From sunny California to the dampness of England this girl flew this month to interview Master Jon.

A British citizen by birth, Master Jon returned to England two years ago after fourteen years in the States. His slave sierra resides with him, along with two animals of the canine variety. He calls it "a house of many beasts". Master Jon is thiry-four and works as a Senior Project Manager for a Fortune 500 company. He spends a lot of time traveling throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in relation to his work.

Master Jon has no children, unless you count his dogs which his slave claims he spoils. For fun he enjoys white water rafting, hiking, reading and canine agility trials. He feels a life well spent is a busy one and stays active in his community, primarily dealing with childrens issues. He also enjoys what he terms his "beloved Arsenal Football Club", going to watch England play rugby and playing poker with the guys. As well as a nice quiet evening curled up with the slave.

She was able to ask him the following questions:

How did you find Gor, Master? -- I found Gor when I was about 8 years old and read my first Gor novel. I can quite clearly remember perusing the racks of sci-fi books in a small bookstore in my hometown looking for something to supplement my diet of Asimov, Heinlein and Van Vogt. I came across a volume entitled ’Tarnsman of Gor.’ Intrigued I picked it up and read the dust jacket and decided to plunk down my money on it, took it home and curled up in a chair in the conservatory and read it in an afternoon.

What I read fit very comfortably with what I felt inside, and so Gor came to me at an early age. I did not label myself as Gorean though until about 4 years ago when I came online and found others using that tag to describe a lifestyle that I already embraced. At that time I came to the realization that I had met many Goreans offline, I just had never applied the tag ’Gorean’ to them. How many have come to the realization of the philosophy (found Gor) without having a label to put to it?

If you had never heard of the gorean lifestyle, Master, do you envision your life being any different than it is now? If so, in what ways? -- If I had never heard of the ’Gorean lifestyle’ my life would I feel not be too much different than it is at the moment. The philosophy of the Gorean lifestyle is after all a mere statement of innate truths, therefore what would be missing would be the label ’Gorean.’

Without having stumbled into online Gor I would assuredly not have met people I am proud to call either my Brother or my friend. My life has been enriched immensely as there is nothing as rewarding as the company of men who understand the same truths. I have been blessed to find two wonderful Gorean men so very close to where I live, one of who even works in the same town I work and live. When a person has the joy of such company on an almost daily basis it can not help but enrich ones life. Additionally I met my slave sierra when I first came online 4 years ago, she has been living with me for 16 months now. So my life would indeed be different without the Gorean online society I found, it would be a duller less enjoyable life. I would be without an extended ’family’ which I now have here in England. To take the risk of sounding dramatic, life would be a pale shadow of what it is.

What is one thing that you think would be important for anyone who knows you to know about you, Master?

One thing? Well limited to that I would have to say it is that I am always available as a sounding board, no matter what I will listen and provide whatever guidance/assistance I can. This attitude stems from years of self-improvement work I have done on myself, a voyage of discovery that is not without pain. So maybe I should say that one thing people should know is I will not let them stay stagnant, I will push them to reach their full potential.

What is the one thing you wouldn’t want anyone to know about you, Master?

Now that is a tough question! I am very open about myself, warts and all, so there is not anything I can not say I would not want known. That said, one thing that is not common knowledge though as it is a little odd is that I am a Gilbert & Sullivan devotee and can be often found singing along to tunes such as ’A modern major general’ in the shower (much to the chagrin of my slave who is more a blues fan). She is slowly learning what is good music!

When did you first realize that something about you was different from other men in todays society? How did you first cope with that realization, Master?

Hmmmm. I would have to say that the first time I realized I was different from others was about six, laying in bed and going through the internal debate of whether I was the only sentient being on the planet. I can safely say I have never felt I fit into societal normative values, the blessing is that now I know there are others out there too! I have always felt different and I came to the realization early that I thought different than others. Saying to a female at school, ’you are a girl, your place is to please me’ when you are nine years old is a sure way to get detention. You quickly come to the realization that society can not handle the naked truth coming from minors and my first way to cope with it was not very good in the way of time management. I spent a lot of time in detention. From that I decided to learn how to express myself in a less confrontational manner, a skill that is so very useful if you want people to actual listen to what you have to say. So to summarize I have always known I was different than the bulk of society. Makes for a strange interview I am sure!

