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The Sex Life of the Gods
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137 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1962
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 7, 2015
1. I give it a five instead of a four because of all the non-SF buffs who just had to read this and then rate it by whatever arbitrary standards they have for other genres. It is what it is. A 50 cent SF novel from the early '60's and nothing more. It is an enjoyable (yeah, somewhat sexist) romp that caters to its fan of the day. Surprisingly, this would not be the typical female reader of 50+ years later. Go figure. Here's the deal - I don't go ripping on Chick Lit by other authors and judge it as I would this particular story. Others should do the same. And often I don't give a rating because personal taste driving your rating doesn't do anything to others who DO like this genre and are looking for stories to read.
2. The ending is not abrupt for the time nor genre. Again, what are people judging on? It kind of reminds me of people who automatically don't like old movies - because they aren't in color. Look, the story was at its end. The author didn't drag it out and spoon feed every possible follow up for you. That's the way a lot of olde stories were written unlike today where we seem to need to know every detail of a FICTIONAL character's future. Please.
3. All things considered, the book was breaking some new ground. Alien romantic interactions. In a hand full of years after this book Capt. Kirk and Star Trek would be trumpeted for breaking that new ground. Ground already covered here.
If you like old classic-styled SF, this book is for you. If you are worried about your views on sexism, feminism, or what else you may have being offended by the state of things over 50 years ago, then give it a pass.
2. The ending is not abrupt for the time nor genre. Again, what are people judging on? It kind of reminds me of people who automatically don't like old movies - because they aren't in color. Look, the story was at its end. The author didn't drag it out and spoon feed every possible follow up for you. That's the way a lot of olde stories were written unlike today where we seem to need to know every detail of a FICTIONAL character's future. Please.
3. All things considered, the book was breaking some new ground. Alien romantic interactions. In a hand full of years after this book Capt. Kirk and Star Trek would be trumpeted for breaking that new ground. Ground already covered here.
If you like old classic-styled SF, this book is for you. If you are worried about your views on sexism, feminism, or what else you may have being offended by the state of things over 50 years ago, then give it a pass.
April 23, 2015
For sometime I was searching for "so-bad-that-its-good" type old school pulpy sci-fi novels and a few days ago I started this book "The Sex Life of The Gods".
Like none of you ever read an erotica before!
But by god what an awful preposterous book! Upto 30% of the book all the 'sci' of sci-fi I got was just a character who after an accident forgot who he was. This book is so disrespectful towards women that if it was written in today's era, it would have caused a mass hysteresis among feminists.
Women= sexy time (lets describe their figures with disturbing details every time they appear)!
Men= hero who saves women and "..fingered her to passion..." (Oh yeas that is an exact quote from the book)!
I read some more pages about squishy big green eyed aliens in dreams and I closed book thinking
Please please save yourself and don't read this unless you're already planning to read it before even reaching the end of this review.
Like none of you ever read an erotica before!But by god what an awful preposterous book! Upto 30% of the book all the 'sci' of sci-fi I got was just a character who after an accident forgot who he was. This book is so disrespectful towards women that if it was written in today's era, it would have caused a mass hysteresis among feminists.
Women= sexy time (lets describe their figures with disturbing details every time they appear)!
Men= hero who saves women and "..fingered her to passion..." (Oh yeas that is an exact quote from the book)!
I read some more pages about squishy big green eyed aliens in dreams and I closed book thinking
Please please save yourself and don't read this unless you're already planning to read it before even reaching the end of this review.
August 1, 2020
There's nothing wrong with horny sci-fi. There is very much a problem with making it misogynistic crap like this.
Its not even well written misogynistic crap: "her body making a prison for him ... yet at the same time giving him freedom." Again nothing wrong with pulpy camp, but its just flat and bad and boring
"He moved to her, his fingers stroking her into passion" pfft. You wish, Nick.
Its not even well written misogynistic crap: "her body making a prison for him ... yet at the same time giving him freedom." Again nothing wrong with pulpy camp, but its just flat and bad and boring
"He moved to her, his fingers stroking her into passion" pfft. You wish, Nick.
November 9, 2018
Who could resist a title like this? And the price was right, so...
