In this, ~~ meet the people we talk with ~~,
we present sierra`, who will bring us some insight into her second victim - Gorm

"What is it that you would impart to me?"

If it aught to the general good.
Set Honor in one eye, and death in the other,
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the Gods so speed me as I Love
The name of honor more than I fear death."

Julius Caesar   act I scene II
       by William Shakespeare

This month we travel to the wide open areas of the United States to meet Master Gorm who resides in a small town (population of 20,000) known as Poplar Bluff in the ‘Show-Me’ state of Missouri. As several who have consented to be interviewed will attest, curiosity can be illuminating, yet tiring in the quest to understand more about the man behind the name. It came as no surprise that he does not own a slave, since being Gorean encompasses a philosophy not dictated by the slavery issue which is, as in most societies, an economical issue only and not one that drives the philosophy. He was refreshingly blunt, remarkably candid, and interjected bits of humor into our talk.

True to a renaissance man style, Master Gorm is well-spoken, drawing from a vast array of life experiences. He currently works in a plastics molding factory, but has held a number of diversified positions in the past ranging from postal carrier, security guard, clothing salesman, power station boiler operator to being on the staff of a large homeless shelter for several years. It came as no surprise since he is studied the American Civil War since childhood and still tours battlefields, learning more about that turbulent part of American history, that Master Gorm had also owned his own business – an art gallery dedicated to the art of the Civil War period.

Having already visited an astounding number of foreign countries, fourteen to be exact throughout North America, Europe and Asia, there are still many regions of the world that Master Gorm would like to explore.

"I think I would most like to visit Australia, England, Ireland, and Africa. The Amazon area of South America would be high on the list as well." An invitation to visit England is, of course, extended to him.

Goreans seem to pack a lot of living into their comparative years of age. For those who are interested in the statistics, Master Gorm is 55 years young and has a son who is 21 years old, two daughters, aged 23 and 19 years, and is in the process of adopting his step-daughter from his third marriage. These are, perhaps, important facts to remember in revelations made throughout the interview. In addition to his concentrated study of the American Civil War, he enjoys outdoor sports (perhaps a study should be done sometime on the correlation between Goreans and the outdoors!), such as camping, hiking and fishing. Of course, it goes without saying that the internet is a major source of enjoyment.

Claiming the caste of scarlet is a natural for this veteran of the Vietnam War where he was a Medic involved in air rescue until he became discouraged at being fired upon without being able to defend himself and left the medical field. He turned his energies into being an infantryman, serving in the National Guard for twelve years.

The Gorean philosophy effects all portions of his life. His three adult children all know about the lifestyle and has seen the results of it upon his life, although he is not certain that they completely understand it.

"I have taken very much of the Gorean philosophy into my off-line life; I cannot think of a single area of my life, from my relationship with my family to my political beliefs that is not guided by my understanding of Gor. I do not think that my home environment ‘growing up’ did contribute much [to the realization that he was Gorean]. In fact, it may have been one of the factors that slowed down the realization. My father was a very weak man in many ways, and more a negative role model than anything else."

His soft smile lighted his face as he discussed how wandering into a Gorean room helped him through a devastating part of his life when his second marriage of seventeen years dissolved, the break up not caused by his actions. "I had pretty much given up on everything that I had once held dear, and then I happened into a Gorean room. That is when I began the realization that the fault lay elsewhere and not with me."

He continued on to speak about his formative years, relating as do so many Goreans that he realized that he was different than those people around him. "There seemed to be so many things, some going way back to my earliest memories that tended to make me think I was a bit out of sync with the norm.   Perhaps, the very first thing, and this came when I was around 13 years old, was the realization that I did not seem to possess the same level of jealousy that I observed in other boys when it came to girls.   I was living in Germany at the time, and remember my disgust at my friends whom upon breaking up with a girl would cry and wring their hands.  Or would whimper and beg to be taken back.  Or would grow angry and violent.   Or would talk of suicide.    I, from the very beginning, seemed to sense that something was out of whack with all that.  I think from the very first, I would merely shrug, and think to myself something along the lines of ‘Doubtless there are other sluts in Ar.’"

