Tal, Goreans,

Greetings, visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column. As I take up the eighth book in the Chronicles of Counter-Earth, “Hunters of Gor”, I find my eye drawn to the cover art. Some of the books in my collection succumbed years ago to damp and mildew through being stored carelessly, but this and a number of others are still in nearly mint condition. Since I am English and live in the country of my birth, this particular specimen is the Star edition, and the cover picture shows a hooded but cheery-looking man standing knee-deep in mist and carrying an unconscious blonde woman.

Taken all in all it is a somewhat improbable piece of artwork. Our hero is wearing a leather cuirass over what looks like a vest of mail-rings, in flagrant contravention of the Priest-Kings’ weapon laws (as Chapter Three of “Tarnsman” told us). His gorgeous captive boasts a flawless Barbie-doll complexion, and how she keeps from getting a tan when running around in the open air all day wearing nothing but knee-length boots, what seems to be the skin from a leopard’s leg tied so low about her hips that it would need to be glued in place or hitched up every few seconds, and a few ornaments, trinkets, and feathers in her hair - how, I say, she keeps from getting a tan is a mystery, and how she manoeuvres through the dense forest in such a state of undress without collecting an assortment of scrapes and scratches to mar her flawless skin is a bigger one.

Still, improbable or not, it is beautifully and strikingly drawn, and there can hardly be a red-blooded man the world over who would not be delighted to get his hands on such an exquisite piece of female flesh. But if, as seems likely, the woman is one of the Panthers of whom we have heard much spoken in previous volumes, no doubt it would cost plenty of time and trouble to catch one, and more to deal with her once she was caught. Perhaps the ensuing chapters will tell us something about this…

Chapter One

Bosk, as he is called these days, is playing Kaissa with Samos, slaver of Port Kar and agent of Priest-Kings - that same Samos whose machinations led to Tarl Cabot being taken captive by the rence folk of the Vosk delta, submitting to slavery and losing his self-respect. The Kaissa game, by the way, is better described than those we have seen so far, but it will not offer much by way of help to those hoping to make a playable game out of the hints offered here. Bosk and Samos evidently play well and at much the same level of skill, but the game is only a backdrop for their conversation.

They are talking, not of ships and string and sealing-wax - well, possibly a few words about ships - but mostly of the news Bosk lately obtained from the slave Elinor (see the last few months’ Booknotes) concerning Talena, daughter of Marlenus and once the Free Companion of Tarl Cabot. Learning that she is held captive by the Panther Women, Bosk is undecided whether or not he should seek her out; but Telima, the rence girl who was once his mistress, later his slave, and presently his woman (as such things are termed in Port Kar), seems to have a clearer idea as to what is in his head than Bosk himself has. She has fled Port Kar and returned to the marshes, unwilling to be second in Bosk’s affections; and he, though somewhat torn, elects to go after Talena.

In the light of Bosk’s decision, Samos now brings a male slave to his attention, one who has had a stripe shaved on his head, signifying that he has been a slave of the Panthers. More specifically, he has been the slave of Verna, and so possesses information that will be useful to Bosk, which is why Samos has introduced them. Bosk promptly frees him, and asks his name, which is Rim. We have seen before, in “Raiders”, that Bosk has a propensity for freeing men who might be useful to him - it added a whole new dimension to piracy, as he practised it, and it promises now to win him a loyal and able henchman.

Chapter Two

Indeed, at the opening of the next chapter Rim is already making himself useful. We rejoin Bosk aboard one of his ships, the Tesephone, off the coast near the northern forests, and landing at a trade point where an outlaw has some captured Panthers for sale and a little gossip. His most notable news item is that Marlenus, having once captured Verna and having had her liberated from his chains by Rask of Treve, has come back for another go. They do a little trading and go their separate ways, Bosk to another trade point where some Panthers also have wares for sale. Bosk takes a moment out to tell us something of the Panthers’ attitude to the world in general:

“…they accord more respect to men… as worthy foes, than they do to women other than themselves. They regard, it seems, all women, slave or free, as soft, worthless creatures, so unlike themselves… I am not sure why they hold this great hatred for other members of their sex. I suspect it may be because, in their hearts, they hate themselves, and their femaleness. Perhaps they wish to be men; I do not know. It seems they fear, terribly, to be females, and perhaps fear most that they, by the hands of a strong man, will be taught their womanhood.”

The Panther he is presently trading with is Sheera, although he was hoping to meet Verna herself; certainly Sheera is the last person Bosk should be applying to for an introduction. She enjoys some cheery banter with Rim, who has not troubled to hide the marks of his slavery until his hair grows out in its own good time, but when he turns her speculation as to how good a slave he would make back on herself, she serves notice that she can hand it out but can’t take it back. Bosk fires off a question or two to glean what information he can concerning Verna’s whereabouts, then trades for the two male slaves Sheera has to sell; the going price is a few necessities and some sweets, both of which are hard to come by up in the forests.

