Xanth is a fantasy world created by author Piers Anthony for a series of novels. A fantasy world is a type of fictional universe in which magic or other similar powers work. ... Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born August 6, 1934 in Oxford, England) is a writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. ...

The series is noted for its punny and somewhat humorous style. The author's habit of using (and crediting) reader notions is another factor in the popularity of the series, as it includes readers in the creation process. Anthony has gone so far as to create a popular character based on a young reader. It has been suggested that dajare be merged into this article or section. ...

History

The name Xanth is in itself a pun, which matches the playful tone of the books. Xanth is both derived from the prefix xantho- for yellow, as well as the sound made by combining the last part of the author's first name and the first part of the author's last name ("Pier-XANTH-Ony"). Anthony has said that the coincidence of the word Xanth rhyming with a portion of his name was unintentional, and in fact he realized only years after the series was first created. Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Ebnez was the sixteenth king of Xanth and father of the Muses. ... The Gourd is the headquarters of the Night Stallion where nightmares are made. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ... Spoiler warning: // Aeolus The eighteenth king of Xanth The Magician of Storms, King of Xanth prior to King Trent. ...

Anthony commonly states that he originally intended for Xanth to be a trilogy, and after the wild success of the first three books decided to expand the series to nine books. An extremely devoted fan base persuaded the author to continue writing the series, which is now open-ended. He has since declared, in the Author's Notes of Cube Route, that this 27th book ended the first "trilogy" and that he was beginning a new one with the 28th, punning on the fact that 27 is the third power of three, i.e. three cubed. A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that develop a single theme over three works. ...

The world of Xanth

Main article: List of Xanth characters

Each human character in Xanth is born with a unique magical ability, called a talent. These abilities never repeat in individuals throughout the entire history of Xanth. Though many abilities are limited in scope, the series focuses on individuals with "Magician" caliber abilities (one of the criteria for serving as King of Xanth). The following is a list of characters in the Xanth series of novels by Piers Anthony. ... Sorcery redirects here. ...

In addition to the human characters, Xanth is populated by centaurs, demons, dragons, gargoyles, goblins, golems, harpies, merfolk, naga, nymphs, ogres, zombies and all other manner of fictional beasts. Though they were initially introduced as obstacles to the human characters, they have become main characters in the later books of the series. Guido Reni, Abduction of Deianira, 1620-21 In Greek mythology, the centaurs (Greek: Κένταυροι) are a race part human and part horse, with a horses body, including all four legs, and a human head and torso with arms. ... St. ... Chinese dragon, colour engraving on wood, Chinese school, 19th Century A dragon is a legendary creature, typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile, with magical or spiritual qualities. ... A gargoyle adorning Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland. ... A goblin is an evil or merely mischievous creature of folklore, often described as a grotesquely disfigured or elf-like phantom. ... In Jewish folklore, a golem (גולם, sometimes [as in Yiddish] pronounced goilem) is an animated being which is crafted from inanimate material. ... A medieval depiction of a Harpy. ... Mermen are mythical male legendary creatures who are human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, whose consorts were their female counterparts, the more commonly known mermaids. ... The word Naga can refer to several different things. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... A Japanese aka-oni, or red ogre, vanquishes demons at an onsen in Beppu According to the folklore and mythology of the peoples of Northern Europe, the ogres (related to the Latin Orcus, though it purportedly comes from Hungar or Uigur, meaning Hungarian or perhaps Hun) are a race of... A zombie is traditionally an undead person in the Caribbean spiritual belief system of voodoo. ...

Main article: Geography of Xanth

Geographically, modern Xanth resembles the state of Florida. One major exception to this is the Gap Chasm, an enormous canyon a mile wide which completely bisects the country, though the position of the Chasm could technically correspond with the Cross Florida Barge Canal, which similar to the chasm is generally forgotten except for those who stumble on it. The Gap is guarded by a resident dragon and is crossed by means of treacherous bridges. Many of Xanth's other geographical features are puns on those of Florida (for example, Lake Ogre-chobee and the Kiss-Mee River). The Florida Keys also exist, though they are, in Xanth, actual keys. Other punnish features include the Isle of View ("I love you") and the Centaur Aisle created by a magician from the Centaur Isle. The moon is close enough that flying creatures may land there; one side is sweet and honeyish, the other has curdled and become cheese, because it saw what was happening on earth and Xanth. Plants may bear fruit of all descriptions (pie trees and shoe trees are common) or they may be carnivorous (such as the tangle trees). Travel in Xanth is risky. Xanth bears a strong resemblance to the mundane state of Florida and shares many corresponding features. ... One of the two completed sections of the Barge Canal, looking west from the SR 19 bridge south of Palatka. ...

