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Roland of Gilead 33
07-29-2015, 06:19 PM
are there any Piers Anthony fans on here? i was in high school when i started reading him. i think the year was (1995) i was at the libary. sorry for my shitty spelling. and i was going through the books there when the artwork of one of his books caught my eye. i dunno why but it did and the book was (1987)'s "Vale of the Vole' his 10th Xanth novel i believe. anyways it's not very often a cover to a book catches my eye that
interests me enough to even want to read it.


covers to books are well not that big of a deal to me i mean i don't judge a book by it's cover. like many of you no doubt don't do either. anyways, he's had an interesting life to be honest. and he's a very open guy about what goes on in his daily life. if you go onto his website he posts about it every other month. i haven't read his recent stuff to be fair nor have i read a LOT of his books. but i've read at least 30 of them or so. or close to that. i'm thinking off the top of my head at least #27 of them.

which is still a good number in my book. hell i think that may even be more than i've read of SK but than i could be wrong. i'm just guessing at that of course. yea i just counted the number of king books i've read it's only #27 so far. that's really not that many but it's a start. anyways a little Trivia for ya.

on the 1st book in the Xanth Series which is (1977)'s 'A Spell For Chameleon' Michael Whelan' did the cover art. and for a good number of other books he's written as well.

plus than there's the Cover Art for Bat out of hell 2 by Meatloaf. among some of SK's books as well. in short he's one of my favorite artists. mainly because i love his work for SK. and for Piers Anthony as well among other authors too i'm sure. anyways

i also collect Piers Anthony's books as well. and his books like any authors can be great or just fucking terrible. i've read some really excellent work by him. than i've read some stuff that was utter shit. he did a book in (1968) i believe the year was. called "The RIng' the synopis is actually pretty damn good and it's an original idea for the era. it still sounds good today.

however the book is fucking terrible. but what are ya gonna do ya know? i'd say well it's an early novel but that's an excuse. not all authors books are good and that includes SK of course. so stuff like that doesn't piss me off like it does so many others who read both authors or even just one of them. anyways any fans out there of his?

i'd love to hear from ya and what your favorites and least favorites are of course. and of course i'll say mine as well.

Theli
07-29-2015, 08:22 PM
He's an author I have been considering looking into but have yet to explore his works. Figured I'd start from the beginning of Xanth, but I've also read some pretty scathing reviews about his penchant for sexism and even borderline pedophaelia...
I'm not really opposed to a little controversy though, it's readability that matters most to me.

Girlystevedave
07-30-2015, 04:43 AM
I have only read one book by him so far. Funny that you mention reading a book because the cover caught your eye, because that's exactly what made me want to read his book Secret of Spring, which was a pretty fun book.
http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312064387l/15532.jpg

I've been meaning to look into more of his works.
Since you've read so much of his stuff, what would you recommend the most? :)

Roland of Gilead 33
07-30-2015, 12:27 PM
i dunno if he addsd pedophila into his books. since the man has written at least 150 books or more. i haven't read them all. but the Xanth series are fun as hell. the guy is a pervert there is no doubt about that. he's if you read his newsletters or his authors notes admits it several times through the years. yeah i can see him in some of his books have sexism in it. but than it's just a book and if that doesn't bother you cause it's fiction why i say just enjoy the book. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/PiersAnthony_ASpellForChameleon.jpg that's the 1st novel in the series.

he's i think a VERY under rated author these days. and there's plenty of books where the women are described as having big boobs. that really doesn't bother me cause it's just a story and he flat out admits he's a boob man. he he.
he loves women and he can write women having fantastic figures. he doesn't write them as being dumb as shit though. though he has done characters that are women that are dumb as shit. but they normally are pretty strong characters in fact.
it really varies pretty much. his styles in writing change through the years as any author's would. here's one book that is a great book and it's https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/On_A_Pale_Horse_cover_by_Piers_Anthony.jpg that's one's about a guy name Zane who shoots death and therefore has to become him. this one came out in (1983)

he meets an woman of course and falls in love. and he can take off the reaper costume and he's immune. but he has to have his hood up. and i think the one he kills has the hood down so therefore was vulranble to death. sorry about my shitty spelling. and at the end he battles Satan with his wits and they have i think a game of some sort. i haven't read it in years so i can't remember.

but Xanth is a fantastic series. to be fair i haven't read any of the recent books so i dunno if those are any good. but i've read the 1st #19 and his style changes through the years. for me though the 1st really good one is the 3rd one which is (1979)'s "Castle Roogna' a lot of people really love the early books the most as in any series. but the later ones i think are great as well. in short pick up the 1st book and let me know what you think. or you may be like me and not care for the 1st two books and really love the 3rd novel. so please by all means check those out.

ur2ndbiggestfan
07-31-2015, 04:03 PM
I used to collect Piers Anthony until I realized he was writing the same book over and over, with the same characters under different names. The last book of his that I bought and read was BALOOK back in 1990. However, he did have some excellent books in my opinion, notably SOS THE ROPE, NEQ THE SWORD, VAR THE STICK, the TAROT trilogy and the first 3 XANTH novels (every one after that was just the same book over and over again). I took 7 pictures of my Anthony collection. Here's number 1. I'll post the others if you want to see them.

http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx239/2ndbiggest/PA1.jpg

Roland of Gilead 33
07-31-2015, 06:59 PM
WOW i wish i had that many of his hardbacks, i have only maybe few of them. in no oder Kilobyte (1993), Ominvore (1968) i believe. Tathum Mound' (1991) i prolly am spelling these all wrong. incarnations books 4-6 i think? on hardback. or it might be 3-5 i'll have to look to be certain.and The Secret Spring. so i don't have that many. you think he writes the same book over and over? honestly i've never heard anyone say that about him. they either like him or they don't like any author.

with Xanth i didn't start reading them in order like you prolly did. like i said the 1st novel i read was the 10th (1987)'s Vale of the vole which i loved and i remember it took me i believe like 3 or 4 days to read it and i realized how damn fast reading those books are and so i read whatever else my libary had. i always seem to spell that wrong too man, sorry about that, anyways, but i do agree his 1st book in the series is written vastly different and i've since started it again but it was never a favorite of mine. but it is written like i said really different. that series yeah i can see it at some point being the same book over and over, that never really bothered me to be honest.

John Saul i think is like that, he's a favorite author of mine but the main storyline has to do with having a teenager start to act really weird and sometimes they are the heavy sometimes they aren't. but it's the same type of book more or less. but his black chronicles series that was like 6 parts much like SK did in (1996) i think he did his the same year or the following year i forget which. but that one felt written differently and i fucking loved it.

anyways, with his Xanth books yeah i can see that, but i think some of them are written differently too. check out "Question Quest' it's from (1991) and the 14th Xanth Novel that one i think is written Differently. it's also my favorite in the series.
what it is well it's the life of the good Magican Humphery who's name and his talent i just killed in my spelling. sorry about that. i think some of the books are different in their own way but i think others yeah can sound the same as others.

he did try different things in later novels but prolly not as much as he should have. he later did rely on puns too much when the early novels really didn't. i think it was mainly because fans would suggest them to him and to stay true to his fans and respect them i guess you could say? since he does reply to all his letters when he has the time. and he even puts them in his books as well. just like Jenny The Elf who in real life was this poor girl who was i think in a car accident?

her name hence was Jenny, he even put out a Book of letters she wrote him called "Letters To Jenny' or it was Letters From Jenny' i forget which that had to be oh (1991) or (1990) that one i've never read nor have i seen any place off line sell it either. With A Tangled Skein is one of the hardbacks i have of his. as for him writing the same book. i dunno, i've read some that were different than others, Race Against Time which is one of his 1st books i think it was from (1973) i liked up until the ending which ruiined it for me. than you have (1968)'s The Ring which i liked up until the ending as well. one book i have read most of but i can't seem to finish is the 1st bio of a space Tryrant which i have on paperback.

really only cause it's not a very good book but i've read far far worse to be fair. i downloaded a shit ton of his books and many of them are long out of print to be honest. those are currently on my ipod and i am going to get a kindle soon but i'll prolly get them on hardback or paperback next chance i get. as i also collect him as well. yeah i'd love to see the rest of your collection.

authors can do that somtimes write books that have familar themes, shit even SK does that sometimes as well, good against evil etc.. depending on the book of course but i hope you one day go back to reading Piers Anthony cause he's i think a very under-rated writer who needs more recognition than he gets. and with bookstores not around as much at least around where i live, he's not in stores like Giant Eagle for example like he was when i was growing up. which i think is actually really sad. when he should be i think.

