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Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born August 6, 1934 in Oxford, England) is a writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He has written many novels and short stories, but is most famous for his book series, and particularly for the long-running series set in the fictional realm of Xanth. Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. He is one of the most prolific science fiction/fantasy authors alive at this time (most others who rival his number of published books having passed away).

Anthony's family emigrated to the United States from Britain while he was a child. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in his twenties. He went to a liberal arts college in Vermont, married his college sweetheart, and then joined the army. After completing a two year stint in military service, he briefly taught public school before becoming a fulltime writer. Anthony currently lives with his wife on a tree farm which he owns in Florida. He is a vegetarian, an agnostic, a proud liberal, a workaholic, and dislikes travel (hence his rarity at conventions). After a series of miscarriages, he and his wife had two daughters. He also has one grandchild.

Anthony believes he was blacklisted at one time, and thus that it is his duty to help aspiring writers circumvent traditional publishing houses and their stranglehold on the industry. On multiple occasions he has moved from one publisher to another (taking a profitable hit series with him), when he felt the editors were unduly tampering with his work. He has even sued publishers for accounting malfeasance and won judgments in his favor.

He also maintains an Internet Publishers Survey, in the interest of helping aspiring writers. For this service, he has won the "Special Recognition for Service to Writers" award from "Preditors and Editors," an author's guide to publishers and writing services.

At one time, he was also a venture capitalist who invested in an internet publishing house which has since been bought out by Random House. Other than his tree farm, he has also been a venture capitalist in vegetarian foodstuffs related technologies.

Many of his popular novels have been optioned for movies at various times, though none have carried through. One has however been made into a video game.

Piers Anthony's novels usually end with a chapter-long Author's Note, in which he talks about himself, his life, and his experiences as they related to the process of writing the novel. He often discusses correspondence with readers and any real-world issues that influenced the the novel.

Contents 1 Biographical timeline 2 Marriage and Early Career 3 Partial bibliography 3.1 Series 3.2 Novels 3.3 Autobiographical works 3.4 Collaborations 3.5 Related Works 4 See also 5 External links

Biographical timeline

• 6 August 1934 - born
• 1956 - married Carol Marble
• 1956 - received Bachelor of Arts degree from Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont
• 1957--1959 - served in the United States Army
• 1958 - became a United States citizen

Marriage and Early Career

Piers Anthony met his wife while both were attending college. The young couple married immediately after graduation, over the objections of the bride's parents, who considered him too financially destitute for her (he had spent one summer walking around campus barefoot because he couldn't afford shoes). He married her on the condition that she would also become a vegetarian, because he had seen his parents get divorced over disputes and lifestyle friction where one spouse was a vegetarian and the other wasn't.

After graduation and marriage, and the financial burdens of starting a new life together at such a young age, the newly wed couple found it difficult to make ends meet. After a series of odd jobs, Piers Anthony eventually decided to join the U.S. Army for a steady source of income and medical coverage for his pregnant wife. It was during his time in the army that he developed his newfound (and now lifelong) attention to fitness and regimental exercise. Despite being in a very physical envirnonment in the army, he found himself drawn to his interest in writing, and got the job of maintaining an army newsletter.

After leaving the army, he spent a brief stint as a public school teacher before trying his hand at becoming a fulltime writer.

In order for him to be able to leave teaching and spend a year writing fulltime, his wife would have to support them. The two of them made a deal -- that if he could sell a piece of writing in that year, then she would continue to work to support him. But if he couldn't sell anything in that year, then he would forever give up his dreams of being a writer and not write any stories ever again.

At the end of the year, he managed to get a shortstory published. If he hadn't, then his writing career would have ended stillborn, instead of becoming the New York Times bestselling author that he is today. He credits his wife as the person who made his whole writing career possible, and advocates aspiring writers that they need to have a source of income or support other than their writing in order to get through the early years of a writing career.

Partial bibliography

Series

Aton

• Chthon (1967, his first published novel, nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards)
• Phthor (1975)

Battle Circle

• Sos the Rope (1968)
• Var the Stick (1972)
• Neq the Sword (1975)

Of Man and Manta

• Omnivore (1968)
• Orn (1970)
• Ox (1976)

Cluster

• Cluster (1977, aka Vicinity Cluster in UK edition)
• Chaining the Lady (1978)
• Kirlian Quest (1978)
• Thousandstar (1980)
• Viscous Circle (1982)

Tarot

• God of Tarot (1977)
• Vision of Tarot (1980)
• Faith of Tarot (1980)

Xanth

Anthony's most extensive series, with nearly 30 novels - see Xanth for more information.

• A Spell for Chameleon (1977)
• The Source of Magic (1979)
• Castle Roogna (1979)
• Centaur Aisle (1981)
• Ogre, Ogre (1982)
• Night Mare (1983)
• Dragon on a Pedestal (1984)
• A Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn (1985)
• Golem in the Gears (1986)
• Vale of the Vole (1987)
• Heaven Cent (1988)
• Man from Mundania (1989)
• Isle of View (1990)
• Question Quest (1991)
• The Color of Her Panties (1992)
• Demons Don't Dream (1993)
• Harpy Thyme (1994)
• Geis of the Gargoyle (1995)
• Roc and a Hard Place (1996)
• Yon Ill Wind (1997)
• Faun & Games (1997)
• Zombie Lover (1998)
• Xone of Contention (1999)
• The Dastard (2000)
• Swell Foop (2001)
• Up in a Heaval (2002)
• Cube Route (2003)
• Currant Events (2004)
• Pet Peeve (2005)
• Stork Naked (writing in progress)
• Air Apparent (proposed)