His deep laughter as he recalled that his manner of coping with the realization that he was not the same as other societal male members certainly made this one smile. He coped by having what he terms as an exceptionally large number of girlfriends. It is easy to imagine the consternation of his friends when he through his seemingly indifferent attitude toward women actually caused the women to flock to him instead of those males who were considered ‘more enlightened’ and in touch with the females.

"For a man not particularly handsome, I have always had great success attracting women.  I did not understand it for many years, or attributed it to the wrong things, but have come to understand it now. In fact, I notice it even more, now that I understand Gorean philosophy, and the true nature of females.   My attraction to females was always my underlying indifference to them.  Perhaps, a better way to put it is that I never looked up to their pedestals, but rather looked down on them from mine.   I have learned that this is bound to cause a reaction in a female.  Unfortunately, many of them, these days, react with anger and resentment, but the ones in whom even the smallest amount of their true female still burns find it irresistible."

Since he had brought up the clear attraction that women seem to have for Gorean men, it seemed an opportune moment to inquire a bit deeper into his relationship with the female in his life. Having already ascertained that he did not own a slave currently and that he was married, he was asked about his relationship and whether his wife was cognizant of his Gorean beliefs, as well as a bevy of other questions (interviewing is such fun since it gives a slave the opportunity to ask so many questions!).

"I am going to lump all of these questions into one, and explain my marriage.   I am married to a former slave.  I met her online, and she was, at first, just one of many "tavern sluts" that wore the collar of my online tavern.  We did meet in real life when she came to visit me, and a few months later, we began to live together. I decided to marry her after a year, and among the reasons for this decision was her 6 year old daughter(now 8). I guess it was natural, by my understanding of Gorean thought, to take responsibility for the child as well as the mother, and certain matters, not the least of which was custody, were made easier by the legal Marriage.

"After sometime, and feeling that the girl had gained all the benefits that slavery was likely to give her, I freed her, to run my home, continue her career, and raise the child.   Her understanding of her role, and her status in my home was unchanged.  I decided against the idea of a FC contract for the simple reason that this was the legal system of Gor, but not of Earth.  Since the marriage took place for largely legal reasons it made no sense to try to deal with the situation with a fictional system rather than a reality based one.  In any case, I have no attention of allowing her to leave in a year, and would put her back in a collar first.

"I think that the FC contract idea would work with "single" couples, electing to live together without legal, or child bearing, responsibilities. Indeed, it might be a better system, but it is not the system we have.

"Of course, my wife fully understands Gor, and what it means to me.  I can not imagine living with a women that did not.   It seems to me that a Gorean man must live with a Gorean women, or several of them if he wishes, or he must live alone.   If he were truly Gorean, and married to a non-Gorean girl, he would quickly find himself locked up."

He and his wife seem to have a very sensible and healthy approach to dealing with children within their relationship. As we found out earlier in our talks, his older children are aware of his Gorean beliefs. It came as no surprise that he did not see it necessary to discuss such beliefs with his eight-year-old daughter, and her life is enriched with Gorean beliefs through example, with behavior inappropriate to a child’s knowledge being kept private.

"We have one child, an eight year [old] girl. I am involved in what has been a long drawn out legal hassle to adopt her.  She is aware of Gor to a certain extent.  The extent is limited to knowing the word, and that it has something to do with books.  I threaten her, when she is bad, with being thrown to urts, or tell her ‘don't be scared, but I am really an urt that ate your daddy and took his body.’

"Her understanding of Gor ends there.  This creates no problems, as I think that regardless of what "lifestyle" one lives, the things of adults are kept to adults, and bedrooms have doors.   Of course, it is a bit simpler with her mother being an FW, but even when, at first, she was slave, it was just a matter, of being appropriate around her.  I did not tie her mother naked to the legs of the dining room table while the little one ate her macaroni and cheese.

"On the other hand, I did not come to Gor via the D/s route, and lifestyle to me means the way you live your life, and not what you do in your bedroom, or at weekend gathering with similarity minded friends.  She is being exposed to Gorean philosophy everyday, in its forms of honesty, personal responsibility, environmental awareness, and the proper status of females.  This latter amounts now to little more than an occasional counter to a bit of sexist conditioning, but she learns the most from watching her mother, an intelligent, capable, talented female who knows that she is a female, does not wish to be anything but, and knows that no matter how lovely the word compromise might be, a democracy can not have an even number of voters.  Someone has to be the tie breaker.