Girlystevedave
08-07-2015, 04:54 AM
I started A Spell for Chameleon last night. I can already tell that it's gonna be a fun read. :)

Edit: Are there seriously 39 books in this series?! Shit, I've made a major commitment here. :lol:

Roland of Gilead 33
08-07-2015, 02:54 PM
yes i think the 40th comes out this year. just to warn ya, in the early novels there are puns in there sure, than at some point i dunno what book it starts in it's not in the Original 3 i don't think. anyways, he started to take puns from fans and to this day he still does. anyways the longer the series goes on the more puns he uses so the series became a series of puns i guess you could call it. from my understanding a lot of fans hate that direction that he started to do that. and i'm not going to deny that at some point the series if you read enough of them in a row do start to sound alike. there are ones that are different though outside the original 3. and i don't remember which ones but one i do remember and that's the 14th Novel which is (1991)'s Question Quest and that one is about the Good Magican which i spelled wrong. sorry about that. anyways i started reading the series as i said way out of order, it started out on a lark where i fell in love with the cover as i said for Vale of the Vole from (1987) and read that in like 3 days it was a fast read.

it was a couple of years before i finally got around to reading the 1st novel in the series oddly enough, and at the time i didn't like it, i think i was in my late teens or early 20's at the time. i'm 36 now. anyways i bought A Spell For Chameleon at a good will last month for like a buck i think. i had bought over a decade ago but i think i lent it to a buddy of mine and than he moved away and i plump forgot he even had it. i think i lent it to him or his mom i can't remember which.

if i got the right person that i'm thinking of that is. anyways i started reading it recently and i noticed how different it's written, you will notice the changes as well the further you get along in the series. i have some favorite characters and only i think 1 of them is in the 1st novel and that's Trent. as for the Good Magican which i am going murder his rank., well the spelling anyways. he's a favorite of mine.

i still haven't read them all. and i have a shitload on paperback and i started to pick up a later novel. i think it was (1996)'s Yon Ill Wind' which is the 20th Novel and that's one i never got to finish cause it had to be returned to my libarary at the time. again sorry for my spelling. and i realized so much time had passed since i last stepped into the world of Xanth that i had no choice but to start over and get to know the characters i love.

one interesting thing is that he puts fans into his books. for example i forget which book it is i think it's (1989)'s Man From Mundania' which is the 12th or 13th book i believe in the series. he brings a character called Jenny Elf in the series.
in real life a fan a young girl who was about 10 years old at the time or 12 around that age. i forget anymore. she was in a car accident and i forget how bad she was paralyzed but i don't think she could write back than to him. so i'm guessing her mom did. i can't remember anymore. anyways she had to be home schooled i believe. and she picked up his books and wrote to him.
he was so inspired by her cause he does answer his fan mail actually, he wrote her into his books. and i think from my looking at the book recently she grew up in the books and found love in i think it was (19988) Zombie Lover' that'd be the 22nd book i believe. and as far as i know she's still in the series. she still writes to him i believe. i read somewhere that she has since gotten married too.


and in fans his (1994) book Letters To Jenny is the 1st year they wrote to each others their letters. i've never read that one though. and Piers Anthony he he is a pervert, no doubt about it, so don't be surprised when you read some of the women in the series have big breasts. i find it funny actually but he i don' t think ever goes too far. cause kids reads his books too so he keeps that in mind.

the 1st book so far hasn't mentioned it but he came up with something caleld The Adult Conspiracy and that's well sex pretty much. and kids are too young to learn it. but also the kids have one too. i forget which that one is about. but when you grow up you forget what you knew as a kid so it kinda goes both ways i think. he also comes up with a way that when a character gets preggers while having sex is described as very different than humans in real life do. he never goes into
describing sex the way Stephen King does for example.

but it's pretty i think smart the way he created it. anyways i hope you like it as the book starts out slow. and though i'm going to kill the spelling in his rank when you read about the Good Magican Humphry in his last name too i forget how that's spelled, that's normally at the start of the novel damn near and not over 100 pages into it like it is in the 1st novel. sorry for the ramblings but please let me know what you think of it.

ur2ndbiggestfan
08-07-2015, 03:03 PM
Here's picture number 5. I was pretty enthusiastic about Anthony when I started reading him. And I didn't really mean ALL his books are the same, but at the time I quit reading them they seemed to be. And I was getting annoyed by them. I do remember on the day I bought the last Piers Anthony book I have I was rear ended by someone at a red light. That means nothing of course.

http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx239/2ndbiggest/PA5.jpg

Roland of Gilead 33
08-07-2015, 04:15 PM
man i'd love your collection cause your books are in better condition than mine. and plus there's a lot of them i don't have you do. i can't tell if you have Porncopia though. that book was NEVER sold in stores, well actually now that i think about it was was at first for about a week or two. i think when it 1st came out in (1989) but that's not a book for kids and kids ended up getting it so you i think had to ask for it if you were of age and i think they had it behind the counter.

now you only get it and the sequel 'The Magic Fart' a book that came out in (2003) anyways, you ever going back to reading him again? let me say that his later books for Xanth are even more pun filled if you want to put it that way. i dunno about his other books though. but Seriously check out Question Quest. it's the life story of M. Humphry or however the fuck his name is spelled? he did later do one last sequel to the incarnations of immortality and that was in (2007) under the cloak i think it's called? than there's (1996) 's Volk which is another one i don't have. that one is suppose to be a war book of some kind. though his (2001) book "How was that awhile' his 2nd Bio was a pretty good book and i would have thought he would have done another updated bio since than. since that was an updated version of Bio of an Ogre. that one i don't think i ever finished for some reason. i forget why. he also wrote a bio about his dad as well in i think (2007) i forget the name of that one at the moment. i also haven't read it either yet.

as for my books, nearly all of them i've bought used and there's only very few that i did get new and most of the used ones aren't in mint condition and you can tell they've been read plenty of times.

ur2ndbiggestfan
08-08-2015, 12:59 AM
PORNOCOPIA is right in the middle. No, I really have no intention of reading any more Piers Anthony books, but your enthusiasm for his work is giving me second thoughts about it.

Most of my books are in as mint condition as possible. I even read the paperbacks without bending the covers or spines.

http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx239/2ndbiggest/PA4.jpg

Girlystevedave
08-08-2015, 05:20 AM
yes i think the 40th comes out this year.

