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Talk To Xanth Creator Piers Anthony
Not only is Piers Anthony one of the world's most popular fantasy authors (his books have been science fiction and fantasy staples for decades) but he has been using Linux and StarOffice 5.2 for the past year. This is your opportunity to ask Piers about either the technical aspects of using Linux and StarOffice to produce fiction or about his upcoming work (new Xanth novels coming soon!) or almost anything else. We'll forward 10 of the highest-moderated questions to Piers tomorrow, and will run his answers (verbatim, as always) as soon as he gets them back to us.
What sort of computer do you use to write your books? And what operating system does it run?
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
Not that switching over to Linux is, of course, a bad thing, but what I'd like to know from Mr. Anthony is--What made him change to Linux, and how he progressed in switching over? What parts were most difficult?
With larger documents and the importance of formatiting in the publication process, have you had difficulty with publishers and document submission? If so, has your establishment (ie previously published work) allowed you to overcome opposition of the "we-don't-support-that" variety? Or did you find that publishers were open to alternate submission formats? Or were they already using other formats (I know some authors have actually typeset their works themselves, using LaTeX, but I assume they are few and far between).
In short, modern print publishing requires a lot of attention to detail and transmission of large documents electronically--how do you make it work with your chosen set of tools, when publishers probably don't expect authors to be using that paritcular set of tools?
My question is, how can I also get whatever drops out of my butt published?
I've been trying for years to get a publisher to even *read* a manuscript, yet this guy writes books about unicorns humping the devil or whatever the hell bizarre little fetish is giving him a chubby at the moment, and it gets published.
And don't even get me started on Discworld "novels".
Sorry. I had to get that off my chest.
I have "real" questions:
How does using StarOffice compare with more "established" word processors like "Word" in terms of usability?
Do you worry about document portability in the future? What formats does StarOffice allow you to save? What format do you use consistently? How well does StarOffice import from, say, "Word" format?
Are publishers beginning to accept documents in electronic format, or are they still stuck in the paper-age? If so, what formats do they accept and does StarOffice produce them, or do you need to convert them first?
You are a professional writer, not a professional computer nerd. With computer people, we try/run linux because we can. With people that are not full-time computer geeks, if they run linux, it's because something drove them to it, either something they disliked about their previous OS, or something they wanted from linux. Why did you switch?
Nathan Brazil?
I enjoyed many of your books when I was much younger, and I found that they had a fantastic impact on my vocabulary and imagination. However, at around age 14, I started to feel that the newer novels that you were producing (this was in 1990 or so) were much more commerically oriented (I particularly recall that making the Brown Adept a lesbian seemed out of character and gratuitously sexual.) I'm now a much more mature reader, and I generally eschew the fantasy and science fiction genres for their immaturity, prefering works with more developed characters. My question to you is: Where do you feel your work fits into the science fiction/fantasy genre, and more importantly, where does it fit into the greater literary scheme of things?
* mild mannered physics grad student by day *
* daring code hacker by night *
http://www.silent-tristero.com
science is a religion
I must have read at least 20 of your books between 11 and 17, but over time, they seemed to lose their luster. A lot of people I know had a similar fascination, and a similar segue into other reading. Do you believe that your work in fantasy is targetted at the juvenile market? Is that intentional or accidental? Have you had pressure from publishers over the years to try to be 'more mainstream' or perhaps specifically write to the young adult market?
How has your experience with transferring files between office programs and operating systems? Unless, of course, this never occurs between you and your publisher.
Piers, any plans to work in the Apprentice Adept universe again? I was a big fan of those books, although it seemed to get stretched in the later novels. I remember reading that you were moving to the Mode novels instead and had no plans for Adept, but that was years ago...
rm
Sci-Fi Storm
I love that series of books. I always thought that they would make one great (2.5 hour) movie. Now that special effects are both a reality and inexpensive (thanks largely to Linux and computer pricing drops), do you see a movie of this series in the near future?
Click here or here.
How can you keep your current and future work in the Xanth world from becoming commercially-driven drivel? I stopped reading Xanth books when they started to seem forced - written for the fans, written for the publisher, no longer written for yourself. Sure, they were still full of atrocious puns, and some ridiculously funny situations, but the depth seemed lacking. That was in the early 90s. Anything improved? Or am I mistaken, and you're still as engaged as ever, and not a victim (like Frank Herbert) of publishers demanding new books with an established fan base.
"A Spell for Chameleon" was the first book I ever bought with my own money (at age 11 or so). Somehow the early 90s Xanth work didn't stack up for me. It wasn't just that I have grown personally - I re-read "ASfC" just a couple years ago and still enjoyed it. Maybe I'll have to check out the latest opus and see if anything's changed (or if I have...).
I imagine that the publisher has its own ideas about how the printed books should be formatted, but WYSIWYG seems to the dominant paradigm in word processing today. I remember reading (a while back) about (geez, was it wordstar?) some custom macros you had so you could keep comments in-line with the text, but skip over or locate them easily. Do you do something similar now? Do you do some sort of markup for things like chapter-opening quotes, or whatever? (I suppose that means: can you mark a block as some StarOffice style and the publisher will read that and Do The Right Thing w.r.t. to its formatting in the book?)
Do you have a really nice monitor, or do you get hardcopies to do your revisions?
-_Quinn
Reality Maintenance Group, Silver City Construction Co., Ltd.
what's your favorite pun?
The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool. -Crowe
A really simple question...
As a writer myself I am curious how you go about writing...I read the notes you had in the in the "incarnations"(Your best in my opinion BTW) series so I guess I am looking to see if time and/or new technology has changed any of that....
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
If you were giving advice to a first-time author who wanted to shop around a fantasy manuscript -- and it was vibrant, original, compelling, and entertaining -- what publishers would you recommend? Assume the goal of this author is to be as widely read as possible, and the author is willing to do their part. (Grueling signing tour, visit tons of cons, etc) What publishers would be best at polishing the work and promoting it well?
Which operating system do you feel is most suitable for automating the summoning/conjuring of demons?
The only thing that we learn from history is that nobody learns anything from history.
What was your opinion of total recall the movie? Do you feel that your books "translate" well into movies?
Hey Pier - what is the interprobability of a crossover series? Say Xanth and Incarnations? just kidding.
Running an 'alternate' OS as your main system for producing your works, have you ran into any incompatablities with distributing your works to publishers? Have they been willing to work with you on any incompatability problems? Are you happier writing on a free OS (in terms of flexibility, over all 'feel')? PS: Love the Incarnations of Immortality series!
"Powers. I have them."
Why do your books always feature sex and manufactured situations where the character has to think out of the box to solve a problem? Ex. On a Pale Horse (breathing through the scythe) and countless others, particularly in Xanth. I used to be a regular reader of your books but the repetitiveness got to me. I knew most of what was going to happen after reading the first couple pages. It is like reading the same book 10 times from different angles.
So has Linux ever served as a source of inspiration for any of your writing?
(Maybe naming a character "grep" or incoporating recursive acronyms into the title or something)
FYI: The name for the Xanth novels is derived from Piers' name: Pier _Xanth_ ony.
Fantasy authors create imaginary "universes"
where other rule than the ones in our universe
hold.
But should they do that ?
Isn't this making mockery of the Lord's creation ?
Don't they put themselves in the place of Allah ?
Their "world" are usually terribly logically
flawed - not surprising.
Terrible thing always happen if mem put himself
at Allahs place. Just look at Palestine.
Also these Fantasy books contain often references
to witchcraft and satanism.
Shouldn't be banned for children because of this ?
Many Fantasy authors are also often rumored to be
members of the OTO like Marylin Mason.
How eager are publishers to get your work electronically when you submit it? Do you believe they'd feel the same about work from first-time authors? And do they try to insist on getting proprietary formats, or are they ready to handle formats like StarOffice?
Though you are most well known for Xanth, I would say that some of my favourite books are the Incarnation series. What inspired you to write these books? Is there/are there reasons other then ones expressed in the appendix at the end of each?
First, I just wanted to say, "Thank you," for releasing your version of "But What of Earth." The "co-authored" version that they put out was horrible in comparison.
I know this isn't a Linux or StarOffice question, but I'm very curious about who your inspirations were in the Sci-Fi realm. Who are your favorite authors?
There's no place I can be, since I found Serenity.
Does he still think computer manuals are scripted by demons in hell, or has he grown up a bit (along with our industry's improvements).
Face it, people are stupid, and the internet is the place where they all meet.
What was your inspiration for "On the Uses of Torture," and do you find that your fans are more or less interested in this kind of story than in your more well-known works?
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
If you're a master uber-geek, woulkd it be possible to "practice" Windows into Linux?
You have made several puns that relate to windows, and I guess with GNU/Linux, do you think the number of PUNs will increase? And will the audience get those?
|>
Most people, including myself, use Linux for mail,dns and web servers and MS for the desktop. Why did you switch to Linux for the Desktop?
Thanks for writing "The Iron Maiden" I have been waiting for this book for years
Greg
I've shamelessly stopped reading your books awhile ago, but I've always been fascinated by your commentary on writing, your choice of computers, life with macros, and your insistance on portable computing so that you could write whenever the ideas hit. Have you ever tried, or even switched to a PDA for your remote writings?
My Question: Can you continue to write novels so that nerds can read them without the title causing them to get their asses kicked more than already happens?
T
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
I went to high school with Robert Kornwise and just wanted to say that it was a wonderful thing you did finishing his book.
He was a great guy and you did a fantastic honor to him.
As you appear to be a fan of Open Source Software, when are you going to release the code to the perl script you've apparently used to crank out the last fifteen or so Xanth novels, and will the code be GPLed or BSD-licensed?
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
About a decade and a half ago, I recall seeing you speak at a convention in Florida (according to rumor, the only con at which you ever spoke, though I don't know if this is true). As I remember, at the time you said you were reluctant to use a computer because you were already so fast on your Dvorak typewriter. Moving to a Linux-based system seems to me to be a rather dramatic switch, especially as Linux is generally thought of as a system of technophiles, the same sort of people who eagerly used CP/M systems with ADM 3-As twenty years ago. What prompted your switch, and what adventures (both pleasant and unpleasant) has it entailed?
Was the movie based on the book or vice versa?
In high school I read and re-read three series, Xanth, Apprentice Adept and Incarnations of Immortality. In 1988 my first son was born which drew most of my attentions away from your novels. In 1991 my second son and the real world drew me the rest of the way.
I see that there are now 10 more Xanth novels that I do not have. I guess I have some catching up to do!
Your authors notes were for me almost a series of their own. These, combined with your autobiography, "Bio of an Ogre", made me feel like I knew you. And gave new meaning and insight to most of your novels.
