HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bosticj@mist.CS.ORST.EDU (Jason Bostick)
Subject: Re: XANTH & MODE
Organization: Oregon State University, Computer Science Dept.
Distribution: ALL
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 03:24:05 GMT

In article <1bd62lINNqk3@cs.widener.edu> SBARNETT@tattoo.cs.widener.edu (Scott Barnett) writes:
>Can any one tell me what the first book in the XANTH series is?
>Also, is the second Mode book out yet?
>Thanks.
>
>
>
>       *************************************************************
>       *Scott R. Barnett             *  And the piano sounds       *
>       *Student Computer Lab Manager *  like a carnival and the    *
>       *Dept. of Computing Services  *  microphone smells like a   *
>       *Widener University           *  beer!     - Billy Joel     *
>       *************************************************************
>       *Internet:  Scott.R.Barnett@cyber.widener.edu (primary)     *
>       *           sbarnett@tattoo.cs.widener.edu                  *
>       *************************************************************

The first book in XANTH is "A Spell for Chameleon"  and yes the Second MODE book is out.  It is Called Chaotic Mode.  It is only out in Hard Cover however.  I have read it.  


any Questions

EMAIL  Bosticj@storm.cs.orst.edu
SMAIL  Jason Bostick   Wilson Hall Room 237 Corvallis, OR. 97331-1413
From: jess@miracle.com (Jessica Thornburg)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Re: The Color of Her Panties
Date: 9 Oct 92 23:49:39 GMT
Organization: Miracle Computer Consultants

How many of you out there have read this book??  is it worth buying???  I have
liked all of the Xanth books pretty much.  What is the opinion of you people
out there???

Warrior Queen
From: IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Re: Trilogies...
Date: 7 Oct 92 13:58:51 GMT
Organization: University of Maine System

Cluster series goes thus:
   1) Cluster
   2) Chaining the Lady
   3) Kirlian Quest
   4) Thousandstar
   5) Viscuous Circle


IMHO one of his better series...
-trond
  *Just you aren't paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you*
From: IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Mouvar
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:46:25 GMT
Organization: University of Maine System

Not to beat the thread to death, but one more series that has gone
downhill is the Prophesies of Mouvar (is there a proper name to
the series?)  I really liked Dragon's Gold, but the third started
getting really repetitive...  Another case of writing a series
merely to complete the prophesy?
- trond
From: natek@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (D Nathan King)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: the color of her panties
Date: 11 Oct 1992 18:38:56 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigwpi.wpi.edu

Yes, I did buy this book. It isn't the greatest piece of work that he's done,
but it is not very far from the bottom either


--Kilteer
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows)
Subject: Re: ...Sorry...
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 14:35:47 GMT

In article <1bcu53INN4cf@bigboote.WPI.EDU> guyette@wpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas M 
uyette) writes:
>I really don't mean to force you folks to stoop to my level, ( :-) ) but
could
>someone please, if you know it, mail me Mr. Anthony's address?  It would
seem
>that in a nest of bees, someone would know where the honey is kept... 
>
>						Thanks,
>
>								-- Tom


How about his CompuServe address?  I happen to know, from a note in
one of his books, that he uses it, or did...

---Chris Meadows

Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: soph@bass.bu.edu (sophia hwang)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Re: BattleCircle
Date: 8 Oct 92 13:58:18 GMT
Organization: What do you mean *I* can't do that????
In-reply-to: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu's message of 5 Oct 92 10:51:25 GMT

>In article <BvnA5p.9MB@rice.edu> swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim) w>rites:
>
>     There's also the Tarot series. It deals with religion. I think that someone
>   posted that it was origionally supposed to be one book, but the publishers
>   insisted he split it up.

Actually...yes and no, the Tarot book is available as a single book. I have
sent a copy to a friend of mine for her birthday two years ago.  But
since then, I have noticed it has been split apart. I've also noticed that
since the splitting up, it had been edited. Good luck with it.