The copyright is 1962. This book attempts to be SF and naughty and fails at both. Perhaps it was racy way back then, but with flat dialog and Buck Rogers (wannabe) level of imagination it qualifies as the worst SF book I have ever read.
Here's a writing style example from Chapter 7:
"Nick felt the thundering beginning again to slam through his veins with the holocaust of a napalm bomb exploding against the ground as she unzipped the skirt and dropped it into a puddle on the thick rug."
Isn't that a hoot?
The most exciting scene is the obligatory chase scene near the end. Yes, with stick-and-rudder controlled rocket ships traveling 24,5oo mph just feet above the ocean. Suddenly they spot a ship and at the last moment and pull up to avoid a collision. Apparently, aliens have fantastic eyesight and light speed reaction times. To top it off, they track each other with radar throughout the chase, but dive into a cloud to escape the pursuit.
Thankfully the book is short.
The copyright is 1962. This book attempts to be SF and naughty and fails at both. Perhaps it was racy way back then, but with flat dialog and Buck Rogers (wannabe) level of imagination it qualifies as the worst SF book I have ever read.
Here's a writing style example from Chapter 7:
"Nick felt the thundering beginning again to slam through his veins with the holocaust of a napalm bomb exploding against the ground as she unzipped the skirt and dropped it into a puddle on the thick rug."
Isn't that a hoot?
The most exciting scene is the obligatory chase scene near the end. Yes, with stick-and-rudder controlled rocket ships traveling 24,5oo mph just feet above the ocean. Suddenly they spot a ship and at the last moment and pull up to avoid a collision. Apparently, aliens have fantastic eyesight and light speed reaction times. To top it off, they track each other with radar throughout the chase, but dive into a cloud to escape the pursuit.
Thankfully the book is short.
November 29, 2020
I am surprised by all the negative reviews stating how this novel is misogynist in some way. The truth is most characters are two-dimensional, especially the main female character but as most other works, it is a product of its time. It is not pretentious as some state and I found it an easy read. If you are looking for something to read and you don't want to get too invested, this could be it.
February 2, 2026
Found on Project Gutenberg, this is an obscure relic from the days of pulp SF and pulp erotica – or in this case, both. Michael Knerr (a.k.a. M.E. Knerr, both of which may be pen names) wrote some erotic pulp thrillers in the 60s before moving on to non-fiction books in the 70s about stuff like Bigfoot and the Jim Jones Guyana suicides. As far as I can tell, this 1962 novel was his only attempt at SF – and it’s probably as well.
The premise: a man wakes up in the woods next to a plane crash with amnesia. His wallet tells him he’s Nick Danson, and that he’s married to a gorgeous sexpot of a woman named Beth. He seeks her out in hopes of getting his memory back, and finds he’s being tailed. He’s also having weird dreams about being a space soldier in an alien race of gods with a gorgeous sexpot of a girlfriend named Jela. But what if those aren’t dreams – and he’s not really Nick Danson?
What fun!
But of course, this ain’t Philip K. Dick. The actual SF part is poorly fleshed out (to say nothing of the distinction between humans and the alien ‘gods’), but then the target audience probably wasn’t reading this for the SF bits. As one might expect from the title alone, there’s a whole bunch of sex scenes with Nick and Beth, Nick and Jela and even Nick and random sexpot neighbour Janet, and while they’re tame by modern standards, Knerr really wants you to know that Beth, Jela and Janet had fantastic boobs. On the plus side, it’s readable and fast-paced. Best thing I can say about it is that if anyone had bothered to make a film version in the 60s, it would have made a great MST3K episode.
The premise: a man wakes up in the woods next to a plane crash with amnesia. His wallet tells him he’s Nick Danson, and that he’s married to a gorgeous sexpot of a woman named Beth. He seeks her out in hopes of getting his memory back, and finds he’s being tailed. He’s also having weird dreams about being a space soldier in an alien race of gods with a gorgeous sexpot of a girlfriend named Jela. But what if those aren’t dreams – and he’s not really Nick Danson?
What fun!