Have you ever thought of collecting them together into a book of their own? Sort of a Peirs Anthony self retrospective or 'The Ogre Speaks Through the Ages.'
comment directly in my journal
when starting off creating a new world for your stories, do you concentrate a lot on historical and geographical background, or get right into your main story timelines? basically, what process do you find to be the best when setting the stage for the depth required for epic fantasy?
MORTAR COMBAT!
If you write or edit your novels on you computer. Have you noticed any difference between how different word processing programs handle the reletively large document size, and does the format it's in affect how well the program can manipulate the document?
(as a subnote, do auto-spell checkers go nuts with all the puns?)
If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard
Do you ever feel that the Xanth playground (gotta love Larry Niven!) has been broken by the abundance of magic and related plot twists? I've often felt that the Xanth universe was much better and more fun to read when it was simpler.
Webmaster Wanted - Entropic Reactions
I've read just about every book you've written, and through your author notes, its pretty apparent that you're not afraid to change with the times and technology. My question for you is, through all of your years of writing, what was the hardest change in technology that you ever did? And what was the best change-over that you did?
Sig!
I got hooked on your stuff when I borrowed "Man From Mundania" from my Dad. I read it in a weekend and devoured all the published Xanth books, the Adept books, and the Incarnations. They were all great, and as a young teen, I didn't mind the completely gratuitous and explicit sex in the Adept books.
My mom was the one who had to drive me to the library, however, and I was unwilling to check out "The Color of Her Panties" with her looking over my shoulder. I already had to hide all the nude-covered xanth books under a big plaid hardback or two.
I checked out Tatham Mound because of your name, but I couldn't get past a main character named "Bear Penis". Good lord man, why all the sex? Would it be so hard to make your stuff PG-13 instead of XXX or R? It's hardly a major literary compromise.
Austin is more fun than Dallas.
What do you have to say about the religious/righteous people who try to force books like yours off the shelves of secondary schools and public libraries, citing their fantastic nature as promoting all sorts of sin and lawlessness?
I only really have one question (ok several but they are all somewhat related) but I imagine it's something that is on the minds of a few readers of yours.
Is there any possibility that we will ever see "On a Pale Horse" turned into a movie? I've been wanting to see this adapted for the screen since the moment I read it.
Does anyone own the rights to it other than yourself?
And finally what do you think about the idea of having your written words adapted to film. Do you this book (or for that matter any of your books) would make good material for screenplays or do you feel like they might lose some of the character if given some sort of "Hollywood treatment"?
Hope this question gets selected. It's something I've wanted to know for some time.
Also, do you feel you are more productive using Linux and StarOffice?
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Piers,
When you transition from StarOffice 5.2, do you plan to use StarOffice 6.0 or OpenOffice.org 1.0?
Thanks for your many wonderful books.
-- Rich
- - -
"The sixth sick shiek's sixth sheep's sick."
Now that you've made the switch to StarOffice, you should consider switching to FreeBSD, the free OS with the stable VM system, not the OS that's still trying to re-invent basic OS systems in the year 2002.
I am curious if you read/enjoy other authors works. There are several I read that have very solidly stated that they do not, notably Terry Goodkind.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
In the notes included with your book Steppe you stated that you were sneaking a history lesson past your editors. And in the Bio of a Space Tyrant there is quite a lot of history that can be extrapolated about the United States. Do you try to give a lesson in history with all of your work? I cannot find it in the Mode series, but it has been quite some time since I read those books.
Keep up the great work!
it is better to light a flame thrower than curse the darkness. -Terry Pratchett Men at Arms
was the original author. The story was "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". Good movie, well realized, but IMHO the short-story was better, there was more than one level of uncertainty about whether or not the whole experience was a hallucinatory holiday. IIRC the short story ended up with the revelation that the hero had saved mini-space aliens that could destroy the earth. They were grateful to the hero so the Govt. couldn't kill him. Still, a good movie.
Does your frequent focus on nakedness and panties of your very young female characters indicate an attraction on your part, or is there a good reason for this? (Re: _The Color of Her Panties_ which pictures (among other things) two mostly-naked young women.)
Do you feel this is appropriate for books aimed at 10-14 year olds?
"You're soft where?"
"Open Sores"
You've incorporated mundane technology into the Xanth world before. Will the idea of open source software make it into a future Xanth novel?
/bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
Do you perfer fiction over non-fiction, historical novels, science books, any authors of note (or hidden jems that you'd like to mention), subjects which have made you stop and rethink issues?
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Dear Mr. Anthony,
What a pleasent surprise to see my favorite author ever answering questions on my favorite web site. My question is:
Your Xanth novels, as we all know, are full of delicious puns that you get from your fans/readers. In a way your books are the colaboritive efforts of your fans and yourself. Do you feel that this contributes to your success as a novelist? Do you feel your fans are a good source of inspiration? Have you considered that this form of writing is unique and makes you a pioneer in Open Source Novel Writing.
Thanks, Paul.
Would you recommend fiction writing as a carrer to someone else? Or is it one of those things that that one can be successful at but wouldn't recommend that anyone else who valued thier sanity should try.
2.As you may know, Apple has started a new media campaign aimed at gaining converts to the Mac. The predominant theme of these spots seems to be creative types (writers, musicians), expounding on how they couldn't grasp Windows but felt much better on the Mac.
As a creative person who has (we assume) mastered the daily use of Linux, what do you think of the message of this campaign & do you feel that any particluar desktop is too "unwieldy" for non-techie use?Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
Mr. Anthony,
From your in-story commentary and author's notes, we have a glimmering of your opinion on people who don't pay for books.
What is your opinion of people who borrow the books you've written from libraries. Also, what is your opinion of fan-authors who write fanstories based on your work?
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
>My computer's longest uptime is 12 hours. I've tried windows, redhat and mandrake. Windows has performed the best
Maybe you have hardware trouble?
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Dear Mr. Anthony, I was just curious as to just how long one can keep beating a dead horse (Xanth)?
How many kinds of fish can you name?
Have you ever done any book writing using voice recogntion software. If so, what are the pros and cons? How accurate is it? Which software is the best? Does anything work with Linux?
When I read A spell For Chameleon (and the Split Infinity series) I was totally blown away. But as I got older and kept reading the new books as they came out, it seemed that they started getting more sexual and less mature in some way.
Now don't get me wrong-- I LOVE immature, and I LOVE sexual-- just not from this type of book.. it starts getting a little creepy. After a while, I kinda stepped out of the Xanth series. I was SO excited at one time when the next one came out, and then all of a sudden I was like, "Blah, whatever."
Did I grow out of Xanth, or did Xanth just get dumbed-down? I think the latter, because upon rereading the originals, I was astounded by how good they were. Not so "here's a pun for a pun's sake" and more plot and character driven.
Well, I guess this is more of a comment than a question. If P.A. ever reads this-- please write towards an older audience-- you're such a fantastic writer, I mean really a legend, and when you're pandering we can feel it. Let the kids read up to your level.
Thanks, and thanks for the great reads.
I once had a boat and I named it "Unthinkable".
Hi Piers,
I've had the chance to enjoy several of your Xanth books over the years. However, I find it disappointing that, like many sci-fi authors, you choose to include lots of "naked women" imagery in your books. This makes your books unappealing to the female side of your audience (including myself), and it makes it hard for me to recommend your books either to younger children or other women who might be interested.
I don't mind sex in books; what I (and a lot of other females) mind is the clear delineation of women as either sexual objects or as somehow "needing" a male to rescue them from various plights. Your earlier books did not have much of this imagery, and indeed the Xanth series seems relatively free of it, but I've noticed that some of your books do draw this conclusion. Unfortunately, the fantasy category seems to have more of this type of book than most other categories.
In a world of fantasy books dominated by male fantasies, what is your suggestion to the relatively few females who do enjoy fantasy and sci-fi books?
As a point of reference, I enjoyed the Phule series by Robert Asprin, as well as The Hitchhiker's Guide and, of course, several of the Xanth books.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
When will we see mr Anthony accept his first Nobel price in literature?
Pornucopia Tafford hc 89 tpb 91 (erotic fantasy: adults only) OP
What was the inspiration for this great novel? How did you go about researching this? What pointers would you like to give to an aspiring writer?
Thank you for your kind answers. :)
mod the parent up please
... .. I want to know some tips on writing sci fi .. how to get started with short stories and stuff .. what do i do with my short stories?
I want to know the same thing
Or rather
You can WRITE BOOKS in Linux?! This must be the killer app!
Ah, you've read his underground novel, 'Pornucopia' too.
I remember reading in one of your books about a style of notation you used (along with a Dvorak keyboard if I recall) as you wrote and edited your books. It was something a kin to writing in the margins as you felt the need. Has the switch to Star Office and Linux made this easier or harder? Were there any pitfalls you found?
There seems to be a movement within the current publishing industry (that parallels the ones within the movie and record industries) to shut down or hamper the abilities of consumers to, in my opinion, fully appreciate their Fair Use rights. Members of each industry are scared, quite understandably, by the capacity of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks and the Internet in general to allow their works to be shared on an unprecedented scale without compensating the creators of the works or holders of the copyrights on the works (this is usually labeled piracy, although this brings rather silly images to mind I'd prefer to avoid). I understand that this has happened with at least one of your books; another reason why I'd like to eventually ask you a question on the topic. However, I'm concerned that the direction some would like to take. For example, Pat Schroeder of the Association of American Publishers seems comfortable with the idea that public libraries might have to start charging patrons for access to continue offering the same services they do today.
Assuming you don't mind metaphorically throwing a rock into a hornet's nest, what are your thoughts on these matters? Are public libraries (or P2P) a greater harm to society by permitting hundreds of people to get by on the purchase of one book, or are they a boon for offsetting the damage 100-year copyrights do to the public domain (from which we have historically drawn our knowledge and inspiration for art and culture)?
BTW: I love your books.
Mr. Anthony
I was recommended to your novels when I was quite young, and found many of them quite good. I very much enjoyed the Incarnations of Immortality, particularly the first novel of the series. However, I quickly discovered the controversy surrounding your work, and learned why when reading the Bio of a Space Tyrant series. Re-reading the Incarnations drove this point home for me - how do you respond to all the charges of sexism in your work? The female characters in your novels are almost always pathetic damsels, even when in powerful roles like the Incarnations. No matter what they are always drop-dead gorgeous and hopelessly smitten with the male protagonists.
I found the characters in "And Eternity" in particular most ridculous, such as the young prostitute and the heroic pedophile. The writing of the prostitute reads like it was done by someone who had never met a woman, a child, or a person living outside of a country club. It was the 700 Club concept of what a poor prostitute girl on the street must be like - with the pointless sexual fantasy of this little girl lusting after the judge. Half the novel is spent in a sad attempt to justify pedophilia.