"It seems to me that should this exposure continue, the child willnot need to be anyone’s slave, as she will be a true female, sure of herself, and her proper role and place in society."

As always curious about the Gorean man’s perspective on females, the conversation drifted to his views on slaves. Although many of us live within our interpretations of Gorean philosophy, the many on-line chat mediums do play a part in our quest to find others who are like-minded. Keeping that in mind, we discussed not only his views on the realities of slavery, but also his ideas concerning on-line slaves.

"Unowned slaves do create a bit of a problem in online Gor, especially in certain venues, in that they become the focus of all the interaction, and enjoy too much freedom to flit about from room to room.  When the room owners are looking for girls to serve in the rooms, these group of wandering slaves become not unlike the free agents of American Sports, much in demand, and demanding much in return.  However, I do not know quite know what to do about it, as the slavery is and must be consensual, and forced online slavery is a farce and a game.   I do think girls who do not have "Masters" are often wise to wear the collars of a "room or tavern" to at least bring some semblance of sense and order to the community.

"The two things that I look for in a slave are femaleness and intelligence.  I make a distinction between "femininity" and "femaleness" only because I think that how many view femininity is a bit off base.  It implies too much weakness.  I think females are strong, and capable of much.  The natural order, to me does not mean that females are weak, mewling doormats.  It implies that males and females are different, not the same, and relate to one another in different ways.  A girl can not really understand her nature, or mine, if she is not intelligent.  A female who is a slave because she is too dense to be anything else holds no attraction to me, regardless of how she looks, or how sexual she may be.

"I can not stand slaves who try to "top from the bottom" or just use their slavery as a means to try to be the center of attention or in control.

"I have owned many slaves. Most have been online; one was full time offline. I think that online slavery can serve many functions, and we are blessed with the Internet technology that makes online slavery possible.  Although it will never be as "potential filling" as real life slavery, it is sometimes all that can be, and sometimes that is enough.  Or at least better than nothing.  The limitations, of course, are the ability to withdraw from it at will with the click of a button, and a "my server was down" excuse, while the real life slave has no such opportunity to use this "safe guard".  It leaves it more to the girl online.  She will get out of it what she wants.  The man is not bearing the same responsibility.  Offline, the man bears it all, having to guide her 24/7."

A smile came to this one and a light winked in her eyes as she listened to how his on-line slave made the trip across country to submit herself as his slave. It was refreshing to hear yet another man talk about how the exterior trappings are not as important as what is inside the person. It also brought back memories of a trip across an ocean to meet a man who a girl had only known through the world of mIRC and telephone and kneeling at an airport, knowing that she was where she belonged at long last.

"My real life experience of an online slave moving to real life?  She came to me, a long trip across country, to submit herself, and change her online collar for a real life one.    I will have to admit that by the time the meeting took place, we knew each other quite well.  So often, we all take our digs at the Internet as a shallow place, where it is easy to deceive and pretend, and we tout real life meetings as the only way to really get to know one another, but in male/female meetings, we miss an important point.  We are very conditioned in this world to judge exterior looks.  Things like physical appearance, clothing, our material surroundings, all influence our judgements.   But love is a thing of the soul and of the mind.  It lives in the places we can not see with our eyes.

"How many fall in love with the eyes, the legs, the breasts, the ass, and fall into a relationship or a marriage based on these things, and divorce five years later, because the attraction was never one of soul or of mind, and upon these things are real relationships built.  It is possible, when people are honest online, to do better.  We get to know only the words and the thoughts of another, and learn of them unprejudiced by physical appearance.

"My slave’s first words to me, upon are first meeting, and remember, she had never even seen a picture, were... "You are not so bad!"  This was important because she had come to submit herself to me, and was going to do so.  My appearance was something she was going to have to put up with rather than what had prompted her decision to submit.  Lucky for her I am a handsome devil."