Xanth has a connection with the normal world, which is referred to as "Mundania". Xanth was colonized in several waves by groups of invaders and nomads. The series ties these colonization events to actual historical events on Earth, most notably the Punic wars. Earth (often referred to as The Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. ... The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and the Phoenician city of Carthage. ...

The Adult Conspiracy

The Adult Conspiracy is one of the prominent features of the Xanth world. Nearly every book contains references to the Conspiracy and its effects, particularly those novels whose main characters are children.

At its core, the Adult Conspiracy seeks to protect children from knowledge that could bring them to great harm. The precise age for entering into the world of the adults is undefined, but most characters that go from outside to inside of it do so at the time of marriage. The primary principle that inducts children into the Conspiracy is the understanding of the secret of "summoning the stork." In Xanthian terms, "summoning the stork" literally means to put out a call to summon a stork which will deliver to the couple a child. In Isle of View, it is revealed that summoning the stork will release an "ellipsis" (...) into the air to fly off to the stork. This is a ploy on the joke that all the "adult" things happen after a paragraph ends in an ellipsis. Most inductees actually discover the specifics of the act "by accident" after marriage, or under the influence of a love spring (a magical spring which causes two drinkers, not necessarily human, or even of the same species, to fall madly, and lustfully, in love with one another at first sight). Isle of View is the thirteenth book of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. ...

Other faculties of the Adult Conspiracy include:

• Censorship of foul language - All foul words contain the ability to cause negative effects (the wilting of plants, removal of curse burrs, etc.). These are automatically bleeped when said in the presence of someone who has yet to be inducted.
• Visual access to underwear - Because underwear is so closely tied to sexuality (even more so than nudity in Xanth), men become automatically "freaked out" when they view panties. This is made a common joke, most prominently in the novel The Color of Her Panties, and is often used by women to gain advantage over men. Panties only carry their effects when worn, but because of their nature, they are forbidden to be shown to children.
• Inability to have childish fun - Children believe that once they join the Adult Conspiracy, they will no longer have pillow fights, eat sweets and drink tsoda popka (soda pop), or want to have fun. While this belief is exaggerated, the entry to the Conspiracy does cause the couple to receive a child, inadvertently creating the appearance of losing all childhood spirit under the responsibility of parenthood.

It is important to note that there have been occasions when children gained access to the Adult Conspiracy prematurely. One case is that of Jenny Elf, Che Centaur, and Gwenny Goblin, three children who had to be given access to the Adult Conspiracy when Gwenny received a pair of contact lenses that corrected her poor eyesight while giving her the ability to see others' dreams (some of which could contain Conspiracy material). In one rare instance, a little boy was born with the magic talent of access to the Adult Conspiracy, causing his family much duress. This was remedied with a vial of "lethe" water which erased his memory. The fifteenth Xanth novel by Piers Anthony. ...

Criticisms

Xanth is often criticized for its abundant use of puns. Some readers also feel that the original novel was a good fantasy book on its own, but that the series has further degraded as it became more punny. Some have also criticized the series for a repetitive and formulaic nature after the initial nine books. Many critics believe the series has misogynistic overtones. Misogyny is an exaggerated pathological aversion towards women. ...

Also related

• Encyclopedia of Xanth (1987, by Jody Lynn Nye) a Crossroads Adventure role-playing game book
• Piers Anthony's Visual Guide to Xanth (1989, with Jody Lynn Nye)
• Letters To Jenny (1993, nonfiction)
• Companions of Xanth (a computer game described in and following the plot of Demons Don't Dream)

Jody Lynne Nye at work. ... Jody Lynne Nye at work. ... Companions of Xanth is an adventure game published in 1993 by Legend Entertainment. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ...

Reference

• Piers Anthony's Bibliography List

Gohst of a Chance (1988) by Jody Lyn Nye (A Crossroads Adventure in the World of Piers Anthony's Xanth)

External links

• Xanth series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Xanth on Hipiers.com
• Extensive 2005 Interview with Piers Anthony on the creation of Xanth
• I was a captive of Xanth a review of the long-lived series from Salon (December 7, 2000)
• Xanthians Online the largest Xanth fan-based community and website