An uncensored, uncompromising autobiography from the author of the bestselling Xanth series.

Synopsis ...

One of fantasy's most popular authors, Piers Anthony, is also one of the field's most fascinating and controversial characters. Anthony's first volume of memoirs, Bio of an Ogre (1988), chronicling his first fifty years, raised eyebrows for its frank, outspoken comments on fellow writers, editors, and fans.

Now Piers Anthony continues his own remarkable life story with How Precious Was That While, a volume sure to intrigue and entertain his many fans—and infuriate his critics. The book begins with a review of the author's early years, revealing new and telling details about his upbringing at the hands of two brilliant but often careless parents, including a riveting section about their harrowing experiences as expatriates in Spain just before the Second World War.

Anthony chronicles his lonely and isolated childhood in New England, where his parents moved after the war. He acknowledges social awkwardness, learning problems, and recurring depression that clouded those years, before his gift for storytelling at last became his salvation. He tells of his early loves, his courtship and marriage to his wife, the birth of their daughters, and his struggle to fit into the conformist society of postwar America. And he narrates in vivid detail his slow, steady progress toward personal and commercial success as a writer, from his early achievements as an innovator in science fiction to the creation of the magical land of Xanth, which has become his most celebrated accomplishment, placing him on the New York Times bestseller lists more than twenty times.

Much of the book focuses on the past fifteen years since Bio of an Ogre was published, a time both of personal progress and professional frustration for Anthony, as his works became increasingly ambitious while his sales began to slow. He offers cautionary tales on the pitfalls of the "bottom line" publishing mentality, as well as scathing portraits of several well-known publishing figures whose decisions he feels hampered his career.

But Anthony's solace in the face of these setbacks has always been the devoted readers who send him thousands of letters every year—many of which he personally answers. The soul of the book is a selection of heartrending letters and poems from Anthony's most ardent young fans, many of them as deeply troubled as he once was, who have found in his writings a kindred spirit who understands both their anguish and their dreams.

Candid, opinionated, and endlessly fascinating, How Precious Was That While is an intimate self-portrait of one of the most intriguing writers of our time.

Review Quotes ...

"Part memoir, part apologia, part confession, this volume makes one thing clear: that Piers Anthony has not lived his life to please other people. Yet such absolute honesty is what makes this book worth reading. He insists on seeing the world through his own eyes, and not as someone else has told him to see it. I wish I could read such candid, self-revealing 'bios' of a lot of other figures I admire. But few of them have the guts to do it."

—Orson Scott Card on Bio of an Ogre.

Story Excerpt ...

Introduction

This is a sequel to my autobiography Bio of an Ogre (BiOgre). That volume covered my life to age fifty, and I thought I would write a sequel if I lived another fifty years. But so much has happened in the intervening decade that I decided to do the sequel at age sixty. It has actually overrun by a few years.

Rather than repeat myself, I have chosen different episodes for this volume, and to cover the first fifty years more briefly than before. However, I had to write an autobiographical essay for Gale Research so I am using that as a kind of summary of what BiOgre covered, herein titled "Reprise." So those who haven't read the first volume may read that to get a concentrated notion. Others may skip that and proceed to Chapter 1, which is new material though it relates to my earlier memories. In the main text I pretty well skim over anything I covered before. The focus is on the last ten years. So the prior volume is not moot, but it is not necessary to read it in order to understand this one. Some of the episodes here are those I deemed unsuitable for the prior volume, most simply were squeezed out before, in the interest of brevity. This is a fairly hard-hitting volume in certain respects, and it is not intended for juvenile readers. There are some duplications between "Reprise" and Chapter 1, particularly of key occurrences in Spain; I wrote them for different purposes, and found it hard to eliminate overlapping without disrupting the spirit of the narration. There are also scattered duplications elsewhere in the book, as I come at subjects from different perspectives. So readers who read both are welcome to skim when they encounter something familiar.

Excerpt Continued ...

Author Information ...

PIERS ANTHONY is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. He lives in Inverness, Florida.

Chapters ...

The following chapter list refers to the Hardbound publication of How Precious was That While.

Story Excerpt Continued ...

It should be evident that I have objections to life as we know it, and that if I ran the world, much would change. Some of my notions about the history and future of the world are shown in my serious historical fiction Geodyssey series, which I hope will be the real conclusion of my career. But I don't run the world, or even influence it very much. So this volume is merely a clarification of my experiences and attitudes, and the connections between them, with hope that others will benefit in some fashion, or at least be entertained. I don't feel my thoughts are more worthy of publication than the thoughts of others, just that there may be some interest in them because a vagary of fate has given me a certain amount of notoriety. It's as good a basis as the next.

The title for The Writer magazine, titled, Think of the Reader, which makes the point that the writer must relate to the reader, and care about him/her, sharing feeling. It concludes "We were true friends, for a while. How precious was that while!" I do care about my readers, as will be evident in this volume, and have had many meaningful encounters with them. There will be some samples of what they have written. but in the larger sense, my life is slowly drawing nigh the final harbor, and perspective suggests that my existence is just a blip on the variegated screen of humanity, a brief but intense while. How precious that while is, for every person.