Apprentice Adept

• Split Infinity (1980)
• Blue Adept (1981)
• Juxtaposition (1982)
• Out of Phaze (1987)
• Robot Adept (1988)
• Unicorn Point (1989)
• Phaze Doubt (1990)

Incarnations of Immortality

• On a Pale Horse (1983)
• Bearing an Hourglass (1984)
• With a Tangled Skein (1985)
• Wielding a Red Sword (1986)
• Being a Green Mother (1987)
• For Love of Evil (1988)
• ...And Eternity (1990)
• Under a Velvet Cloak (proposed)

see also: Incarnations of Immortality

Bio of a Space Tyrant

• Refugee (1983)
• Mercenary (1984)
• Politician (1985)
• Executive (1985)
• Statesman (1986)
• The Iron Maiden (2001)

Mode

• Virtual Mode (1991)
• Fractal Mode (1992)
• Chaos Mode (1993)
• DoOon Mode (2001)

Geodyssey

• Isle of Woman (1993)
• Shame of Man (1994)
• Hope of Earth (1997)
• Muse of Art (1999)
• Climate of Change (unfinished)

ChroMagic series

• Key to Havoc (2002)
• Key to Chroma (2003)
• Key to Destiny (2004)
• Key to Liberty (in progress)
• Key to Survival (proposed)

Novels

• Macroscope (1969, nominated for a 1970 Hugo Award)
• Hasan (1969, 1977 revised)
• Prostho Plus (1971)
• Race Against Time (1973)
• Rings of Ice (1974)
• Triple Detente (1974)
• But What of Earth? (1976, 1989 revised)
• Steppe (1976)
• Mute (1981) (a sequel named "Moot" was shelved, with extensive notes. Unfortunately, those notes are now lost and that sequel will not be written.)
• Anthonology (1985, short story collection)
• Ghost (1986)
• Shade of the Tree (1986)
• Pornucopia (1989)
• Total Recall (1989)
• Hard Sell (1990)
• Firefly (1990)
• Balook (1990)
• Tatham Mound (1991)
• MerCycle (1991)
• Alien Plot (1992, short story collection)
• Killobyte (1993)
• Volk (1996)
• Realty Check (1999)
• The Magic Fart (2003)

Autobiographical works

• Bio of an Ogre (1988, to age 50)
• How Precious was that While (2001, to age 65)
• Letters to Jenny -- The mother of a teenage fan wrote to Piers Anthony about her daughter Jenny, the victim of a drunk driver, being paralyzed and in a coma. The mother felt that having letters from Jenny's favorite author read to her might help bring her out of her coma. He wrote her constantly and for a long period of time, even naming a Xanth character after her. Jenny eventually came out of her coma, but remains paralyzed and has difficulty communicating. This book is a collection of the letters from the first year of correspondence.

Collaborations

• The Ring (1968, with Robert E. Margroff)
• The ESP Worm (1970, with Robert E. Margroff)
• Pretender (1979, with Frances Hall)
• Through the Ice (1989, with Robert Kornwise, posthumously -- Kornwise was a high school student who died tragically. His parents sent his unfinished manuscript and a plea to Piers Anthony to help their deceased son get published. To make sure that the book was a fitting memorial tribute, Piers Anthony made sure it was printed on acid-free paper despite the expense.)
• Dead Morn (1990, with Roberto Fuentes)
• The Caterpillar's Question (1992, with Philip José Farmer) -- This collaboration was actually the result of another proposed collaborative project. The original idea proposed by an editor was to have a book where each chapter was written by a different author. That project fell apart, but Piers Anthony and Philip José Farmer later decided they wanted to salvage something from it by morphing it into a two person collaboration, where the two alternated chapters, without revealing who wrote which chapters.
• If I Pay Thee Not in Gold (1993, with Mercedes Lackey)
• The Willing Spirit (1996, with Alfred Tella)
• Spider Legs (1998, with Clifford A. Pickover)
• Quest for the Fallen Star (1998, with James Richey and Alan Riggs)
• Dream a Little Dream (1999, with Julie Brady)
• The Gutbucket Quest (2000, with Ron Leming)
• The Secret of Spring (2000, with Jo Anne Taeusch)

Kelvin of Rud series (with Robert E. Margroff)

• Dragon's Gold (1987)
• Serpent's Silver (1988)
• Chimaera's Copper (1990)
• Orc's Opal (1990)
• Mouvar's Magic (1992)

Jason Striker series (with Roberto Fuentes)

• Kiai! (1974)
• Mistress of Death (1974)
• Bamboo Bloodbath (1974)
• Ninja's Revenge (1975)
• Amazon Slaughter (1976)
• Curse of the Ninja (1976)

Related Works

• Cut By Emerald (1987, by Dana Kramer) a Combat Command game book set in the Bio of a Space Tyrant universe.

See also

• Science fiction
• List of science fiction authors
• List of science fiction novels
• List of science fiction short stories
• List of science fiction television
• Jack Woodford and his books on writing and getting published.

External links

• Official web site
• Complete bibliography
• Extensive 2005 Interview
• Piers Anthony at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database - Offline at last check, December 11, 2005
• 1987 Audio Interview with Piers Anthony - RealAudio (47 min 42 s)

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