But of course, this ain’t Philip K. Dick. The actual SF part is poorly fleshed out (to say nothing of the distinction between humans and the alien ‘gods’), but then the target audience probably wasn’t reading this for the SF bits. As one might expect from the title alone, there’s a whole bunch of sex scenes with Nick and Beth, Nick and Jela and even Nick and random sexpot neighbour Janet, and while they’re tame by modern standards, Knerr really wants you to know that Beth, Jela and Janet had fantastic boobs. On the plus side, it’s readable and fast-paced. Best thing I can say about it is that if anyone had bothered to make a film version in the 60s, it would have made a great MST3K episode.
February 23, 2018
Irrationally paranoid, moody, atmospheric, tense, mysterious. This is an amazing book.
The main driver for the story is, on the surface, pretty routine: amnesia! but it's all for a good cause, and the plot develops brilliantly. At first, none of it makes sense, and you're not sure all of the chapters quite fit together. Slowly, it all comes together, though, and you're cheering for characters you didn't even *trust* just pages before.
A great book, highly recommended to any fan of pulp SF.
The main driver for the story is, on the surface, pretty routine: amnesia! but it's all for a good cause, and the plot develops brilliantly. At first, none of it makes sense, and you're not sure all of the chapters quite fit together. Slowly, it all comes together, though, and you're cheering for characters you didn't even *trust* just pages before.
A great book, highly recommended to any fan of pulp SF.
August 1, 2015
Atmospheric, and somewhat of a surprise. The sex I mean. I just didn't expect references to sex with quite that much vigour to them. Nothing phenomenally new or wonderful here, but there is something about losing yourself in a vintage/pulp type novel.
Good, for what it is.
Good, for what it is.
October 23, 2013
Ugh, those robotic voices were more than I could take. I thought this book might be good in a campy sort of way but it's not even bad in a funny way. It's just awful.
January 26, 2015
Lol. Bewbs.
June 30, 2017
I should have judged this one by its cover. But it was in the "classics" section!
February 22, 2022
I guess this is what books and sci-fi were in the 60's. I shouldn't have expected anything better. The main character is just like a James Bond or Captain Kirk, in the way that the most beautiful woman just want to have sex with him. There's no romance or reason. They just ..... do. I guess that's the fancy for men, hot woman just throw themselves at you. And I guess the author is a breast man, because it seems to be all he noticed. Maybe in the 60's you had to be careful not to make your sex scenes to sexy???
Small spoilers...
To be fair he only has sex with two women. But also to also be fair, he thinks he's married to one and doesn't remember her because of amnesia, and thinks he's having an affair with the other, so with that logic he proceeded to have an affair with the second woman! Just to find out he was a faithful husband before. This is so stupid.
I'm all down with trashy sex in books but these characters and their motivations we're so off for me. And I'm not a fan of sci-fi so none of that saved the book for me.
Like I said, maybe it was all the rage back in the 60's. Skip this and go get a trashy book from at least the 2000's.
Small spoilers...
To be fair he only has sex with two women. But also to also be fair, he thinks he's married to one and doesn't remember her because of amnesia, and thinks he's having an affair with the other, so with that logic he proceeded to have an affair with the second woman! Just to find out he was a faithful husband before. This is so stupid.
I'm all down with trashy sex in books but these characters and their motivations we're so off for me. And I'm not a fan of sci-fi so none of that saved the book for me.
Like I said, maybe it was all the rage back in the 60's. Skip this and go get a trashy book from at least the 2000's.
August 4, 2019
'Nick felt the thundering beginning again to slam through his veins with the holocaust of a napalm bomb exploding against the ground as she unzipped the skirt and dropped it into a puddle on the thick rug'.
There were times when I nearly gave this book 4 stars, it is a nice little sc-fi period piece. But then you read lines like the one above and you look at the title and I could've given it 2 stars. So 3 stars seems fair.
I think you really need to consider when this book was published, 1963. Even the cover dates it. It could be labelled Sci-Fi pulp fiction. It’s a strange one though and the sex scenes are laughable but entertaining. The story however is a good one.
Classic sci-fi it is not, classic erotic fiction it is not. But as long as you understand that you may enjoy it. It has a certain charm. it's quite short too, I read it in a day.
There were times when I nearly gave this book 4 stars, it is a nice little sc-fi period piece. But then you read lines like the one above and you look at the title and I could've given it 2 stars. So 3 stars seems fair.
