(person) by in10se Mon Jun 21 2004 at 14:49:28

Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob
b. August 6, 1934

Piers Anthony was one of my favorite authors as a youth, and is best known for his Xanth series. To say he was a prolific writer would be an understatement. While he had several short stories published in his early years, he really didn't start publishing books until the mid to late 1960s. To date, he has over 130 books published which equates to nearly 4 books per year for the past several decades. Now obviously he didn't produce works like that consistently, and he probably had numerous manuscripts and story ideas in various stages of completion prior to becoming famous. Regardless, you can't argue with numbers - that's a lot of writing.

Many will tell you that Piers Anthony's early works were his best. This is mostly true; however you will find dozens of great books written throughout his career. His focus changed from an amazing blend of science fiction and fantasy to something that was seemly overrun with sex and puns. As far as his multiple series go, he just takes an idea and runs with it - often much too far. The first three books in any of his trilogies are typically better than the last three. (Don't argue about the number of books in a science fiction trilogy. Douglas Adams has similar problems with math.) It seems that as he grew older, he began catering to a younger audience even though, at times, his subject matter did not1. This was a slow decline which can be unnoticeable if you are already immerged in his books. It's only after you have some other authors under your belt and you pick up one of his novels years later that you ask yourself, "How did I ever read this?" even though, like me, you may have read 80 or 90 of his books2.

Again, this is not to say the man does not possess any talent because he certainly does. He has a huge fan base from all demographics. While I do not know if he still has this policy, he used to personally answer every piece of fan mail that he received3. Most of his books (especially those in the Xanth series) would contain very long authors notes, sometimes spanning 30 pages or more, telling his readers about his life and experiences while writing the book. These notes would also thank readers by name that had sent him ideas that he had incorporated into the book. Sometimes there would even be sneak previews of his upcoming books. Many readers would read these just as intently as the novels themselves.

Pen Names of Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob

Bibliography of Piers Anthony

Series

Adept (aka Apprentice Adept) Series
  1. Split Infinity (1980)
  2. Blue Adept (1981)
  3. Juxtaposition (1982)
  4. Out of Phaze (1987)
  5. Robot Adept (1988)
  6. Unicorn Point (1989)
  7. Phaze Doubt (1990)
Aton Series
  1. Chthon (1967) - his first published novel; received both Hugo and Nebula Award nominations
  2. Phthor (1978)
Battle Circle Series
  1. Sos the Rope (1967)
  2. Var the Stick (1972)
  3. Neq the Sword (1975)
Bio of a Space Tyrant Series
  1. Refugee (1983)
  2. Mercenary (1984)
  3. Politician (1985)
  4. Executive (1985)
  5. Statesman (1986)
  6. The Iron Maiden (2002)
ChroMagic Series
  1. Key to Havoc (2003)
  2. Key to Chroma (2003)
  3. Key to Destiny (2004)
Cluster Series
  1. Cluster (1977) - a.k.a. Vicinity Cluster
  2. Chaining the Lady (1978)
  3. Kirlian Quest (1978)
  4. Thousandstar (1980)
  5. Viscous Circle (1982)
Geodyssey Series
  1. Isle of Woman (1993)
  2. Shame of Man (1994)
  3. Hope of Earth (1997)
  4. Mus of Art (1999)
  5. Climate of Change (not published)
Incarnations of Immortality Series
  1. On a Pale Horse (1983) - Death
  2. Bearing an Hourglass (1984) - Time
  3. With a Tangled Skein (1985) - Fate
  4. Wielding a Red Sword (1985) - War
  5. Being a Green Mother (1987) - Nature
  6. For Love of Evil (1988) - Evil
  7. And Eternity (1990) - Good
  8. Under a Velvet Cloak (in draft with Stephen Smith) - Night
Mode Series
  1. Virtual Mode (1991)
  2. Fractal Mode (1992)
  3. Chaos Mode (1993)
  4. DoOon Mode (2001)
Of Man and Manta Series
  1. Omnivore (1968)
  2. Orn (1971)
  3. Ox (1976)
Pornucopia Series
  1. Pornucopia (1989)
  2. The Magic Fart (2003)
Tarot (aka Planet of Tarot) Series
  1. God of Tarot (1979)
  2. Vision of Tarot (1980)
  3. Faith of Tarot (1981)
Xanth Series
  1. A Spell for Chameleon (1977)
  2. The Source of Magic (1979)
  3. Castle Roogna (1979)
  4. Centaur Aisle (1982)
  5. Ogre, Ogre (1982)
  6. Night Mare (1983)
  7. Dragon on a Pedestal (1983)
  8. Crewel Lye (1985)
  9. Golem in the Gears (1986)
  10. Vale of the Vole (1987)
  11. Heaven Cent (1988)
  12. Man from Mundania (1989)
  13. Isle of View (1990)
  14. Question Quest (1991)
  15. The Color of Her Panties (1992)
  16. Demons Don't Dream (1993)
  17. Harpy Thyme (1994)
  18. Geis of the Gargoyle (1995)
  19. Roc and a Hard Place (1995)
  20. Yon Ill Wind (1996)
  21. Faun & Games (1997)
  22. Zombie Lover (1998)
  23. Xone of Contention (1999)
  24. The Dastard (2000)
  25. Swell Foop (2001)
  26. Up in a Heaval (2002)
  27. Cube Route (2003)
  28. Currant Events (2004)
  29. Pet Peeve (2005 - expected)
  30. Stork Naked (in progress)
  31. Air Apparent (proposed)

Novels / Books

Fiction
Non-fiction

Collaborations

Kelvin of Rud Series (with Robert E. Margroff)
  1. Dragon's Gold (1987)
  2. Serpent's Silver (1988)
  3. Chimaera's Copper ()
  4. Orc's Opal (1990)
  5. Mouvar's Magic (1992)
Jason Striker Martial Arts Series (with Roberto Fuentes)
  1. Kiai! (1974)
  2. Mistress of Death (1974)
  3. Bamboo Bloodbath (1974)
  4. Ninja's Revenge (1975)
  5. Amazon Slaughter (1976)
  6. Curse of the Ninja (1976)
Novels / Books

1 This has lead to him being one of the most challenged authors (i.e., book ban requests) with the American Library Association, and accusations of his being a closet pedophile.

2 For more on this vein of thought, see http://fury.com/article/1699.php (thanks to Two Sheds for the link)

3 ...or at least he said that he did.

Piers Anthony

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