possibility of perverting the ideals of socialism per-
sisted in his later work. Animal Farm,which was
made into a full length film in 1955, has remained
in print ever since.
Anthony, Mark (1966– )
Mark Anthony is one of several fantasy writers
who started their careers producing game-related
fantasy novels for what was then known as TSR
Publishing and is now Wizards of the Coast. His
debut novel was Kindred Spirits(1991), a collabora-
tion with Edith Porath, which unconventionally
used a typical fantasy world adventure setting for a
fairly sophisticated murder mystery. Crypt of the
Shadowking(1993) was closer to the publisher’s
usual formula, a well-told but predictable story of
intrigue and sorcery, but Curse of the Shadowmage
(1995) was notable for the sophistication of its
plot, which involves questions of morality in deal-
ing with an individual who has the potential for
great evil, but who also possesses the possibility of
redemption. Escape from Undermountain (1996)
was considerably less ambitious but a well-told
quest adventure.
Anthony switched publishers in the late 1990s
and launched a six-volume series, the Last Rune,
with Beyond the Pale(1998), a distinctly more origi-
nal work although set squarely in mainstream fan-
tasy. The novel suggests that there is another
world existing parallel but separate from ours, one
where magic works and legendary creatures exist.
The barrier between the two realities has begun to
fray in the vicinity of a town in contemporary
America, some of whose residents are about to dis-
cover their own innate heroism. The proximity of
the two worlds leads to a series of confrontations
and potential disasters in both, and the small cast
of recurring characters find that the job of saving
both realms has been thrust upon them in The
Keep of Fire(1999). Although most of the action
takes place in the magical world of Eldh in that
volume, the focus switches to our reality in The
Dark Remains (2001), when the heroes and a
wounded comrade return seeking medical help
pursued by ruthless enemies.
Anthony widens the scope of events even fur-
ther in Blood of Mystery(2002), transporting some
of the main characters back through time to Col-
orado during the 1880s, still harried by the forces
of evil. The change of setting is initially distracting
and confusing but eventually becomes an integral
part of the ongoing story. The secrets of manipulat-
ing magic are finally mastered in The Gates of Win-
ter(2003), and the battle is carried to the enemy at
last in the concluding volume, The First Stone
(2004). Despite a few rough spots, the series is a
dramatic step forward from Anthony’s early work
and clear evidence that he has the potential to be
a major player in modern fantasy, although perhaps
not one of its most innovative writers.Anthony, Piers(1934– )
Although Piers Anthony, whose real name is Piers
Anthony Dillingham Jacob, is best known for his
fantasy, he started his writing career as a mildly
controversial science fiction writer during the
1960s who mixed sexual themes and other touchy
subject matter in his fiction. Although A Spell for
Chameleon(1979), the first novel in the Xanth se-
ries, diverted his career into a very different chan-
nel, it was not his first fantasy novel. He had
previously written a five-volume martial arts/fan-
tasy sequence with Roberto Fuentes, and his Ara-
bian Nights–style fantasy adventure Hasan had
been published in magazine form in 1969, although
it would not see book form until 10 years later.
It was with the Xanth series that he became a
perennial best-seller, and Xanth has dominated his
output ever since, with the most recent title being
Currant Events(2004). It is the 28th adventure in
that setting, although there are no characters com-
mon to all of the books. Xanth is a fantasy world
whose magical system is subject to defined rules
and populated by a wide variety of intelligent crea-
tures, mostly drawn from myths and legends but
some completely original. Although each novel is
an adventure story, usually involving some form of
quest, the tone is light and often openly humorous,
with a particular penchant for puns and other
word play. The opening volume, A Spell for
Chameleon,remains one of the best in the series.
The protagonist, Bink, is apparently the only per-
son in Xanth who lacks a magical talent, but he
eventually learns that he is, in fact, immune to8 Anthony, Mark