Still searching for clues, Bosk interrogates his Panther slaves by the light of Gor’s three moons. (It is truly amazing how, whenever the moons are mentioned, all three of them are in the sky at once. Perhaps they share a common orbit, two of them in the Trojan points of the third. Norman never explains, in contrast to the scientific style of, say, Larry Niven; but I digress.) Despite being starving hungry and taunted with the sight, smell and taste of food, the girls are not forthcoming, and proudly declare their defiance of all men and Bosk in particular. Philosophically, he feeds them and apparently concedes the point. The following day he adopts Plan B, which consists of shutting them in the hold of his ship and turning a few urts loose down there…

This has been cited as an instance of Goreans’ inhumanity to women, but it should be conceded that when they are liberated from the hold there isn’t a mark on them, and their tongues have been thoroughly loosened. For a counter-instance of Gorean interrogation techniques as they are applied to men, see “Raiders of Gor” for a start. If the end be held to justify the means, Bosk is now in possession of some extremely specific directions to Verna’s lair, and he cheerily heads for the town of Lydius, to be rid of the two Panthers and to complete his preparations.

Chapter Three

Lydius may be the back end of beyond, but there is plenty of bustle there and as thriving an ethnic mix as we have seen anywhere outside of the Sardar Fairs. Bosk makes it clear that, while Lydius isn’t as wild and woolly as Port Kar, it is run by people who are more interested in lively commerce than in minding other people’s business for them, and this is rather handy from Bosk’s point of view. Of course as Bosk the Pirate of Port Kar he would be viewed with a thoroughly jaundiced eye, but he has no difficulty in operating under a very simple assumed name; and indeed, the ship in the next berth, from Port Kar’s enemy state Tyros, is proclaimed to be from Turia, which is not only a palpable untruth but a laughable one, as Turia is hundreds of miles from the sea.

While sitting down to lunch, Bosk realizes he has been robbed. It is beneath his dignity to worry overmuch about the loss of a few coins - he is tremendously wealthy and has lost only his pocket-money - but he is sharp enough to guess who must have done the deed and when, and to admire her skill. However, although he is not disturbed enough to be in a hurry to seek revenge, fortune tosses a cookie into his lap shortly afterwards when Bosk and his companions hear a disturbance outside and go to investigate. It is the penal enslavement of one Lady Tina, the same thief who robbed Bosk (and Arn, the outlaw mentioned at the start of the previous chapter), who, having a previous conviction, is now to be punished in a manner that will tend to preclude further recidivism.

She scores a karma point for her quiet acceptance of her fate, and when she is sold, Bosk decides that a nimble-fingered wench possessed of an unusual skill might come in handy, and buys her for the economical price of one silver tarsk. They then return to the tavern for their interrupted lunch and concomitant entertainment.

Chapter Four

As Thurnock (Bosk’s peasant sidekick) and Rim amuse themselves with the tavern wenches, an astonishing coincidence brings the missing Elizabeth Cardwell (last mentioned in “Raiders”; numerous references in “Nomads” and “Assassin”) face to face with Bosk. He briefly recaps their prior history for the benefit of the reader: companions in peril, lovers, until Tarl Cabot in his wisdom decided to have Elizabeth returned to Earth, and Elizabeth, unwilling to leave Gor, fled the Sardar atop Tarl’s great tarn Ubar of the Skies. She now brings us up to date.

Seeking the freedom of the northern forests, Elizabeth fended for herself for a few days, with indifferent success (but, apparently, made out better than did Elinor; see last month’s Booknotes), until she was picked up by Panthers who, with true sisterly solidarity, announced that she didn’t deserve to join them nor, evidently, to be left alone to mind her own business. Shortly after she was sold to the keeper of the very tavern where she has been ever since.

It is plain that she now expects that Tarl will declare her the loser in their little game of hide and seek, and take her to his bosom once again; and the Tarl that she once knew would surely have done so without hesitation. Unfortunately for her, that Tarl no longer exists, and it is Bosk with whom she has to deal.

For starters, as she is a paga slave and he has just bought a cup of paga, he enjoys her in an alcove, no more gently nor more harshly than he would have treated any other paga slave. Elizabeth observes that Tarl, or Bosk as he now is, is still angry with her for fleeing from him, and taking his vengeance on her, to which he replies that he is only treating her as the paga slave she is. Now for my money Elizabeth has put her finger on it and Bosk is in denial, but as he points out, she chose her course of action and must lie on the bed that she has made for herself, and he leaves her to her fate while he goes in search of Talena. But first he informs Sarpedon the tavernkeeper that “Tana”, as she is now named, is an Ar-trained pleasure slave and ought to be working as such.

It is at times like this that the reader is tempted to wonder to what extent the relationship between Tarl and Elizabeth mirrors any goings-on in the author’s own life, and whom it is that Elizabeth serves as the whipping-girl for; but this is pure speculation, and the good Professor does not choose to answer impertinent personal questions, least of all from me.

Let us then leave the former Elizabeth Cardwell, now a paga slave named Tana with some catching-up to do now that her owner knows the full extent of her training and capabilities, and the former Tarl Cabot, now a Gorean man named Bosk (at least, Tana, in horror and fright, proclaims him a Gorean man, and Bosk, with an indifferent shrug, admits that it is not impossible), until next month, when we shall discover what progress Bosk is making towards the rescue of his former companion, in our second dip into the pages of “Hunters of Gor”.

I wish you well,

Socrates