The great thing about this column (besides meeting all the fabulous people) is that this girl gets to travel to glamorous locations, experience different cultures, view world renowned sights, and turn in the expenses. ~grins~ With those thoughts in mind, and a bus ticket firmly in hand, this girl made her way to the exotic midwest U.S. to catch up with Master Malkinius in his town of Bloomington, Indiana.

She quickly learned that bus is *not* the way to travel ~grins~. Master Malkinius is a native Hoosier who states he is "real happy not to have Bobby Knight about a mile away anymore making an ass of himself yet again." He attended Indiana University, obtaining a degree in Radio & TV and liked the area so much he stayed. He is married and has "one urchin of the male sort".

In regards to his career(s), Master Malkinius stated that he has "done this and that over the years." He has worked in broadcasting, factories, made metal gaming miniatures, ran a sign and trophy shop, and was at one point a licensed Auctioneer. During the 80’s and 90’s he focused on publishing and desktop publishing, and currently gets to "tell people where to go and what to do when they get there" as a Service Director in the reservations department of a large airline. ~girl makes a note to beg him to trade her bus ticket for a plane ticket~

For fun, Master Malkinius has a love of puns and word play, though his favorite recreations have been adventure and role playing games (wargaming). With a grin he says "hitting my friends with big sticks or trying to run them through with long pieces of steel." An art form which he has been doing and teaching for a long time. ~snoopy tucks her grays under her fedora as he mentions he is an old fart~ Master Malkinius is very amused by all the would be warriors in online Gor who barely know which end of a sword to handle when he has been teaching swordwork for a quarter century. He is a current and long time member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

She was able to ask him the following questions:

How did you find Gor, Master? - In the Indiana University bookstore. That is where I first found a copy of Assassin of Gor. I then bought the other books before and after it and as they came out. I bought most of the books when they were new or at most in their 4th printing. Somewhere in the Jason books I stopped finding them available and did not complete my collection until last August.

How did I find online Gor? Through a local BDSM web site. It had a link to a Gorean web site and from there I kept expanding outward. I had been thinking about going to one of their meetings, but once I found the Gor links I never returned. BDSM is not what I was interested in, just the closest I knew of at the time to what I thought I wanted. I don’t get any pleasure out of inflicting pain on other people. I read the various Gorean web sites for more than a month before I ventured onto IRC and into the silk&Steel very late one night in early May, 1999. After that, it was hard to stay off of IRC. [grins] Until the last two months, I have been online almost every day.

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? - No question about it. I knew I was looking for something that codified what I wished to be, but could not put a name to. I was one of those who needed to rediscover his manhood and Mastery of self in a positive fashion. I would have drifted along at the edge of what is considered socially acceptable thought and practice always being unfulfilled had I not found Gor.

What do you see as being the fundamental characteristics of your life and self that make you Gorean, Master? - Before I found Gor as a lifestyle rather than a series of Science Fiction books, I proved to myself that I was a man. I just never went past that and lived as one. Now, I am doing my best to live as I believe I should live. Honor...Honesty...Responsibility. Those are the traits I have brought from my understanding of the lifestyle into my life.

What is one thing that you think would be important for anyone who knows you to know about you, Master? - I am really much uglier in person than I appear on IRC. [grins] Actually, it is that when I speak seriously, I am as honest as I can be in my statements and they should almost always be taken literally. I weigh my words fairly carefully online or offline, even those meant to be humor. I don’t succeed as well as I would like, but I do try my best. Also, I am one who is willing to help when and where I can, especially with people new to Gor. I still feel the need and the wish to pass on to others the help that was so generously given to me. Finally, what you see of me is what I am. I try to be as much the same online as offline as I can be with the exception that I do move a bit easier online than off. I do often walk with the cane pictured in some of my pictures on my web site ( http://www.freespeech.org/malkinius) (Plug!...Plug!)

What is the one thing you wouldn’t want anyone to know about you, Master? - I am not really as ugly in person as I like to claim. [grins]

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? - I realized very young that I was different, both physically and mentally. This was both good and bad growing up. Mostly it got me in lots of and out of some trouble growing up. The major thing different about me as an adult was that I did not and do not see things as others do, nor did I accept some things that many others easily accept. I almost always wanted to go in my own directions according to what I felt was right. Obviously this caused a lot of friction with others who did not agree with me.