It has long been this one’s opinion that the high rate of divorce and failed relationships in mainstream society stems from not only a lack of commitment, but also from an obsession with outward appearances and a failure for either party to accept the responsibility for control (or the giving up of control). Master Gorm reinforced that opinion as he talked about the differences in ‘modern’ relationships and those involving Goreans.

"Of course, I see a difference in a household that involves a slave, or even a former slave, free at the whim of her man.   I am very surprised at the fact that the divorce rate in our society is up around 60%, and not that it is that high, but rather it is that low. I fail to understand how any marriage can long survive structured the way they are today.  It goes back to the club with only two members idea, who is the tie breaker?  Families and relationships will continue to deteriorate until something changes.  However, the Gorean household, reflecting as it does the "old" way, has a chance to last, and leads to a much more happy and satisfying situation for both parties."

He has very strong opinions concerning male slaves and in free women owning slaves.

"I do not think there is any place for male slaves in the real world.  I think the existence of male slaves in the books was an example of the negative lesson of the fiction.  The men captured and held, as in the mines of Tharna, or the Salt pits of Klima were struggling for their freedom.  The "silk slaves" as the ones in the women’s holding in tribesmen, and mentioned in other books represented the weakened, pathetic males, that are controlled and dominated by females.  It shows where we are headed, not as we should be.  In our world where the problem is the feminization of men, we should not have to tolerate male slaves, nor wish to encourage our Free Women to collar them.

"Free women holding slaves represents the D/s influence in Gor.  They are the Dommes, and their philosophy suggests that the world is divided into two types of people, not male and female, but dominant and submissive.  This is not what Gor suggests to me.  It is the more politically correct outlook.  Women are the same as men?  They can make as good firemen, soldiers, Masters? Sheesh!!

"No, they should not [own slaves].  As I said, Gor is about men being more masculine, and females being more feminine.  The movement of men in our society into a state of almost virtual slavery to women is the problem, not part of the solution."

Master Gorm believes that Gorean free women have a definite place in Gorean society, though he feels that his views may be a bit radical.

"I most certainly do think they have a place in the Gorean lifestyle.  I think my views on that subject might be a bit radical, but hey,  I think the creation of a society in which all or most of our women are Gorean FW should be the goal of the Gorean Movement anyway.  I see slavery, often as a transitional phase our females must go through to reach the goal of themselves.  The books say it with phrase like, "once she became a true slave, she finally found true freedom."  Perhaps, one way to describe it would be to compare it to Marine Corps boot camp, where through a bit of rough training that includes a bit of humiliation, a person is reduced to his basic humanity, and then can be built up to be a Marine.  First the crap of society has to be scrapped away.   The condition of slavery is needed for many women to likewise reduce them to their basic female self.  When this happens, one can build her up to what she should have been all along.  A true female. Were I given the choice between a society in which all our females were chattel, and we could sell them, break up their families, kill them at will, or a society where all our women were true Gorean Free Women, fully aware of who and what they were, and what their relationship to males was, I would certainly opt for the second choice.

"The ideal Free woman is the proverbial "slut in bed, lady in the sitting room."  A woman who totally understands what being female means, and understands men and how she should relate to them."While agreeing with the oft-stated saying that ‘all women look best in collars,’ Master Gorm further opined "the total condition of slavery is just a step on the journey toward being a Gorean FW.  I think that most of the examples of FW given in the books were used as negative examples.  In other words, Norman was saying this is what a women should not be. The vast majority of submissive women, mothers, companions were not much mentioned, but rather assumed."

He has several years of college and feels that the majority of Goreans are above average in education as well as in intelligence. "This is not strange, however, Gor is about philosophy, and must be gleaned from the reading and understanding of 25 books. Philosophy is not a popular attraction to the uneducated or the dumb."

Like so many others, Master Gorm just wandered into a Gorean room on one of the many chat venues at first.

"I got my online start on Yahoo, and the Three Moons Tavern was my first room visited. I actually wandered into it by hitting the wrong button, but I stopped and looked around because I was familiar with the books.  I had read the first ten, many years before, and had kept them among my books for a long time, until finally my [then current] wife threw them away, because of their ‘trashy’" covers. I was both amazed, and hooked from day one.