Soph
    
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: apash@mta.ca
Subject: Re: Trilogies...
Reply-To: apash@mta.ca
Organization: Mount Allison U, Sackville, N.B. Canada 
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 13:58:51 GMT

In article <6OCT199214325597@trentu.ca>, cclark@trentu.ca (J. Chris Clark) writes:
>Well, you've remebered the Ox-Orn-Omnivore series, and the Tarot series,
>but I haven't see anyone mention The Cluster-Viscious Circle-(can't recall
>the third one).  I never actually read this series, so I'm not sure what the
>order is, or if it was an "official trilogy".  
>BING!  "Chaining the Lady" was the third one, I believe.  Anyway, these are 
>older books, dating to at least the Omnivore/Tarot era.
>
>Just thought I'd show off what reader (not die-hard fan) can recall.  :)
>
>Chris
    
    Actually Chris,I think the Cluster series came about as a result of
  "Tarot" .  I don't think it was a trilogy either but a series of 5 0r
 6. I might be wrong  but I can remember there being at least one or 
 two more books in the series .
                                    Anthony Pash
From: jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us (Jeff Gostin)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Re: The Color of Her Panties
Date: 7 Oct 92 16:10:48 GMT
Organization: The little node that could...

davis@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Barbara Davis) writes:

> We have had this discussion before in this group.  IMO PA writes for the chil
> within us and certainly not for actual children.  There is too much satire
> and too many puns for a child to understand.
*CHEER* *CLAP* *APPLAUD*

> The book is wonderfully silly and his books are not childish.  You are correc
> when you say that children could not understand his books.
     Yeah, so there... ;-) Actually, seriously, I would tend to agree. In
fact, I don't TEND to agree, I DO agree. I know some of you may be looking
for the "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn"-genre work/seriousness. You
aren't going to find it with Piers, at least not in Xanth. It's good clean
fun, with very little die-hard adultism in it, which is a good thing.
Xanth teaches you to take a step back and smell the roses. To look at
things a different way. And to never, never, never lose the kid in you.
This should sum up my feelings about Xanth just right:

     "We lose our morality when the child in us dies. When the child
inside dies, the adult outside dies. Life without perspective is life
without living."-- JG


                              Jeff

...From a tiny little node called Eternal!
--
    /|Email  to:   jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us, offline@infopls.chi.il.us
   / |Smail  to:   Jeff Gostin, 917 High Ridge Pass, Carol Stream IL 60188
   \ |Vmail  to:   708-293-5526
    \|Flames to:   trashcan@eternal.chi.il.us
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows)
Subject: Re: "lesser" books
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 14:33:41 GMT

In article <92286.152556IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU 
rites:
>
>  First I want to say in lieu to the earlier reference that *all*
>fans of PA must have all his books- please rethink your position!
>  Of all the PA fans in my clique, (about nine of us) only two
>have more than eight of his books... one has about fifty and I have
>*only* 68 of them. :-)
>  If my friend has a good book, I'll usually borrow it to read rather
>than buy it myself.  One friend has every McCaffrey book out- I'm
>certainly glad to borrow them and not incur the expense of buying
>them myself!  However, I'm still a fan and feel I can post on the
>alt.fan.mccaffrey without owning all her books.
>FLAME OFF
>
>On to the real subject of my post: those single novels by PA
>  (Now that I'm here, where do I begin?)
>It just seems to me that his series get so much attention, with
>the current exception of Macroscope.  How about Rings of Ice?
>As is most of his novels, and the first few of his series, the
>basic premise of the book is interesting and well thought out.
>I'm no meterologist- I couldn't say how truly those conditions
>might occur- but it *sounded* good in the story. Comments?
>
>One of my favorite is Mute.  Knot is a Good Guy in every sense
>of the word.  Trust PA to give some of the better powers to
>animals, too.  Hermine is cute!!!
>
>And from Anthonology,  Wood You?  has to be the best short story
>for me. (MHO)  I like splitting wood and it's GREAT.
>Please, people, give equal time to his other books, the ones that
>didn't make TRILOGY status.
>  Some other books I'd like to have opinions on:  The Ring, Triple
>Detente, Steppe (IMHO great!), Race against Time, Pretender, Hasan,
>and so on....  Comments?
>
>-trond


Steppe: Wonderful!  Was this written before or after Apprentice Adept?
If before, you can probably see how the "Game" of Adept got started.
And it was a relatively painless way to get people interested in history.
Wish he'd write more books like that (though not with the same characters).
 
Race Against Time: Pretty juvenile, really--it's the kind of thing that
would be published in Boy's Life.  Which isn't to say I don't like it;
I used to read Boy's Life avidly.  It is a really great book.  It's just
not as good as some of his others, though.

Hasan: Great retelling of the arabian nights.  Oops, about to go down.
better log off and give more examples later.

Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: cclark@trentu.ca (J. Chris Clark)
Subject:  Cluster series
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Trent University Computer Services Department
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 21:20:00 GMT

Thanks all for the corrections.  As I mentioned, I never actually read the
series!  I did read the Battle Circle series YEARS ago and recall that it
was quite interesting.
Is it just me, or does it seem that Piers writes at one of two extremes:
A)  "Fluffy" (not the best word...) stuff like Xanth or Adept where he mixes
     in healthy doses of magic and comic relief.
B)  "Serious" stuff like Tarot where it could easily lose you if you stop 
    concentrating. 

Oh well...  Any opinons?

Chris

P.S.  Magic from Xanth does leak into Mundania, BTW!  An "uncle" of mine gave
      me "Chameleon" when I was in grade 7.  Seven years later I wind up going
      to TRENT university where I met my girlfriend, DEE.  Coincidence?
      I think not.   :)
From: IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: poll (oooh, nasty word)
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:16:17 GMT
Organization: University of Maine System

I'd like to take a poll.
  What was the first PA book you ever read?  I have a theory but I
don't want to spoil it.
Just for the record, mine was Castle Roogna.
Email at IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: apash@mta.ca
Subject: Re: ...Sorry...
Reply-To: apash@mta.ca
Organization: Mount Allison U, Sackville, N.B. Canada 
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 17:51:10 GMT

In article <92672@netnews.upenn.edu>, varhus@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Kristofor A Varhus) writes:
>In article <1bcu53INN4cf@bigboote.WPI.EDU> guyette@wpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas M Guyette) writes:
>>I really don't mean to force you folks to stoop to my level, ( :-) ) but could
>>someone please, if you know it, mail me Mr. Anthony's address?  It would seem
>>that in a nest of bees, someone would know where the honey is kept... 
>
>This is what the previous article was supposed to be about, but it somehow got
>erased.  (This seems to be happening to me a lot these days.)  If you could, 
>e-mail me that address as well.  I'd really appreciate it.
>
>--
>Kristofor A. Varhus
>varhus@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
>
>  I don't know if you can send mail to Piers Anthony directly or not,
 but I do know that you can send him a letter through his publishing 
 company.  You can find the address on the inside cover of most of his
 novels.  I sent a letter to him a couple of years ago through Ballantine
 books ( I think it was Ballantine ) and I received his reply without any
 problems. Hope this helps.
                                     Anthony Pash
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis
Date:         Tue, 06 Oct 92 22:50:06 CST
From:         C09615DK@wuvmd.wustl.edu
To:           NETNEWS@WUVMD
Subject:      Re: BattleCircle
Newsgroups:   alt.fan.piers-anthony

Speaking of Piers Anthony writing 3-volumed series, I remember in the back of
one of his books he wrote how most of his books had something to do with
the number three, either in amount published or in some other form.  At least I
think it was Anthony.

In fact, I think it was in the Xanth books, and if you've read the whole
Xanth series you will notice that each sub-series consists of three books, at
least the ones from the beginning of his career.  Also, his Adept series---

   (*little side comment-- the Adept series is one of the least talked about
     ones on this board, which is somewhat depressing.  It was definitely one
     of his best series*)---

contains three books for the "first" part.

However.....

Many of his better series, for example the Incarnations series and the Space
Tyrant series were not written in parts of three, but the 3-volume thing does
apply to many of his books.

(I read this in some Author's Note in some Xanth book some time ago (somehow).)

Neat, huh--Dan K
From: IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: "lesser" books
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:25:56 GMT
Organization: University of Maine System


  First I want to say in lieu to the earlier reference that *all*
fans of PA must have all his books- please rethink your position!
  Of all the PA fans in my clique, (about nine of us) only two
have more than eight of his books... one has about fifty and I have
*only* 68 of them. :-)
  If my friend has a good book, I'll usually borrow it to read rather
than buy it myself.  One friend has every McCaffrey book out- I'm
certainly glad to borrow them and not incur the expense of buying
them myself!  However, I'm still a fan and feel I can post on the
alt.fan.mccaffrey without owning all her books.
FLAME OFF

On to the real subject of my post: those single novels by PA
  (Now that I'm here, where do I begin?)
It just seems to me that his series get so much attention, with
the current exception of Macroscope.  How about Rings of Ice?
As is most of his novels, and the first few of his series, the
basic premise of the book is interesting and well thought out.
I'm no meterologist- I couldn't say how truly those conditions
might occur- but it *sounded* good in the story. Comments?

