Tal Goreans,
Greetings visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column.

Last month we met Jason Marshall, a typical late-20th century American male, albeit with a little more of the Gorean about him than would be fashionable. He had the ill luck to be in the way when his dinner date, one Beverly Henderson, was picked up by Gorean slavers, and his pleading for his life resulted in a one-way ticket to Gor and a steel collar when he got there. Now in the tender care of Lady Gina, he is learning to be a pleasure slave for women. He seems rather to admire his trainer, who for her part appears not wholly devoid of regard for him, although she thinks it a shame he is fit for nothing but to be a slave. We had better find out what is happening to him.

Chapter Seven

Having been shown to prospective buyers, Jason is back in his cell, musing on the indignities visited upon him and, as a properly brought up American man would, feeling much sympathy for the poor women routinely forced to undergo similar humiliation. Still, life is not all bad. He is feeling rather healthier thanks to Gor’s unpolluted air and water and its salubrious food, even the plain fare fed to slaves, to say nothing of the exercise. He tests his strength and finds it already improved significantly from Earth standard, even more than the gravitational disparity would allow for.

While indulging in the usual breast-beating over the evils of industrialisation and democracy on Earth (breast-beating which is probably more easily resorted to when granted the comforts of such, but this is nothing new; Roman writers were idealising barbarism and decrying their own civilisation from within the comfortable confines of same twenty centuries ago), Jason is interrupted by the arrival of his jailers and the slave girl Lola, who is tossed unceremoniously into his cell with nought more to Jason than a curt instruction to spare her life and limbs. Now this Lola, let us remind ourselves, is one of the kajirae tasked with being his training partners, and she has already beaten him herself, and set him up for a whipping, and a savagely punishing one at that, as well as causing him many lesser discomforts. Undoubtedly she fears that it is payback time.

Jason however does not proceed to beat her or to subject her to slave rape, though both are well within his purview here and now. He experiences a small taste of what it is like to have a woman under his complete control, to the being told to stand, sit or lie, or to the eating or going hungry. This appeals to him, but he draws back from it in revulsion. His internal musings are expressed in fit terms to be a Normanian rant, and accompanied by expressions of anger which frighten Lola, for she believes them directed at her, and none of her learned submissive behaviours are effective in pacifying him. When he is violent he apologises, but not for anything will he whip her nor put her to sexual use, even though she is plainly ready for the latter and then some. Instead he persists in treating her with kindness and solicitude, or at any rate an absence of explicit cruelty, and the pair engage in some conversation in a somewhat desultory fashion in which they discuss the true natures of men and women. (The author resorts to the dubious philosophical tactic of putting some self-evidently absurd arguments into Jason’s mouth and leaving it to the reader to suppose that these are in fact the only arguments against male domination of women. Shame on him. Philosophy professors should know better - indeed, they do know better.)

Eventually Lola cracks. She screams for the jailers to come and liberate her from the care of this madman, concluding that the whole of her punishment was to be put in with him. Of course they do not come, and eventually she subsides into a miserable sleep, which is more than Jason manages.

Chapter Eight

Jason’s noble self-restraint only earns him scorn and a beating from Lady Gina, who is disappointed that his manhood was not up to taking advantage of a not-soon-to-be-repeated opportunity. He does a poor job of justifying himself (“I do not stoop to revenging myself on those thrown helpless into my keeping on the whim of a third party” would have been my own response, if anyone’s wondering). Lady Gina’s contempt is shared by all observers, and he is shoved unceremoniously into a slave box for transport to the market, weeping bitter tears of shame at his deserved humiliation.

Chapter Nine

He gets a bit of a look at the world outside, though only through the air-holes of his slave box, and he encounters taunting kajirae inviting him to smell their feminine regions, a free man who mercifully only spits on him when he dares to enquire his whereabouts (how he would have made sense of the answer and to what use he could possibly have put such information are both utter mysteries), and some free women who gush breathlessly about what a prize specimen he is, what a thrill it would be to own him, how dangerous it would be to own a male slave who might “revert”, and even on the possibility of being truly mastered by a strong man. Then, and not before time, his keeper bids him shut up.