What advice would you give to anyone asking you about this lifestyle, Master? - The only reason you should stick around is if you can’t run fast enough or far enough to get away. Then, if you can’t help coming back...be prepared to spend the rest of your life working at being the person you want and claim to be. Be honest with yourself, especially when you don’t measure up to your own standards, let alone the standards of others you respect. Then you get to work at changing yourself to being Gorean both on and especially offline. This is true both for the free and for slaves. If you can’t look at yourself honestly, even when it is not very pretty, keep going. You don’t have what it takes to be Gorean.

Do you feel that your home environment contributed to the realization that you were Gorean? Especially your upbringing, Master. - My father died when I was three. I was raised by my mother and grandmother. Both of them were strong women. Part of what makes me what I am was a rebelling against being controlled by others, especially women. But I did learn many good things from them, especially my mother. Anyone who was a Girl Scout for over 65 years has learned much worth knowing. I wish I had learned more from her.

What is the one mistake (if any) that you have made that you feel has taught you the greatest lessons about yourself, Master? - My greatest mistake was letting my life drift for too long. Letting others decide what I did. This is not a case of being submissive but simply not caring enough to make my own choices and therefore letting others make them for me. I know that we can not have our own way all of the time in our society. I can live with that. But we must choose for ourselves if we are truly to call ourselves free, and be willing to take the consequences when those choices butt heads with others or when they were the wrong choice.

When asked about slave ownership, Master states - I have had slaves as online only and in an online/offline combination. I have not yet had one live with me 24/7.

Do you see any limitations to your ownership of the slave because of it being online, Master? Why or why not? - You can not fully own a slave unless they are literally at your feet. You can not know all the time if your commands were followed or not. You can have some idea, or know some were or were not, but you will never have certainty. The slave also has her own life that she must lead independent of you. She must make choices with nothing more than your guidelines or trying to decide what would please you to go on. It also depends on the depth of slavery to which you wish to take the slave. Online can at best, only go part way to what is possible offline. I say more about this in an essay on the stages of slavery on my web site. (Plug!...Plug!)

I think having a relationship begin online is a good thing. It gives the Master and slave time to get to know each other, to find out if they can mesh well together. I do think it helps if there are also personal, face to face contacts as well, especially if an offline relationship is contemplated. This expands and extends the online slavery toward the offline one.

What advice would you offer to someone contemplating the step of adding a slave to their household on a full time basis, Master? - The slave I released in January of this year was on her way toward that point, but problems occurred that we could not get beyond. She is a fine girl and a very pleasing slave. I know that she will make some lucky Master very happy. But she could not, at that point, surmount problems that arose and go where I wished to take her so we parted ways. I mention this as an example and a warning to anyone contemplating bringing a slave to them full time to be very sure that both of you are ready for this. It will be a major change in both your lives and routines. It may not work out before they arrive or it may fail not long after they arrive. I know of both happening. Others do fine together for years. Just make sure they everyone knows what is happening and what is expected to happen. Honesty, even if it loses a Master his slave, is better than losing her after she shows up and everything is different from what she thought would happen.

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? - No question about it that they are different. I have compared a Master/slave relationship to a form of marriage. Despite what some say, there is and should be a commitment and responsibility on both sides. The slave gives up all that she is and places it and herself, and sometime the lives of her children, in the hands of her Master. His responsibility and commitment is to her/their welfare and growth. The same responsibility a husband/father have. A man who can not or does not understand, accept and willingly undertake this responsibility should not, in my opinion, take any slave at any level, even online.

Gorean custom relegates a slave to the status of an animal, so the thing to remember is that person inside that collar is real, just as the person on the other end of the computer connection is real. What we do is real and it has real consequences. This is why I use on and offline, not VT (Virtual Time) and RT (Real Time). It is all real time with real people, even the posers and gamers who infest some online places. They can be hurt as well as hurt others.

To a Master, a slave is and can be many things: a servant, a friend, a lover, a student, a spouse, a child, an adversary, a challenge, a family member, a royal pain in the...[ahem] or many many other things....[grins] They are all these things and much more, all tied up in one small word......kajira.

~snaps shut her notebook and grins~ After thanking Master Malkinius for his time, and being unsuccessful in convincing the airlines that a bus ticket was of value, she hopped back aboard the bus and speeded off in the direction of her next victim... er.. interviewee.

For another month, she is
snoopy

Editor’s note: This is snoopy’s last interview, and we thank her so much for her wonderful contributions over the past many months. She’s off to bigger challenges and excitement, and while we will miss her, we can say job well done, and thanks! A new writer will be with us next month, and from what I’ve seen, we will be blessed! P......