Is This Where John Norman Got His Inspiration?
I spotted this in the classifieds at the back of the March 1962 issue of Amazing. Too bad I didn’t know about this when I met John Norman!
Sean McLachlan is a freelance travel and history writer. He is the author of the historical fantasy novel A Fine Likeness, set in Civil War Missouri, and the post-apocalyptic thriller Radio Hope. His historical fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence, was published by Black Gate. Find out more about him on his blog and Amazon author’s page.
Sean,
Okay, this is fascinating… three ads for legs irons, beautiful women, and “educational opportunities” through subliminal conditioning… that’s the plot of a John Norman novel summarized right there. I think you might be on to something.
Don’t get me going about John Norman. I loved Tarnsman and Outlaw of Gor – I thought they were first-rate Burroughsian planetary romances. But a funny odor began to be apparent with Priest-Kings of Gor, and by the time I finished Nomads of Gor (frustratingly, in other ways the best of them all) I decided that I was done. Folks are free to read and write anything they want, of course, but things were just getting a bit too…icky… for me.
Now I want to commission an entire anthology based on random classifieds from 1960s SF magazines.
Thomas,
I’ve heard versions of that story for many years. Looks like you made it about as far as most.