"I think more of the positive side of chat mediums.  Of course, there are the jerks, the trollers, the liars, the switches, we all know about them. I also get a bit frustrated at the non physical nature of the chat room.  It is a bit along the lines of the comment in Tarnsman about pencil chested weaklings pushing buttons and decimating armies.  I wish I had a tarsk bit for every female that said she was going to "bitch slap" me if I did not shut up, although I can not think of a single time in the same period that any female said that to me in person.  The chat medium makes bold those who might not otherwise be so, and although there might be something good said about anything that makes a person stronger, writing tough words behind the locked door of your bedroom does little for ones character.

"I have taken a lot of flack for my defense of role play, and my conviction that it does little to hurt real life Goreans.  In order to understand my thoughts, one must share my definition of the difference between gamer and role player.  I call one a gamer who pretends to be what he is not for the purpose of fooling and/or taking advantage of someone else.  A role player is one who plays a game, by a set of rules, with the full knowledge of all other players that it is a game and ends when the computer is turned off. Some say this kind of "play" harms our reputations as if Goreans are enjoying a great deal of popularity in the present culture, and our PR people don't want the hint of scandal.  Sheesh, in parts of the country, men would be lynched from oak trees by mobs of pitchfork waving feminists if they had idea what we really believed. Gor role play games no more hurt the Gorean community than bags of toy soldiers hurt the army, or little league baseball hurts the Major Leagues.  Now, the gamers are another story.

"Predators, and it is hard to spot them on the Internet; hell, it is not that easy to spot them in real life.

"Perhaps it is my age, but I stand in awe of the Internet.  I can not imagine the way the world has shrunk. I am fond of history, and it has given me much appreciation for the past.  I know that a trip to Sikestown from my hometown, 40 miles away, would take two days just 100 years ago, and now I am served by a slave in Belgium, while I talk to a friend in Australia, and play a hotly contested game of chess with a man in Portugal.  This is its greatest strength.  We can form communities of like minded people all over the world, and communicate almost instantly with them.

"I think online Gor is having growing pains.  There has been an explosion of interest, and this does not surprise me.  It is a reflection of the times.  It is society looking to correct its unbalance.  It will continue to grow, and the warfare between the sexes will continue to escalate.  Yet, it is filled with the very elements that it seeks to repress.  The rooms I fear and detest are not the ones where boys boast of being Ubars and spar with their keyboard driven swords, at least they are playing the game correctly.  It is the men who sit around the rooms moping over girls like love sick puppy dogs, and call themselves Gorean men.  Or the ones who take offense if you are a bit rude to the "warrior queen of the room" and hasten to her defense, all the time looking over their shoulder in the hopes she will grace them with a glance at a cyber tit.   The newer, gentler Gor, they call it.  They claim their right to express their Goreanism anyway they want.  They have "rites".  This is the danger to online Gor, that it be overrun and dragged down by the very elements whose existence gave Norman the inspiration to write the books -- The weak."

Much has been debated recently about meeting other Goreans in real life and the inherent dangers that could arise. There are Goreans living near to Master Gorm and he has met some of them.

"I would love to meet more, and would be willing to travel a bit to do it. It was an awesome experience [when I first met other Goreans in real life].   The first one was a slave, and next came other men. Online was never the same after that, and became just a way to meet, across great distance, and never again an end in itself.

I can honestly say that everyone I have met did live up to expectations.  More importantly, they were what they projected themselves to be online.  Now, I did not particularly like everyone of them.  Some I did not like at all, and had, and still have very deep philosophical differences.  Yet, they were who they said they were, and this was the most important thing.  I think one’s willingness to meet offline goes a long way toward establishing the truth of who they say they are.  It is harder to fool one who looks into your eyes, than one whose words are all have to judge him.

"Off line meetings are the next logical step in the evolution of the Gorean Community. I would encourage them wherever and however possible.  The Internet has given us a chance to meet and to find each other, but our future is not on the web, but face to face.  Of course, caution must be used, and issues like unowned slaves, and the risks that offline meetings involve must be taken into consideration at every step.  But as a Warrior, I think caution is good anyway. It always pays off in the end, and does little harm.  As intelligent people, Goreans should easily come up with ways to insure that meetings go well, and do not lead to disaster.  Meeting first in a public place, things like that lessen the dangers, and anyone who would object to caution, even by a slave, is a fool, and sends up a red flag anyway.

