Synopses & Reviews
This brand-new installment in John Norman’s epic saga describes the continuing rise to power of a backwoods warrior thrown into the maelstrom of ambition, treachery, and violence that is the galactic empire
In the fourth volume of the Telnarian Histories, John Norman continues the story of a fighter from a backwater planet in a galaxy-spanning empire, who rises to power by maintaining his strength of character and his will to fight, and triumphs despite huge and threatening challenges from rebels, enemies of the empire, and even the highest powers within the emperor’s court.
When Filene, a former noblewoman masquerading as a slave, attempts to assassinate the up-and-coming tribal king, Ottonius, she fails miserably and becomes fully enslaved. The story of her education in proper submission is told in counterpoint to the tale of the powerful but primitive warrior who dreams of an imperial destiny and pursues privately devious and publicly violent means to achieve his goal. The applications of power from person to person and on an interstellar scale show haunting resemblances.
Similar in scope and ambition to Piers Anthony’s Bio of a Space Tyrant series, this novel follows the latest adventures of a man who has fought and killed his way out of obscurity to become a newly crowned local king and is quick to make smart connections in the imperial court. Soon he will realize his most secret and nearly unadmitted goal: unseating the reigning emperor and truly becoming . . . the Usurper.
Synopsis
The fourth volume in John Norman’s epic Telnarian Histories describes the continuing rise to power of an unsung warrior thrown into the maelstrom of ambition, treachery, and violence that is the galactic empire
When Filene, a former noblewoman masquerading as a slave, attempts to assassinate the ascendant tribal king, Ottonius, she fails and becomes fully enslaved. The story of her education in proper submission is told in counterpoint to the tale of the powerful but primitive warrior who finds himself drawn into intrigues affecting the destiny of a threatened and crumbling empire.
This ambitious novel, written on an interstellar scale, follows the latest adventures of a man who has fought and killed his way out of obscurity to become a newly crowned king. As events unfold, he finds himself on a bloody and violent path that may lead to the imperial throne itself.
About the Author
John Norman, born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1931, is the creator of the Gorean Saga, the longest-running series of adventure novels in science fiction history. Starting in December 1966 with Tarnsman of Gor, the series was put on hold after its twenty-fifth installment, Magicians of Gor, in 1988, when DAW refused to publish its successor, Witness of Gor. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a trade publishing outlet, the series was brought back into print in 2001. Norman has also produced a separate science fiction series, the Telnarian Histories, plus two other fiction works (Ghost Dance and Time Slave), a nonfiction paperback (Imaginative Sex), and a collection of thirty short stories, entitled Norman Invasions. The Totems of Abydos was published in spring 2012.
All of Norman’s work is available both in print and as ebooks. The Internet has proven to be a fertile ground for the imagination of Norman’s ever-growing fan base, and at Gor Chronicles (www.gorchronicles.com), a website specially created for his tremendous fan following, one may read everything there is to know about this unique fictional culture.
Norman is married and has three children.