Neq the Sword
-is th?e third book of a trilogy
by Piers Anthony

An age of darkness was descending upon the Empire.  Soon there would be no food, no weapons and no honour - the laws of the nomads were forgotten in the struggle to survive.

Neq was the greatest of warriors.  No man faced his sword without feeling the sting.  Yet even he could not save the Empire alone, he needed the help of those who had begun its destructions... the great leaders who had thought only of war.  And so Neq travelled many dangerous miles to find them, knowing that upon his journey rested the future of the world...

"BEWARE THE
HORSEMAN!"

The Nextwave of barbarian warriors was invading Xanth from the north, ravaging and destroying as they advanced.  But Mare Imbrium had her own problems.  Ever since she had gained the half soul, the night mare had begun to mishandle her job of delivering bad dreams.  Now the Night Stallion dismissed her, exiling her to the day world with a message for King Trent: "Beware the Horseman!"

She had no idea what that meant.  But that was the way with prophetic warnings - nobody could understand them until it was too late.

Then she met the Horseman.  And she discovered that one who would ride a night mare was a master of bit and spur, and not a man to surrender her:

For the night mare, it began to be all a horrible nightmare!

FIRST TIME IN PRINT

Don't Miss the Earlier Xanth Adventures
A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON
THE SOURCE OF MAGIC
CASTLE ROOGNA
CENTAUR AISLE
OGRE, OGRE
- All Available from Del Rey Books -

WHEN OGRE HOOD
WAS IN FLOWER

Smash knew all about ogres.  After all, despite his having a human mother, Smash was an ogre himself.  Ogres were not only huge and horribly ugly, as Smash was; they were also so stupid they could hardly speak, and they spent most of the time fighting, destroying, and eating young girls.

So what was he doing here with seven assorted females looking for him to guide them and save them?  Even in Xanth, where magic made anything possible, why should Tandy the Nymph trust him and seem fond of him?  And how could all then high-flown conversation be coming out of his mouth?

But that, it seemed, was what he got for going to Good Magician Humphrey for an Answer - before he even knew what the Question was!

FIRST PUBLICATION ANYWHERE

Don't Miss the Earlier Xanth Adventures
A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON
THE SOURCE OF MAGIC
CASTLE ROOGNA
CENTAUR AISLE
- All Available from Del Rey Books -

HERBIVORE
CARNIVORE
OMNIVORE

These are the species which lived on the mysterious planet Nacre.  Three scientists came to Nacre to discover, to explore, to record.  Utterly defenseless, they trekked through a grotesque jungle of multiform mushrooms and dense spore-clouds, hoping to unlock the secret of this strange world.  The stunning climax of their mission was just the beginning of a complex drama in which their survival and return to earth - could spell the extinction of humanity!

"STUNNING, COMPELLIN6,AND MEMORABLE... the intelligent mantas of Nacre are surely among the most fascinating aliens in SF."
Science Fiction Review

THE FIRST VOLUME
IN THE EXTRAORDINARY TRILOGY INCLUDING
ORN AND OX

THE MAN WHO MURDERED DEATH

Shooting Death was a mistake, as Zane soon discovered.  For the man who killed the Incarnation of Death was immediately forced to assume the vacant position!  Thereafter, he must speed over the world, riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others.

Zane was forced to accept this unwelcome task, despite the rules that seemed woefully unfair.  But then he found himself being drawn into an evil plot of Satan.  Already the Prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved.

He could only see one possible way to defeat the Father of Lies.  It was unthinkable - but he had no other solution!

IN THIS FIRST NOVEL OF THE INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY, PIERS ANTHONY COMBINES A GRIPPING STORY OF ROMANCE AND CONFLICTING LOYALTIES WITH A DEEPLY MOVING EXAMINATION OF THE MEANING OF LIFE AND DEATH.  THIS IS A NOVEL THAT WILL LONG LINGER IN THE READERS MIND.

FIRST PAPERBACK PUBLICATION

"A Roundear there Shall surely be.
Born to be Strong. Raised to be Free..."

The Prophecy of Mouvar is running its course in the many frames of reality inhabited by Kelvin Knight Hackleberry and his family.  The two kingdoms joined to form Kelvinia have now been united with three others to make a great confederation under the rule of the young twin kings, Kildom and Kildee.  And Kelvin has earned some time to rest with his family: Heln and their children Charles and Merlain... and the other one.

But Kelvin's enemies are not all dead.  One at least lives to seek vengeance for the deaths of Zoanna and Rufurt.  The evil witch Zady, who raised Zoanna and taught her every evil, has sworn not to rest until Kelvin has suffered as she suffered: Zady has sworn that Kelvin will pay with the lives of his children.

Charles and Merlain, and their dragon brother Horace, are now very precocious six-year-olds you idolize their father.  How difficult will it be, Zady wonders, to lure them into a quest of their own, a quest that will draw the Confederation into a war it cannot win, and bring death and ruin down on all Kelvin holds dear?