One of my favorite is Mute.  Knot is a Good Guy in every sense
of the word.  Trust PA to give some of the better powers to
animals, too.  Hermine is cute!!!

And from Anthonology,  Wood You?  has to be the best short story
for me. (MHO)  I like splitting wood and it's GREAT.
Please, people, give equal time to his other books, the ones that
didn't make TRILOGY status.
  Some other books I'd like to have opinions on:  The Ring, Triple
Detente, Steppe (IMHO great!), Race against Time, Pretender, Hasan,
and so on....  Comments?

-trond
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: apash@mta.ca
Subject: Re: Trilogies...
Reply-To: apash@mta.ca
Organization: Mount Allison U, Sackville, N.B. Canada 
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 14:02:15 GMT

In article <Oct.6.17.11.57.1992.26564@ruhets.rutgers.edu>, zweldron@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Matthew Charlap) writes:
>cclark@trentu.ca (J. Chris Clark) writes:
>>Well, you've remebered the Ox-Orn-Omnivore series, and the Tarot series,
>>but I haven't see anyone mention The Cluster-Viscious Circle-(can't recall
>>the third one).  I never actually read this series, so I'm not sure what the
>>order is, or if it was an "official trilogy".  
>>BING!  "Chaining the Lady" was the third one, I believe.  Anyway, these are 
>>older books, dating to at least the Omnivore/Tarot era.
>
>Actually, the Cluster series is five books, not three. One of the other
>two books was called "thousandstar" I don't remember the 5th.
 
       I think it was "Krilian Quest"(quite likely spelling mangling).
                                      
                                               Anthony Pash

  
Organization: Fifth yr. senior, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 11:42:49 -0400 
From: Kun Ho Shin <ks30+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: poll (oooh, nasty word)

My first was Spell.... too.

Kun
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: jrs@netcom.com (John Switzer)
Subject: Re: Piers Anthony a Woman!?!?!
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 16:18:48 GMT

In article <1992Oct15.213321.146868@zeus.calpoly.edu> broldan@zeus.calpoly.edu (Brad Roldan) writes:
>
> The Subject says it all. I heard a nasty rumor the the man we know as
> Piers Anthony is really her husband. Hmmmm.
> Can anyone refute or back this rumor up?

Well, when he appears on TV talk shows, Piers Anthony has been a man. His photo
on the back of his books is that of a man, and the picture displayed during his
TV commercial for 800HIPIERS is that of a man. Considering the detail he has 
gone into with his home life and family, I can't imagine that he would 
be a woman.
-- 
John Switzer               | Why am I voting for Clinton? Because... 
                           | Bill Gates: 36, CEO Microsoft, $6 billion
74076.1250@Compuserve.com  | Me: 36, Tech Writer, 1978 Diesel Rabbit
jrs@netcom.com             | Screw the nerdy rich! (at least 'til I get there)
From: natek@wpi.WPI.EDU (D Nathan King)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Re: the color of her panties
Date: 12 Oct 92 00:39:16 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: wpi.wpi.edu

Yes, that's what I meant. It is quite close to the bottom. It wasn't very good.
I would like to see a big improvement in his next book. 
Right now, I'm waiting for the second book of the MODE series to come out in 
paperback. I don't want to spend f@#$kin' 25 bucks on the hardcover! I hope 
that it is as good as the first one.

---KILTEER
From: varhus@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Kristofor A Varhus)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Address?
Date: 12 Oct 92 22:56:32 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: cclark@trentu.ca (J. Chris Clark)
Subject: Re: poll (oooh, nasty word)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Trent University Computer Services Department
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 05:30:00 GMT

In article <92289.121617IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>, IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU writes...
>I'd like to take a poll.
>  What was the first PA book you ever read?  I have a theory but I
>don't want to spoil it.

Spell for Chameleon, about 11 years ago.  It was a birthday present.  :)
Although the Xanth books may have "gone a little sappy" or what have you,
I personally, still enjoy them.

(And a plug for another favorite author of mine:  Read the Castle Perilous
 seris by John DeChancie.  They are Great!)

Chris C.

Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: ghesmiz@brahms.udel.edu (Michael Macchione)
Subject: Re: Mouvar
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:46:55 GMT

In article <Oct.13.11.16.01.1992.8663@ruhets.rutgers.edu> zweldron@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Matthew Charlap) writes:
>IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU writes:
>>Not to beat the thread to death, but one more series that has gone
>>downhill is the Prophesies of Mouvar (is there a proper name to
>>the series?)  I really liked Dragon's Gold, but the third started
>>getting really repetitive...  Another case of writing a series
>>merely to complete the prophesy
>While still in with the prophesy thing, the fourth book, Orc's Opal, was in
>many ways different than the previous 3 books. I thought that it was a bit 
>better than Chimaera's.
>Just an opinion.
>--Matthew
From: soph@bass.bu.edu (sophia hwang)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Re: Paper
Date: 8 Oct 92 14:02:27 GMT
Organization: What do you mean *I* can't do that????
In-reply-to: mk52+@andrew.cmu.edu's message of 5 Oct 92 14:59:54 GMT

>In article <ceo5Vei00iUyA2DqFA@andrew.cmu.edu> mk52+@andrew.cmu.edu (Matthew A Kagle) writes:
>
>   I am currently writing a paper on Piers Anthony to be presented at the
>   International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts' fourteenth
>   anuual conference.  I am going to compare the way Anthony describes how
>   science works as opposed to the way he describes how magic works.  Any
>   suggestions?

Interestingly enough, Piers himself has written book about that, if I
remember correctly (course my memory is rather faulty).  Look for the
books, a series that grew from a trilogy, about Phaze and Proton.  Um, I
think the first is called "Out of Phaze".  You'll have to double check me
on that one.  But the series deals with a parallel worlds, one that is
wholly scientific, the other wholly magical.  This set of books might help
you in your paper. Good luck on the paper, how about sending copies out? :)

Soph

Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: bosticj@mist.CS.ORST.EDU (Jason Bostick)
Subject: Re: the color of her panties
Organization: Oregon State University, Computer Science Dept.
Distribution: USA
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 02:03:56 GMT

In article <1bahfkINNoug@bigboote.WPI.EDU> natek@wpi.WPI.EDU (D Nathan King) writes:
>Yes, that's what I meant. It is quite close to the bottom. It wasn't very good.
>I would like to see a big improvement in his next book. 
>Right now, I'm waiting for the second book of the MODE series to come out in 
>paperback. I don't want to spend f@#$kin' 25 bucks on the hardcover! I hope 
>that it is as good as the first one.
>
>---KILTEER 

I have read the second book in the MODE series.  I could not resist and checked it out at the library in hardcover.  It is, without a doubt, just as good or better then the first one.

questions??

EMail= Bosticj@storm.cs.orst.edu


Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
From: bosticj@mist.CS.ORST.EDU (Jason Bostick)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.piers-anthony
Subject: Re: poll (oooh, nasty word)
Date: 15 Oct 92 18:33:06 GMT
Organization: Oregon State University, Computer Science Dept.

In article <92289.121617IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU writes:
>I'd like to take a poll.
>  What was the first PA book you ever read?  I have a theory but I
>don't want to spoil it.
>Just for the record, mine was Castle Roogna.
>Email at IO10536@MAINE.MAINE.EDU

Mine was Dragon on a Pedestal.  Then Castle Roogna.
From: jaapjl@tab00.larc.nasa.gov (J Lee Jaap)
Subject: Re: Trilogies...
Reply-To: J Lee Jaap <J.L.Jaap@larc.nasa.gov>
Organization: AS&M Inc
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 17:29:33 GMT

In article <Oct.6.17.11.57.1992.26564@ruhets.rutgers.edu> zweldron@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Matthew Charlap) writes:
   cclark@trentu.ca (J. Chris Clark) writes:
   >but I haven't see anyone mention The Cluster-Viscious Circle-(can't recall
   >the third one).  I never actually read this series, so I'm not sure what the
   >order is, or if it was an "official trilogy".  
   >BING!  "Chaining the Lady" was the third one, I believe.  Anyway, these are 
   >older books, dating to at least the Omnivore/Tarot era.

   Actually, the Cluster series is five books, not three. One of the other
   two books was called "thousandstar" I don't remember the 5th.

Kirlian Quest.  (And that's Viscous Circle. :)
--
J Lee Jaap <J.L.Jaap@LaRC.NASA.Gov> +1 804/864-2148
    employed by, not speaking for, AS&M Inc, at
         NASA LaRC, Hampton VA 23681-0001