Hugo and Nebula Award鈥搘inning author Samuel R. Delany鈥檚 epic fantasy鈥攖he first in a series鈥攅xplores power, gender, and the nature of civilization.
A boy of the bustling, colorful docks of port Kolhari, during a political coup, fifteen-year-old Gorgik, once his parents are killed, is taken a slave and transported to the government obsidian mines at the foot of the Faltha mountains. When, in the savagely primitive land of Nev猫r每on, finally he wins his freedom, Gorgik is ready to lead a rebellion against the rulers of this barely civilized land. His is the through-story that, now in the background, now in the foreground, connects these first five stories, in Tales of Nev猫r每on鈥攁nd, indeed, all the eleven stories, novellas, and novels that comprise Delany鈥檚 epic fantasy series, Return to Nev猫r每on, where we can watch civilization first develop money, writing, labor, and that grounding of all civilizations since: capital itself.
In these sagas of barbarism, new knowledge, and sex, you鈥檒l find far more than in most sword-and-sorcery. They are an epic feat of language, an ironic analysis of the foundations of civilization, and a reminder that no weapon is more powerful than a well-honed legend.
This 鈥渆minently readable and gorgeously entertaining鈥 (The Washington Post Book World) novel reads 鈥渁s if Umberto Eco had written about Conan the Barbarian鈥 (USA Today).
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Samuel R. Delany including rare images from his early career.
