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Xanth
Xanth
First appearance	A Spell for Chameleon (1977)
Last appearance	Apoca Lips
Created by	Piers Anthony
Genre	Fantasy
In-universe information
Type	Fantasy world
Ruler	King of Xanth
Race(s)	Elves, centaurs, demons, dragons, fauns, gargoyles, goblins, golems, harpies, merfolk, naga, nymphs, ogres, zombies
Characters	Bink, Chameleon, Trent, Iris, Dor, Irene, Ivy, Grundy Golem, Smash Ogre, Tandy Nymph, Demoness Metria

Xanth (/ˈzænθ/ ZANTH) is a series of novels by author Piers Anthony, also known as The Magic of Xanth. The novels are set in the fantasy world of Xanth, in which magic exists and every human has a magical "talent."^[1] The books have been noted for their extensive use of wordplay and puns.^[2]

Anthony has stated that he has kept the series going as long as he has (currently 47 books) because the Xanth novels are "just about all that publishers want" from him.^[3]

Since the peak of its popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, the series has been criticized by many scholars and reviewers for what they characterize as misogynist and pedophilic undertones; one reviewer has called it the "most divisive non-media publishing enterprise in all of fantasy."^[4]^[5]^[6] Anthony has downplayed these critiques.

The series was optioned in 2017 for a film and TV series.^[1]

Books

As of 2023, there are 47 published novels.

Number	Title	Pub. year	Main characters
1	A Spell for Chameleon	1977	Bink
2	The Source of Magic	1979	Bink
3	Castle Roogna	1979	Dor
4	Centaur Aisle	1982	Dor
5	Ogre, Ogre	1982	Smash Ogre
6	Night Mare	1983	Mare Imbrium
7	Dragon on a Pedestal	1984	Ivy
8	Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn	1984	Jordan the Barbarian
9	Golem in the Gears	1986	Grundy Golem
10	Vale of the Vole	1987	Eskil
11	Heaven Cent	1988	Dolph
12	Man from Mundania	1989	Grey, Ivy
13	Isle of View	1990	Chex Centaur, Jenny Elf, Dolph, Electra
14	Question Quest	1991	Humfrey
15	The Color of Her Panties	1992	Gwendolyn Goblin
16	Demons Don't Dream	1993	Dug
17	Harpy Thyme	1993	Gloha Goblin-Harpy
18	Geis of the Gargoyle	1994	Gary Gargoyle
19	Roc and a Hard Place	1995	Demoness Metria
20	Yon Ill Wind	1996	Demon X(A/N)^th/Nimby
21	Faun & Games	1997	Forrest Faun
22	Zombie Lover	1998	Breanna
23	Xone of Contention	1999	Dug
24	The Dastard	2000	Becka Dragongirl
25	Swell Foop	2001	Cynthia Centaur
26	Up in a Heaval	2002	Umlaut Golem
27	Cube Route	2003	Cue (Cube)
28	Currant Events	2004	Clio
29	Pet Peeve	2005	Goody Goblin
30	Stork Naked	2006	Surprise
31	Air Apparent	2007	Debra
32	Two to the Fifth	2008	Cyrus Cyborg
33	Jumper Cable	2009	Jumper Spider
34	Knot Gneiss	2010	Wenda Woodwife
35	Well-Tempered Clavicle	2011	Picka Bone
36	Luck of the Draw	2012	Bryce
37	Esrever Doom	2013	Kody
38	Board Stiff	2013	Irrelevant Kandy
39	Five Portraits	2014	Astrid Basilisk
40	Isis Orb	2016	Hapless
41	Ghost Writer in the Sky	2017	Tartan
42	Fire Sail	2019	Lydell and Grania
43	Jest Right	2020	Jess and Magnus
44	Skeleton Key	2021	Squid
45	A Tryst of Fate	2021	Squid
46	Six Crystal Princesses	2022	Vinia
47	Apoca Lips	2023	Prince Nolan Naga
48	Three Novel Nymphs	forthcoming^[7]

Land of Xanth

Inhabitants and talents

Each human character in Xanth is born with a unique magical ability, called a talent.^[8] With the exception of the curse fiends, the winged centaurs, and the child Surprise Golem (Daughter of Rapunzel and Grundy Golem), these abilities never repeat exactly in individuals throughout the entire history of Xanth (although nearly identical talents show up on occasion). Though many talents are limited in scope (called the "spot-on-a-wall" variety), the series focuses mainly on individuals with "Magician" caliber abilities (one of the criteria for serving as King of Xanth).

In addition to the human characters, Xanth is populated by elves, centaurs, demons, dragons, fauns, gargoyles, goblins, golems, harpies, merfolk, naga, nymphs, ogres, zombies, curse fiends, and other fictional beasts. Though initially introduced as obstacles to the human characters, some individuals from those groups become main characters in later books of the series.

As the series progresses, some of the half-human species are discovered to have the potential to possess magical talents. The centaurs of the primary centaur community, Centaur Isle, exile any centaurs who demonstrate a magical talent (although some centaur communities are more lenient about possession of talent); however, they tolerate talents in "lesser" races such as humans. Goblins and harpies are shown to have the potential to possess half-talents, the complementary half existing in a member of the other species, (i.e., a goblin must team with a harpy for them to utilize their talent); the hostility between goblins and harpies proved a major obstacle to any serious effort by them to work together to develop these potential talents. Other non-human species are also known to possess talents, for example: Sesame Serpent and Claire Voyant. Visitors from other dimensions with talents retain their talents after arriving in Xanth.

