From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey)
Subject: Re: Piers Anthony
Reply-To: aaron@space.ualberta.ca
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:22:52 GMT

acadams@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Arthur C. Adams) writes:
: In article <1992Sep14.041848.18883@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca> aaron@space.ualberta.ca writes:
: >Has it ever occurred to you that for an author to become rich, he has to sell
: >books?  I have never believe that a book can be sold in such quantities
: >without having some at least slightly redeeming quality.  Presumably a large
: >portion of those who buy the books are satisfied with their purchase--judging
: >by the number that buy the next book.
: 
: Of course I know he has to sell books. What I object to is his "lowest
: common denominator" philosophy. Sales mean nothing, as far as quality.
: Three's Company was a top-rated show on TV for years, but it was nothing
: but a lot of juvenile sexual humor. Quality and sales are not incompatible,
: but Anthony doesn't care. As long as it sells, he writes it, factory-style.

He writes it "factory-style"?  Is that something like saying he writes it
professionally?  Churning out fiction by the carload?  Anything at all like,
say, Asimov or Heinlein?

Ah, but they were >good<, you say.  Well, I can't help but agree.  But I can't
help but disagree when you say that everything Piers Anthony produces is bad.
And I fail to see why quality and sales are incompatible.  The more people who
buy it, the more people who like it, right?  So why not judge quality by
majority vote?  How many votes does Anthony get?  How many does >your< favorite
author get?  Ah, but judging quality is not democratic--the more enlightened
you are, the more votes you get.  (Never mind--I know my view is unpopular
here, just like liking Piers Anthony is unpopular here.)

: Take Stephen Donaldson, as an example of Another bestselling fantasy
: author. The first Thomas Covenant trilogy sold rather well. Rather than
: do the 36th book in the Thomas Covenant trilogy, he did a sequel, but
: in what was essentially a completely recreated world, with really
: only the geography remaining the same. And, even though, the second
: trilogy was on major best-seller lists, he hasn't gone back, even
: though his alter stuff haasn't done as well.

So?  Is >every< new book Piers Anthony comes out with a Xanth book?  No!  He's
come out with the two Mode books, Mercycle(okay, that one looks bad, I admit),
Tatham Mound, Firefly, Through The Ice, and maybe a few more I'm missing.
Have you read any of those others?  Tatham Mound I recall hearing he was
particularly proud of.  (No, I haven't read any of those yet either.  Give me
a break.  I'm behind.)  Anthony writes at many time the speed of Donaldson,
in part because he probably needs to spend so little time on Xanth books.  He's
hit upon a scheme of making money with little effort and can spend the rest of
his time on whatever more serious work he wants to.

: >You, and many others who consider yourselves to have higher taste(I believe
: >that way back when I used "intelligentsia", to much controversy), dismiss it
: >as hackwork.  But it fills a need--a niche.  If there weren't a Piers Anthony,
: >somebody else would be filling that need.
: >
: Though I like to read "intelligent" literature, its not just that. 
: Like I said, Anthony just grinds 'em out, factory style. 
: 
: He doesn't do much good for the industry, either. Xanth sells
: well with younger readers, high school types. For a lot of them,
: I fear, that's what they think fantasy is. I myself started with Tolkien.
: Just think of the difference in viewpoints. Yeah, I admit, when
: I read fantasy, Tolkien is my ideal. Better that than Anthony.

Well, maybe they're right.  I know people who can't stomach Tolkien.  Maybe
you're right, and Tolkien is the be-all and end-all, and Anthony is hackwork.
Maybe they're right, and it's the other way around.  I'm more inclined to say
neither.  (And do we see a lot of Tolkien-fanatic discussion here either?  I
haven't...)

: >But more importantly, you shouldn't consider someone lesser because they can
: >still appreciate books written to fill those needs.  This is like Heinlein's
: >attitudes that anyone who can't understand mathematics is a lesser animal--in
: >a word, bullshit.  If you think that you must be superior because you can
: >appreciate "better" SF work, then that's as wrong-minded as an Anthony reader
: >feeling superior because he can appreciate Anthony's work while you dismiss it.
: >This arrogance is why I originally proposed warning off the latter type from
: >rec.arts.sf.written, which is dominated by the former, people who suppose their
: >taste must be better than others because what they like is judged somehow more
: >worthy.
: 
: I don't view myself as superior, and I apologize if I sounded that
: way. But I do view what I choose to read as superior, and vastly
: so, to Anthony. 
: 
: Oh, and you never really said: do _you_ like Anthony, or just
: dislike his critics?

I do like a lot of Anthony's work.  Thousandstar is in my top ten SF books(of
course, if I listed my top ten, there'd probably be about thirty of them, but
that's beside the point).  I still love the first three Apprentice Adept books.
From the Xanth books, I really like The Source of Magic and Night Mare, and
think that after Vale of The Vole the other books have improved quite a bit.
(The latest is probably another nadir...)  I also like On A Pale Horse, and
most of the Incarnations series.

But I also dislike his critics.  And I hate it when somebody commenting that
they like him gets met with snide, superior comments about how tasteless
someone must be to like such trash, by someone who's sold out.  With Heinlein,
there was always a substantial contingent on both sides of the argument.  With
Anthony, there's just me, because everyone else has become disgusted and gone
to alt.fan.anthony rather than endure our arrogant company.

--
---Alfvaen(Canadian SF Quasi-Activist)
"You better hope and pray that you're gonna awake
 Back in your own world..."  ---Shakespear's Sister
Current Album--Weird Al Yankovic:In 3-D
Current Read--Robert Heinlein:The Past Through Tomorrow
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written