I often wonder how can a man with a family of women understand so little about them, continually adding Barbie doll after Barbie doll to his stories?
So my question is this: How do you explain the anachronistic objectification of women in your novels?
Would you consider repleacing Jerry Pournelle as the voice from outside?
In the course of life, many writers (of high tech) become stale. Jerry was interesting for being outside of the industry and not really being on anybodies payroll (except for Bytes). But Jerry went stale long ago and makes few, if any, real changes. Now, all changes are with respect to what he is used to, not to what he expects.
Are you interested in letting some company produce a new "Companions of Xanth" game? The last was a hoot. How did you like working on the "Companions of Xanth" game?
Granted I'm writing for a persepctive of someone who hasn't read your work in many years (I gobbled up the Incarnations of Immortality, Xanth and Blue Adept novels in college). Based on your writing and the snippets of biographical information you snuck into forewards, etc, you never stuck me as as "bleeding-edge hardcore technical" kind of guy. Granted also that Linux has worked hard to outgrow its reputation as a "hackers only need apply" operating system; even now, though, it does so with only a certain amount of success. I wondered: how did you discover Linux, and what brought you to adopt it (and welcome aboard, by the way!).
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
What kinds of things typically get your creativity moving, and how do they push you towards a given "type" of series... In essence, what would tickle you to create 'Mode', rather than expand on 'Xanth' or 'Ogre'?
I suspect that one of these choices is incorrect. Correct.
Mr. Anthony,
What are your views toward copyright laws as they exist in the U.S. today? More specifically, how do you feel about the length of time that a work is protected, is it long enough, too long, or just right?
P.S. I think it was really cool that you completed the novel for that kid that died before he finished it.
Casca
In the Bio of a Space Tyrant series, the protagonist (sorry, don't remember the name - it's been a LONG time) uses a constitutional convention to fix the issues with government by (temporarily?) becoming a constitutional dictator. Do you think the US could fix some of it's problems with a constitutional convention (minus the dictator)?
OK, I'll be up front about this... I admit I haven't read anything of yours recently. (The last I read was "... And Eternity").
However, I recall in the postscripts to several of the Incarnations novels, you described going from CP/M to DOS as your writing platform. How was the change from DOS/Windows to Linux?
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
while a freshman in college my roomate purchased the legend of xanth the game. We both then proceeded to skip every class we had until we figured out the game. The books lend themselves very well to RPG games which are very entertaining. Dont know if you all remember the hanging participle. My question is will you be invovled in any projects in the futer with regards to video games. I keep thinking of warcraft but only with Xanth charactors. It would be so much more entertaining. I know this is a little segway from the main topic, but lets get real star office supports all word formats, including formating. The only drawbacks I would see is in the desktop publishing dept. The lack of a Pagemaker or Quark type app.
Anthony might have a little more say because of his success, but generally, authors have NO IMPUT into the cover design for their books. The cover is viewed as an advertisement for the book, and is designed and controlled by the advertising department.
Most of the questions here seem to relate either to Xanth or Space Tyrant.
Do you get any feedback/comments on your other novels or series, such as Macroscope or the Omnivore/Orn/OX trilogy? Which of your series is your favorite and why?
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
In note that you also say: So, what don't you like so far? What do you want us to improve? Are there any author-specific tools that you miss from Microsoft?
Cheers,
crush
I read them. In fact, I re-read the first one a lot of times, but I read them all at least once. I noticed on his site he's e-publishing them now. Neat.
Personally, myself and most of those I've talked to who are widely read believe that his best work was the first trilogy of the Split Infinity series -- Split Infinity, Blue Adept, and Juxtaposition, and some of the earlier Incarnations books. I did enjoy Bio when I was younger, but it is a bit pulpy now.
I'm not sure anyone on /. is old enough to remember, but Piers Anthony used to write rather lofty science fiction. Perhaps the most polished of the pre-Xanth phase was the Orn-Omnivore-0X trilogy but there were many other notable works (Macroscope, Var the Stick, etc.). He also had a wacky story in Again, Dangerous Visions--imagine a barn full of women being milked. (Got milk?) At one point he would have been considered a "serious" science fiction writer.
Early Piers Anthony used to be very difficult to find, but nowadays it is being regurgitated in significant quantities at used bookstores.
My question is: What prompted Piers to mostly stop writing Heinlein-esque SF and take up fantasy instead? It has to be more than "just the money" because fantasy wasn't the dominant genre in the late 1970s, and even successful SF/Fantasy writers don't really do it for the money anyway.
Robert Asprin named you as inspiration to go forward with his punnish books at a time when the genre was not too favorable with publishers. Have other authors credited or thanked you? Additionally, who do you read to wind down?
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
Before you send your next manuscript off, you need to become literate.
I'm a fan blah, blah... Favorite series' were "Bio Of A space Tyrant" and Incarnations of Immortality blah, blah...
I've tried switching from Windows to Linux for production purposes but when push came to shove I always reverted to Windows when a project is time sensitive (looming deadline). Even on a fast computer I have noticed a lot of lag in peripheral response. I've also encountered a few bugs that would hang the application and force me to kill it and restart. Have you experienced similar problems? If so, how have you managed not falling back on the Windows crutch?
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Mr. Anthony, in my high school days I enjoyed a good many of your novels, but the only ones that I still vividly recall are from your Geodyssey series. I found the project very ambitious in its scope, as it essentially told the full story of humanity.
I remember one chapter in the series portrayed a possible future wherein humans had released birth control agents into the very air we breathe. Special inoculations had to be taken to counter these agents. I'm not certain, but I believe a regulatory body had to approve a request for circumventing the airborne birth control.
I was wondering if you sincerely believe humanity will need to partake in a radical solution such as this to control the human population. Is that the only way to avoid the natural controls of war, disease, and famine? Or might a prosperous future, where the majority of the world is highly educated, preclude the need for population control?
I'd suggest you don't use Slashdot as your only news source, or you will suffer permanent brain damage.
Hey now! Maybe that's a little rough. I mean, nobody ciriticizes a surfer who manages to ride a wave in all the way to the shore. Of course, at that point surfers DO usually step off the board and either start looking for a *different* wave, or call it quits for the day. Hrm. Wrong metaphor.
Let's see ... Open Source programming! Yeah, that's it. He's *re-using* his code! Polymorphism. He's simply overloading his plot methods.
Besides, he's always been pretty forward about that he includes puns and opther contributions from fans. Many eyes make shallow jokes.
What is your view on the future in ebooks? What has been done so far (like Stephen King's attempt) could be qualified as either a success or failure, depending on your view.
Do you favor a closed, centrally driven system (keeping the publisher/distributer chain much like it is now) or something more like each author being able to make his own manuscript and hang his own "publisher" shingle? I suppose as a person with a highly developed creativity skill <g>, you couldn't have something completely different in mind, could you?
Mr. Anthony,
As someone who has named both of his cats, all seven of his computers, and one of his cars after characters from Incarnations of Immortality, I would like to know why you haven't chosen to return to their mythos.
Consider the fact you have done so with many of your other mythos'! (Bio of a space tyrant, Apprentice Adept, etc.)
Further, with Incarnations, there are a world of possibilities left. Chance, hate, love, hope, all the minor incarnations you mentioned in books previously (I would really like to see hope)..
Your writing weaves a world that one can live in, and while Xanth is nice, I deeply prefer a world where death is kind, and evil is human and flawed.
It helped me through the pain of losing my mother to serious illness, and has been my favorite fantasy world since.
I read in one of your author's note that the story of the original characters from IoI was "complete" and that you didnt see a need to continue their stories, and I can agree with that.
That doesn't stop new characters in the same mythos from being created. Whether set before, during or after the events of IoI, there is definitely room to weave plenty of stories.
Any chance of seeing some more of them?
GPL'd web-based tradewars themed space game
After reading enough of your books, which at the beginning I loved immensely, I became bored by the repetitiveness, and similar themes throughout. (This in no way takes away from the books I have enjoyed, such as "On A Pale Horse", etc.) One theme which started to bug me was how in almost every story, one or more characters would have to run around in public while nude for no apparent reason.
Could you please explain your rationale for this? What are your other favourite plot devices?
Bork!
Since your books are so formulaic anyway, did you find it difficult to create an app that runs on linux to scramble your plots and characters?
Was your novel writing program home grown or outsourced? Are books created with this program subject to GPL?
As a person whoose sci-fi reading history is very limited and one who has never read any of your books, Why should I read yours? I would like to know why you would recommend your own work and why you would recommend science fiction in general.
Are you ever going to write the second part of this great series?
We'd be very interested to discover how things went during the rule of Spirit Hubris (aka. the Iron Lady).
Logan
Stuff that matters: circuitbreakers, vacuum-cleaners coffee makers, calculators generators, matching salt+pepper shakers
As a long time fan of your works, I've noticed a trend at some points, particularly your alternation between 'light' fiction (Xanth) and your darker, more adult works (Firefly, and the other short story whose title I can never remember, about the alien culture where social position is established by withstanding torture).
My question is: What keeps you writing the 'light' fiction more often than the darker, more thoughtful literature that you've produced?
"To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
In case you decided, for some reason, to read all of these comments, Thank you.
Thank you for Orn, Omnivore, and Ox, which taught me the rules to the Game of Life (Martin Gardner/ Scientific American).
Years later, as I still write alife experiments and study emergent behavior, I know that had it not been for those few books, my life would have been much poorer.
Thank you.
No Zen is good zen
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Isn't that Pr0nucopia?
Please, that's not a pun, that's a lisp.
My Weblog
If you wanted to really piss off Harlan Ellison, what piece of advice would you offer him?
Like many of the posters, I quite enjoyed many of your books when I was an adolescent. I noticed, though, that I tended to enjoy books late in a series much less than books at the start of one.
For instance, I really enjoyed the first Split Infinity trilogy. I found the third trilogy to be, um, less readable. What's interesting to me is that this is a common theme amongst fantasy and science fiction -- look at the Dune books, the Dragonriders of Pern, David Brin's Uplift novels, the list is really endless.
Why is that? Is there something unusually difficult about continuing a series, or do writers tend to get lazy, since they know that they have a built-in audience? For that matter, do you agree that some of the later books in your own long-running series are weaker than the earlier ones?
- target
Just out of curiosity why did you switch, how did you first come to hear about Linux? Also please forgive this question being so long but not being a developer or a system administrator would you recommend linux to joe average? Why or why not?
It's amazing how spiritual an elaborated beer commercial can be. -- Philip K. Dick
As an old geezer, I've noticed that SF has evolved from more of a "science oriented with people" genre to a more "people oriented with some science" focus.
I've also noticed (perhaps it's the movie industry's influence) a more rounded audience and respectability of SF anymore.
What kind of changes have you seen in the audience for your works from early on to now?
