Tal Goreans,
Greetings visitors,

Welcome once again to the Booknotes column.

When we last saw Jason Marshall he had succeeded in tracing Beverly Henderson to a public auction and there, for the first time in his life, he purchased a woman of his very own. Since this was the girlfriend from Earth with whom he was brought to Gor in the first place, and whom he has cherished as a romantic ideal ever since, we might be tempted to believe that the happy pair is destined for conjugal bliss with no more ado, were it not for the thick unread portion of the book in the reader’s right hand. Also, there are one or two more plot elements to be developed, and we had better resort once more to Rogue of Gor to find out how things are going.

Chapter Ten

Jason completes the purchase of Beverly, who is made to kneel before him; but he raises her to her feet without more ado. She seems both stunned and overjoyed at becoming his slave. Jason however, even as Beverly is avowing her devoted service and attendance to his every whim, orders her uncollared and sternly forbids her to call him “Master,” for he is plainly still wedded to his preconception that Earth women in general, and especially Beverly, ought not to be the slaves of men. Beverly is horrified, thinking only that Jason does not want her; but within a comparatively little time she manages to adjust to her new freedom. She does this by taking refuge in prissiness, in frigidity, and in disdain for her erstwhile sisters in bondage, all in the space of a few minutes, meanwhile laying down the law to Jason as to the terms and conditions under which she will condescend to share his house. It is plain that Beverly does not intend to earn her keep, having no trade that she can ply on Gor (and Jason’s lame jest that there is one occupation to which all women are suited falls on stony ground, even when he explains that he meant that she could be a cook), and she feels no shame at all about sponging off Jason, for she did not ask to be purchased and so the consequences of his actions are his own to bear. She even announces her intention to force Jason to do half the housework after working all day.

Possibly this is mere passive-aggressive behaviour on Beverly’s part, and she does indeed provoke Jason into laying strong hands upon her, albeit not violent ones, but he is easily shamed into releasing her and indeed feeling properly guilty for his temerity. Additionally, any erotic pleasures he might have hoped to derive from the lovely Miss Henderson are going to be denied him. She draws the line at anything beyond the briefest of kisses, and when he seems inclined to go further than she feels proper, she does not hesitate to inform him that it will be some time, if ever, before she even allows him to kiss her again. Then, pleading a trying day and the proverbial headache, Beverly enters Jason’s lodgings, criticizing them as she goes, and he is left to reflect ruefully on how well her ankles would have looked in slave steel.

Chapter Eleven

Of course, being denied Beverly’s charms does not mean that Jason is doomed to a sexless existence. This is Gor, after all, where there are paga slaves to be had for the price of the cup of drink they come with. On this occasion the paga slave is one Peggy Baxter, formerly of Earth. She has seen Jason before, when his life was saved by the fortunate intervention of Callimachus (see last month’s Booknotes), but also before then, on his last night on Earth; she was the hat-check girl in the restaurant to which Jason took his date. Comparing notes with her and remembering what the slavers said when they picked up Beverly and himself, Jason deduces that Peggy was their very next capture, and so it might not be called too much of a coincidence that their paths should cross now. (On the other hand, considering the random turns and twists of their lives since that event!)

Peggy is extremely surprised to learn that Jason was himself brought to Gor as a slave, and believes that he is teasing her, for no man of Earth could be as strong and as Gorean as he is. She speaks of the men of Earth in the usual disparaging tones: as being weak, divided against themselves, and tortured. But she is by no means unhappy with her present lot. She longed for it on Earth but dared not speak of it, for fear of criticism by men or unhappy, frustrated women. Granted that freedom is very precious, and Peggy often misses it, especially when she is made to do something she does not wish to do, she is still happy beyond belief at being made slave and put in her proper position with respect to strong and exacting men.

Inevitably the conversation gets around to Beverly, and Jason is still in denial over her slave nature. Norman puts the usual ironic speech into his mouth, when Peggy avers that those who argue for equality of the sexes are only an eccentric minority: “It is important to cater to the few, though it may in time spell doom and pain to the many.” But Peggy is still of the opinion that Jason should treat ‘the other girl” with uncompromising mastery, and that if she is troublesome, Jason should buy a whip.

Chapter Twelve

The relationship between Jason and Beverly continues along the lines of a Fifties TV show, with Beverly being less and less inclined to do anything to maintain either the relationship or the household, stating that if Jason wants slave work done about the house then he should buy a slave. She is also critical of just about everything within her power to criticize, such as the fact that the master bed has a slave ring at its foot and that Jason frequents paga taverns and no doubt enjoys the female comforts thereof. At length she retires to her room and, despite Jason’s clearly-expressed intent that she should not do so, she bolts the door behind her. Jason calmly eats a meagre supper out of the little food that there is in the house, Beverly having been too idle to shop for more, and then goes and breaks the door down, strips her, and tosses her in the slave kennel for the night.

Chapter Thirteen

At about sunrise Jason returns home and releases Beverly from her kennel. They exchange some polite talk, about such topics as his doings that night, and the guardsmen from Ar’s Station who are searching for a topaz. This stone is intended as a symbol of unity among the river pirates, and it wants only that the stone should reach the stronghold of Policrates (see last month) for untold rampage and destruction to be loosed all along the river. How Goreans in general, and Jason and Beverly in particular, come to be so well versed in river-pirate politics, this writer leaves as an exercise for the student.

