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Tales of Nevèrÿon collects a preface (to the entire series) and five sword
and sorcery stories by Samuel R. Delany; and finally an appendix. The
stories are "The Tale of Gorgik," "The Tale of Old Venn," "The Tale of
Small Sarg," "The Tale of Potters and Dragons," and "The Tale of Dragons
and Dreamers." It is the first of the four-volume Return to Nevèrÿon
series. This article discusses the five stories collected in the book.
Discussions of overall plot, setting, characters, themes, structure, and
style of the series are found in the main series article.

-The Tale of Gorgik-

In his youth Gorgik is one of the “brown, respectable” people of Kolhari,
the major port of Nevèrÿon. (“His mother from time to time claimed eastern
connections with one of the great families of fisher women in the Ulvayn
Islands: she had the eyes but not the hair. His father was a sailor, who,
after a hip injury at sea, fixed himself to the port of Kolhari, where he
worked as a waterfront dispatcher.” So opens “The Tale of Gorgik” [1976].)
Because of a radical takeover of the government when he is sixteen, Gorgik
is captured and taken as a slave to work in an obsidian mine—not all the
slaves are blond, blue-eyed barbarians. But the ones who are
darker-skinned generally fare better than those who are not. Soon Gorgik
is a mine foreman. When he is twenty-one, Gorgik is purchased by the
Vizerine Myrgot as her catamite, and is taken to live in the castle of the
Child Empress Ynelgo, back in Kolhari, where he gets his first taste of
the advantages (and disadvantages) of life among royalty. Eventually the
Vizerine frees him and secures him a commission in the army. Finally,
however, Gorgik becomes an outlaw, for a while even working as a guard for
a slave pen. But he is so disgusted by what he sees there that he goes
back to being an outlaw, working to free all the slaves of Nevèrÿon, no
matter their color. To this end, he makes use of some of the friendships
he made while living at the court.

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