How has that affected your writing?
thanks!
How can this be a real /. article?
Hi, there is someone who is an 'end user' of Linux and it's news how he uses the system.
I had read a number of your Xanth novels, and found them very light and enjoyable, when I stumbled upon your early novel Macroscope in a used book store. Macroscope was perhaps the most ambitious and sweeping (albeit scattered) sci-fi novel I had ever read. Do you think that your later work lived up to these early ambitions? Are you satisfied with your reputation as an author of light fantasy? Do you have any plans to attempt something so ambitious again?
The average /. reader is an idiot. Half of /. readers are below average. Are you scared yet?
/. reader is still more intelligent than the average person in general.
What's more scary is that the average
I've tried a few times to run star office in a business envrionment, and have found that while importing documents and spreadsheets is very easy with the more common MS office, exporting these leaves something to be desired.
Specifically, formatting seems to be lost or changed. As a writer, I would assume that how your works are formated would be important to you. Have you had any issues of interoperability with Star Office and other platforms that your publisher/editor might use?
Or, have you reached the point where you can make those people sort of 'deal with it'.
The Internet is generally stupid
I am curious of your books what are your personal favorites and why? (Xanth, Incarnations, Bio of Space Tyrant, Modes, Adept series... hey wait! you should know your own works better then I do...)
Finally, the guy I've been looking for!! How the hell should I set up X so that when I su, I can run X programs as root?
The evaluation of an action as 'practical' . . . depends on what it is that one wishes to practice.
I guess this is a double-pronged question, but here goes:
When you were younger, did you envision the career you have now? Now that you've been in the writing field for decades, has it turned out as you expected it to be?
Has using Linux (and presumably immersing yourself in the open-source movement's culture) changed your views about technology and the way it should be used? Will contact with technology of this genre affect your art and craft as a storyteller?
We're not talking about a motivation for writing. We're talking about an already-written book, with the assumption in the question being that it is excellent. The issue is not: who will publish it? The issue is: who will support it so it doesn't become a 5000 copy print run lost in the annals of history? The question is: which publisher has the clout, enthusiasm, and experience working with a motivated writer who is willing to work on promotion, to help maximize the breadth of the book sales?
I remember in the afterword of one of your books from the early 1980's, you discussed the research you put into choosing your first computer. At the time the choices for consumers were basically Apple II, CP/M, or MS-DOS.
How many generations of computers have you used since then? What system were you using just before you switched? Were you still using CP/M?
Ive noticed over the last 10 years or so, that the number of obvious typographical errors in the novels I read has been on the increase.
Mostly, the problem is the use of the wrong word, or the omission of part of a sentence, rather than misspelling words
Is there something about the process that's changed, or is this the result of over-dependence on computers to "spell check" manuscripts? Does anybody actually read the final MS before printing the books, or is that just not done.
This is something that's been bothering me for a while, and I figured that since you're in the publishing business, you might have some insight.
-Mark
What will you do if he replies, "Because I am a bad writer?"
I've seen notice in one of your Xanth books that work may be in progress on "The Iron Maiden." I hope it is. :)
Thanks for spending some of your time to satisfy our curiosity.
The Internet has no garbage collection
Besides, he's always been pretty forward about that he includes puns and opther contributions from fans.
Yeah, he has also said things in his Author's Note to the effect of: "Don't write to me with your puns, I know all of you just want to see your name in print, and looking at your crap slows me down."
Not only is Anthony a hack, but he's an arrogant bastard, to boot. I stopped reading his books when a) he got pretty stale and b) he talked down to his fans. But he's got a reason to be smarmy, right? He can crank out at least a couple 300-page books a year! And people buy them because they have his name on them.
Bleah. The worst was when he dug up his old books that were too crappy to publish before he was famous (Mer-Cycle), and got them published anyway. Also painful: the footnotes of "But What of Earth?," where he complains of how editors *gasp* EDITED HIS BOOK!
I encourage anyone who reads Anthony to try Robert Asprin. (If they haven't already) He only writes about one 200-page book every two years, but they are good. And he seems nice.
Mr. Anthony, can you pinpoint exactly when your excellent work changed from actually being good to utter crap?
I used to read a lot of your works. "The Incarnations of Immortality" was ones of my favorites along with "Bio of a Space Tyrant". Those are the only novels of yours that I have kept. I enjoyed reading the Xanth novels, but after about the 25th or so, I realized that they just keep rehashing themselves over and over again. There is always the same formula, over and over again. When do you expect to do something original with the Xanth series, or have you completly given into just making money and stop writing good stories?
Piers, A Spell for Chameleon and the Source of Magic are two of the best sci-fi books I'd read up to that point.
In your copeous Author's Notes, you mention how you wrote these books with adults in mind, and were surprised to find that the Young Adult market was where you were selling most of your copies.
I'm curious why, upon learning this, you started pandering to that market? Each successive Xanth book became more pun-laden and slapstick, even when it got in the way of the actual story. Despite saying in nearly every Authors Note that you wouldn't accept any more reader-submitted puns, you go ahead and do it anyway, taking loose soap-operaesque plotlines and filling them with frivolous wordplay to tie them together.
Granted, the series seems to do okay, considering that you keep adding to it, but I wonder why you abandoned the style and quality of writing that won you the Nebula Award, in favor of Xanth installments like "Color of her Panties," irritating those readers who loved the Piers who wrote quality work?
Sadly, the decline of Xanth (around books 3 through 5 and on) can also be seen in most of your other series, including Incarnations of Immortality (after Being a Green Mother), and the brilliantly begun Apprentice Adept series (after the first trilogy).
Is the changeover to Linux and StarOffice responsible for this change in tone and direction?
Kevin Fox
Do you see a place in literature for the explicit inclusion of Open Source software? Not necessarily "brand dropping", but references and even integral plot elements involving software in particular and technology in general that is Open Source?
The first Xanth trilogy begins with this root-for-the-underdog perspective and later develops into the continuing undertone that the former slave is just as good as the old-money rich--and even better for not becoming one of them in spite of the new wealth. The Open vs. Close source business and technology models of today are following a similar storyline. Have you considered crossing over some of this real-life drama into your work?
I'm an amateur writer. After several years of writing in my spare time, I'm getting to the point where I might have chance of getting published. At the moment I'm working actively on two novels--one more than the other--as well as whatever short story I get an impulse to write. In terms of novels, what's a good way in Star Office, to ogranize chapters? I tend to save each chapter as separate file in the novel's directory. That works for the more action oriented one because for whatever reason, each chapter comes out feeling like an hour long TV episode. It doesn't work for the other one because the action doesn't have the same film or TV quality as the first. So what tools do reccomend for organizing work in Star Office?
PS Don't read the stuff on my web site becuase it's old and really lame for the most part. The grammar on that stuff comes out as an unholy fusion of Perl and science major's English. Over the past few years I've had to teach myself all the finer points of English comp that I either forgot or never had in the first place. Besides, the html on my page is icky. Some day I'll get off my but and redo it, but that's some day, not today.
Judging from the amount of writing he has done and the similarity of many of his works I'd say a it wasn't so much a case of using a computer to write but that a computer was doing the writing (ref: 1984).
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Personally, I'm a litte concerned about the lack of response to Shumacher/Levy and the recent near earth object encounters. Is there more that the SF community can do to bring this to the attention of policy makers/doers and change the emphasis of space technology spending from research and visiting Mars to something that might acutally help prevent the devastation of our planet?
I personally have never understood why so many linux users were also Apple afficionados. Ive always looked at systems from a programmers point of view, and for the longest time, microsoft has been way more programmer friendly than Apple.
I shudder what the state of the industry would be if Apple had taken over the desktop: They are even more tightfisted with patents, copyrights, look and feel, etc than even Microsoft.
Once linux reached critical mass, Its become way more programmer friendly than the alternatives, to the point were I myself have ditched other platforms completely.
Admittedly, with a BSDish foundation, thing are supposedly better for the latest Apple operating system, but with most of the code that makes osX what it is being closed, I dont see them as any better than Microsoft.
Perhaps alot of the "linux advocates" are merely Microsoft bashers, and have no particular desire for source code or self determination.
Is is really that hard to tell a story in just one book?
Your books have provided me much entertainment over the years and I cant help but observe that every new fantasy world you create seems to spawn a series rather than a single tale.
Is it simply not letting a good thing go to waste, or do you just enjoy the characters that much?
What are you feelings about E-Books and Audio Books? Are you in support of these formats? Do you feel this is the way of the future?
What are your feelings on file/music/book swapping as widely seen on the internet at present and the risks of losing some of your rights to control your content?
Eric B
ebresie@gmail.com
That said, after years of reading your works off and on, mostly Xanth and the Mode series (*thanks* for finally getting that final book out -- publishers should listen to the readers more often!) the one thing I have always enjoyed were your Authors Notes at the back. To be honest, I always read those first. I had thought, back in the day when I had deluded myself with dreams of being a published author, of doing the same. Even though it would be copying your style.
What made you decide to start putting those in the books? You are, as far as I know, the only published author to continually do so.
... all I can say "Give me that time back".
Putrid crap.
I have a copy with an autographed bookplate...
It was a rather odd but much appreciated birthday present from my wife.
Hello Mr. Anthony. As a young adult, I devoured nearly all your novels, with my particular favorites including the Adept series, Incarnations, Bio of a *, and the first eight or ten Xanth titles. It's fair to say that a large part of my psyche and probably my vocabularly are attributable to you.
Recently I reprised On a Pale Horse with my girlfriend and I discovered to my discomfort that it dealt very explicitly with underage sex in a way that sexualized young girls in particular. Although the novel retained many charming qualities for me, I began to consider the female underage sexuality in the other books of that series, especially one of the later books (Of Eternity?) in which an underage girl uses a protracted stay in Purgatory in order to be able to have legal sex with a much older priest. Significantly, she is only 18 "by law". Physically and mentally she is 16 when she has sex with the priest. We are supposed to have any moral questiones calmed by this.
As I recalled more of your works, I noticed a recurring theme of young girls being exploited in sexual ways. The opening of Bio of a Space Tyrant describes the protagonist's shame and arousal as his young sister is raped. Later in the series, I hazily recall a wealthy character who kept pre-pubescent girls for sex, then released them for service when they matured. The character was depicted in a very sympathetic light - he was just misunderstood.
Finally, long ago I read a hardback book by you which attributed to you membership in a social organization dedicated to protecting girls against paedophilia.
As a fan an admirer, but also as someone who is disquieted by the influence you may have had upon my young sexuality, I would like to know candidly whether you are attracted to underage women. Naturally I am in no way implying that you would ever act upon such an urge, but the writing you have given us is very close to an act in itself, considering your very broad and impressionable audience.
Thanks.