That's nuts! I'm hoping that I really end up enjoying book #1 so i can have SO many more to look forward to. :)


just to warn ya, in the early novels there are puns in there sure,

Yeah, I've already come across the part in book #1 where it's telling about how the people of Xanth "sow their wild oats" by watering the oats the "natural way" (urination) until the female is born out of the oats, being bound to the male. :lol:
The puns don't bother me. When I read Secret of Spring, which involved this species of sort of plant/human hybrids, there were a lot of plant-based puns. I thought it added a bit of lighthearted fun to the story.



one interesting thing is that he puts fans into his books. for example i forget which book it is i think it's (1989)'s Man From Mundania' which is the 12th or 13th book i believe in the series. he brings a character called Jenny Elf in the series.
in real life a fan a young girl who was about 10 years old at the time or 12 around that age. i forget anymore. she was in a car accident and i forget how bad she was paralyzed but i don't think she could write back than to him. so i'm guessing her mom did. i can't remember anymore. anyways she had to be home schooled i believe. and she picked up his books and wrote to him.
he was so inspired by her cause he does answer his fan mail actually, he wrote her into his books. and i think from my looking at the book recently she grew up in the books and found love in i think it was (19988) Zombie Lover' that'd be the 22nd book i believe. and as far as i know she's still in the series. she still writes to him i believe. i read somewhere that she has since gotten married

That's actually pretty cool!


and Piers Anthony he he is a pervert, no doubt about it, so don't be surprised when you read some of the women in the series have big breasts. i find it funny actually but he i don' t think ever goes too far. cause kids reads his books too so he keeps that in mind.

Luckily for me, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me. I see nothing wrong with a male character noticing a female character's boobs, etc. :lol: It's natural.


sorry for the ramblings but please let me know what you think of it.

Don't apologize. I like that you've told me so many details about Anthony's works. Also, I read Secret of Spring last year and never even thought about looking at more of his works (dur! :doh:) even though I really enjoyed that book. So, I'm glad you reminded me! I'll let you know what I think about this book as I get further into it.

Right now, Xanth is with Cherie, the female centaur. :)

Roland of Gilead 33
08-08-2015, 10:27 AM
well i've only read out of 39 i'd say i'd say 22 or 23 of them so don't feel bad. nobody said you had to read them all this year. i don't currently own a kindle which i'll prolly get one soon, though i refused to for a long time, than i recently realized i wanted to get back to reading some Xanth books, and i don't currently own them all. so i downloaded a shitload of Piers Anthony Novels, and right now they are on my ipod. i feel asleep reading it on my ipod late last nite with the device in my hand. he he. and i forgot that Crombie who is one of my favorite Characters is in this book. i'm almost done with Chapter 5. i put it down for a couple of days as i wasn't in the mood to read. i've been listening to pod casts like mad. he he

i didn't think him being a pervert would offend you but these days everything seems to offend people for some reason or other. there have been talks to make it into a film off and on for years. and on the IMDB board a user said they'd want to see it made for adults where you see the nudity from the Centaurs and if they made a version for kids, honestly if they put tops on the characters that are bare breasted in the series i wouldn't really care at all. it's not a big deal to me at all. reason being is that kids have been reading the series for years and if it means the film gets made and we get more than one film out of it, they can put tops on them if they like. it's never been a series that was aimed for Strictly at Adults anyways.

one thing Anthony started to do in the early 80's was his authors notes and i love reading those. but in the very early books he hadn't started doing that yet to any of his books. and he'll thank the person who sent in puns and so forth. i've been reading his website for years.

Girlystevedave
08-10-2015, 07:12 AM
Man, I am loving this book! Bink has flown with the help of the shade, met a sorceress who gave him a change of clothes in the form of a ladies' shawl and panties, and he has just arrived at the magician's castle! This book is so fun. :)

Roland of Gilead 33
08-10-2015, 02:57 PM
i'm am actually quite happy you are enjoying it so much. i'm on chapter 9 actually. page 171 so i'm further than you at the moment. i will be buying a kindle fire soon. and the reason is this, i downloaded a shit ton of books, the authors i went for were Piers Anthony, SK, of course, John Saul, Ed McBain, Kathy Reiches, Patricia Cornwell, the perry mason original series, Lilian Braun Jackson or whatever her name is? the chick who wrote those Cat books i'm going to give them a try at some point. and i don't currently own a lot of the books. for example while i do have the 1st Xanth book in paperback i don't own the 2nd book at all, which is called "The Source Of Magic. (1979) i haven't decided if i want to read that one next yet though
or finish off my patterson book i also am in the middle of reading. that one i own as well. do you own the current Xanth book you are reading or are you using a kindle?

Girlystevedave
08-11-2015, 04:40 AM
i'm am actually quite happy you are enjoying it so much.


I am loving it!


i'm on chapter 9 actually. page 171 so i'm further than you at the moment.

Shit, I forgot you mentioned that you read them out of order. Did you say this was your first time reading book #1, or?


do you own the current Xanth book you are reading or are you using a kindle?

I'm using my kindle paperwhite. Don't get me wrong, I love real books made of actual paper, but I also love being able to download free books from the library onto my kindle. But, sadly, now that I'm into this book and loving it so much, I keep thinking; "Shit, I really want to buy this book in physical form." :lol:

Roland of Gilead 33
08-11-2015, 11:43 AM
the books that i've read in various order, i read what my libary had 1st. i never can spell that word right? he he anyways, i'll use numbers cause it's just easier, books #1-19, #21 & #22. i can't remember if i read anymore after #22 to be honest.

this is my 2nd time reading the 1st novel in the series. i dunno if i'm going to read the 2nd novel right away just yet. we shall soon see. and your welcome for introducing you to the land of Xanth. after all the years i've been reading it, i'm glad i finally was able to get someone to read it. cause sadly not enough people read. at least i don't think so

ur2ndbiggestfan
08-11-2015, 02:02 PM
A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON; 1st paperback US edition, 1st UK paperback and hardback editions:

http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx239/2ndbiggest/spell2.jpg

Roland of Gilead 33
08-11-2015, 05:05 PM
man i wish our stores here would carry Some of Piers Anthony, is that the US hardback book edition? man these look brand new i wish they were mine he he

ur2ndbiggestfan
08-12-2015, 12:22 AM
The 1st hardcover is from the UK. If there is a US hardback I don't have it.

Roland of Gilead 33
08-12-2015, 11:28 AM
i didn't think it was for the US to be honest. it's quite sad that he's not a writer that most people have heard of today. yes he's prolly written plenty of shitty novels but what author hasn't? there have been ones that i have read of his that i thought were shit. and it was mostly cause of the way they ended to be honest. but what are ya gonna do ya know?

Girlystevedave
08-13-2015, 08:53 AM
i didn't think it was for the US to be honest. it's quite sad that he's not a writer that most people have heard of today. yes he's prolly written plenty of shitty novels but what author hasn't? there have been ones that i have read of his that i thought were shit. and it was mostly cause of the way they ended to be honest. but what are ya gonna do ya know?

Shit, when you've written as much stuff as he has, you're bound to miss the mark a few times. Stephen King is my favorite author, but there have been books of his that I've finished and been like "Really? That ending?" :lol:

Roland of Gilead 33
08-13-2015, 11:16 AM
that's how i look at it as well. but than you have people get pissed off at the author cause the book turns out to be a pile of shit. well not all of them are going to be good. but some people don't understand that it's RARE for an author to have all good or great books. it has happend i'm sure but not when the writer has written as many books weather they were published or not, like King or Anthony.

Girlystevedave
08-13-2015, 11:25 AM
that's how i look at it as well. but than you have people get pissed off at the author cause the book turns out to be a pile of shit. well not all of them are going to be good. but some people don't understand that it's RARE for an author to have all good or great books. it has happend i'm sure but not when the writer has written as many books weather they were published or not, like King or Anthony.