I think you really need to consider when this book was published, 1963. Even the cover dates it. It could be labelled Sci-Fi pulp fiction. It’s a strange one though and the sex scenes are laughable but entertaining. The story however is a good one.
Classic sci-fi it is not, classic erotic fiction it is not. But as long as you understand that you may enjoy it. It has a certain charm. it's quite short too, I read it in a day.
January 11, 2021
A decent read for the era and genre. It's dated and doesn't age well, but was never intended to rival Shakespeare.
For a 1950's -1960's erotic science fiction novel it's an entertaining read, bearing in mind attitudes and American culture was different than it is now. Is it sexist? Of course, most literature of the time was. But it does present an interesting window into the attitudes of the era.
Don't expect a lot of technical details; this book focuses on characters.
For a 1950's -1960's erotic science fiction novel it's an entertaining read, bearing in mind attitudes and American culture was different than it is now. Is it sexist? Of course, most literature of the time was. But it does present an interesting window into the attitudes of the era.
Don't expect a lot of technical details; this book focuses on characters.
March 24, 2020
Campy, campy, campy
December 15, 2021
Ok so... I get it was written in a different time but... damn...
December 18, 2021
Not a bad book. Really interesting and fast moving. I enjoyed it a lot. Your classic sci fi from the Golden Era.
February 24, 2024
lol no. It’s fine, I guess, but no. No reason to read this book today.
December 22, 2014
"Hell, a lot of women lost their men for some reason or another, but they accustomed, they altered their lives. If a man dropped the reins, some other guy should pick them up. It was only natural." [Women=sexy, sexy mares]
"He stared moodily into the dark liquid in his coffee cup and wondered where it would all end." [Amusing in context, but part of the 21st century human experience, I suppose. I know I've done it.]
Finally read a trashy 60s sci-fi novel! Though I can't recommend the experience to anyone, it was one of those genre-information things I needed to do. Loads of laughs.
"He stared moodily into the dark liquid in his coffee cup and wondered where it would all end." [Amusing in context, but part of the 21st century human experience, I suppose. I know I've done it.]
Finally read a trashy 60s sci-fi novel! Though I can't recommend the experience to anyone, it was one of those genre-information things I needed to do. Loads of laughs.
September 3, 2016
This book reflects the science fiction writing of the early 1960's. The shelves of bookstores were filled with pulpy novels that were striving to get readers to choose them. A little erotica never hurt the sales.
I read this book when I was a high schooler. The cheap novellas and double novels were fodder for me. I consumed them and this was one. The characters reflect 60's society and need to be read with that in mind. This book was a slightly different take on human-alien interaction from an alien's point of view.
I read this book when I was a high schooler. The cheap novellas and double novels were fodder for me. I consumed them and this was one. The characters reflect 60's society and need to be read with that in mind. This book was a slightly different take on human-alien interaction from an alien's point of view.
March 7, 2026
I don’t usually read science fiction, but the title “The Sex Life of The Gods” by Michael Kneer caught my attention. I was disappointed after listening to the audiobook. It was published in the 60s and feels very outdated, with some parts coming off as sexist and misogynistic. While I did find a few parts funny, overall, the outdated attitudes made it hard to enjoy.
October 19, 2013
Pulpy sci-fi thing. Entertaining enough my long commute. Amnesia, aliens, and boobs.
January 8, 2014
Would have given it 4 stars but the end was too abrupt. Pretty rad story about amnesia and sexy aliens regardless.
February 5, 2014
So this was how erotica and sci-fi were written in the 60's. I must admit that I somehow enjoyed it.
August 10, 2016
This book is packed with the likes of inter-planetary travel, sex, aliens, amnesia, sex, fighting, marital affairs, more sex stuff, and a really abrupt ending...
October 28, 2015
Just terrible! -- Which made it awesome pulp fiction.
November 4, 2016
This book is terrible
June 15, 2019
implies that men are fickle in their desires and logical in their welfare
July 8, 2014
The sex scenes were non existent
Aliens in love I can buy that...But horrible writing
Aliens in love I can buy that...But horrible writing
August 25, 2014
This was an audiobook from LibriVox.
https://librivox.org/sex-life-of-the-...
https://librivox.org/sex-life-of-the-...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews