How Precious Was That While

Front Cover
Macmillan, 2002 M06 17 - 432 pages
Piers Anthony tells his own remarkable life story in this candid autobiography, a volume that is 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.

But most of the book focuses on the past fifteen years since Bio of an Ogre (the first volume of his autobiography) 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.

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

Selected pages

Contents

Reprise
1
Episodes
38
People
65
Marriage
88
Ironies
115
The Early Part of Dying
141
Betrayals
176
Dynamics
198
Computers
237
Professionals
251
Fans
284
Readers
313
HI PIERS
335
Animals
345
Incidentals
362
Conclusions
394

Collaborations
215

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About the author (2002)

Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob was born in August, 1934, in Oxford, England. He graduated from Goddard College in Vermont in 1956. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen while serving in the United States Army in 1958. He served in the U.S. Army from 1957-1959. In 1977, he received a British Fantasy Award for A Spell for a Chameleon. Anthony's family emigrated to the United States from Britain when he was six. Highly popular because of his science fiction and fantasy works, Anthony is also known for the Jason Striker series and martial arts novels co-written with Roberto Fuentes. A highly prolific author, Anthony's other works include Bio of a Space Tyrant, Cluster, and the Omnivore series. Anthony makes his home in Tampa, Florida. He also writes under the pseudonym Robert Piers.

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