 1977, is another visit to the wonderfully overdeveloped world of Gor, a place where the swords are large, the scenery is dramatic, the social customs are complicated and nobody appears to have invented a quiet afternoon.

This is the ninth novel in Norman’s long-running Gor series, a blend of sword-and-planet adventure, pulp science fiction, fantasy world-building and the kind of elaborate invented civilisation that eventually requires its own glossary.

Gor itself is essentially a parallel world with ancient-style cultures, fierce warriors, strange cities, tribal societies, sea raiders and an impressively persistent commitment to resolving disagreements with steel.

Subtle diplomacy does occur.

It simply tends not to survive very long.

Marauders of Gor turns its attention toward the northern regions of Gor and the rugged peoples who inhabit them, bringing in a distinctly Norse flavour of longships, raiding, harsh landscapes and men whose hobbies include sailing, fighting and looking formidable in weather most people would prefer to experience through a window.

The marauders of the title are not especially misleadingly named.

They maraud.

There is sailing.

There is violence.

There is tribal loyalty.

There are rivalries.

There are codes of honour.

And there is the general understanding that if a stranger arrives carrying a weapon, he probably has not come to discuss agricultural reform.

John Norman’s great strength as a writer was always the sheer persistence of his world-building.

Gor is not simply a backdrop.

It has customs, social structures, regions, peoples, languages, economic systems and enough detail to suggest Norman had at some point mentally applied for planning permission.

This is one of the reasons the series built such a devoted following.

Readers were not merely visiting a setting.

They were returning to a world with rules.

Admittedly, some of those rules have aged in ways that now attract a great deal of criticism.

The Gor books are notorious for their treatment of gender, power and slavery, and modern readers often approach them with a mixture of curiosity, nostalgia, discomfort and the occasional raised eyebrow.

That is part of the historical interest too.

Popular fiction tells us a great deal about the assumptions, tastes and fantasies of the period in which it was written.

Sometimes it tells us rather more than intended.

Published in 1977, this edition belongs to the great era of mass-market fantasy and science-fiction paperbacks, when covers tended to promise muscular danger, alien worlds and at least one improbably scenic mountain range.

The books were made to be read hard, carried around, swapped, dropped, reread and stuffed onto shelves already bowing under the weight of other series.

This copy has evidently survived that ecosystem rather well.

For collectors of vintage fantasy, sword-and-planet fiction, John Norman, 1970s paperbacks or long-running speculative series, Marauders of Gor is a solid period piece.

It is also ideal for readers who prefer their fictional worlds thoroughly mapped, heavily armed and only lightly regulated.

Condition: Good. A sound used copy with normal signs of age and handling. Published in 1977, it has now survived longer than a fair number of fictional kingdoms.

ISBN: 042617531X.

A rugged and unmistakably 1970s fantasy adventure full of raiders, ships, rival cultures and the sort of world-building that makes modern franchise universes look slightly underprepared.

Sold by Crappy Old Books — where the marauders are fictional, the paperback is real, and nobody has yet pillaged the checkout.

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