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
On your website there is a section for online publishing. Has anyone begun a successful writing career through any of these websites?
Hello Cruel World
This sounds horribly flame-bait. .. let me clarify. I read a lot of your books. (proof is at my book tracker - under read books.) 'On a Pale Horse' was one of the first Fantasy books of note that I read - and still one of my favorites to date. [I always recommend it to friends, which explains why not only have I bought several copies, but I do not have it in my book tracker as a result.]
.. especially when your are well known in the sci-fi/fantasy world as a a 'creative' guy.
.. when does an author find that enough is enough ?
.. get pushed to the side. And books like 'Gollum in the Gears' [sorry , NOT a personal favorite of mine.] get catapulted to the top of the best seller list just beacuse it has the name Xanth on it ?
But before I elaborate
I have noticed , over the course of time, that your writing became more 'pulp' and less 'inventive'.
Its hard to be creative full steam, especially when you have a family to raise - and I'm sure
Robert Asprin once said something to the effect of "Writing the story was fine, but after 6 books the cute idea I had to put a meaningful/funny quote in the beginning of each chapter really became the stumbling block." Is this a similar event for you ?
Lets face is Xanth was certainly a money-cow for you. And the first four or five books were unique and interesting - My REAL question is
Do you ever regret that the Xanth series has overshadowed other deeper or more interesting works ? [Bio of a Space Tyrant for example.]
Where is the balance of satisfying your fans desire for more of the same hinge with the fear of cheapening/overdoing your story ?
Why do books like 'FireFly' or 'Macroscope' both great ideas - and brilliant books
Does this actually affect your writing style / choice / income in any way? Does it discourage you to write less mainstream work ?
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
Hello!!! If it didn't have naked women who needed rescued it would be real life, not Fantasy. Why do you think we read this stuff?
Rocks!!
Janny Wurts has written several other good books (as well as a few that suck - the Masters of Light and Shadow just drag on too much IMO)
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Ah, but did you tie the boat up at Anthony Pier?
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
I must confess that I only knew of your Xanth and Adept books prior to going to the Piers Anthony website linked here on /. I had no idea you'd written so many books (126 by my rough count). The earlist publication date I saw was 1956, which means you've been writing for approx. 45 years.
How are you able to churn out almost three books a year?
When you're writing a series, how many of the books in the series do you outline prior to writing the first word of the first book?
Did you have a number of books (27 & counting) planned for the Xanth series when you wrote 'A Spell for Chameleon'?
Why has the Xanth series continued?
Thath not a lithp either. Thith ith a lithp.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
Mr. Anthony,
:)
I first would like to thank you for helping me discover SF/Fantasy. Books like A Spell for Chameleon, Macroscope and Tarot introduced me to characters who solved their problems by thinking critcally about them--a trait I consciously tried to mimic and have never lost. (Since then, my critical thinking has led me to vastly different conclusions than yours on many fronts, but that's a different matter.)
Anyway, this being a technical web site (nominally anyway) I will ask a (nominally) technical question. As a Linux user and sometime writer, my biggest problem has been with the quality of the fonts. As someone who spends hours a day staring at the screen (4? 6?) I would think this would be more of an issue for you. Do you find that fonts under Linux are lower quality than under Microsoft? If so, is it enough to bother you? What font and size do you typically write in?
Thanks,
Jason
Think! It ain't illegal yet!
George Clinton
As a way of illustrating to people here about why you do what you do; If someone gave you a billion dollars tommorow and you never had to 'work' as a writer again.. what kind of books would you write? For fun or to make a point, or both? Just to delve into cool worlds, or to explore how people think? Stuff like Xanth, or Bio, KilloByte, or Tatham Mound?
I'm sure you're no stranger to criticism so don't mind the trolls around here - Thanks for the worlds, the laughs, and the thoughts.
Gavin Duggan
I stumbled upon this in an interview with Piers Anothony by Moira Allen located here. I figured I'd post it so we won't waste a question:
Quote
To what do you attribute your gift of puns? (What are your favorite puns from the Xanth series?)
I don't think I have an unusual gift for puns; I can fail to get them in real life. But my readers send them in by the hundreds, so I have a huge range to draw on. My favorite is not exactly a pun, it's a maxim: "Never let a man get the upper hand; there's no telling where he might put it."
End Quote
I'd rather be parsing. --Jive5
For years I felt reading "novels" was a waste of my time since I could watch it in a movie or simply because my imagination can make stories for me all on it's own.
:)
However when I read "The Incarnations of Immortality" series (specifically "On a Pale Horse"), I found a new love for reading. Since then I have been pretty insatable about reading. I didn't, however care for the Xanth novels due to the fact they are a bit too "childish".
What my question actually is, have you thought about or been approached to putting any of your novels to picture? Personally I would LOVE to see what could be done with the Incarnations series. (My fav being "For the Love of Evil"). Granted, it would have to be done in 7 movies since you couldn't hack them down that much to make it fit in an hour and a half or even 3 hours and still make it fit the mold.
Regardless, Just thought I would say "I still read my incarnations series about once a year or so....yup, they're that good
(I (alwayth (thought (that (a (true (lithp (would (contain (more (bracketth))))))))))
-- kwashiorkor --
Leaps in Logic
should not be confused with
Jumping to Conclusions.
LOL!
Encore!
I was just wondering how Piers Anthony's switch to Linux and SO would affect me?
If some insightful reason is given, it is probably not much diffrent than any of the number of reasons in "In The Beginning There Was Command Line..." by Stephenson. Additionally, although I am a SO user and I do run a Redhat 7.2 box next to my WinXP box. I am a Computer Scientist and have my own reasons to use alternative software.
But I guess the point is if someone reads this article and switches to Linux because "Piers Anthony says so." How is that any diffrent from buying a Intel-based Compaq with Windows XP because the Commercial says it is the best.
I just think the Linux community should convince people to switch because they have a compelling reason or superior product that meets a person's needs, not because a famous writer uses it.
I must confess to being unable to recall the name, but I recall reading a "martial arts novel" by you (the hero was a judoaka). Aside from Science Fiction and Fantasy, was this the only foray you made into other genres, or do you pursue other fields under other names?
Do you intend to write/publish any followups to that martial arts novel?
How is a company that ships every copy of the OS with development tools less developer friendly than one that does not? As a programmer myself I am very turned off of Windows and find OS X about 100,000 times better to use - better in every sense of the word, from programming to just being a user trying to get stuff done.
How about an OS that ships with many open source tools like GCC and Apache, and contributes fixes back to them. That's not developer friendly?
Sure Apple was and still is overly agressive in some areas legally. But to say we are better off with Microsoft in the dominant position than Apple astounds and eludes me, both from a technical and political standpoint.
Would you rather have a leading company that makes the iPod, based on normal MP3's, or a company that is trying to fulfill every wild fantasy/nightmare about DRM that companies can dream up? Supporting Apple is supporting the one major computer company that is really fighting for your rights. That I think is why a lot of Linux people support Apple as well, because the goals of each group align well (or at least as well as a companies goals can align with a grass-roots movement).
P.S. - I do use Linux and OS X regularily, along with Windows at work (of course).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Start here.
Read everything that isn't a dead link. Then realize that whatver drops out of your butt probably sucks ass and won't get published accordingly.
This guy can write something about unicorns humping the devil and get it sold instantly because back in the day, he wrote something that didn't suck. The publishers took a chance on him and it paid off, and they realize that 'Horny and the Big Red Goat' will sell, even if it sucks, because the man has fans. Should it fail dismally, and should his next erotic unicorn story fail dismally, publishers will start tossing holy water his way when his agent pushes novels.
Agent? Yeah, you need one of those too. ;) Remember not to ever pay your agent. Seriously. The money flows from the publisher, to you. Not from you, to the agent. When the agent finally gets off his or her arse and gets your work sold, then, and only then, do you work on paying the agent. Not before. Never before. If they ask for money up front (Or want to send your work to a 'book doctor'), I'd suggest doing some reportage to the BBB.
Publishers = Paper Age. Wordprocessors are a moot point, as long as it prints out in a nice sane font with a page number on each page.
I've been a fan of yours for a few Split Infinities (Apprentice Adept)... I think my favorite was Tathum Mound, tho... Did your daughter pass the Archaeology class?
Shakespeare? Im serious here.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
You gotta be kidding. Pointing someone to Robert Asprin as a step-up from Piers Anthony? He burned out in the early 90s, and after having his future earnings garnished by the IRS, only writes with other people. One of his last books (which I read, of course--I wanted to relive junior high), "A Phule's something-or-other", got about halfway through and was completely unravelling. I think Asprin got blocked, so he handed it off to some kid, who resolved all the threads in about a page and a half and wrote another story that was completely unrelated for the second half. The later books in the 'Myth' series (yep, read them all too) were apparently therapy where Asprin worked through a mid-life crises by writing boring drivel. Sure, the books were clever and usually entertaining, but please don't mistake them for being anything but pulp sci-fi fantasy.
I encourage anyone who is tired of Piers Anthony and the rest of the crap shoved between the Mystery and Romance sections at Waldenbooks to grow up and try something different, even if isn't that 'good'. Read some Louis L'Amour, or Sherlock Holmes--they are highly entertaining although not really 'Literature'. Or try out W. S. Maugham, Jane Austen, James Joyce, Hemingway, or Steinbeck for a historical kick. Trust me, these will all speak to you, you only need the courage to dare to read a book without a picture of a dragon on the cover!
In the words of Johnny Carson, I did not know that.
Mr Anthony -
As a child, I loved reading. I never had a favorite author until I read my first xanth novel, "A Dragon on a Pedestal". I loved it so much, that I went to my favorite used book store, and bought every PA book I could find.
What ensued was a mystical adventure that took me from reading Anthonology, to Steppe, Mute (many, many times) Macroscope (once, though I know I should read it again) to many of the xanth series. But my favorites were true sci-fi, Bio of a space tyrant, for example was one series that I always wished would become a movie or at least be continued. I would say that I still probably own close to 95% of the books that you have published solo.
Ok, now to the question -- Where did you come up with some of this stuff? While I was in sixth grade, my Mother picked up one of the tarot series that I was reading, and was wondering what kind of book I was reading, that had mary masturbating the baby jesus.
In short, where do you get your inspiration for all these worlds, people and situations?
I've got to say that your works during the 70's and 80's are by far my favorite. Bio, Incarnations, Cluster (AWESOME!!), and all the great one-off novels.
Mr. Anthony:
1. Why are you using Linux?
2. What are your tips for me as aspiring writer?
3. Why are you a pedo?
4. Why are you sexist?
5. Why are your books only interesting to young people?
Hmm, ok, that's 5. Anyone else?
Not to speak for Mr. Anthony, of course. But your question confuses me.