CAL
VEG
AQUILON
ORN

Three humans and an extraordinary alien creature in a quest across the face of a counter-earth in turmoil:

Cal is a wise and courageous old man whose courage overcomes his wisdom in a deadly encounter with a towering and majestic monster.

Veg is a strong and sensitive man whose total loyalty to the exploration team is fearfully tested in the wilds of the killer planet.

Aquilon is a beautiful young woman, an artist and adventurer, who forms a strange and haunting friendship with a creature who cannot speak.

Orn is a great, powerful, lethal bird - a bird with a subtle and fascinating alien intelligence and a surprising and unique reason for living.

SECOND VOLUME IN THE TRILOGY INCLUDING
OMNIVORE AND OX

"A complex tale of transported identities, cyborgs and robots, werewolves and golems...!"  - Publishers Weekly

PIERS ANTHONY
OUT OF PHAZE

Welcome to the astonishing parallel worlds of Phaze and Proton.  Where magic and science maintain an uneasy truce.  Where an accidental mind-switch plunges an apprentice wizard from Phaze into the mind-boggling technology of Proton.  And where a robot named Mach is, in turn, swept away to a world of bizarre and terrifying wonders: the dazzling world of Phaze...

"The versatile and prolific author of fantasy and science fiction returns to one of his most popular series with a tale of adventure and intrigue!"
- Library Journal

PRISONERS OF A TIME-SPACE VORTEX

Cal, Veg, and Aquilon - two men and one woman - roamed the alternate dimensions of time and space.  With them were the mantas, strange flying aliens - half-animal, half fungus - who could boast the keenest senses of any creature in the universe.  And with them too was the mysterious, impassive superwoman, Tamme.

They were imprisoned on a hostile world dominated by savage robots.  It was crucial to their very survival that eash find a way back to their familiar dimension of Earth.

Suddenly they encounter OX - an amorphous, telepathic being of brilliant luminosity - who held the key to every alternate continuum in the universe, including their only chance to escape!

SELECTED BY THE SCIENCE FICTION BOOK CLUB

OX

IS THE CONCLUDING VOLUME OF
THE EXTRAORDINARY TRILOGY INCLUDING

ORN AND OMNIVORE

One of Anthony's most popular series!" - Library Journal

PIERS ANTHONY
PHAZE DOUBT

At last!  Piers Anthony presents the final, enthralling chapter of his acclaimed Apprentice Adept series.  The dual worlds of magic and science - Phaze and Proton - are threatened by a terrifying species of beings, more powerful and destructive than any force on the planet.  Only two special children, Nepe and Flach, will date to fight back - by befriending one of the enemy...

"Anthony [is] always entertaining in everything he writes!" - Rave Reviews

COMBAT IN THE CAVERNS
Arlo is the son of Aton, conqueror and victim of a dreaded Minionette.  Arlo has known no world but the cavern-world.  When war comes to the caverns he is a confused spectator.  Men, women, and other creatures bearing exotic weapons invade.  The women fascipate Arlo - they seem disturbingly familiar to him.  Well they might.

For these beautiful, identical, fiery-haired and smoky-eyed savage warriors are minionettes - figures of terror and dread on all civilized worlds.  And they are his kin.

Arlo's fate is to battle them and the superintelligence of Chthon at once, to work out a destiny shaped by a god more ancient than mankind - the destiny of the galaxy as well as his own.

POLITICAL PRISONER

He awoke in a tiny lightless cell, groping for memory... memory that had been erased. Hope Hubris, Jupiter governor, progressive populist, warrior hero, and presidential candidate... a "mem-washed" tool of the enemy. And if his captors' plan worked, Hope would destroy his own political career, leaving the fate of his planet in the hands of its corrupt presidential incumbent - Tocsin.

But Hope Hubris had a destiny to fulfill. He had the cunning to discover code words that could reactivate his mind... the strength to resist addiction to their drugs... the power to win the support of his countrymen, and finally the courage to make an agonizing sacrifice that would ensure his planet's future and his own destiny...

TYRANT OF JUPITER

YOUTH IS
WASTED ON
THE YOUNG

Being grown up is a drag... or so thinks Lacuna, one of the mischevious Castle Zombie twins.  So she makes the Good Magician Grey an offer he can't refuse.  Thirsty for a taste of the Elixir of Youth, she'll help him outwit the evil Com-Pewter if he'll send her to Hell (in a handbasket, no less) to find Humphrey, the missing sorcerer.  And while there, she'll learn the True History of Xanth (simplified) and help rescue a blushing Rose from the demon X(A/N)^th... with the help of a gorgon or two.

QUESTION QUEST

THE THRILLING NEW
XANTH ADVENTURE!

John Smith is just a typical teenager growing up in a typical American town in 1960... Or is he?

He has a dog - that can climb trees and understand very complex commands.

He has parents - who watch him constantly, taking notes when they think he's not looking.

He has a girlfriend - a girl he's never met, whom he has been told he must marry.

John knows something is wrong, but until he crosses the boundary fence late one night, he doesn't realize just how much.  For wherever, whenever he lives, it is definitely not America, circa 1960!

