Piers Anthony!

[Avatar]

Hey Ted, nice to see you around.

I didn't even know there was a second Phaze series. And I've only read the first "Bio of a Space Tyrant" book. Don't remember it all that well.

--A

[Farm Ur-Ted]

Ha! Thanks! It's weird having three kids-a decade pretty much disappears. Not sure I recommend it, lol.

The funny thing about the Bio of a Space Tyrant series is that it came out a little before the Gap series, and as I recall they are kind of similar. I was not a huge fan of Bio, so when I first read The Real Story, I was totally turned off. I bought The Real Story and the second book as a pair, and never read the second one until I sucked it up and read the whole series ~15 years later. I felt like the Gap was going to be like Bio, just turned up to 11 with a lot worse rape scenes, and when it first came out, I could not handle it.

PA is mostly a guilty pleasure type of writer. When he puts effort into his books, they give you what you want. It definitely helps being a 12 year old boy, though.

[Avatar]

Haha, one of the (many) reasons I don't have kids. That said, not sure a decade goes much slower without them.

Yeah, he's definitely got some classics, but there are some that are just like "What?"

--A

[Cord Hurn]

I'm currently reading Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony, about a dentist who is kidnapped by aliens, and decides he wants to go far in the galaxy by being an administrator in the galactic dental academy, while his assistant Judy roams the galaxy looking to be reunited with him. I got the idea to seek out the book after reading a post about it by Avatar. It's not as funny as I thought it would be, but is nevertheless enjoyable light reading.

[aTOMiC]

I'm currently reading Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony, about a dentist who is kidnapped by aliens, and decides he wants to go far in the galaxy by being an administrator in the galactic dental academy, while his assistant Judy roams the galaxy looking to be reunited with him. I got the idea to seek out the book after reading a post about it by Avatar. It's not as funny as I thought it would be, but is nevertheless enjoyable light reading.

I have read the book and found it fairly entertaining and original.

[Cord Hurn]

Thank you for your input, aTOMiC. I agree it's an original idea for science fiction from Anthony.

[[Syl]]

I read a lot of Piers Anthony when I was younger. He writes simply but engagingly (IIRC, he didn't learn to read until fairly late in childhood), making the books very appealing to a juvenile mind. As has been said, though, they're a bit problematic with any level of discernment.

Take his Bio of a Space Tyrant series. For the most part, it's interesting if not altogether deep space opera with a political bent. The plot was fun (though looking back, it seems like whole volumes could have been removed without missing anything major) while at the same time including elements like convening a constitutional convention or describing the atmospheric pressure on Jupiter. But then a major plot point revolves around the main character having to break into a pirate princess' (reminded of Bloodhound Gang's "She was hotter than the summer she just wasn't that bright" lyric) house/spaceship and rape her to formally legitimize their relationship.

[Avatar]

I'm currently reading Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony, about a dentist who is kidnapped by aliens, and decides he wants to go far in the galaxy by being an administrator in the galactic dental academy, while his assistant Judy roams the galaxy looking to be reunited with him. I got the idea to seek out the book after reading a post about it by Avatar. It's not as funny as I thought it would be, but is nevertheless enjoyable light reading.

LOL, I was about to be like "Hey, I loved that book" and then I read the rest of your post.

Been a while, but I remembered it being pretty funny, and considering it was published in '71 it didn't hold up too badly last time I read it, which was some time ago.

--A