...
Mac's are always touted as the "Creative Artist" machine.
PR department.
Substitute "Graphic Artist" and/or "Musician" and there may be some truth to it. Apple has had graphic tools far longer than PCs, and was the only serious graphics-capable platform in the personal machine space for some years. After that the legacy continued to give it a leg up. And the OS, with its object-oriented accessability, leant itself to music add-ons as well. PCs, on the other hand, were text based, with graphics eventually bolted on as an afterthought.
But writing is text based. And Apple was trying to close its box, and using incompatible 3" drives, about the time early adopters like Piers Anthony were looking for a CPM replacement.
Meanwhile
Seems like a successful author like you would be able to afford one of Apple's high end systems like the TiBook or the PowerMac G4.
Ever heard the term "starving artist"? Goes well with "impoverished student". Doesn't apply to the established pros, of course. But for people just starting out the platforms they chose will be the ones they can afford. Once they're successful it will take a BIG potential improvement for them to take the risk and climb a new learning-curve by switching.
As with other materials, tools, and instruments, a graphics artist or musician might shell out extra for a platform that supports them well, as a cost of doing good art. But why on Earth should a novelist or poet spend an extra cent for bells and whistles?
The war of the apples and the clones was fought on standards-and-price vs. slickness-and-snob-appeal. Business picked IBM for reliability, joe user picked clones for compatability and price. Then it snowballed, with market share leading to more application development and business adoption leading to PC formats as defacto standard for moving from paper to data submission of manuscripts. Apple was relegated to a niche while the clones won the general market hands-down.
Seems to me that Mr. Anthony made the right choice of hardware up front, then moved to a better choice for OS for that hardware as soon as the pro-quality compatible applications necessary to support his workflow became available.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Not many people are aware that you attended Goddard, a very unusual institution of higher learning in Vermont. For those of you who don't know, the college was famous for its radical politics in the 60s, after Piers attended. No tests, no grades, student-designed courses which were called "group studies" and led by "facilitators."
When I attended Goddard in the late 80s it was still a hotbed of radical politics, but also a strong proponent of critical thinking. Not a place where orthodox opinions hold unexamined sway. Although my politics have changed, I attribute my flexibility, independence and career success in part to this college experience.
Do you believe your educational background has played a significant part in your success? If so, how? Would you recommend any changes to traditional educational techniques? Lastly, in line with the interests of the slashdot crowd, you're one of only a few authors to embrace linux as a desktop OS. Would you draw a link between using this "alternative os" and the "alternative" years in college?
My cat can eat a whole watermelon
I found Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls sadly disappointing and boring, when I read it in high school. I wound up skipping through many of the pages. While I probably should, one of these days, give a shot at another Hemingway book, I am having a little trouble seeing why he's so great. Perhaps that was his one bad book. And no, I'm not the cheap-action type; I had previously read War and Peace and enjoyed it far more. My first exposure to Steinbeck was The Pearl which was horrid, but then I got to read The Grapes of Wrath which was excellent. I think you are discounting the ability of sci-fi and fantasy authors too much though. Asimov, Bradbury, Card, Herbert, Heinlein, Stephenson, Jordan, Tolkien, and others who I can't remember off the top of my head, are all fine authors with excellent books in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Just because the setting is fictional doesn't mean that the story is bogus. Sometimes, some things cannot be well orchestrated in the boundaries of "factual settings". Consider the whole theme of Dune. Prescience is not real, is it?
As for Piers Anthony, I enjoyed the usage of puns in Xanth. Eventually it got old and I stopped reading the series.
Those who do not know the past are doomed to reimplement it, poorly.
Mr. Anthony --
A number of posters have asked about the finances and feasability of your decision to move to Linux and StarOffice, and I'm eager to see your answers. Others have asked about dealing with publishers who are not used to accepting documents in Something Other Than Word. Some have asked about your motivation, too.
My question is slightly different. On your web site and in your books, you devote some attention to the efforts of previously unpublished authors to break into the market with that all-important first novel.
Is the reason you were able to successfully make this transition and get your publishers to go along because you are Piers Anthony and not [insert nobody here]?
I know you have a significant financial stake in Xlibris, which you discuss in detail on your web site, and you've talked about using that influence at times to get Xlibris management to make life easier for their customer-authors. You also have the selling power for a traditional publisher of someone like King, Grisham, Steele, or Grafton, in your genre.
Would [insert nobody here] be able to successfully sell a first novel to a major publishing house because of the formatting issues? Would [insert nobody here] be able to entice an agent into even looking at it? All else being equal, why would a publishing house bother with someone new who wanted to do something strange?
Remove the caps and hold to a mirror.
Firstly, it is probably safe to say you have never been abused:
Naturally I am in no way implying that you would ever act upon such an urge, but the writing you have given us is very close to an act in itself
Not hardly. There is a terrible difference between reading about any act, and the feeling of helpless terror of being abused.
Later in the series, I hazily recall a wealthy character who kept pre-pubescent girls for sex, then released them for service when they matured. The character was depicted in a very sympathetic light - he was just misunderstood.
He was portrayed in a sympathetic light, but not because he was misunderstood, but because he was voluntarily kind in a cruel world, and because many things separated him from others who might perpetrate the same acts. First, he would never touch a girl who did not submit voluntarily to his attentions -- most did it for ulterior motives, obviously, and just as obviously they could not 'knowingly consent', but nonetheless, they did not have the trauma of rape on their psyches as well. He lavished them with gifts, tutors, etc. -- the best he could buy. He was kind to their familiies. It was generally implied that he did not need to do so, but he did anyhow.
However, you have to be a student of the intricacies of the omniscient voice -- clearly, the sympathy is from the character describing the story, who having been one of his young girls, speaks positively. The protagonist is aghast that she is not outraged and affronted, in fact. The work could be regarded as a subtle indictment of the argument that a girl that young can consent -- because in the context of the story, the girls were clearly willing, even eager, and yet the same story makes it obvious that there were unimaginable pressures upon them making a true self-directed and conscious decision impossible.
Lastly, your ultimate question is both unenlightened and inappropriate:
I would like to know candidly whether you are attracted to underage women.
This is wrong on several levels. First, most men, when answering honestly, will admit some attraction to "underage" girls. The question cannot be asked without qualification. Almost all men have checked out and appreciated some 16 or 17 year old -- and perhaps younger -- girl. This should come as no surprise. Nature designed women to be attractive beginning near puberty, and once they begin to exhibit womanly characteristics, you can expect them to draw sexual attention. This is no commentary on the validity or wisdom of the laws regarding age of consent; but the point is, if he answered your question in the affirmative, it would merely serve to place him in the vast majority.
Secondly, it is just inappropriate to ask. His work speaks for itself. There is a huge difference between a written description of anything, and reality -- note the callous disregard for children most parents display showing them wanton sex and violence on TV and in the movies. And in a book, you've only your imagination, so if you are innocent, your own innocence can quite act the buffer. Note, also, that his books are not marketed as juvenile fiction -- and indeed, Bio and its like might be inappropriate for even some adolescents, so it is a good distinction.
In any event, your question utterly fails to separate the art and the artist, and then uses this as a justification to ask an accusatory question which serves to do nothing other than tar and feather the respondant. Even if he were fraught with pedophilic urges, what difference would it make? Would his work be any more or less dangerous depending on what he felt sexually? Of course not. And Slashdot readers should be wise enough to not accept such a tabloid-like troll, regardless of how well-phrased it is. Curiosity on the morbid topic might be expected, but that does not make for an acceptable interview question.
Why is one of the common reoccurring plot devices in your book rape/pedophilia? I haven't read your books since I was 14 but even at that young age it seemed after your first few good series ideas you just started churning them out. No problem there, but then you featured rape as a major plot component on several occasions, and also pedophilia. I find this very disturbing since these are presented in titillating ways and not displayed as being morally wrong. I also wonder about your world view since in the books you seem to be living out some weird fantasies of your own.
Good grief. Just because you haven't been able to find the more challenging and well-crafted stuff "between the Mystery and Romance sections at Waldenbooks" doesn't mean you should bash all texts within what publishers define as one genre. I'd encourage you to try John M. Ford, Ted Chiang, Connie Willis (stories only), Steven Brust, Emma Bull, (some of) Tim Powers and Neil Gaiman, Greer Gilman, Guy Kay....
Seems to me that one can like Austen, Burney, and Edgeworth for that "historical kick" and their clever writing while also liking clever contemporary fiction of whatever genre. By all means, keep reading books published before WWII--it'll help keep them in bookstores and libraries for future readers. Sturgeon's Law applies to contemporary sf and fantasy as well as to "classics," though; we just don't see the lame pulpy stuff from previous decades (except in research libraries) because it's long out of print.
Hey Piers. When are you going to stop with the 'pun-listing' and go back to the real Xanth style with puns integrated into the story? Man From Mundania was the last one that I remember where you didn't just gratiously list puns. What happened? Did the reader submissions just become to overwhelming and you feel obligated to list all the ones that are good, but don't fit into the story, or is there something else?
Listen up, US folks. In most of the world, including where I live, the age of consent is at least two years lower than 18. I am constantly jarred by references to child pornography and underage sex where the participants turn out to be 16 or 17. Try and be a little less inward-looking, please.
I know many people are aware that most "bestseller lists", even the venerable New York Times lists, are faulty, subject to bias, and sometimes influenced by publishers & retailers, but does it ever stick in your craw that almost all organizations claiming to list the best-selling books of the week / month / year purposefully exclude children's / sci-fi / romance literature? Does it ever matter to you, or are you happy with your royalties & fan mail?
No matter what some may think of your work (I enjoyed it but grew out of it a long time ago) you remain a successful writer making a living by writing, which is more than most writers of "meaningful", well-reviewed, yet inscrutable literature can say. What are your feelings about the lack of respect much popular literature gets amongst these "cri-tics"?
Apologies, couldn't avoid the Xanth pun there at the end. I'm sure I've got the first dozen or so Xanth books along with most of IoI in a box somewhere in the attic back home...
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
Mr. Anthony,
Are there any Linux puns yet cavorting in the happy land of the Ogrechobee? A daemon amongst the demons? If not, on bahalf of Slashdot at large, I'd like to beg for one.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
Will you get your publisher to put out some nice high-res desktop backgrounds promoting your books? I find that this is a very cheap form of advertising, and something that we all love to have. Heck, reformatted cover art is more than good enough...
I want my root desktop containing dragons and whatnot...
May we never see th
Does this question cost me a year of service?
Have you ever regretted any of the character moves or plot lines you chose over the years in one of your series of books?
Of particular interest to me is Neq the Sword from the Battle Circle series. I have wondered for nearly 2 decades what the hell you were thinking when you had Neq kill Var in the beginning of this book after Var lowered his guard. As a result of this situation, I never developed any rapport with Neq, pretty much wanted him to be slaughtered by Vara and loathed the existence of the third book.
