The writer Pierce Anthony is known to many science fiction and fantasy buffs. A distinctive feature of his works on space travel was an excellent justification of current events and phenomena. This predominance of “scientific” over “fiction” is extremely pleasing to all thoughtful and serious readers, as it allows you to completely immerse yourself in a fictional, but such a real world.
At the same time, the phenomenal popularity of a series of books in the fantasy genre is due to fresh ideas, interesting storylines and, of course, an abundance of sharp humor.
Writer Pierce Anthony: biography and facts
The birthplace of the writer was England, or rather the city of Oxford. In 1934, Alfred Jacobs and Norma Sherlock became parents of Anthony Dillingham Jacobs Pier. During the first five years of his life, Pierce Anthony had no contact with his mother at all, as his nanny was engaged in his upbringing. However, peaceful life gave way to the chaos of the civil war, which forced the family to move to Spain.
After the move, the parents of the future writer went into charity, but in Spain they did not have rest. Franco, who came to power and his regime, dictated new living conditions under which the status of a “suspicious foreigner” allowed arresting and deporting people from the country. That is what Pierce's father did.
Life in America
Like many destitute and persecuted refugees from Europe, the writer’s family hoped to find peace and happiness across the ocean. Therefore, Pierce Anthony and his family found an opportunity to get out due to imprisonment and in 1940 fled to the United States.
Here, the future writer was accepted to creative courses at Goddard University and successfully graduated from them. While studying, Pierce fell in love with his classmate Carol Ann Mable, and after completing their studies, they got married.
The difficult political situation and the post-war crisis did not allow Pierce to find a decent place for employment, and he decided to enlist in the army. He was there until 1959, during which time he managed to become an American citizen.
Education and first job
After the service life was exhausted, Anthony Pierce settled in Florida St. Pittsburgh, where for a short time he worked as a draftsman. The company that hired him was developing new communication systems.
Wanting to get a decent education, the writer became a student at the University of North Florida, from which he emerged as a certified teacher.
There would be no happiness, but unhappiness ...
For the first time, Pierce Anthony took up the pen to express his emotions in connection with the unexpected death of his close friend - cousin. She was very young and, moreover, younger than Pierce. This seemed to him especially unfair. However, the tragic events not only did not lead to the isolation and bitterness of the young man, but even contributed to the formation and heyday of his literary style.
Having experienced a shock, Pierce began to perceive life as a most valuable gift and tried to make full use of all his opportunities. By the way, a kind of protest against death was his commitment to vegetarianism.
The beginning of writing
The first publication of the writer was the story, which was published on the pages of the magazine and was called "The possibility of remorse." However, popularity comes to him only after four years, as a result of victory in a literary competition. The work that brought Pierce into the world of recognized writers and brought him a prize of five thousand dollars was the novel Sos nicknamed Rope.
The basis for the book was a story written by Pierce as his thesis. Not stopping there, writer Pierce Anthony, his photo is located above, in the same year he published another book in the genre of science fiction.
In subsequent years, a lot of interesting novels emerged from the pen of the writer, characterized by an innovative, atypical plot, freshness and boldness of hypotheses.
Popular Literary Series
The most famous writer brought the cycles of books, united by a common plot, acting characters or a place of development. In total, he wrote about thirteen cycles. Some of them consist of just a couple of novels, others include a rather impressive number of books.
Among them, it is worth noting "Spell for the Chameleon" - the series, which in 1977 began to create the writer Pierce Anthony.
The list of books in this cycle today has at least twenty novels. Among them:
- "The source of magic."
- "Demons do not sleep."
- "Harpy time."
- "Faun Games" and many others.
The scene here is a magical country called Xanth. For its inhabitants, magic and sorcery are not something out of the ordinary, as they are found at every step. Bright, witty dialogues, intricate plot twists, as well as an abundance of unimaginable fantastic elements made Xant a native and beloved for many readers.
We can safely say that this series has become one of the best examples of the genre, which today is called humorous fantasy.
Joint works
Some of the books that appeared with the name Pierce Anthony on the cover also contain the names of his partners. For example, the novel “Through the Ice” was published in 1989. Pierce wrote it based on an unfinished manuscript sent to him by one of the fans. As it turned out, the author of the work, Robert Cornwall, died tragically shortly after he sent the manuscript to the writer.
Since 1970, Pierce has worked with Roberto Fuentes for several years. Forty-year-old Roberto gave him the idea of creating heroes wearing different belts and wielding fantastic martial arts. The result was quite unexpected for both: despite his age, Roberto began writing, and Pierce began to study judo.
In addition, the literary series, created in collaboration with Roberto, has become extremely popular.
Currently, Pierce Anthony enjoys life and continues to successfully write in Florida in the company of his wife.