Chapter Ten

On being delivered to the House of Tima, Jason is given a change of collar, a beating, and a Roman-style bath in quick succession. He is then left in front of an iron door with orders to make himself known. When he is admitted he finds himself in the presence of Lady Tima herself, who will be selling him and some other slaves the next day. While she gets on with some record-keeping, he makes himself useful as she instructs, serving wine and generally looking decorative. When she is done with her work she orders him to her couch and engages him in conversation after chaining him there. Accused of weakness, he can only say that the women of Earth prefer men that way, which Lady Tima finds laughable, knowing that Earth girls on Gor make fantastic love slaves. He briefly speculates as to what has become of Beverly, hoping that she has not been degraded as he has and momentarily fantasising over how wonderful it would be to own her. Then Lady Tima, again berating him for his worthlessness and weakness, has her wicked way with him.

Chapter Eleven

Jason recovers consciousness in a cell and has the company of a solicitous female slave. She commiserates with him over his terrible treatment at the hands of the Mistress, and reports that he was delivered here in a drugged sleep. As she cares for him, she reveals that her name is Darlene, which is a shameful name, as it is an Earth female’s name, and declares she was herself an Earth girl so named before being brought to Gor. Jason is astonished at Darlene’s command of Gorean, although I am equally astonished at the extent to which he considers himself competent to judge the same, and they hold another of these long conversations while he struggles with his desire to own and enjoy such an alluring slave girl.

Darlene quickly hatches a plot for an escape, producing the keys to Jason’s chains and even his collar, as well as a bag of clothing. This is an amazing stroke of good fortune and despite being initially fearful (with ample reason) he decides to give it a go. Unfortunately the clothing turns out to be Jason’s own, brought from Earth, but as the bag it was in was sealed, and the seal is now broken, they consider themselves committed to the escape attempt. There is a faint hope that Jason will pass unremarked in the darkness until he can acquire more suitable clothes. He is all for giving Darlene a thank-you kiss, but she will have none of that sort of thing.

It occurs to Jason to ask where Darlene is from, and she claims to be English, though she expresses it oddly and speaks English only with reluctance and with a strange inflection. (Perhaps Jason should have been curious enough to try to narrow her Englishness down a little, or perhaps he is intentionally painted as an American who would struggle to locate England on a map. I understand that such do exist.) She has the ready excuse that she has not spoken English for a long time, and Jason’s suspicions are not aroused, not even when she bizarrely asks him to put his tie on, nor yet when she turns out to be unbranded. The ensuing spat gives her enough leverage to coax Jason into putting on his jacket and overcoat, and they immediately hasten to the place of escape. Once again Jason would fain give her a grateful kiss, but there’s nothing doing, and she only says “Our relationship has been so beautiful, Jason, please do not spoil it,” which is a piece of authorial mockery if ever I saw one, as she explains that she must remain behind.

Immediately on passing through the door, Jason is apprehended, having been set up good and proper by Darlene, whom only moments ago he was praising for her courage and vowing never to forget. So far from escaping, he is only dressed up like an exotic piece of imported goods, to be sold in the market of Tima, and Darlene herself is the auctioneer.

Chapter Twelve

With the Lady Tima present as the mistress of ceremonies and Darlene, really the Lady Tendite and now dressed according to her station, conducting the auction, Jason is exhibited for sale. He is angry enough at being set up and at the broad-brushed slurs directed at the men of Earth that he struggles a mite, learning to his surprise that he actually has the strength to be a little troublesome to the two Gorean men holding him. His fierceness dismays many of the women customers, who fear that he might not be as safe a plaything as all that, and they soon start giving his vendors a hard time, clamouring for him to be committed to some safer employment, on a rockpile or a rowing-galley, safe in the keeping of men.

Unfortunately, this show of defiance is destined to be short-lived. Lady Tima still has men at her beck and call and can have Jason consigned to the sleen pit at a word, and this dreadful murmured threat is enough to coerce him into meek obedience. (The trouble, in such circumstances, with boldly defying one’s captor to do her worst, is that one ends up in the belly of a sleen, which is not a survival tactic highly to be recommended.) That interruption done, Jason is ceremoniously stripped piece by piece of his unhandy, impractical Earth clothing, which is burned as it is removed. The bids trickle in; one prospective buyer makes reference to using him “in the stable bouts,” though he hasn’t a clue what this means. Then Lady Tima conducts the sale in person, forcing Jason to perfect obedience to reassure the buyers that he is not at all dangerous, and he eventually goes for an extremely respectable price. As he is beaten, both for attempting to escape and for speaking without permission, he hears the victorious bid of sixteen silver tarsks, and he is dragged away to the sound of the gong announcing the beginning of another sale.

