In his four-volume series Return to Neveryeon， Hugo and Nebula award-winner Samuel R. Delany appropriated the conceits of sword-and-sorcery fantasy to explore his characteristic themes of language， power， gender， and the nature of civilization. Wesleyan University Press has reissued the long-unavailable Neveryeonvolumes in trade paperback.The eleven stories， novellas， and novels in Return to Neveryeon s four volumes chronicle a long-ago land on civilization s brink， perhaps in Asia or Africa， or even on the Mediterranean. 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? Presumably elaborated from an ancient text of unknown geographical origin， the stories are sunk in translators and commentators introductions and appendices， forming a richly comic frame.