Yeah, people have a tendency to take it very personally when a book turns out to be not to their liking. They're all ready with the pitchforks and torches. :lol:

ur2ndbiggestfan
08-13-2015, 04:13 PM
I torched my pitchfork and pitched my torch a long time ago.

Girlystevedave
08-13-2015, 04:52 PM
:lol: wise choice.

Roland of Gilead 33
08-13-2015, 08:01 PM
an example is SK i thought about this and a long time and i think he's my favorite author of all time as well. but i dunno how many times i've read on here, or elsewhere or heard in real life that SK hasn't done a good book since before his accident. and i have to disagree on that. i loved From a buick 8 and Dreamcatcher when i those this year.and we all expect all his books to be great and sadly that's not how the world works ya know? anyways wise choice? you mean that i bought a kindle?

it's a amazon Fire Kindle

Girlystevedave
08-14-2015, 05:30 AM
an example is SK i thought about this and a long time and i think he's my favorite author of all time as well. but i dunno how many times i've read on here, or elsewhere or heard in real life that SK hasn't done a good book since before his accident. and i have to disagree on that. i loved From a buick 8 and Dreamcatcher when i those this year.and we all expect all his books to be great and sadly that's not how the world works ya know? anyways wise choice? you mean that i bought a kindle?

it's a amazon Fire Kindle

Yeah, I'd also have to disagree on that. He's done some books that I haven't been all too crazy about, but he's also done some great ones. I have to admit that I didn't enjoy Dreamcatcher as much as I wanted to. I had a hard time getting through it, and I even read somewhere that King himself wasn't all too crazy about it. I think it was right after his accident when he wrote it, and all the pain medicine altered his writing. He said something to the effect of "I believe there's a good book in there somewhere." But, still, not-so-perfect King is still better than most books.

Also, when I said "wise choice", I was referring to ur2biggestfan's post about him torching his pitchfork and pitching his torch. :lol:

But, now that you mention your Kindle fire...are you enjoying it? I have a kindle paperwhite so it has the perfect screen for reading- does the kindle fire bother your eyes when reading for a while, like a computer screen would? Or is there a special setting on it for books?

Roland of Gilead 33
08-14-2015, 11:18 AM
1stly in Dream Catcher there is a chapter that's dedicated to Stark and company and it's the i think 1st chapter in part 2 and it's that chapter that for years i was unable to get through cuz it was boring as fuck and i had to force myself to read through it. after that really boring shitty ass chapter the book got better. i'd say Dreamcatcher is one of his best books to be honest. i dunno what number i'd place it at to be fair as i haven't read all his books yet. but i doubt i'd place it in the Top 5 to be fair.

and with From a Buick 8 other than reading on here and elsewhere that many people consider that one of his worst books. yes there are fans for that one i realize that now. and my brother even enjoyed it. so i went in with really low expectations

in reading it and i ended up really loving it. the different style he did for that one i think worked very well for it. anyways as for my kindle it's it's a Fire HD6 i got it at best buys for only $120 bucks. so it's not very big and it's only 16GB.

and so far the screen is fine to be honest. my mom has the i think one like you where it's a dark screen and has no color resolution at all. that i didn't like to read after reading Piers Anthony on my Ipod and having that in color and easier to read. i don't knock on wood wear glasses but i don't want to have to start either. computer screens aren't normally a problem for me either. i can spend hours online and i'm fine to be honest. as for where i am in the book i'm still at chapter 9. i didn't read anything for a couple of days so i'm i think almost done with the chapter but with a kindle it's hard to tell to be honest.

as for the book i'm 55% into it. so that may give ya an inkling where i'm at. i'd say where i am but i dunno how far you are at the moment. i put on #38 of the Xanth novels on my kindle and i put on #55 books onto to start with i think that's a good number don't you?

ur2ndbiggestfan
08-14-2015, 01:00 PM
I'm not going to analyze why (because I really don't know why), but I also did not like FROM A BUICK 8. However, I think 11-22-63 is one one of King's best books, and this was written recently. I also REALLY liked UNDER THE DOME. I can't comment on his latest four (5?) novels because I haven't read them yet (I'm way behind on my reading). I absolutely despised LISEY'S STORY, which is many people's favorite King novel. I also really disliked (to put it mildly) the last 3 Dark Tower novels. I did restrain myself from throwing them against the wall though since they cost so much and I am lousy at drywall repair. So to each their own, which is a good thing.

As for Mr. Anthony though, I recall disliking his last batch of novels more and more with each subsequent one published, to the point where I just couldn't take it anymore and so quit reading him altogether, even though I thoroughly enjoyed many of his previous books. The same goes for Larry Niven and Orson Scott Card, both of which I thought I would read and collect forever (well, not forever but you know what I mean), but I gave up on them too.

Roland of Gilead 33
08-14-2015, 05:28 PM
oh ok, i'm not one of those people who are going to rant and say how dare you not like those etc.. you get the idea i'm sure. but if ya didn't like them you didn't like them. many people love the girl who loved tom gordon as for me? it bored the living fuck out of me. my brother said it best actually. i was talking to him in June when we went and saw that Brian Wilson movie Love & Mercy check it out as soon as you can if you are a fan of his music, anyways we were taking about SK cause i think i was reading Dreamcatcher at the time. and he hadn't read that one but liked the film. i thought he had read all his books to be honest well cept or his last few cause he's got young kids and he works full time hence time.

but i guess i was wrong, anyways i asked him about Tom Gordon and he goes i just could not get into it, i joked where there is a pop up book of it. and he goes i can't get into that either. i just had to laugh at that too.
i said well ok i'll save you some time here's the whole book and i gave him a short synopsis of it. he was laughing when i said now you don't have to waste your time with it. anyways king has done a lot of books that have had really shitty endings but so has pretty much all authors if you think about it. with Anthony well like any author and King as well, you can't read too many of their books together cause they will no doubt at some point start to sound alike. with king it's good verses evil mostly. the theme of it, with John Saul another favorite of mine his was Teenagers,

where shit starts happening to one of the kids in the family for good or bad, sometimes they end up the villian too. and he's written plenty of books that were damned good but the endings were utter shit. but if you read all his books one right after another they will blend together i know i've done this plenty of times myself. and yes Anthony has done plenty of good verses evil as well. but than if you really think about it that's all books damn near. i mean isn't that what a good mystery book is all about? good verses evil? anyways i like Anthony cause he's just so different than most authors out there. i dunno how else to put it.

he's no doubt done some books where you wonder what the fuck was he even thinking? but than so has King ya know? but i love his Xanth books, i dunno why his other books haven't caputured me the way those books have, and i wish that wasn't the case cause i hate it when people just read certain books by one author but leave ones they've written alone. thankfully i have read other books he's written outside of that series. which ones do you think are his worst anyways?

Roland of Gilead 33
08-16-2015, 04:05 PM
anyways back to Piers Anthony, i wasn't reading for a couple of days, only a little off & on last week. cause i forgot that for some reason this one and the next one The Source Of Magic are for some reason books that just don't hold my attention for very long. while Castle Roogna for some reason did. i think it may be more in tune than the later books perhaps? i dunno i haven't read in years so i could be wrong. anyways, so finally finished Chapter 9 tonite having been on it for about a week. it's not a boring chapter my ADD was just kicking in on this book for some reason or other. it's oddly taken me more time to read this one than it did for me to read Dreamcatcher and that's a longer book and that took me only 15 days to read.

i lost count how long i've been on this one so far. it's past 15 days i can tell you that. i will say that it's aimed i think towards more adults that it is for kids than the later books. hence it has a shit ton of swearing in it compared to the later novels.

the xanth novels all have swearing in it but only very little normally, there's been a hell, a damn, a bitch, and i may be missing some, but there's not normally this many swear words in this series than in the 1st novel. there's also a part where the main 2 characters are naked but that's not anything that's not in later books. but one wonders that if this makes it into a feature film, if it'll be made for kids and if they will film it like the (1964) film A Shot in the Dark the 2nd Pink Panther film where Peter Sellers goes to a nudist colony and with good camera work puts comedy into what can be shown and not shown, since that was filmed in a time that nudity could not be shown in American films yet. they didn't start doing that until i believe Seconds in (1966)

sorry i'm a film geek as i like to call it. and for going off topic as well. again it's not a bad novel but it's i dunno doesn't capture me like some of the later books do for some reason and it never has. i read Vale of the Vole like i said a few times like in 3-4 days where i am still reading this way past that one and yes this one is longer than that book but still. these books normally are a fast read for me but the 1st two books never have been for some strange reason i dunno why either. maybe someone can help me figure that out cause i sure as hell can't figure that one out.

