To begin I would like to give some information on Piers Anthony himself.
Piers Anthony was born in Oxford, England in 1934. He and his family moved to Spain in 1939. In 1940 with him at the age of six they moved and settled in the U.S.A. He had difficulty getting through the first stages ... Read review
Advantages: Really good imagery, Gets the mind working Disadvantages: critical of some social decisions
...like to give some information on Piers Anthony himself.
Piers Anthony was born in Oxford, England in 1934. He and his family moved to Spain in 1939. In 1940 with him at the age of six they moved and settled in the U.S.A. He had difficulty getting through the first stages of school due to finding it difficult to learn to read. However after overcoming this obstacle he progressed to become an English teacher before settling as a full ... ...1981 when he began writing ON A PALE HORSE the first book of the INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY he was writing an average of three books per year.
Whilst writing ON A PALE HORSE Piers Anthony lived in a forest in central Florida, his study was located in the middle of his horses field, it had electric but no heating.
According to the authors note ON A PALE HORSE was influenced by some of the events which had happened within ... more
To begin I would like to give some information on Piers Anthony himself.
Piers Anthony was born in Oxford, England in 1934. He and his family moved to Spain in 1939. In 1940 with him at the age of six they moved and settled in the U.S.A. He had difficulty getting through the first stages of school due to finding it difficult to learn to read. However after overcoming this obstacle he progressed to become an English teacher before settling as a full time author. In 1958 He became a citizen of the U.S.A.
His first publications were short stories, the first one of these was called POSSIBLE TO RUE and this was published in 1963. Four years later in 1967 CTHON became his first published novel. By 1981 when he began writing ON A PALE HORSE the first book of the INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY he was writing an average of three books per year.
Whilst writing ON A PALE HORSE Piers Anthony lived in a forest in central Florida, his study was located in the middle of his horses field, it had electric but no heating.
According to the authors note ON A PALE HORSE was influenced by some of the events which had happened within his own past and unfortunately during the writing of the book, apparently when he was a teenager his closest cousin had died, leaving Piers Anthony with a developing "morbid fascination" with death. Also during the writing of this book his father in law became severely ill for a long while, then his mother in law became critically ill, reminding him that death isn't funny.
Piers Anthony also had an interest in precious stones while writing ON A PALE HORSE, which he collected as his means allowed. He mentioned the story in his authors note in more detail than i will however it had a direct influence on the first chapter of the book, basically he had seen an advert in a local newspaper for a large star sapphire offered for private sale. when he went to see it he apparently found that the stone was not very good looking, but it took his fancy anyway as it had a magical look about it, a star which shifted with the rays of sun light. He bought the stone only to later find it was worth less than he had paid.
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS:
This novel begins with the main character Zane (a young man with acne scars) talking with a sales man about the purchase of magic gems, Zane seems concerned and more than a little wary about the possibility that he may be about to get conned. The sales man gets a death stone out expressing the idea that if a person were to know they were due to die then they could change the course of their lives to ensure that it didn't happen. Zane holds the death stone and it rapidly turns dark. The sales man implies that it is imperative for Zane to buy this stone as the sudden change of colour would indicate the demise within hours, the salesman maintained that the stone would be able to stop that happening.
Zane doubts that the stone would be useful even if it is correct and is so shown another stone, the love stone this also changes rapidly indicating that with the stones help he would also be able to find true love very soon,
Zane confesses to the sales man that he has no money and apologises for wasting the sales mans time, at this the sales man insists on showing Zane a wealth stone, which cannot be bought with money, He hands the blue wealth-stone to Zane to test, Zane tells the wealth-stone to find, and a star comes up out of the wealth-stone, goes over to Zane's shoe and tries to get under it, Zane lifts his foot to find a coin of small denomination.
Having proven that the magic works, the salesman goes on to name his price, the price of an experience, the experience that the love stone had anticipated. After some discussion and some thought Zane decided that this seemed a worthwhile trade......
Further on in the book after stopping a ghost from being attacked by a mugger, and taking the mugger's gun, Zane uses his wealth-stone anticipating great riches, He realises that he had not asked the right questions about his purchase, and it had cost him dearly, he had swapped something very worthwhile for an item of little use to him!
Zane decides to commit Suicide. He holds the gun to his head and is in the process of putting thought into action just as death walks in, he panics drags the gun to point at death and shoots. The incarnation of fate turns up and informs Zane that he must now take on the job of death collecting the souls of people who are balanced with good and evil.
Zane has now unknowingly been brought into the fight between good and evil. He will play a crucial part in the outcome, one way or another!!!
How and Why?
well obviously my written work does not compare to piers Anthony, therefore it would be unfair or me to tell any more when he does it so much better!
The series incarnations of immortality consist of seven main characters, one for each of the seven books, there are five books covering the five incarnations these are:
ON A PALE HORSE=DEATH BEARING AN HOURGLASS=TIME WITH A TANGLED SKEIN= THE THREE ASPECTS OF FATE WIELDING A RED SWORD= WAR BEING A GREEN MOTHER=NATURE
The last two books deal with the eternals:
FOR LOVE OF EVIL= SATAN AND ETERNITY= GOD
The difference between incarnations and eternals is that incarnations are mortals holding position in an immortal office rendering them semi-mortal, whereas the eternals are totally immortal.
oakleigh 11.02.2007 (11.02.2007)
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Advantages: can be read as a standalone book as well as part of the series Disadvantages: it's about time and so can get complicated
PiersAnthony was born in Oxford, England in 1934. He and his family moved to Spain in 1939. In 1940 with him at the age of six they moved and settled in the U.S.A. He had difficulty getting through the first stages of school due to finding it difficult to learn to read. However after overcoming this obstacle he progressed to become an English teacher before settling as a full time author. In 1958 he became a citizen of the U.S.A.
His first publications were short stories, the first one of these was called POSSIBLE TO RUE and this was published in 1963. Four years later in 1967 CTHON became his first published novel. By 1981 when he began writing ON A PALEHORSE the first book of the INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY he was writing an average of three books per year.
Whilst writing the incarnations of immortalitypiersanthony lived in ...
Advantages: Its very imaginative, ties in the other Books well Disadvantages: repeats some things that went on in previous book
PiersAnthony was born in Oxford, England in 1934. He and his family moved to Spain in 1939. In 1940 with him at the age of six they moved and settled in the U.S.A. He had difficulty getting through the first stages of school due to finding it difficult to learn to read. However after overcoming this obstacle he progressed to become an English teacher before settling as a full time author. In 1958 He became a citizen of the U.S.A.
His first publications were short stories, the first one of these was called POSSIBLE TO RUE and this was published in 1963. Four years later in 1967 CTHON became his first published novel. By 1981 when he began writing ON A PALEHORSE the first book of the INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY he was writing an average of three books per year.
Whilst writing ON A PALEHORSEPiersAnthony lived in a forest in ...
Advantages: Well Written and enjoyable Disadvantages: The authors note is quite long!!!
PiersAnthony was born in Oxford, England in 1934. He and his family moved to Spain in 1939. In 1940 with him at the age of six they moved and settled in the U.S.A. He had difficulty getting through the first stages of school due to finding it difficult to learn to read. However after overcoming this obstacle he progressed to become an English teacher before settling as a full time author. In 1958 He became a citizen of the U.S.A.
His first publications were short stories, the first one of these was called POSSIBLE TO RUE and this was published in 1963. Four years later in 1967 CTHON became his first published novel. By 1981 when he began writing ON A PALEHORSE the first book of the INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY he was writing an average of three books per year.
Whilst writing The incarnations series PiersAnthony lived in a forest ...
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