Of course I was 13 at the time, and I'm feeling much better now.
I figure I read over 10,000 pages of your work when I was young. Thanks for the entertainment and odd vocabulary.
-Rothfuss
Like much of America, I'm moderately lazy with regards to computers, and my present Windows98 machine works reasonably well. You switched to Linux and StarOffice - what inspired you to change, and how/why should inspire me, like much of the country, to change?
It's getting awfully warm around here, and what exactly are we doing in this hand basket, anyway?
I can't believe you cited Total Recall as a reliable source of science. I just. Wow. I'm flabbergasted.
I think that I made more typos myself in that post than in all the rest of my Slashdot comments *combined*. I suppose it could be this wicked cold I'm currently trying to get over.
-Mark
In my most recent memory is the Virtual Mode series (all 4 books) which I just finished. Between the author's notes and some of my own intuition, it wasn't difficult to see the connection between some of the twists on computer concepts in the series. Most notably while reading the first novel, the words chip, virtual mode, and various references to x86 computers pop up. All the while, I was amazed that it formed the central concept/analogy to understanding the fantastic multiverse that the series explored.
Thus, it would seem that bits of your computer knowledge/terminology that lay dormant became the foundation for a multiverse.
My question is:
Has any other seemingly muted element in your life spawned entire realms or universes, perhaps for volumes yet to be written?
I've read some of your other works, and the closest I could determine was Tatham Mound which seemed to have just come from your backyard :) and maybe the so-close-to-home Geodyssey series (I've read them but I can't claim to know whether any ideas present in it were ever muted elements in your life)
I would think that there are others, and of course all of your work (as far as I could tell) has many sources for ideas as evidenced in your Author's Notes. But in my opinion, the one featuring a concept grounded on some previously-mundane computer vocabulary, Virtual Mode, seems to be the most radical endeavor grown out of the smallest seed.
Perhaps lamely put, I think it's the coolest idea you've had yet!
Can your readers look forward to anything on the same scale of wild and original again?
Many thanks for all your hard work!-A Reader of Books
I thought Macroscope was awesome but that was topped by the original Xanth trilogy! Through my college years I read a ton of your stuff, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that one of my professors thought there was way too much sex in our books (e.g., Cluster trilogy).
:) What other human characteristics would you put on the list?
So, how do you conceive of a plot? Do you start with the big picture and then fill in the details? Or do you start with bits and pieces of ideas that you then try to sew together into a larger story? To what extent do you find the stories writing themselves and to what extent do you have to think your way through them. How many passes through the story do you make and how much rewriting do you have to do before you know you are done?
In one of your books (I can't remember which one now), you stated that what makes man unique among the beasts is that he is a story teller. (I thought that was too predictable coming from a story teller himself
Well, I was comparing apples to apples... Both Anthony and Asprin write completely pulp fantasy/sci-fi... same reading level and everything. I just think Asprin's stuff is much more enjoyable. I mean, if you really want to get into more interesting reading, of course I'd suggest Asimov's Foundation series, Card's Ender's Game, Stephenson's Snow Crash, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently from Adams... I finally read Gateway from Pohl a couple weeks ago, and enjoyed it quite a bit.
d00d... Guud j0b d17ch1ng W1ndoze!! Wen d1d joo du 1t? wut d1str0 1s y0r uB3er b0x runn1n?
j00 r l33t. but p13rc3 1z a s1ssee nam3, br0.
Mr Anthony,
I've read probably 50 or so of your books, but I hadn't read one since highschool over 4 years ago. I recently purchased the book DoOon Mode and finished it. As usual, your writing style is excellent, but reading as a more mature reader, I found the content questionable. The book's heroin is a teenage girl with some very serious psychological problems and provides "instant fix" cures and glosses over some very muture topics like multiple partners and rape. A lot of my highschool friends who read your books were girls in this age group. I'm not questioning your own morals, but with subject matter this intense did you consult professionals or worry about the impact on some of your target audience?
Kind Regards,
Rob
Which distribution of Linux are you currently running? Have you tried any others? And if so, which appealed to your creative book-writing persona the most?
Whats your favorite distro.
Mr. Anthony, it is with very mixed emotions that I pose this comment/question. On the one hand, the stories and characters that you created and I read about in my mid-teens have endured the test of time. 'A Spell for Chameleon', 'Split Infinity', and 'On a Pale Horse' are tales that I'll think about fondly from time to time for the rest of my life.
On the other hand, I'll always remember the disappointments I had reading most of the subsequent books of the Xanth and Incarnations series. From my perspective, you have the ability to bring some very clever ideas to initial life, but then make the mistake of milking those ideas until they're utterly lifeless.
I would humbly encourage you to stick with singletons or at most trilogies in the future, and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD... PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ANOTHER XANTH NOVEL!
My question is, at what point should an artist pass by commercial success for artistic integrity? Do you feel that you've gone past that point a few times?
Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
I was, in former years, an avid reader of yours, and enjoyed Xanth, Incarnations, Bio, Apprentice Adept, and many various other books of yours. Often, while reading them, I would think to myself what wonderful movies almost any of them would make. Have you had any discussions with directors or producers? Have you written screen plays for any of your books or series'? What are your thoughts on making movies out of them?
Nike. Just jew it.
Mr. Anthony,
This is my first post on Slashdot, thanks to you.
First, I just want to say that you are the most unique author that I have ever seen.
Your opinions and views on society are very different from anybody that I have ever met. And most of all, you are proud of them and are not afraid to write openly about what you believe.
I might not agree with you on many things but that doesn't stop me from understanding them. I value everyone's opinions and after all, "Only a human would let his feelings keep him from recognizing someone's skills." And of course I try to keep myself distanced from such weak creatures, lol.
I am sure that your originality is the reason that you are so successful. Your concepts are so original, brilliant, and compelling that they have attracted countless readers because nothing like it could be found anywhere else.
On that note, I also agree with you on the areas of sexuality. Our society is just plain too uptight on that matter. Someone needs to shake things up, to shed a new light on the entire ridiculous situation. I especially liked how all of this was portrayed in the Isle of Woman novels, showing how previous ages had different opinions on these matters. However, I won't be the first to admit that I was highly reluctant to buy and read books with such "interesting" titles and cover pictures. On that note, I think that your books would sell well in Japan where they wouldn't have such reservations.
I have been a big fan of you and your books since 7th grade. However, that hasn't been a very long time ago so I have had the oppirtunity to read books that you have wrote over a span of decades in a single week. I have noticed that the style of your writing very obviously changes as time progresses. (As well as becoming MUCH more sexual, even enough to annoy me.)
My question is: Do you notice these changes in your own writing style? And how have you noticed these changes? Also, why do you think that your writing has changed so much?
Thanks
Catastrophe (a trophy of the rear end of a cat)
Which distribution of Linux do you use? And is this the only distribution you have tried?
I have noticed that you often include your experiences into your novels. Does this mean we can expect Tux to appear in a future Xanth novel?
An ounce of perception is worth a pound of obscure
Rather ironic. I started reading Asprin after Anthony recommended him in a footnote! Though he did offer it merely by virtue of being the next alphabetically...
Beware - this is Piers Anthony, so rather than getting ten answers to ten questions, you'll really only get one answer expressed ten almost-identical ways, with the title of "Incarnations Of Interview" and a glossy cover.
: Fruitbat, recovering Piers Anthony reader :
I have discovered a truly remarkable
Which of your own books you enjoyed writting the most? Which books by others did you enjoy reading the most?
I just wish there were as many John Norman books available in used bookstores as there are Piers Anthony books. (Anyone want to sell me a copy of Imaginative Sex?)
... well ... . Can we be grown up for a minute, and appreciate the irony in it?
I have one observation about Piers Anthony "pedophilia," which is that adults, at least in US culture, feel out of place *any* time they encounter adolescent sexuality, no matter what its basis or origin. But there is a wide gap, and a not very difficult gap to find, between plain old adolescent ("childish" if you will) sexuality in all its many, many, many forms, and the exploitation or abuse of adolescent sexuality.
Heck, I find LotR has all sorts of homoerotic allusions, and don't even get me started on Grimms Fairy Tales. But these are just places the mind normally goes.
Complaining about a partially nude figure on the cover of a book with "Panties" in its name is just
What on God's green earth posessed you to write Firefly??? Seriously!
Jesus, I did a book report on it in the eighth grade, and you wouldn't believe the amount of smirks, looks of shock, and angry glances I recieved... And then there was the kids in the class too!
-jokerghost
Are you planning on upgrading from StarOffice 5.2 to OpenOffice.org 1.0 or StarOffice 6.0? Which? If not, is it because of a feature which OpenOffice.org is lacking, or just comfort with StarOffice 5.2?
Following up: Several news writers have e-mailed us (OpenOffice.org) asking for specific features designed to make OpenOffice.org more freindly to professional writers. As the "iron man" of science fiction and fantasy paperbacks, do you have a feature you'd particularly like to see?
-Josh Berkus
OpenOffice.org Marketing
Volunteer Lead
agliodbs@openoffice.org
Simple question, really. How do you come up with all of those horrible, yet oh so amusing puns?
I remember waking my parents up laughing when I read... I believe it was "The Isle of View." An excellent book by all accounts, and it made me go out, find every book of yours in the public and school libraries, and read 'em all. Another one I vaguely remember is the one that was a joint write... kind of sci-fi in theme, the title had something to do with either a caterpillar or a cocoon. Good read, as I recall, but it's been a while.
-Eppy
"In caelum, illuc est libertas."
It's amazing that Piers and I grew up learning the same computer systems. I laughed at his 'Author's Note' talking about CP/M and MsDos and their apartment buildings. I must say, I was quite disappointed with the resolution of the Mode series. I was VERY into that series after the third book was released. But when the fourth came out, it spent half a book trying to be the next installment, and then went to wrap everything up in like 100 pages. This guy did that, he got this, this chick went here, etc. It was extremely uncharacteristically rushed of Mr. Anthony to do such a thing, and I'm wondering if, after years of it sitting in a file somewhere, Mr. Anthony didn't polish it up and finish it out as a 'filler' piece. It truly bugged me. No offense, Mr. Anthony, but what happened?
Thanks-
cheezus_es_lard
Did you ever come up with a really good pun and force yourself not to use it, in order to maintain your Artisic Integrity?
He tried Linux because Jerry Pournell (another science fiction writer) mentioned it in Byte magazine a while ago.