"I certainly think it helps [to look into another’s eyes to determine whether he is Gorean], but con men have looked people in the eye while their hands picked their pockets forever, but we must not let that stop us from trying, and giving men the benefit of the doubt. The good thing about Gorean philosophy is that it calls for a certain type of specific behavior, and one who is really not sincere about it, will show his true face before long."

Accrediting awareness of the Gorean lifestyle with effecting his life in general, he stated that he had been very frustrated, almost certain that he was crazy for holding different beliefs from those around him. The first time he read the books many years ago, he feels that he was not ready for the knowledge contained within the many pages. However, "the second time through them brought some specific things into pretty clear relief.  The Gorean lifestyle taught me that I was the one who had been right all along."

His view on whether someone can learn to be Gorean may be seen by some others as radical, since it is contrary to what many others believe.

"I think the everyone learns to be Gorean, and most are still learning. Some men say they were Gorean all along, and just had to read the books to discover that someone had put a name on it.  Yet, this misses an important point.  The novels are long, and present the Philosophy both in a positive "this is what Goreans do", as well as a negative "this is what Goreans don't do."  It takes awhile to run this all through the filter of reality, and Earth, and determine which is which.  That is why so many newcomers still claim that one can be a thief and a Gorean, because there were thieves in the books. Goreans are not ‘people who live on Gor.’

"Being Gorean means understanding and adhering to the philosophy contained in the Gor novels.  There is a great deal of debate on this.  What are the "fundamental truisms" of Gor, that one must accept to be considered a Gorean.  I think if I found something in the Philosophy that I could not accept at all, I would be fine.  I would still be a fan of the series, but I would not presume to call myself Gorean."

Although he believes that others can learn to be Gorean, he doesn’t offer any easy prescription and, instead, says that those who think they have the right stuff must study, read, dissect, and think.

"Read all the books, not just one or two.  Keep your mind open, and translate what Norman is saying happened on Gor into what has happened, is happening, or could happen here on Earth."

"The fundamental characteristic of my life and self that makes me Gorean is that I am focused on the "Home Stone."  It is a matter of priority.  Myself, those I am responsible for, and my home are most important.  What is happening on the other side of the earth is the least important.  The vast majority of the world around me views it just the opposite."

Taking a deep breath it was time to go into some of the hotly debated issues of the last several months. Since this one had learned to expect the unexpected answers from Master Gorm, she settled back with a faint smile as she asked about whether he felt that he had paid a price for being Gorean and whether he found being Gorean difficult.

"I have often heard people say this, and have never understood it. Some talk of the price one pays each day to be Gorean, as if they have to pay monthly dues.  I find Gorean philosophy to be liberating. It has taken away confusion, and broke years of conditioning. It was difficult trying to be Non Gorean all those years.  It was difficult to be living outside the natural order, and out of harmony with my genetic makeup.  Before it was like trying to paddle upstream, and now it is like floating down stream."

Not categorizing himself as a leader in the Gorean community, nor in the real life community, one can see the small shrug as he states that he is a leader in his household only."At one time I was a bit of a leader in a small corner of the online world, but no longer.  And I think I am a bit too outspoken, and a bit to argumentative to make a good leader now."

Perhaps it is how he perceives his responsibility to the Gorean community now and where he sees it in twenty years that can best explain why he doesn’t believe he is a leader.

"Although this is never the popular answer to a question like this, the bottom line is that my only responsibility to the Gorean community is to take care of myself, and what belongs to me.  Someone said, "Just think, if everyone took care of themselves, everyone would be taken care of."  There are, however, things I can give back to the Gorean community.  It is just that I feel no obligation to do so.

"I am not sure that it will be called Gorean in twenty years, but it will exist, and quite stronger than now.  I think that society and culture tend to work like a pendulum, swinging from one extreme to the other, trying to reach the middle.  Our society is in shambles.  Far worse than most will even admit, and it is so because of the very things Norman wrote about. The turning away from our natural selves, and the natural order is the cause.  The sexual warfare will increase, and a male "counter-revolution" of which the Gorean phenomena is the tip of the iceberg will emerge to recapture Man's birthright."

