Piers Anthony Essay, Research Paper

There have been many notable figures in the field of writing. Most of those people are long dead, but there are a few that are pretty fresh on the scene. One such author is Piers Anthony. He has written many novels and long series, which have all done extremely well. Despite the major differences between Anthony’s novels, he tends to use repeating themes throughout all of his books.

Piers Anthony is currently living in a log cabin with his wife. He does not have any other job so she must pay the bills while he is between books. They own a small farm with some horses. He is an average man so this might be one of the reasons why he tends to have the most common people become the heroes in his books.

In Anthony’s most well known series, Xanth, he uses thinly disguised mature content and extremely fantastic creatures to attract audiences from all age ranges (Reviews-Zombie Lover 3). Anthony also uses puns, play on words (for example quicksand is sand that would make you go really fast), to make the reader laugh at how common things can turn out to have amazing properties (Anthony, Spell for Chameleon). Some of Anthony’s more mature subjects are the Adult Conspiracy and summoning the stork. In his book the Adult Conspiracy is made up of every adult and they must keep kids from learning anything fun or mature. Children and nymphs cannot summon the stork. It is only mentioned as the way for two loving adults to send a message that says they want a kid, which is actually delivered by a stork. Magic abounds in this series and any person who does not have magic is shunned as an outcast (Bleiler 365). In each of this series’ books he only has one main character.

In Anthony’s Apprentice Adept series he shows a brilliant blend between a fantasy world and a science fiction world. In one world Style, the main character, is a lowly serf being chased by one of the rulers and in the other he is the most powerful magician, being chased by his fellow magicians (Anthony, Split Infinity). While magic is not as dominant as in the Xanth series it still plays a major part. Mature content makes this book unsuitable for younger readers. This series eventually build to a stunning climax where the fantasy and science fiction worlds unite. “Anthony weaves a captivating series about a serf rising to power on two worlds”(Reviews – Blue Adept 2).

Another well known series of Anthony’s is the Incarnations of Immortality. Again, Piers still uses magic, but the use is restricted to the incarnations. This series is more intended for an adult audience because of its references to sex and the scenes of violent war. As in his other series Anthony still uses one major character in each book. In this case it is usually the incarnation of immortality that the book’s name is describing. He also likes to use humor to discus religion. “Anthony uses humor and fantasy to show the differences and similarities between religions” (Bleiler 364). He again makes a lowly person rise to a higher station by placing a beggar as one of the incarnations, but he also makes a prince become the incarnation of war (Anthony, And Eternity).

Despite the repeating themes that are in most of his books, a few have broken the mold. Such books are Letters to Jenny, Bio of an Ogre and Orn. Letters to Jenny is about Anthony’s correspondence with a girl who has leukemia. This book had no characters and no magic, just the letters between Anthony and Jenny. Bio of an Ogre is just an autobiography about Piers Anthony’s life to date. It is similar to his other stories because there is only one main character, but that is the only way it was the same. Orn is completely science fiction and has no magic and it switches between characters. This book is about mankind and what we can do to hurt and heal.

Piers Anthony is an amazing author who has just one main quirk. He likes to use repeating themes such as one main character, magic, and common people rising to become heroes. Now, most people don’t care, but there are a few who like to talk about it or to use it for research paper topics. I guess this just proves that no matter how good a writer you are you will never be perfect.