Neveryóna, or, The tale of signs and cities

(Return to Neveryon, Vol 2)
Pryn, who can write in the largely pre-literate land, flees her mountain village to aid Gorgik's slave revolt.
Contents:

Neveryona or: The Tale of Signs and Cities • [Neveryon 2 • novel]

Appendix A: The Culhar' Correspondence • shortstory by Samuel R. Delany
Appendix B: Acknowledgments (Neveryona) • essay by Samuel R. Delany
Cover art by Rowena Morrill

"Return to Neveryon" is a series of eleven “sword and sorcery” stories--a science fiction/fantasy series depicting an empire beyond the borders of history where human destinies entwine in a strange design. It is an intricate web of adventure, intrigue and desire and a literary puzzle where meaning, parable and paradox collide. The eleven tales that make up Return to Neveryon are set before the dawn of history, in a location that might be Africa or Asia. Many of the stories have different protagonists and, indeed, different sets of foreground characters. But all take a greater or lesser part in recounting an overall story running through the whole series, the history of a man called Gorgik the Liberator. Taken slave in childhood, Gorgik gains his freedom, leads a slave revolt, and becomes a minister of state, finally abolishing slavery. Ironically, however, he is sexually aroused by the iron slave collars of servitude. Does this contaminate his mission -- or intensify it? Originally published in four volumes during the years 1979-1987, those volumes are: "Return to Neveryon": Vol 1) Tales of Neveryon; 2) Neveryona, or: The Tale of Signs and Cities; Vol 3) Flight from Neveryon; Vol 4) Return to Neveryon (aka The Bridge of Lost Desire).