Girlystevedave
08-16-2015, 05:56 PM
I finished A Spell For Chameleon today. I really enjoyed it, but I'm gonna wait to start The Source Of Magic. I was glad that Bink's magical power was finally revealed in book #1. Part of me was afraid I'd have to wait til book 37 to find out what his talent was. :lol:
I'm really thinking I may read On a Pale Horse before I start the next Xanth book.

Roland of Gilead 33
08-16-2015, 06:49 PM
well i'm glad you enjoyed it. in the next book of Xanth it's the 2nd and last book we have Bink as the Main Character from what i've read as i don't own that one. it takes place a year later and he goes on a quest to find out the source of magic.
hence the title. the series has a good amount of Continuity that much i can tell you. anyways that's fine if you want to take a break from that series. on a pale horse is one i've actually read and it's a good book. here's what it's about a dude named Zane i believe who kills Death, and yes it explains how that's done, and if you kill death you therefore hence become him, so the subject of the 1st book of the incarnations of immortality is about Death, the 2nd is about Time, ones about fate, ones about god, ones nature, and i know i'm missing some there's 7 or 8 books in that series. i've only read the 1st book. i read about half of the 2nd one but i just never finished it for some reason.

that's not a spoiler by the way you can read that on the back of the book hence the synopsis that i remember that from . though one thing that would be a spoiler is the way it ends and that for me is the best part of the book. it's one of his books that has a great ending i think. anyways i hope you enjoy it. & as for Xanth #1 i stayed clear of spoilers so you can be surprised on your own. Crombie though is a favorite character of mine. Grundy Golem is another and i forget which one he is 1st introduced in. the 2nd book perhaps i'll have to look that one up.

Roland of Gilead 33
02-27-2016, 02:24 PM
well i finally finished A Spell for Chameleon This week. no it didn't take me that long to read it last time i read it in i think the late 90's at some point? whenever the fuck it was? and it's still for me anyways one of the weaker ones but to each their own. i don't hate it at all it just had a really extremely slow fucking start and it takes ages for things to happen and once things do it is a decent book. i watched a review of it on you tube by some fat chick. i dunno her name or remember what her screen name is so that's why i phrased it that way. the only review on you tube i could find cause i was curious what others thought of it. she gave it a 3/5 stars and that is about what i give it. but i disagree about her saying Bink is a dull character i don't think he is at all.
he does start out that way i think though but as the book progresses and things start to happen the more he becomes likable at least i think so. and she thought the ending was terrible. i liked the ending actually!

now i may Read The 2nd one in the series The Source of Magic another one i really didn't care for when i 1st read it. the 1st two books for some reason in the series didn't appeal to me when i 1st read them, perhaps because the 1st book i read in the series was the 10th book i have no idea to be honest. but they just aren't among my favorites that's all. they aren't bad books at all but more slower in pace i think than the others. on good reads on about both books people said there's a lot of sexism in the series. i have no idea when i read his books i never think about that stuff at all. the guy has come out publicy and said many times he's a pervert. on good read they said on how he is a sexist. i dunno about that i've been reading his news letter on his site off and on for years and i don't think he is, nor do i think he doesn't respect women either from reading his autobiography the 2nd one he did some years back. what they failed to point out is that he writes strong women characters in his books too.

women read his books and enjoy the hell out of them, and i think most of them just ignore the fact that he's a pervert like i do. the books are nothing but fiction and a good read that's all nothing more nothing less, a good read and i enjoy reading his books. he's done some good ones, some great ones and some that are utter shit like all authors. even Stephen King has written Utter shit in his life and no doubt he'd be the 1st to admit it too. i just ignore it that's all, how about you folks who do read Piers Anthony?

Roland of Gilead 33
02-27-2016, 02:27 PM
Girlystevedave did you ever read anymore Piers Anthony?

Girlystevedave
03-01-2016, 08:23 AM
I started the second book, but never got very far into it. It's been put aside, but not forgotten.

Roland of Gilead 33
03-01-2016, 06:03 PM
the 2nd one took me forever to read as i don't think it's one of the better books to be honest. Castle Roogna though i love and feels more like Xanth to me. i think cause the writing in that one is so much better than the 1st two but that's my opinion anyways

Br!an
03-02-2016, 08:59 AM
I haven't read any Piers Anthony in 20 years. I did read most everything he'd written at that time.

I liked his Xanth series and the Apprentice Adept books.

I see that he's written a lot more Xanth stories since then. I might have to check a couple of them out.

Roland of Gilead 33
03-02-2016, 08:52 PM
the 41st one i believe comes out this year so it's more than a couple my friend. he he he, i hope you still enjoy them too man.

CurtSeattle
03-03-2016, 06:18 AM
the 41st one i believe comes out this year so it's more than a couple my friend. he he he, i hope you still enjoy them too man.

I recall Bio of a Space Tyrant series being good when I was younger too. Blue Adept Series was good. Incarnations of Immortality series was good too. I loved Xanth and read through many as they came out, but eventually stopped reading them. I might go back, but I think last time I glanced at them I felt them a little....I don't know...kind of Harry Pottery if you know what I mean? Aimed at a younger reader. Still good, but there are so many books that I didn't get pulled in enough to read them. I think the other series are aimed at older audience than Xanth.

All have little tidbits of perversion since it is Anthony. haha!

Roland of Gilead 33
03-03-2016, 01:05 PM
true, the last one i read was i had to look this up i was thinking Zombie lover but i was wrong it's Swell Foop from (2001) and that one i loved. yeah i can see it getting more aimed towards kids to a certain degree. there's no one calling a woman a bitch like in the 1st book. the longer the series went on the more it aimed toward puns and that really doesn't bother me cause it was always written well into the story i think. true some of the idea for puns he put in can be stupid but than he takes fans suggestions all the time and uses them for his Xanth series so they are going to be cheesy as hell. but i dunno about ones after that cause i haven't read those yet to be fair. and i love the Harry Potter books so that doesn't bother me either. Bio of a space Tryant i still haven't finished the 1st novel cause i don't think it's one of his best and yes that series IS aimed towards adults. some of them are and some of them aren't. Firefly which i hear is a really shitty book is one that is aimed towards adults.

what i find funny as hell was before i became an Anthony Fan when that paperback came out i begged and pleaded my folks for it cause i loved the cover and that's what caught my eye.i now have the paperback and i have yet to read it funny enough.
and now i see it's aimed toward adults and not kids. i say it's funny cause for a book i begged and pleaded for, i had no idea it wasn't a book that my teenage mind at the time anyways, should have read.

Patrick
03-04-2016, 10:46 AM
I read the first half dozen or so Xanth novels back in the early '80's. I was a huge fan of those books. Maybe I should thread A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON again and see how it goes...