What advice would you give to anyone asking you about this lifestyle, Master?

Well that advice would have to start off with ’don’t be discouraged.’ The lifestyle is not one that is easy to live and not to let those who will knock you down win. Instead get up, brush yourself off and continue. Do not react in a hostile way to people who look down at what you are, speak to them calmly and logically after all self-control is a vital part of self-Mastery. The single biggest piece of advice would be not to remain isolated, do whatever you can to meet people offline who share your beliefs. Interaction online can be useful but it does not hold a candle to the feelings meeting people like yourself with engender within you. After that I would say, listen and learn. There are people out there who have made the mistakes and suffered through the hostility, use their experience to help yourself.

Do you feel that your home environment contributed to the realization that you were gorean, Master? Especially your upbringing.

Yes my upbringing has a lot to do with how I am, nurture is the major component in formulating what we become. As to coming to a realization that I was Gorean, well I have always felt what I do now and acted on it. So I can not say it was a later life recognition with the caveat of applying the tag ’Gorean’ to an existing internal belief set.

I grew up in an environment where your word was your bond, with a father who was very Gorean and instilled in me the ways to lead life (codes if you will.) As the second son I grew up without the expectations of the first child on my shoulders, which was a great benefit in my journey of self-discovery. My home environment encouraged me to read and I first discovered the Gor books (or what had been published to date) when I was around 8, which led me to devour all I could find about the philosophies contained within. My upbringing also encouraged personal growth which I feel is the one thing that defines me, an eternal striving to improve on what I am.

What is the one mistake (if any) that you have made that you feel has taught you the greatest lessons about yourself, Master?

Nothing like a personal question! The biggest mistake I ever made in my life was underestimating the vehemence that one encounters when one stands up for ones beliefs no matter what. Having lost everything I possessed for ’whistle blowing’ I learnt that I have massive inner strength and resiliance and that there is nothing that is ever worth selling out your beliefs for. Sounds trite I know, but it was a hard one lesson, a situation that caused me massive pain and at the same time affirmed who I am.

How did bringing a slave into your home fulltime change your life, Master?

Bringing my slave into my home (she has been with me 16 months now) has made a few, but not many, changes to my life. Owning a girl in our modern Western societies is a path fraught with obstacles. Owning a slave does put responsibilities on ones shoulders; so a change comes about from the shift of providing for oneself and providing for a slave as well. Most of the changes are beneficial, for example the feeling of ’home’ has increased, it is a pleasure to come home after a long business trip to a girl at my feet. Some things are a trial, girls will test and feel the boundaries of their existance but compared to the positives they pale in comparison.

What advice would you offer to someone contemplating the step of adding a slave to their household on a fulltime basis, Master?

Take time to seriously think about it before it happens, it is easy to ’own’ a slave online whereas owning a girl offline is far different. Think about how you will handle the girl’s struggles as she settles into her role in life, can you handle the ups and downs? Can you handle the frustrations you will feel at times? All in all the best advice is to be honest with yourself, can you handle the heat? Do you have enough self-Mastery to be able to handle the Mastery of another? Are you consistent in your reactions? Do you KNOW what you expect? Basically perform a lot of introspection before bringing a slave into your life. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that to be a Master means laying back and doing nothing, it takes effort.

That said, make sure you also take care of things such as medical insurance, if bringing her across international borders think about immigration issues. What would happen to the slave if something happened to you? Have a plan in place. You now own something and you are responsible for its care.

Do you see any major differences between your relationship with your slave and any previous long-term relationships that did not involve a slave... outside of the obvious ones because of the dynamic, Master?

That is a tough question girl, as all my adult relationships have been formed on the basis of a Master/slave relationship. So having lived in what at least would be termed TPE (Total Power Exchange) relationship I’ll decline that question.

Whew! That having been said, this girl thanked the Master for his time and scooted off on a scouting trip of London. She managed to make her way through the London streets, after figuring out through trial and error that they drive on the left side of the road over there, (It wasn’t her that caused that pileup, she swears) to gawk at Buckingham palace and try to catch a glimpse of some princely type people. She squeeked in several frustrated attempts to make the guards laugh (although she did come close when she flashed her somewhat less than perky breasts and said "come get these, big boy").

She’s off for another month, reader’s and wishes you all well.

snoopy