How Precious Was That While

by Piers Anthony

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Memoir

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Though he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.

Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.

Reviews

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Piers Anthony only to mock him. In this, the second volume of autobiographical bitching and moaning (the first, "Bio of an Ogre", was mostly arrogant preening), Anthony more or less describes his slow fade-out from the zeitgeist of fantasy literature. He seems keenly aware that what did him in was spending so much time writing unpalatable crap for kids (Xanth), but it's pretty entertaining when he complains about not being taken seriously when he tries his hand at reality-based historical fantasy or blames his slide from the bestseller lists on the publishers just not printing enough of his books to go around.

I dig a look behind the scenes, and this is a wonderful whine made of sour grapes. That's my homage to Piers Anthony -- an incredibly trite and hackneyed phrase tossed off as wit. What a hoot.

[Tim]

One of the number of people I'd not known was a Friend or raised in a Quaker family - and I found his assertion that "Writer's Block" is more an indication of not really wanting to write all that much . . . probably true

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most interesting for his accounts of good and bad encounters with his peer writers as well as his troubles with publishers, which is interesting to me none the least as a wannabee writer and long-time bookseller...

[James]

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.

[John (Hey Y'all Listen Up) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthony is my favorite writer, so I may be a bit biased. The bad news: The first 100 pages or so is largely a repeat of the material in Bio of an Ogre. In the rest of the book (250 pages or so), he takes a no holds barred look at the publishing industry.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Piers and have been intruigued by the books that I have read of his. This book definitely gave me new insight about him. He tended to ramble at times. There were a few chapters I did not finish because it was not of interest to me. But he had me interested the rest of time. I did enjoy it, but sometimes he repeated himself. He mentioned his first auto-bio enough that now i have to go read that one too.

[Richard Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir should appeal to anyone like me who would jump to the author's note of Piers Anthony's latest before reading the book. What I find fascinating about Anthony is his struggle for integrity in daily life. It appears he makes it unduly hard on himself in considering ethical implications of decisions I might take for granted. Then when considering his perspective am forced to reevaluate my own standard. Right or wrong he stands his ground, and it is typically the high road.