Not a question for Anthony per se, but just a note that people who find Incarnations of Immortality interesting might also dig the Nobilis roleplaying game, which riffs on similar themes. It's been getting rave reviews, one of which can be found here.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
For Whom the Bell Tolls has more cheap action than most any other book I can think of. However, you are safe to skip over great chunks of inbetween if your objective is to pass the test. If you don't like it, don't bother with any other Hemingway. Noone who ever accused him of being misogynist ever retracted their statement.
Do you ever intend to write a sequel to "Pornucopia?"
e sse
http://www.piers-anthony.com/pornucopia.html
J
First I would like to say that I love your novels. One of the great things about your writing is that in one genre you run the full spectrum of style. I particularly like the Tarot series, and wish you hadn't had such publishing problems which killed it's chances at becoming more popular. I especially love how in your books you often take a little time to inform the readers of what you are doing, and how you are doing it. You are one of the people that motivated me to make the leap from reading to writing, and for that I thank you.
As for my word processor of choice, I have not used StarOffice, but I currently use OpenOffice 1.0.
My question may be a bit off topic, but I am more interested in the current state of author to publisher manuscript submission. Do publishers still ask for hard copy, or do you now send an electronic file via email or other means? I would venture to guess it might be a mixture of the two, so if you do send an electronic copy what type of file format do they insist upon? I know OpenOffice supports saving different file types, so I assume StarOffice does as well, but has this ever been a dilemma to you?
Thank you for your time Mr. Anthony, and have a nice summer in Florida^D^D^D^D^D^D^DXanth
(verbatim, as always)
<cough>Bruce Campbell</cough>
This post, like so much of Creation, is NotArt
I just wanted to ask what made you decide change the Xanth novels from "serious fantasy", to the way they are today. By serious fantasy I'm talking about fantasy with a semi-serious story line, like the first Xanth novel. The first book seemed fairly serious but the other books went downhill.
Now all the Xanth novels seem to be huge pun books with very little of interest to adult readers.
BTW thanks for all the good books. I loved the Incarnations and Bio of a space tyrant.
Environmentalists are their own worst enemy. ~tricklenews.com
What is your current status with the mode series? There are many eager fans awaiting a conclusion to the provocative story line you started and left hanging (including my sister and I). You can't let an older man fall in love with a 14 year old and call it a day...
the w1z7ard
PS: Stile rules!!!"Recursive bipartite matching"- try it!
By cheap-action I meant shallow, short-attention span sorta thing. Like you find on TV. I don't discriminate against misogynists necessarily either. I've read Mencken and Bierce.
It's been a long time since I read it, so it's rather fuzzy, but I remember being deluged by details and not really knowing what was important or not. In War and Peace the details were interesting, at least.
Those who do not know the past are doomed to reimplement it, poorly.
So it seems that he isn't interested in free as in beer.. but some other reasons - namely being free from Microsoft. So that is my first and obvious question:
Why do you want to be free from Microsoft? - I can understand why from a technical perspective a move to Linux would be rewarding, but as a professional writer, what was it that made moving to a new and, as you say, problematic system worth while?
For some good "literature" that still interesting and thought provoking, try Virginia Woolf's "Orlando, or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude". Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale". Ok, the last's not great literature but it's still pretty good. For character studies, I have to agree on W. S. Maugham. "The Razor's Edge" is great as is "Of Human Bondage". It's not what you might think (though there are some racy parts in there) but refers to how people tie themselves in knots, going through life. Maugham has a great selection of short stories too.
I drank what? -- Socrates
No, I did not read all your books, but I'll compensate by stating I'm twice fan of your X=(a/nt)^h serie. Twice, because I read them all both in french and english, when possible.
And your novels are standing out into the american sci-fi crowd, because they are really as funny and pun-ridden in both languages !!! Er, well, actually they are even funnier in french, but I have a cultural bias, as french is my mother thongue. So, kudos to you and your translator(s) !
I'm really wondering of what kind of hoops did you did had to go through to:
Another serious question: switching to Linux always pose the problem of file exchange with boring third-parties, like colleagues, editor, etc. Are you just using plain text for that matter or the edition word is more open than we think ? What's your favorite(s) tool(s)/file format(s) for your business ?
By the way, which language(s) do you speak/write/pun ?
[Pruneau
On this one point I find I disagree with you. I don't believe you can separate art from artist. The best art is a glimpse of the artist's soul, which she or he makes available to the beholder.
Vortan out
Knowledge is like ignorance.. too much can be just as bad as not enough.
I can't thank you enough for sharing your insights into writing, fitness, death and life through those wonderful Author's Notes at the end of the books. Your perspective is amazing to observe and analyze; I wish I could better emulate it! I can't remember if it was in Bio of an Ogre or in one of the wonderful (and eagerly anticipated!) Author's Notes where you described your cure for writer's block as simply continuing to write, parathetically if necessary, about whatever was on your mind. Do you find that this style still works sitting at the keyboard?
This sig washed every five years whether it needs it or not!
You're one of the few authors that could create characters and worlds immersive and compelling enough where I actually cared. Thank you for all the great books while I was growing up. (I think I had over 60 of them at some point!)
;)
For those who have never read Piers or are interested in his works, I recommend the following books as must reads. (I don't follow much of his recent stuff. Nowadays my time is spent with Oreilly
A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth)
On a Pale Horse (Incarnations)
Bio of a Space Tyrant: Refugee
Dragon's Gold
Any of the first few Adept Series books.
Oh yeah, here's a question.
Do you welcome visits from fans? I'd love to take you and your family out to dinner or something similar and get a chance to chat and thank you for all the memories growing up.
I've been an avid fan of the Xanth series, and I've been noticing a change in how they have been written. Reading the author's comments in the older books, I noticed that you tended to discourage readers from sending in puns and various ideas, but the later books in the series are literally strung together with readers' suggestions. This isn't neccesarily a bad thing, because some of their ideas are pretty good, but I imagine that it must be annoying that there is nothing you can do the stem the tide. Does the sheer volume of fans' suggestions ever get to you? Does it irritate you that even when you have asked people to stop or at least slow down, it has only increased the amount of suggestions?
I found this while searching for the horse's name. (Yes, I forgot "Mortis". I'm sorry.)
The script seems not bad, but as for Mews [sic] playing the lead role... I think some people are just a little too fond of their pet actors.
Well first, Piers has never said such a thing. He did say recently that he was caught up on all the puns sent to him and was using some of his own. He doesn't talk down to his fans. He does complain that his fan mail takes up a lot of his writing time, but he answers nearly every letter personally. Most other authors do not do that for their fans. As far as "But What of Earth," first, the book was pretty much re-written by Robert Coulson and the publisher put Coulson's name on it as a co-author, and did not even bother to tell Anthony! Later, Anthony re-published "But What of Earth" the way it should have been.
I need to dig up more of his adult-oriented stuff.
T
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
In a number of your famed (notorious?) Author's Notes you discussed the intricacies of trying to get the dvorak keyboard layout (and other alternate layouts) to work so you could take advantage of their increased efficiency. How easy was the customization using Linux and StarOffice? Have you found other keyboard layouts that have worked better for you, such as the genetic algorithm discussed here a few days ago?
I remember in many of your 'end-of-book' Author's Note, you detailed a fan of yours that threatened to kill herself and needed your help.
After 4 or 5 mentions of this girl in various books, my question is this: did you help this girl in someway? did she ever attempt or succeed at suicide?
on a side note, thanks for the many hours of pleasure i had as a teenager reading your books. i lost count somewhere after 50.
Has Tux been the inspiration for any of your characters?
With the advances in digital moviemaking a Xanth film is not out of the question. Are there any plans to bring Xanth or any other of your novels to the silver screen in the near future?
>
Heck, I find LotR has all sorts of homoerotic allusions, and don't even get me started on Grimms Fairy Tales. But these are just places the mind normally goes.
Actually I just think that Tolkien was the biggest prude ever--notice the roles women play. Their are little girl hobbits, matronly mother hobbits, and chaste beautiful viriginal virtuous elf queens that even Gimli falls in love with!
I don't believe that's true. I've been around a publishing press awhile, and generally the authors don't care much (just so long as they like what's on the cover) but sometimes have very specific requests. And unless those requests are ridiculous, they're usually honored.
Dear Piers,
Over the years I have read 40 of your books and still my favorites are the first 5 of the Incarnations of Immortality and all of the Bio of a Space Tyrant books. I am dying to read IRON MAIDEN. When will it be out? In 1989, I sent you a copy of "Hinds' Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard and you said that you would read it in due course. Just curious, did you ever get a chance to read it? I still have your picture that you sent me. My daughter is now enjoying your stories. Glad to hear that you are using Linux and Star Office. It only makes since that you would do so. I sure hope that Bio of a Space Tyrant will become a set of movies someday. They were some of the best books ever.
Thank God for Piers Anthony
Thanks again,
Grant Booth
Have you ever thought about using both Microsoft and Linux on the same machine? By doing this you could split infinity, dividing your computer into a symbiotic relationship - Science Fiction and Fantasy. Which leaves the question, which is which; does Microsoft fall into the realm of fantasy and Linux into Science Fiction? Or Vice Versa?
I believe what Mr. Anthony met by "you just grew up" is that you lost the magic and wonder of childhood. And yes, that is better than being an "adult". I am responsible, have a job, and an extremely high I.Q., but I also haven't lost the magic. Therefore, at the age of 26, I still love the Xanth novels as much as ever when I read them to my daughter. I tend to believe that the common thread of damsel in distress, male hero, etc is a parody of what is still to some extent expected in today's society. Man comes and saves woman from all kinds of things (or so that's how it's seen), why shouldn't he put it in a humorous series. You cannot be possibly taking what is obviously a tongue in cheek series seriously and attributing those to Mr. Anthony as his views. How often do you poke fun at something that you believe in? I mean, really people.
Second of all, as a female who has both been raped and experienced clandestine love while underage with an overage man, I can say it's wonderful to see you, Mr. Anthony, touching upon these things in a truthful manner. You don't beat around the bush, you don't couch it in pretty terms. You show it like it is, and I can say thank you honestly for not using rape as some cheap thrill. Obviously those experiences had some profound effect on the character's development and as a writer myself I can say that those stories wouldn't have been the same without those characters developing in that way. Love barring age is an everday thing and you've only said what is true. Where people get the idea that teenagers can't love like adults is beyond me. They do love, sometimes very deeply, and it is a part of life. It's about time someone made people see that.
Thirdly, I have to admire anyone who is intelligent enough to have views that don't follow the current brainwashed society. That indicates that there was some thought in a belief structure. I don't always agree with what you say, Mr. Anthony, but I like that you say it. Others should put more thought into what they spout off.
BTW, The Color of Her Panties is my favorite book of the Xanth series, though I believe the Mode Series is my absolute favorite series. The Incarnations series follows a very close second. I hope you get a publisher for your ChroMagic series, it sounds great!