Several soft chuckles were artfully hidden when Master Gorm stated that his greatest fault was that he had a hard time keeping his opinion to himself. Having asked dozens of complex questions and receiving well-thought out, strong answers which were articulated in an easily understood fashion, it was easy to see why he views his greatest asset as his ability to communicate well.

"I suppose that my greatest asset is the ability to express myself verbally.  This has made the online world much easier to get along in, and made it possible for me to show people what I am really like using only the words on a monitor in a chat room."

While he had a ready answer to what he found his least favorite and most favorite books of the series, he thought a bit about his favorite quote.

"Damn, that is certainly a hard one.  How to pick between so many.   If I was forced to pick tonight, I would have to go with the part in the tomb of Torvald.   "If the land is to be saved, it is by us, and others like us, that it must be saved.  There are no spells, no Gods, heroes to save us."   from Page 235, Marauders of Gor.   This quote speaks to my sense that the increasing popularity of Gor is but the vanguard of a movement to turn society from some of the paths of destruction it is following.   However, tomorrow, I must likely would pick another favorite.

"I guess I would have to say Marauders [is his most favorite book].  After all, Gorm that plucky second to Ivar Forkbeard is in it, although he does little more than tie up newly acquired bondmaids. There were none of the books that I did not like.  If I had to pick a least [favorite], I guess it would be Tarnsman.    It was too broad, and did not reflect Gor as Norman would later develop it.  I do like the book, however."This man openly shares much of what made him into the man he is today, not hiding even the most painful of events. When asked if there were one mistake which he had made that taught him the greatest lessons about himself, there was an audible pause before he talked candidly about his second marriage.

"This is another hard question for me, that touches on a very personal matter.  My second marriage lasted for sometime, and produced three wonderful children, but ended badly.  I think my mistake was to deny the feelings that I had in me, and try hard to be the sensitive, and caring husband, who was actually little more than a "helpmate" to his wife.  Looking back I realize that not only did that behavior actually contribute to the ultimate breakup, it might have actually caused it.  My understanding of the true nature of male/female roles indicates that, had I been a bit tougher, I might have had a better chance."

One of the areas which Goreans seem to share a common love for is history. Because of Master Gorm’s avowed interest in history and its study, he was asked if he believed there was one event in history that shaped modern society more than others.

"I think one thing that has shaped modern society in a negative way might be the wars of mass destruction that started about 150 years ago with the invention of the rifled firearm.   World War I and World War II killed virtually a whole generation of the best young men in the world.   This loss of life weakened the gene pool, often taking the bravest and the most committed, as well as the strongest and most healthy men out, and leaving the weaker behind.    At the same time, the vast technological revolution came along, and made it possible for men to be weak, and still survive, and even prosper.  Two hundred years ago, where I live now, a weak man would not have lasted a day, let alone bred and raised offspring.    He lived with his weapon close at hand, and depended on his strength and courage and skill to feed his family as well as keeping savages from hauling them off.   Now, he depends on the Piggly Wiggly Food Store and the town police.   And of course, into the vacuum of weak men, came women,  who would have tried to take over since the caveman days, and did when they could, but now there was little opposition."

In closing, he felt that it was important that others know he is no different in real life than he is on-line.

"I think it is important that people know that, even if they disagree with me, find me obnoxious, or totally dislike me, I am who I am, and have never pretended to be anything or anyone else.

"I invite any discussion on these or other matters.  I can be reached via email link at http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/xanth/891/index.htm or on the message board which is also linked on that website."

This slave would like to thank Master Gorm for spending so much time answering her seemingly endless questions with a candidness and forthrightness that was truly illuminating and, hopefully, allows others to see the man behind the postings on the various venues.

Next month, we meet a man who few have heard of, but who is currently playing a significant role in the research of the Gorean books and has studied both John Norman and Gor and how it relates to his and others’ lives. A truly unique and rare interview for which this one is humbly grateful.