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TopThe History

On July 30st, 2007 Ian Randal Strock of SFScope reported that "Dark Horse is bring back John Norman's Gor".

Agent Richard Curtis reports that "the complete set of twenty-six novels set on Gor, fantasist John Norman's controversial science fiction world chronicling dominant men and submissive women, will be reissued in a series of omnibus mass market paperbacks" by Dark Horse. Rob Simpson is the acquiring editor. British and translation rights are being handled by Danny Baror.

The first omnibus volume, which will contain the first three books (Tarnsman of Gor, Outlaw of Gor, and Priest-Kings of Gor) will appear in November.

When it was first published in 1966, Norman's hero, Tarl Cabot, was "a man ripped from his homeland and cast across space to the savage world of Gor, where thousands of kidnapped prisoners toiled as slaves for the all-powerful Priest-Kings." The series is "part science fiction, part adventure novel, and the stories in the world of Gor would unfold to show Tarl Cabot's growth from a novice to a man whose fate might determine the course of every man, woman, and child on Gor."

When first published in the 1960s and 1970s, the books had lurid Boris Vallejo covers, and became enormously popular not only for their adventure but for the sex depicted in them. Dark Horse's new publication hopes to reach a new generation of readers, as well as attract the interest of the long-time fans of the series (and some adherents of the minority sociological views).


Dark Horse was going to publish the entire series in omnibus format, each volume containing three novels, and John Norman had already written introduction to the first three of them, scheduled to be published in November, 2007.

However, during that same period, a pretty nasty Internet campaign was organized by a few people who seemingly resented the Gor series. Here are a few quotes from LiveJournal.com, on July 15th, 2007.

Thanks to [...], I learned the hideous news: Dark Horse is releasing an omnibus of three of John Norman's Gor novels. It's in the September previews; Dark Horse's site gives the pub date as November. The issue contains TARNSMAN OF GOR, OUTLAW OF GOR, and PRIEST-KINGS OF GOR. They're the first three books of this long- running series.

Words . . . no, they don't fail me. No one was happier than me when these things fell into the off-the- current-shelves abyss, when only obsessed fans and completist collectors would hunt down issues from back shelves in used book stores. I read about five of these back in the mid-70s with that same awed fascination that I watched my first film of snake knots, before the nightmares began.

[...]

And Dark Horse wants to perpetuate this. Dark Horse wants to make money with this. I have no doubt that they will. Neither do you, I suspect. This of all of those fanboys who have ordered us to cook for them, opted into hive-vagina rhetoric, demanded that we stop whining, called those of us who are men all manner of names, told us to get out of comics. They will love this world, if they don't know it already. They'll be able to live every woman-beating, woman-raping, woman-enslaving moment. Dark Horse means to enable this kind of hatred of non-phallo-stereotype men and women alike. In these books the heroes are muscular studs who prey on all that is Other.

That's us, folks. Book lovers, gentle souls, people who want equality for everyone regardless of sex, race, ability, religion, ethnic background. All of us who aren't white male jocks--we're Other.

Oh, yeah. Before people start whining about censorship--I'm saying don't buy. I'm saying protest, write, scream, review, and don't buy. Make people think about what these books are saying, and make Dark Horse think about publishing any more omnibuses. They need to know the world has damned well changed.


Despite a massive pro-Norman campaign organized by several Staff members of the Chronicles of Gor website, Rob Simpson, editor of Dark Horse, gave in to the resistance, and the Dark Horse Edition was sadly cancelled.

TopCover Gallery

Here is a cover gallery showing all the titles and printings within the Dark Horse Edition. The images are sorted by title. Click on any cover to see the book.

Gor Omnibus - Dark Horse Edition - First Printing - 2007  
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