Roland of Gilead 33
03-04-2016, 07:34 PM
well let me warn ya on one thing, the 1st book hell it's been a long time since i last read the source of magic. but those i think are the most adult in the series. Castle Roogna may be there to but again it's been years since i last read that one as well.
the books in later books i have no idea when it started, he started using his puns more and more. and now fans submit them to him and he gives them credit for it of course, my point is i dunno if they became more childlike or not cause i haven't read a new one in 15 years. but i do love the artwork on all the books though. Darrel K. Sweet is a great artist. and i forget the name of the dude who did the artwork for the 1st dark tower books a couple of the last ones too, but he did some covers for Piers Anthony. On a pale horse is one of them. that's a great book too, where you have death getting killed by a mortal and the mortal has to become death since he killed the grim reaper & he's immune when he's got the hood on but

the minute he takes it off he's mortal and can be killed which is how the previous one was able to get killed his hood was down. that's just brillant. Piers did a number of them with the last one in (1990) but than a couple of years ago i think it was Satan's Story. i only read the 1st book and loved it. Bearing an hourglass is one i have yet to actually finish to be fair.

you can say all his books are the same as i've read many people post that. on good reads people both men and women say he's sexist and that his Xanth books are too. an example would be The Source of magic where a preggers Chameleon i think the only book as far as i know where they don't mention the stork. and where a character is actually preggers rather than have the stork deliver the kid, anyways she's is in her different phases and treating Bink like shit and they commented how in her last month or week or whatever it was instead of him staying at home with her, he goes on a fucking quest.

that's a good argument don't get me wrong, and i can see why people would think that's sexist cause a father well a good one anyways wouldn't do that to their wife. but this book is pure fantasy and it's a series as a lot of his books are where you just have to leave your Brain at the door. and not take it seriously at all i know i don't. the guy i think respects women as he's at his offical website sends out a newsletter every other month and he sticks up for women a lot. all he really is dirty old man who's a big pervert and isn't ashamed of it at all that's about it.

Firefly is one that i haven't read but people can get really offended by that one and from what i heard is in it. i can see why but it's a fictional novel that's all. he's like any author he's done some great books and some really shitty ones too. hell there's Stephen King novels i think are shit too. i think Carrie is a terrible novel but it's not a big deal to me, other love it and that's fine. there thousands of books anyone can be offended by, but i've never stopped reading an author cause one book he or she wrote offended me. all i do is just finish the novel if i choose to and just move on to the next book the author wrote if i so choose to well that's how i think anyways. i hope more folks go back and read some Piers Anthony he's i think a VERY underrated writer these days . and sadly at least the people i talk to anyways have never even heard of him because he's not a big name anymore if he ever was i couldn't tell you the last time i saw a book of his at Giant Eagle it's been years so of course there are plenty of people who have never even heard of him before. you can blame that on i think he's still with TOR i'm not 100% sure and all they want anymore from him is his Xanth series and nothing else.

he has to sell his books online and you can get them at a site called Mundania press i think? if Amazon doesn't have it. certain ones anyways sorry about the ramble i'm just giving my thoughts that's all

Roland of Gilead 33
10-20-2016, 10:12 AM
well i started The Source of Magic Again after reading part of Chapter 1 and than moving on to another book. i had lost interest with the book. and what's really funny is that always seem to happen with me with this book. and the book itself is not a bad book at all it's a pretty good book too. but for some reason it takes me forever to read the damn thing. so far i've onyl read Chapter 1 this time i finished it while last time i only read a few pages of it. Girlystevedave have you read any more Piers Anthony? it's been awhile since i last asked ya that's why i asked. if not that's okay i'm just curious that's all

Stockerlone
03-26-2017, 12:50 AM
Think we in Germany only have one S/L Piers Anthony book....

Piers Anthony
limited 99/250 signed from Piers Anthony
coverillustration: Reinhard Kleist
Publisher: Edition Phantasia
http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/742/medium/PICT6837.JPG
http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/742/medium/PICT6839.JPG

Roland of Gilead 33
02-16-2018, 08:53 PM
that's funny cause that's what i call his porn book cause it's a book made for adults and when that 1st came out in (1989) since kids read his books they were picking that one up so Piers Anthony found out about it and had it removed from shelves.
i believe it was behind the counter though. to this day i have never seen it in stores and i think you can get it online though. than you have the sequel The Magic Fart which i am not making up that title great title eh? anyways, that one also is made for adults. having said all that i was re-reading my posts on here and it's nice someone posted on my thread that was dead for about 2 years or so. i looked and saw i started The Source of Magic in (2016) and i didn't realize it was that long! no joke
and it makes me laugh cause i just read Chapter 6 the other night that's how far i am into it i'm on Chapter 7 now. on my kindle it's i believe only at 40%. see i told ya ladies and gents that book takes me forever to fucking read. and like i said it's not a bad book at all it's just one that never had connected to me like others have that's all.

Roland of Gilead 33
02-16-2018, 08:54 PM
by the way i live in the states so i dunno how it is outside the US but that's how it is for Pornutopia in the states and it's sequel as well

Girlystevedave
02-17-2018, 06:32 AM
Girlystevedave have you read any more Piers Anthony? it's been awhile since i last asked ya that's why i asked. if not that's okay i'm just curious that's all

I don't know how I didn't see this post back in October. :doh:

I haven't read anything of his for some time, but I was just thinking a few days ago that I need to read more of the Xanth series at some point.
I was at a bookstore a few months back and thought to see if they had any of his books that might seem interesting. I'm glad I briefly scan reviews before buying because the book I picked up was Firefly and, man, from the comments on that book, I'm relieved I didn't read it.
I mean, from what I have read of him, I get that his books can be silly and raunchy, but I really don't want tho accidentally stumble across something flat-out stomach-turning.:beat:

ur2ndbiggestfan
02-17-2018, 07:29 AM
The only thing I remember after reading this book was wondering what all the fuss was about. I don't have a 1st US paperback copy. I think this was just a book or two before I stopped reading Anthony:

http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/500/medium/firefly.JPG

Roland of Gilead 33
02-17-2018, 02:03 PM
i don't go by reviews or book covers if i did that i wouldn't read any SK at all cause the past few covers at least in the states have been fucking awful. that doesn't mean the books have been awful just the covers, yes with authors there are scenes that are stomach churning hell even King has done plenty in his time the book IT is the orgy scene with the kids is a fantastic example. but though i still haven't read firefly it is a WTF book of his and many others also have those kind of books as well.

but maybe Piers Anthony is a writer where you can read a good number of books in a row like his Xanth novels where some of them can blend together and all ya do is take a break. i watched just last night a review of the book Race against Time where that's a WTF book that he wrote in (1973) and it's i think his 12th book or something like that. i read that in high school and liked it up until the ending where it had a WTF ending. upon watching the review and remembering nothing from the book since i read it over 20 years ago. i do remember how it ended and nothing else, the book is awful and going by the review though the guy i watched who did a review of it was annoying as fuck but i was curious what his review of the book was and he went further into that book than i remember cause like i said i remember nothing about it but the ending so it had some kind of impact i guess..

i think it just depends on what book you pick up and your taste in authors maybe i dunno. i do wonder what he was thinking when he wrote certain books but than i can say the same about SK as well on certain books too.. both authors can be pretty offensive when they want to be. i've read online well back when IMDB had a board how racism SK is and i don't think the guy is at all.. now as for Anthony i dunno honestly if he is or not i don't think he is but than off the top of my head i can't remember if he's ever talked about racism either. with Anthony's Views of women reading his news letter off and on through the years and his authors notes i don't think he thinks women are the weaker sex either though in his books it may not seem he feels that way at times. but he has also written very strong female characters that are independent as well.

