Showing results by author "Piers Anthony" in All Categories

In this, the first novel of the best-selling Incarnations of Immortality series, Piers Anthony combines a deeply moving examination of the meaning of life and death with a gripping story of romance and loyalty, all set in a world of magic and technical wizardry.

Wielding a Red Sword depicts a mere mortal who is called to serve as a god-like incarnation. It is the thrilling story of Mym, an Indian prince who takes up the Red Sword to become Mars, the Incarnation of War. To avoid breaking his betrothal to the princess Rapture and the war that would surely result, Mym accepts the fearsome office. As Mars, he plans to keep Rapture by his side as he stops the suffering caused by Earth's incessant wars.

Parry's promising life as a musician and apprentice in the arts of White Magic got thrown off track by the violent death of his beloved. Led down a path of depravity by a harlot demoness, Parry has lived a long, corrupt life that may finally be coming to an end - unless he can defeat Lucifer himself at the gates of Hell and become the new Incarnation of Evil.

On the technological, decadent world of Proton, someone was trying to destroy Stile, serf and master Gamesman. His only escape lay in Phaze, a world totally ruled by magic. Soon he learned that his alternate self had already been murdered, and that he was next. On Proton, his fate depended on winning the great Games. On Phaze, he must master magic to survive. And if he used any magic at all, his friends were determined to kill him at once!

Chthon was Piers Anthony's first published novel in 1967, written over the course of seven years. He started it when he was in the US Army, so it has a long prison sequence that is reminiscent of that experience, being dark and grim. It features Aton Five, a space man who commits the crime of falling in love with the dangerous, alluring Minionette and is therefore condemned to death in the subterranean prison of Chthon.

In Book 2 of the epic adventure that began in Split Infinity, Stile discovers life on Proton and Phaze is getting more difficult. On Proton he's a serf trying to prove his right to exist by competing in the Great Games. And on Phaze, where only magic worked, he was the Blue Adept trying to master the powers of sorcery.

As a young man, Kelvin Knight Hackleberry proved to be the Roundear of the Prophecy: He liberated his own Kingdom of Rud from the cruel usurper Zoanna, and then went on to defeat the evil king Rowforth in the alternate world of Hud. But now Zoanna and Rowforth have joined forces to take revenge on Kelvin -- and they intend to have it through his unborn child.

Orb is four years old when she first hears the wonderful music of the morning. Gifted with a magic that makes her songs irresistible anytime she sings, she spends her life seeking the source of the mystical music. Orb finally feels she's getting somewhere when she hooks up with the Livin' Sludge, a rock band that could use all the magic they can find. Unfortunately, there's still the pesky little matter of a prophecy to deal with - the prediction that Orb will someday marry Evil, the devil himself.

Stile had problems on two different worlds. On Proton he was threatened with murder, and on Phaze, an alternate world ruled by magic, he had to master magic, fight a dragon, win the friendship of a lady unicorn, locate his enemy among the paranoid Adepts and return out of Phaze to win the Great Games on Proton. After that, he was ready to face the real problems!

Two worlds - the scientific Proton, and the magical Phaze - exist side-by-side. Now, Mach has crossed from Proton to Phaze, switching places with his counterpart, Bane. And both must learn to survive in environments alien to their own nature.

This is the fifth in the series Bio of a Space Tyrant, featuring the stages in the life of Hope Hubris, the tyrant of Jupiter, and his beloved sister, Spirit. Child of flame and terror, born and bred to violence, Hope Hubris had ruled the solar system's most powerful empire with a fierce, uncompromising passion. His was a white-hot flame of justice that scarred friend and foe alike. Yet now he left Jupiter as an exile, his autocratic rule overthrown by the one person he could not oppose.

He was driven by violent injustice from his home moon of Callisto - and set forth to claim the epic destiny that would blaze across worlds and time. He saw his family destroyed, his sister carried off into sexual slavery, his beautiful lover killed - and he swore revenge against the murderous pirates who held the Jupiter planetoids in a stranglehold of terror. Fired by raw courage, steeled by young might, he rose in the navy of Jupiter to command a personal squadron loyal to the death.

In the triumphant finale to the Incarnations of Immortality series, the Incarnation of Good dominates. Orlene has died and we follow her into the afterlife. Joining forces with two women--Jolie, Satan's consort and Vita, a troubled mortal--they will test the limits of morality.

In Xanth, everyone has a talent. But that doesn't mean everyone loves his talent, and no one understands that better than Hapless. Endowed with the ability to conjure any instrument he wants, Hapless could be an extraordinary musician if only he could play a tune that didn't fall ear-piercingly flat. His one desire is to find an instrument he can play. When the Good Magician hears about Hapless's desperate desire, he sends the young man on a quest to find the elusive Isis Orb, a magical talisman that could fulfill his wish.

The final installment of the Bio of a Space Tyrant series covers the same period as the first five books but with a twist. The Iron Maiden is told from the point of view of Hope's sister, Spirit. This book fills in the gaps when the two siblings were apart and perfectly wraps up this scintillating series!

Saved from death at the hands of the Emperor Ddwng, would-be lovers Colene and Darius and their companions - Provos, a woman who remembers only the future, and Sequiro, a telepathic horse - stumble into yet another dangerous reality where despots rule with a cruel and heavy hand. Held captive, the friends must combine their unusual talents in a daring escape that leads them on adventure after adventure with the most intriguing characters.

Sixteen-year-old Dug has yet to be impressed by a computer game, but that's before he gets hooked by Companions of Xanth-and the beguilingly beautiful princess-serpent he's chosen to guide him. Nada Naga has her work cut out for her keeping Dug's eyes on the magical prize . . . and off of her human form.

Killing children is an ugly business, but the alternative is so much uglier. Abner Slate just watched his five-year-old daughter Olive kill his wife and son. Olive is a sopath. Born without souls, sopaths are children who will lie, cheat, rape, and murder to get what they want. There's one in every family these days, destroying America's heartland from within. After murdering his daughter in self-defense, Abner is taken in by a secret network of sopath victims called Pariah.

Mute is science fantasy of mutation and psi: special mental powers. The protagonist, Knot, is a double mutant: He has a physical deformity, and the psi power to make others forget him. He's satisfied with his life - until the lovely Finesse walks into his life to recruit him for a dangerous galactic mission. She is aided by two small animal mutants: a telepathic weasel and a clairvoyant crab.

He awoke in a tiny, lightless cell, groping for memory...memory that had been erased. Hope Hubris, Jupiter governor, progressive populist, warrior hero, and presidential candidate...a "mem-washed" tool of the enemy. And if his captors' plan worked, Hope would destroy his own political career, leaving the fate of his planet in the hands of its corrupt presidential incumbent - Tocsin. But Hope Hubris had a destiny to fulfill.