Cover artist Dorian Vallejo Published 1991–2015 Genre Science fantasy | Language English Number of books 3 Publisher Grand Central Publishing | |
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Books The Chieftain, The Captain, The King, The Usurper | ||
The Telnarian Histories (1991–1993) are a series of four space opera novels which express philosophical messages consistent with those of author John Norman's other works of fiction. The individual books in the series are:
- The Chieftain (1991) ISBN 0-446-36149-6
- The Captain (1992) ISBN 0-446-36254-9
- The King (1993) ISBN 0-446-36240-9
- The Usurper (2015) ISBN 978-1497679269
In the novels, a galactic realm based on the Roman Empire wars with Germanic barbarians and extraterrestrials while individuals pursue destinies of freedom and slavery. The depiction of slavery in the books resembles that found in the Gor series, with female slaves dominated by male masters.
The Telnarian Histories were critically and popularly regarded as an unfortunate deviation from Norman's Gor series. One novel concept explored in the second and third books of the series, is that Dira, the goddess of love and beauty in the pantheon of the Telnarian empire, is also the goddess of slave-girls, and herself enslaved among the gods.