why he makes some of the males in his books think this or that i wish i knew. but it's only fiction anyways and i don't take any of his either author's stuff seriously i read them for fun and because i like the authors. well i'm a bit further in The Source of Magic now i'm on Chapter 8. i hope to read at least 2 chapters tonight and i'm even hoping to finish it by Tuesday night but i dunno if that's gonna happen or not it just depends on if i am in the book for reading that's all.

but i think writers also at times want to write a character so WTF so evil that they want to do something really different than they normally do and well Firefly is a really good example. some like it and some don't cause it's a WTF book like i've already said. but than you have in The Source of Magic where the males of the story go to a village that's only got women in it and they want to keep them in their village cause a siren keeps luring the guys who do show up there to her isle.

and they never come back. so at some point they go men. and so it's not just him writing Bink for example leaving his wife while she is preggers for an adventure it's also him writing how at times women say this or that about men as well.
now i think it's stupid that he did would write Bink Leaving for an adventure before his son was born. but than the book is almost 40 years old now and maybe his mindset was different back than i dunno.. either way he's a favorite author of mine

Roland of Gilead 33
02-17-2018, 07:32 PM
well i was out last Tuesday and i did forget to mention this before and i bought a few Piers Anthony books that i didn't have i bought in no Order "Harpy Thyme' which is the 17th book in the series and i have read that one actually and it is a good one.
the others are Anthology, the (1989) edition of but what of earth ? it pretty damn good condition too 1st printing i think. well Anthology is a book like SK puts out where it's got Short Stories going back to (1963) To (1985) i have never read these before. and the other is an old one apparently released a number of times but the book originally came out in (1969) and it's called "Hasan' i have never read this one either. as for The Source of Magic i'm on Chapter 9 out of 14 chapters.

page 182 and on my kindle i'm down to 45%. my plan is to at some point get to reading all the Xanth books but i still have a shit ton of them to read since there's like i think #40 of them now if Wikipedia is right.

Roland of Gilead 33
02-19-2018, 09:53 PM
well i finished "The Source of Magic' tonight and i admit it was better the 2nd time i read once i was able to finish the damn thing. though i Do think the last chapter was overlong. it a pretty good book but it's not gonna be again one of my favorites in the series. next up i may start Book #3 Castle Roogna' another old one from (1979) my paperback is actually the 1st printing! has the standard cover and the back of it is this ugly green color. it kinda fits since it's a late 70's book ya know?

Girlystevedave
02-20-2018, 08:08 AM
i don't go by reviews or book covers if i did that i wouldn't read any SK at all cause the past few covers at least in the states have been fucking awful. that doesn't mean the books have been awful just the covers, yes with authors there are scenes that are stomach churning hell even King has done plenty in his time the book IT is the orgy scene with the kids is a fantastic example. but though i still haven't read firefly it is a WTF book of his and many others also have those kind of books as well.


I don't rely on reviews because I don't necessarily trust the opinions of most people, but I do like to sort of skim Goodreads for a good synopsis of a story or an overall impression of it. I guess what I' saying is I'm glad I did on that specific story because there is apparently a pretty awful scene in the book that I'd rather not experience.
But, you are right; King has done a lot of pretty "awful" scenes that, from an outsider's perspective, would make him seem like a pretty disgusting person. :lol:

Roland of Gilead 33
02-20-2018, 03:51 PM
i read Goodreads at times just to see what others think of what book i'm reading and many for A Spell for Chameleon hated the book and to an outsider i can see why. but than xanth is a series that you can shut your brain off and just go with it anyways. it's not a series you take seriously at all. plus the 1st book was written over 40 years ago. i found a page online that some guy posted i think this past September and he apparently was moving and found some of Piers Anthony's books that were his wife's. and he read a couple of them and he went off and said how the guy is nothing but a pedophile etc..and so he texted his wife about it she gave him Porncopia to read his porn book more or less.. i know i spelled that wrong but i'm too tired to fix it. anyways, he went off how bad that book is. my question is if you read one book and don't like it why read others? if the author isn't for you i mean.

my mom isn't a King Reader at all but there are some books i have had her read. like for example the green mile. i think she read Misery years and years like back in the 80's when that came out my brother got her to read it. i dunno how he did it though. she liked it i think.. and than he got her to read the Bill Hodge books she loved those. so you see she just doesn't like his horror and that's fine. P.A. is a bit different he's got a weird sense of humor even more weird than King at times.

what's funny is that he was gonna stop the books at i think #32. but than he had trouble i think getting his other books published so he said fuck it i'll just start over in a way. where it's i guess you could call it Season 2 or Series too where it's different characters than you are used to.. i haven't read those yet. but Anthony is an author if you read his authors notes like i do or his news letter each month like i do and have for years off and on. you'll get to understand him a bit better...
xanth is some say not a series for kids and while i dunno if i'd let my 10 year old niece read it... kids do read them and some grow out of the series and some don't. i watched a guy do a video on the latest Xanth novel Ghost Writer in the Sky that came out last Spring i think. he didn't care for it, but he also didn't say and he had never read him before.. he just picked a book at random to read for his channel at the Libary. sorry for my shit spelling... and there were some things he liked about it and some he didn't. he was pretty bored with it pretty much

but he didn't say this author is terrible and so is this book. he was respectful and said i liked some things in this book but to use my words it didn't connect with me. he also admitted that he looked online to see reviews of it and a lot of people didn't care for it either. i gave the 1st couple books of Xanth to a friend at work to read and said to her, if things offend you and told her pretty much what i said here, he's a proud pervert and in short if those things offend her than don't read the book. she goes oh those don't bother me and she's 49 so she's heard it all by now as you have i'm sure. she loved it and i think she read the 1st three books before i gave her another book. right now i gave her the uncut version of the stand and she's been on that for a couple of months. she's got kids too so she read when she can and she's loving it.

Roland of Gilead 33
02-20-2018, 03:51 PM
oh i forgot to add i started Castle Roogna and i'm on Chapter 2 so far. what was the last one you read? i forget

ratchet41
05-01-2019, 12:40 PM
i have been reading Castle Roogna the 3rd book in the series, and if anyone is curious it is Roland of Gilead 33 here. i started a new account because i could not for the life of me remember my password and i already forgot to hit save on this one too. it's been a long ass day. i actually did e-mail the admin like 3 or 4 months ago to let them know about it but i never heard back oh well it happens i'm not mad about it. i just wanted to let anyone who notices the same IP address that it's not me trying to make a double account on purpose. but rather my old PC went to shit last June and my password for this site is on that PC and i didn't have a chance to write it down. so that's why i tried like 10 different passwords and none of them worked.

hence why i created a new account.

ratchet41
05-01-2019, 02:43 PM
woo hoo i remembered my password for this one

ratchet41
09-23-2019, 02:34 PM
looking at my old post i started Castle roogna feb of last year? has it been that long? holy shit i didn't realize it was that long! the first book i read of his (1987)'s the vale of the vole the 10th book in the beloved xanth series i read in like 3 fucking days back in the mid 90's. anyways i picked it up last night after not touching it for months apparently i started it in Feb and i went back to it in May and put it down and than now in late Septemeber which i think i put it down cause i was reading Sleeping Beauties i need to finish that one too by the way, anyways i've only got one chapter left in the book than i'm gonna lend it to a friend at work who i got into the series as well i just need to finish the damn thing first.

