THE MOUNTAINS OF BREGA
WIZARD OF RENTORO
WARRIORS OF LATAN
by Jeffrey Lord
At first glance, these titles scream fantasy series. Mountains, a wizard, and warriors all combined with made up names like "Rentoro" can have that effect. However, these books (respectively volumes 17, 28, and 37 of an obviously long-running series) belong to a sub-genre just below and to the right of both science fiction and fantasy. I dub this sub-genre sci-porn.
This isn't like Heinlein or Asimov, where there might be plenty of sex, even pervy sex, but the story is still indisputably science-fiction. This isn't even like John Norman's Gor novels where, intermixed with all the fetishistic bondage and submission, there is an underlying philosophy (however skewed), observations about the practices of primitive cultures, and a consistent made up world in which the stories take place. This is, well, Richard Blade. Everyone almost pointedly never refers to him as Dick, that was my own little innovation, but it would make more sense and even give these books a small sense of self-aware irony.
I remember being thirteen years old, living in the mountains of Pennsylvania, going to a school in the nearby tiny ass town, and being bored out of my skull. Books were my refuge and I was always on the lookout for a new title or series to occupy my attention. After finishing a paperback adaptation of an episode of Dr. Who (Day of the Daleks, in fact) I was flipping through the ads in the back. You don't see them often these days, but sci-fi and fantasy novels especially used to have a couple pages of ads in the back listing books by various authors, a "if you liked X, you'll LOVE Y and Z!!!" sort of thing. One of the ads was for the Wild Cards series, which I tracked down shortly thereafter and enjoyed immensely.
The other ad was for Richard Blade's adventures in (say it with me now, since it doesn't sound right without an echo effect) DIMENSION X! I remember thinking they sounded cool too. The ads mentioned cannibalism, sexually aggressive amazons riding men like horses, and other lurid material, which to my 13 year old mind sounded pretty enticing. I never did track them down though. Not until years later anyway.
Yet another used book store was closing down (they're all dropping like flies in this area - - the owners are all old and dying and most of the younger people native to the region don't read anyway) and, when the guy that runs my local comic shop told me about it, I figured I better swing by in case there w,ere any gems to be found among the rubbish.
Three of my acquisitions (I'll spare you all the full list) were good ol' Richard Blade. Through a haze of dead brain cells killed during the intervening years, I vaguely recalled the name and the Dimension X catchphrase, so I grabbed them in spite of some pretty wonky cover art. I'm just about to finish up Warriors of Latan, but feel safe in going ahead and reviewing all three.
Simply put, these books are a riot. If I had discovered them when i was thirteen I'm sure I would be sitting here right now staunchly defending their integrity - - or not. These things don't hold a candle to John Norman's Gor, but they are a lot of fun. In a nutshell, Richard Blade, secret agent for MI6, is the only man whose telepathic potential can be awakened by a secret government computer, thereby breaking the psychic boundary between earth and the limitless parallel worlds occupying Dimension X.
Richard Blade is sent to these worlds for the purposes of exploration and the retrieval of useful materials, data, and technological advances to be used back in "Home Dimension" for the good of jolly old Blighty. Think James Bond crossed with Sliders - - only with less class than Bond and more pulchritudinous than Sliders. All the books follow the same pattern more or less, and though I only have the three to judge by I can't imagine the others deviating from the formula all that much.
There is a chapter or two detailing how the Dimension X project is going on earth, usually in the form of discussions with Blade's boss, J of MI6 (not M, of course, you're confusing Blade with that other suave British spy), and Professor Leighton, the inventor of the Dimension X computer. Then, Blade is sent to Dimension X, runs afoul of the natives, makes either friends or enemies with them, bangs a few broads, and learns of both something useful he could bring back to Britain and the villains plans. After that, Blade bangs another broad, is captured by the villains and forced to pretend to go along with them, bangs more broads, rebels against the baddies, leads a rag-tag fugitive force to a victorious rebellion against the villains, and bangs a few more-- well, you get the picture.
Richard Blade is the ultimate male escapist fiction. travel to a new world, shag a bunch of willing (and beautiful, don't forget beautiful!) females, kill some folks, do spy-like things, steal magical stones, telepathy inducing berries, or whatever, instigate rebellion against the tyrannical villain, screw his harem's brains out, kill the baddy, escape back to earth before any of them tell you they're knocked up (or pop one out in the case of those that do tell you - - note: you are not obliged to care or feel moved to provide for said kid since you probably have a dozen bastards strewn across Dimension X).
Mind you, Richard Blade could also be the source of AIDS. In The Mountains of Brega, he watched some evil huntresses capture and sexually molest subhuman ape-men. Later, Blade had to screw the leader of said huntresses to prove his loyalty during the "captured by villain" phase of the story. The earthbound portions of the book deal with discussions on how to send equipment and materials into Dimension X with Blade (he usually shows up stark naked). Maybe they should have figured out how to send condoms with him.
Crazy, zany, horny stuff. Not sci-fi, but sci-porn, ladies and gentlemen. These things can sit on your shelf and attract no more attention than a battered paperback copy of Have Spacesuit Will Travel.