On impulse Beverly flings herself to her knees before Jason, begging to be re-enslaved and promising him perfect service, but he affects disgust at this and categorically refuses to take her up on it, even though she skillfully argues for the rightness of such a course of action. She even begs to be taken to the market and sold as a slave, if he will not use her as such; or to be allowed to earn her keep, even as a free woman. Jason refuses both requests. Then his attention is drawn to a foreign object in his money-pouch. It is a topaz.

Chapter Fourteen

Deciding that he will have a house slave to attend to chores and other comforts, Jason returns home with Lola, she who used to treat him spitefully when he was still a lady’s slave in training. She is not slow to notice Beverly about the place, free and uncollared, and remarks disparagingly that Jason hasn’t changed; but she learns differently when Jason ties her to the slave ring and gives her a sound whipping. From then on she makes the most diligent and industrious of house slaves, to say nothing of eager and passionate when it comes to serving Jason’s intimate pleasures.

Beverly soon sees that there are certain advantages to having a slave about the place, but it is plain to see that she is jealous of Lola, and with much reason, for Jason naturally sees no reason to hide the fact that he sends Lola to his room and will use her for his pleasure there. Moreover he ousts Beverly from the larger of the bedrooms in order that he may have it (it is the one with a slave ring at the foot of the couch, for a start), and in general could hardly rub it in harder if he tried. When Jason points out the many things he has lavished on Beverly - freedom, respect, financial security, safety - she bitterly points out the one thing he has denied her: a collar.

Chapter Fifteen

Jason returns home later to find the place ransacked and both Lola and Beverly bound and gagged. Someone has been to search for the topaz and Beverly admits sorrowfully that she revealed its presence to the man in question, but is distressed to learn that Jason had already hidden it elsewhere without telling her. This turns out to be just as well and may even have saved her life, as the ransacker assumed that she was an ignorant slave when he did not find the topaz where she said.

Beverly points out that, as she is bound and helpless, there is nothing to prevent Jason from using her as a slave; but this he will not do. Even when she tells him that the ransacker raped her and forced her to orgasm, and claims that Jason could never do the same, he does not rise to the challenge, which does not endear him to her.

Chapter Sixteen

Unable to bear the thought of Jason contenting himself with Lola and ignoring her, Beverly exercises her presumed right as a free woman and sells her while Jason is out. She times the sale carefully for early in the day so that it is guaranteed that Lola will be re-sold and gone without a trace before Jason finds out about it. Jason sets out for the wharves to try to find Lola, but we can guess that he will not find her.

Chapter Seventeen

Accordingly, an angry Jason is contenting himself with Peggy, who is ably playing the tart-with-a-heart for him, inviting him to punish her by way of relief. When she learns that Beverly is the cause of the trouble she once again urges Jason to enslave her, but this he will not do, for Earth women are never to be punished no matter what they do. The thought that Beverly, enslaved, would have no choice but to do exactly as she was told, does however appeal to Jason’s id, to his and Peggy’s mutual enjoyment; and he asks later if Peggy is contented, and she confirms that she most certainly is.

Chapter Eighteen

Jason finds himself seized and put to the question concerning the pirate topaz and the possibility that he might indeed be the courier of Ragnar Voskjard, but there is not enough evidence to convict him. Indeed, there is nothing against him but the testimony of Beverly, and the disgusted captain of Port Cos heading the investigation confirms to Jason’s loyal employer that this has happened with another four discontented women already.

As Jason is released, the Port Cosian captain advises him that the other men so inconvenienced by the malice of their women promptly collared them, and recommends that he do the same; but Jason refuses to do so to a woman of Earth. Even when she begs Jason repeatedly to enslave her he will not do so, but opts to leave her untouched and instead content himself with the paga slaves, whom Beverly hates and envies.

Chapter Nineteen

Being about his business as a dock worker, Jason has the good fortune to happen upon a fleeing thief who did not know that it was a bad idea to approach within arm’s reach of a former fighting slave, and one who is still in excellent trim. This pleases the Merchant whom the thief had robbed, and he rewards Jason with the considerable sum of a silver tarsk, to universal applause. The Merchant, Glyco of Port Cos, is looking for Callimachus, and Jason is happy to direct him to the tavern of Tasdron; but as for the unfortunate thief, Jason suggests he be let off with the good hiding he has already had and a warning to leave town within the day.

Chapter Twenty

Having failed to give Jason a big enough clue, Beverly takes drastic action, going out drinking in a low dive of a tavern, and with Kliomenes the pirate at that. Although Jason tries strenuously to persuade Beverly to return with him, he is forced to flee in the face of numerous armed men, and Beverly only insists merrily (and somewhat in defiance of the obvious signs) that she is in no danger. Unfortunately, there is subsequently no sign of her, at least not within the next day and a half, and we can draw the obvious conclusion.

At this juncture we must leave Jason, Beverly, and all questions having to do with topazes and so on. Jason having so dismally mismanaged his relationship with his lovely kept woman, we may justifiably enquire whether he deserves a second chance, and what the odds are of his getting one now that she is presumably in the clutches of one of the river’s most powerful pirates. But it is slightly odd that anyone should be actively seeking after Callimachus, once a fell Warrior but now a hopeless old soak, and we may wonder what’s afoot there. Persons wishing to find out had better report here next month, when we shall take our third look at Rogue of Gor.

I wish you well,

Socrates