anyways i hadn't read any of Castle Roogna in quite long time it feels like, and i had put it down for a good portion of this year than i picked it up last night as i only had 3 chapters left and now i'm on the last chapter! they are pretty long chapters one was like 30 and other i think 33 pages. course King does and have made his chapters even longer than that, i picked it up cause i got back into the mood to read him and honestly i just want to finish the damn thing

and it's never taken me this long to finish a book of his either at least not one this fucking short and one i really like too as i've read it 2 or 3 times i think this is the 3rd time i've read it to be honest. i want to start (1981)'s Centuar Isle next the 4th book in the Xanth series i dunno if i will tonight but that's the plan anyways.

ratchet41
09-23-2019, 07:52 PM
well i finally fucking finished it THANK GOD! i dunno what's next though i may start the next one i dunno yet

ratchet41
09-24-2019, 09:25 PM
i started Book #4 (1981)'s Centaur Isle and this is i think my i want to say 3rd time reading it as it's a damn good book. i still have around or nearly 40 more to read in the Xanth series lol hmm i got a lot of reading left to do before i'm caught up to the current book oh well i guess

ur2ndbiggestfan
10-13-2019, 03:53 PM
Here's a map of Xanth from the centerfold of the 'PIERS ANTHONY PRESENTS 1990 XANTH PIN-UP CALENDAR':

http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/500/medium/XANTH.JPG

ratchet41
10-13-2019, 07:52 PM
that i would hang up if i had it, he's put a map of Xanth in all the books going back to 1st Novel A Spell for Chameleon going back way back to (1977) i don't have the 1st printing of it but it was in it, he did later update it and in later books it actually did like more like a map than it Originally was drawn in books. i'm still reading Centaur Aisle and i'm i think 130 some pages into it now.

oh and thanks for the map i love it

ur2ndbiggestfan
10-14-2019, 04:00 AM
You're welcome. I was cleaning out my closet and found a bunch of calendars from the 90s.

ratchet41
10-14-2019, 05:33 AM
somewhere around i think i have a Calendar of TMNT i want to it was one from maybe (1991) or (1992) maybe (1993) between those i am not sure if i still have it but i did at one time. i love Piers Anthony's books but for certain ones he's written i can see why some hate him. but than if you look at other famous author's who was a drunk he wrote a lot of damn good stuff and wasn't the greatest human being but he's beloved. there are plenty of writers from history that were horrible human beings that wrote what the fuck novels yet Piers Anthony yes is among them yet he's hated go figure.

honestly most people today have never even heard of the guy cause he's not got any films based from his work and rarely does interviews and he's done any at all cause his wife is currently dying check out his latest update on this month's newsletter.

scroll down to the bottom and you can read about his wife's illness. his wife i believe he said is only 82 and he's 85 now and still writing actually. i haven't read all of his books as i said when i started this thread, yes that is me who started it but the reason i no longer use that screen name is really simple i could not remember my password at all so i said fuck it and created a new account.

Br!an
10-14-2019, 05:10 PM
Here's a map of Xanth from the centerfold of the 'PIERS ANTHONY PRESENTS 1990 XANTH PIN-UP CALENDAR':

http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/data/500/medium/XANTH.JPG

I never realized I was living in Xanth.

ur2ndbiggestfan
10-14-2019, 05:22 PM
Living in sin is even better.

ratchet41
10-14-2019, 05:30 PM
funny you should say that, i was reading an interview of Piers Anothony he did a couple years back and when asked if it was intentional that it was the state of Florida he said when writing the first Novel there were some area's out by him that got his imagination going and hell check out the full interview of the man on you tube it's about an hr and a half but i think i'm about 35 minutes into it so i'd say start about the half hr mark it is around there that he talks about it. but he said it wasn't later on that he realized it was Florida. my copy of A Spell For Chameleon has that old Drawing that was in the early books before he did a version of Xanth just like the map shown here but than my copy isn't the 1st pressing either it's the 26th printing.

my copy of Centaur Aisle that i'm reading is only the 16th and both came out in (1987) the print i mean not the books. i love the artwork i wonder who did it? one thing you can say about Piers Anthony's Work regardless if you like him or not that most of his books have really damn good artwork. sure there are some copies in various countries that have awful artwork but i haven't seen that many of those versions. as i said on page 1 i'm sure the art work for Vale of the vole got me into reading him cause i loved the art work and i thought i'd give him a try and i ended up loving his work. funny enough i don't remember any of his books being best sellers and i've been reading him since (1995) and i think they were still making it on the bestsellers back than too.

having said all that you should see how many people hate the man and his work. if you do a search online yeah you will see people say they love his work but WOW are there people that really hate him and his work. even most of the videos on you tube have people hating his work. it's funny how as i

said many others have like Ayn Rand for example i've never read her work but WOW Is it fucked up from what i hear and she gets less hate than Piers Anthony. it's kind of baffling actually but what are ya gonna do ya know?

ratchet41
10-14-2019, 05:30 PM
depends on who you are living in sin with though

Br!an
10-18-2019, 01:00 PM
I seem to be doing it wrong. :orely:

I have the living in Xanth/Florida thing down. Now I just need to start living in sin. :evil:

Thanks for all of the help. This forum offers irreplaceable advice.

ratchet41
10-18-2019, 06:17 PM
we all want to live in sin and have a good life man. i had ordered 10 books of his off Amazon and they were (1987)'s Vale of the Vole, Heaven Cent (1988), Man from Mundania (1989), The color of her Panties (1992) yes that is a title and a baffling title on why the hell would he even choose that title? i read the book years ago and i never did hear the end of it from at school or my own brother but it was worth it cause it's a good book. (1993)'s Demon's Don't Dream", Geis of the Gargoyle (1994) and a few others as well. there's still #11 more of the Xanth books i still need to get but having the first #29 is a good start for now and since i'm only on the 4th book it's a damn good start i'd say lol

ratchet41
06-29-2021, 06:33 PM
i picked Centuar Aisle back up again (1981) looking at the last time i posted on here i had started it 2 years ago i didn't realize it was that fucking long ago! i only have i think a little over #100 pages left of it anyways than i might pick up the next one Ogre Ogre (1982)'s Book #5

ratchet41
07-05-2021, 06:52 PM
i have since finished it and though it is a good book it's not one of the stronger books i think in the series

ratchet41
07-16-2021, 11:07 PM
i have also since Finished Ogre, Ogre (1982) book #5 another good one i think too

ur2ndbiggestfan
07-17-2021, 03:45 AM
I found the Xanth series to be interesting until I realized Anthony was writing the same book over and over again.
However, A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON will always remain a classic in my not so humble opinion, along with a handful of his other novels.
I haven't read new Anthony in many years.

ratchet41
07-25-2021, 10:40 PM
if you read a number of them in a row i can see that, some of them apparently in recent years have become more adult apparently i haven't read those so i can't say how good or how bad those are to be fair. one of my all time favorite Authors is John Saul and if you read a number of his books they can pretty much blend together as well cause he's as far as i know have a theme where there's a family with a teenager who goes ape shit sometimes in the last one i read the teenager was blamed for killing his grandmother, his GF as well though he was actually innocent. than there's some of his books where the Teenager does actually turn evil. the one i read called Nightshade (2000) is different than the norm that he would write. but you read enough of his book they have that theme. so that's why i don't read them one after another generally.

though the blackstone Chronicles a series he wrote in (1997) same year as the Green mile was really vastly different as well. it came in 6 parts like the green mile and both are fantastic books. as for Anthony i guess he's a matter of taste i suppose. A Spell for Chameleon (1977) has never been among my favorites but it is a good one. Ogre, Ogre, (1982) i really loved and has always been among my favorites. than you have Question Quest (1991) which is book #14 and it's The good Magician Humphrey's Bio pretty much it tells the story of his life and that's my favorite Xanth novel