Geography

Geographically, modern Xanth^[9] resembles the state of Florida in the United States in shape, but has landmarks that mimic well-known geographical features from around the world. One major example of this is the Gap Chasm, an enormous canyon a mile wide which completely bisects the country, paralleling the DMZ of the Korean Peninsula. The position of the Chasm could also correspond with the Cross Florida Barge Canal, which, similar to the chasm, is generally forgotten except for those who stumble upon it. The Gap is guarded by a resident dragon, known as Stanley Steamer, 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 punning feature names include the Isle of View ("I love you"), Mount Ever-Rest (Mount Everest) and the Centaur Isle (center aisle) created by a magician from the Centaur Isle. The moon is close enough that flying creatures may land there; the back side is sweet and honeyish, the visible side has turned sour and become curdled cheese, due to observing what has happened 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), making travel in Xanth risky.

Xanth has a connection with the normal world, which is referred to as "Mundania";^[10] its people are called "Mundanes". Although any citizen of Xanth can enter Mundania at any time through an isthmus in the northwest, Mundanes enter the isthmus in Xanth from random geographic locations and time periods throughout history. In other words, Xanth does not have a fixed location or time in the mundane world; and the timeline between Xanth and Mundania seems to jump backwards and forwards. For example, within the lifetime of a normal citizen of Xanth, an American Mundane from 2025 and an Egyptian Mundane from 3000 BC could both walk across the isthmus. However, Mundanes seem to have trouble finding Xanth on a consistent basis, making any travel to Xanth a somewhat rare occurrence. Despite these seeming difficulties, Xanth was colonized in several waves by groups of invaders and nomads from Mundania over the course of several centuries. The series ties these colonization events to actual historical events on Earth, most notably the Punic wars.

Adult Conspiracy

First mentioned in Crewel Lye, the Adult Conspiracy is one of the prominent features of the Xanth world. In an interview with Moira Allen, Piers Anthony referred to the "Adult conspiracy to keep interesting things from children" as a literary device "parodying current societal conventions".^[11] Nearly all subsequent books contain references to the Conspiracy and its effects, particularly those novels in which the 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 adults is age 18, corresponding to the age of majority in most places. 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 play 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).

Other faculties of the Adult Conspiracy^[12] include:

Censorship of foul language – All foul words contain the ability to cause various effects (the wilting of plants (negative), removal of curse burrs (positive), 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 lose their bed monster, inadvertently creating the appearance of losing all childhood spirit under the responsibility of Adulthood.

It is important to note that there have been occasions when children gained access to the Adult Conspiracy prematurely. Jenny Elf, Che Centaur, and Gwenny Goblin 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 girl was born with the magic talent of immunity to the magical censorship of Adult Conspiracy, causing her family much distress. This was remedied with magician Sherlock's talent of reversal and a vial of lethe water which erased her memory.

Related works

Encyclopedia of Xanth (1987, by Jody Lynn Nye) a Crossroads Adventure role-playing game book
Ghost of a Chance (1988, by Jody Lynn Nye) a Crossroads Adventure role-playing game book
Piers Anthony's Visual Guide to Xanth (1989, with Jody Lynn Nye)
"Xanth" Board Game (1991, created by Mayfair Games, a board game for 1-6 players set in the Xanth Universe)
Companions of Xanth (a 1993 video game described in and following the plot of Demons Don't Dream)
Letters to Jenny (1993, nonfiction)

References

^ ^a ^b the Rocket, Stubby (12 April 2017). "Piers Anthony's Xanth Novels to Become Feature Film and TV Series". Tor. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
^ de la Cruz, Melissa; Johnston, Michael. "'Spell'-Bound By A Goofy Book — And Later, United By It". npr.com. NPR. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
^ Novelli, Michael A. (17 November 2008). "An Interview with Piers Anthony". The Agony Booth. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016.
^ Wilson Wise, Dennis (18 October 2021). "Just Reading A Spell for Chameleon: An Appreciation with Caveats, and an Elegy". Mythlore. 40 (1). Retrieved 16 September 2022.
^ Heller, Jason (18 October 2013). "Revisiting the sad, misogynistic fantasy of Xanth". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
^ Chaplinsky, Joshua. "Themes of Pedophilia in the Works of Piers Anthony". Retrieved 16 September 2022.
^ Anthony, Piers. "Bibliography". hipiers.com. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
^ "Piers Anthony". www.hipiers.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
^ "The Map of Xanth". members.tripod.com. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
^ "Xanthmaker - Piers Anthony Interview - Jitterbug Fantasia". moongadget.com. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
^ "Master of Punmanship: An Interview with Piers Anthony". Writing-World.com. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
^ "Piers Anthony: The Magic of Xanth - LitRPG Reads". 13 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2018.

Sources

Piers Anthony's Bibliography List Archived 2019-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
Ghost of a Chance (ISBN 0-8125-6450-2) (1988) by Jody Lyn Nye (A Crossroads Adventure in the World of Piers Anthony's Xanth)
Bio of an Ogre (ISBN 0-441-06225-3) (1988) by Piers Anthony (Xanth: Part Five: Number 4 p. 213)