From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Subject: Re: What is this world coming to?
Organization: Rice University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 03:37:05 GMT

In article <ceplwe200iUx41u3F_@andrew.cmu.edu> Jonathan Baird Homer <jh85+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>Greetings,
>
>    This is my first posting to this board, but I have been reading it
>for several weeks now.  In general, I've been terribly dissappointed
>with the quality of postings.  However, I must applaud
>rraf@dciem.dciem.dnd.ca (Rob Feltham) who found the patience to post a
>partial list of Anthony's works.
  Agreed. It was a nice thing to do.

>    Thank you, Rob, but that really shouldn't have been necessary. 
>Anyone who considers themselves an Anthony fan (and I'm going to make a
>bold laep of faith here) should own at least ONE of his books.  Now, if
>this book was published any time in this decade, it should have a fairly
>complete list of Anthony's books on the back of the title page.
  Most of my Piers Anthony books weren't pubilshed this decade. My copies
of _REFUGEE_ and _Juxtaposition_ while listing almost everything he had
published up to that time, are mutually exclusive.

>  So,
>before anyone else decides to post responses, take a look at this page. 
>We would be able to avoid stupid (and unexcusable) mistakes like "I
>think the first book in the series about Phaze and Proton (called
>Apprentice Adept, by the way) was called Out of Phaze"  Wake up!  Split
>Infinity was first.  Out of Phaze was fourth!
  Not everyone memorizes his every word. People can make mistakes, especially
when they don't have ready access to their collections. (I assume that you
keep an Anthony novel on you always.)

>    As cjohnson@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Carl A. Johnson) mentioned earlier,
>all of you should go out and get yourselves a copy of Bio of an Ogre. 
>Read it until you understand it and then look at the last few pages to
>find Piers' bibliography.
  Why? I'm a fan of Anthony like I am of Star Trek. Some of his stuff's
been quite good. Some hasn't. Doesn't mean that I want to read his biography.

>    I'm sorry if any of you have taken offense at my ravings.  I don't
>mean to be quite so harsh, but I am serious about looking at an Anthony
>book before posting if you are not sure of your answers.
  Many people post from work. They can't just get up and check their
bookshelves.

>  This way we
>would waste far less time on trivial issues, and would be able to spend
>more time intelligently discussing Anthony's wonderful novels.
  At three posts a day, it's no big deal. 

>    I must say that the Mode Series is a futile attempt to re-create the
>Apprentice Adept flavor.  Mode isn't bad by any means, it just doesn't
>have the power of Apprentice Adept.  The concept of 'The Game' was
>brilliant.  That was my favorite part.
  It was by far the most interesting part of the series. I liked the
Oracle, too. 

>  I also want to say that Piers
>should have left it at three books.  Out of Phaze - Phaze Doubt detract
>from the first three.
  I gave up after book four. It just didn't click to me.

>  I guess it is understandable though.  If I was
>Piers, I probably wouldn't turn down who knows how many thousands of
>dollars for four more books that could share in the glory of an already
>successful series.

  I wish he wouldn't though. That's one of the things that turned me off
Xanth. After the first few books, he started churning them out because
people wanted a new one, not because he had a story to tell. I think that
ANYTHING he did now would be popular now. I just wish that he'd do some
more serious stuff.

-- 
Mike Swaim            | Canada will become the next world power
swaim@owlnet.rice.edu | and they will work to ENSLAVE all the nations
Disclamer: I lie      | of your planet. -Ricardo
Cthulhu in '92! The stars are right!