Chapter Thirteen

Jason, now suitably attired and groomed for his new position and conducting himself with becoming meekness, is now the property of Lady Florence, who discusses him with Lady Melpomene, an unsuccessful bidder for him. Lady Florence makes rather impolite allusions to the poor state of her rival’s finances, though Lady Melpomene angrily denies that she is fallen on hard times. Meanwhile Jason gives us the low-down on some geographical and political data which reflect astonishingly on his perspicacity, since one would expect a slave to have few information sources on such topics. Suffice it to say that Lady Florence is an inhabitant of Vonda, part of an emerging political entity known as the Salerian Confederation, and that she is now on the way to a resort city called Venna.

As soon as Lady Melpomene is well on her way, Lady Florence expostulates most vituperatively against her, apparently on account of a lengthy interfamilial feud. But apart from exclaiming how much she hates her and hopes to see her ruined, Lady Florence is in good humour, with a shopping expedition in progress. Leaving Jason unattended by a public fountain, she goes to buy veil pins and such necessities. He is left to watch the world going by, which he does with little apparent care, until his gaze falls upon a female slave, chained a short distance away from the fountain. She angrily bids him look away, she being for the pleasure of free men, and they engage in some slave banter which suggests that he is finding his feet on Gor.

He watches a column of armed men go by and wonders if there might be war in the offing, and if he should fear for his mistress’s safety as a foreigner, and for that matter his own as a silk slave should he become ownerless. But his musings take second place to the female slave’s pleading for water. Being unchained, he is able to gratify her request; but he requires payment in the only coin she has, and she is plainly nothing loath. Passers-by seem not to mind slaves rutting in the street, except insofar as it makes a free woman begin importuning her Companion for his attentions.

Hardly has he finished with her than he sees a couple of palanquins parked in the street, their owners passing the time of day, and behind one of these he sees a slave girl whom he recognises. From their conversation it is plain that this is Beverly, who is outraged that he has just raped a slave girl on the street, though he explains amiably that it was not rape but a business transaction. They chat for a while, and then are ordered to desist by a servant, who tells Jason that such conversation is not permitted; Jason pleads ignorance and apologises. But the men in the palanquins themselves become involved, and Beverly’s owner exchanges a few polite words before ordering two of his male slaves to give Jason a hiding. They knock him down and kick him about a bit, but Jason refuses to stay down, and also refuses to run when the servant suggests it (and it would doubtless be permissible to do so). Instead he closes with the slave Granus and without quite knowing what he is doing seizes him in a bear-hug which promises to break Granuss back. At this the master orders them to cease, not wanting his own slave irreparably damaged, and decides that Jason has been given enough lumps for his offence. With that he departs, and Jason accosts one of the kajirae and forces her to tell him her master’s name: Oneander of Ar.

On Lady Florence’s return, she is outraged to see Jason bearing the marks of a public brawl, and still more so when a nearby male silk slave spitefully tattles on him for “raping” the thirsty slave girl. Collecting her purchases, she scolds Jason again for his conduct, and confirms the rumours of war that Jason has been speculating on. She asks Jason playfully, “You would not like to see me in a collar, would you?” to which Jason cheekily responds that she would look very well in one. Fortunately for Jason, she is disposed to take this in a playful spirit, and announces her intent to leave Ar within the Ahn.

So Jason has some backbone after all. Already he has learned to relate appropriately to female slaves, he dares to be forward with his mistress, and he has come through his first fight at least on equal terms. But how will Lady Florence discipline him for his fighting and copulating in the city streets? Is she jealous of the girl whom he put to slave use? And does he have a talent that no one, including Jason himself, has yet suspected? For the answers to these questions, and probably more questions to answer, let the reader stir himself to join me a month hence, when we take our third look at Fighting Slave of Gor!

I wish you well,

Socrates