RACE AGAINST
TIME

CALIGULA OF THE STARS

Though he was later accused of every crime and sexual perversion in the galaxy, Hope Hubris began as an innocent. Because he defended his older sister against the violent lusts of a wealthy scion, Hope and his peasant family were forced to flee Callisto, one of the moons of Jupiter. Pursued by the bloodthirsty scions across the airless desert, they barely escaped with their lives. The illegal space bubble was overcrowded with refugees, all hoping to reach Jupiter for asylum.

But the space travelers had not reckoned on the terrible threat of high space-the pirates, barbaric men who rape, rob, and murder, with no thought but to satisfy their bestial appetites. It will take all Hope's ingenuity to survive, but the atrocities he witnesses will never die. There is only one way he can be rid of them...

REVENGE!

Mr. Anthony has served up another superlative dish of gaming expertise, delightful humor and imaginative plotting!" - Rave Reviews

PIERS ANTHONY
ROBOT ADEPT

Proton and Phaze, parallel worlds of science and magic, are ripe with the seeds of revolution.  Mach, a brave and sensitive robot from Proton, and his alternative self, magical Bane from Phaze, hold the power to link the two warring systems - or destroy them entirely.  Both are prepared to save their worlds.  But neither Mach nor Bane had anticipated the dangers of forbidden love... with members of the opposite realm!

One of Anthony's most popular series!"  - Library Journal

Seeking a solution to a perplexing personal problem, the delectable Demoness Metria asks for help from the wise Magician Humphrey.  But before he will help her, she must perform a perilous mission: Rove the length and breadth of Xanth in search of a suitable jury from the trial of Roxanne Roc - a notably noble and virtuous bird charged with a most improbable offense.

Exciting, exhilarating, and brimming with hilarious high jinks, Roc and a Hard Place is Xanth at its most enchanting.

Raves for Piers Anthony's Xanth adventures:

"Fans of the author's trademark humor will relish this latest jaunt through the wacky world of Xanth; new readers too will enjoy the fun."  - Publishers Weekly

"Another of Piers Anthony's frothy and delightfully fivolous fantasy novels about the land of Xanth, where puns and playfulness reign supreme."  - The Toronto Star

A Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. Book

A Roundear there Shall Surely be born to be strong, raised to be free Fighting Dragons in his Youth Leading Armies, Nothing Loth Ridding his Country of a Sore Joining Two, then Uniting Four Until from Seven there be One Only then will his Task be Done....

SERPENT'S SILVER

"Anthony anf Margroff miz fantasy and science much as Mark Twain did in A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING AUTHUR'S COURT.  Action, character development, and romance blend nicely in this captivating tale that will appeal to fantasy fans."  - Kliatt

"This pleasant fantasy possesses the added irony and realism one expects from Anthony."  - Publishers Weekly

"A solid plot moves briskly along, in Anthony's fluent, not to say facile, style - and spiced by some genuinely frightening moments.  A persuasive performance that should swell the ranks of Anthony's already huge audience."  - Kirkus

THE MAGIC OF XANTH

As the ruler of a country steeped in enchantment, King Trent was naturally curious about the source of its magic.  It made sense to order Bink, the only one of his subjects immune to supernatural harm, to undertake a quest to discover the wellspring of Xanth's uniqueness.

From the beginning, Bink and his companions, Chester the centaur and Crombie, the soldier transformed into a griffin, were harried by an unseen enemy determined to thwart them.  Even the power of the Good Magician Humphrey, together with Bink's protective talent, scarcely saved their lives.

Then when Humphrey and Crombie turned against him, all seemed lost.  But Bink's ingenuity and luck prevailed, and he reached his goal.  The King's orders had been carried out...

But the King had not expected Bink's next act - to destroy utterly tha magic of Xanth!

FOR LACK OF A SPELL...
XANTH!

That was the enchanted land where magic ruled - where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast.  It was a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks.  For Bink of North Village, however, Xanth was no fairy tale.  He alone had no magic.  And unless ge got some - and got some fast! - he would be exiled.  Forever!

But the Good Magician Humphrey was convinced that Bink did indeed have magic.  In fact, both Beauregard the genie and the magic wall chart insisted that Bink had magic.  Magic as powerful as any possessed by the King or by the Good Magician Humphrey - or even by the Evil Magician Trent.

Be that as it may, no one could fathom the nature of Bink's very special magic.

Bink was in despair.  This was even worse than having no magic at all... and he would still be exiled!

FIRST TIME IN PRINT

A TALE FILLED WITH WONDROUS MAGICAL INVENTIVENESS AND HIGH ADVENTURE...

THROUGH THE CURTAIN

On the technological, decadent world of Proton, someone was trying to destroy Stile, serf and master Gamesman.  His only escape lay through a mysterious "curtain" revealed by a loving robot.

Beyond the curtain lay Phaze - a world totally ruled by magic.  There, his first encounter was with an amulet that turned into a demon determined to choke him to death.  And there, he soon learned, his alternate self had already been murdered by sorcery, and he was due to be the next victim.

"Know thyself!" the infallible Oracle told him.  But first he must save himself as he shuttled between worlds.

On Proton, his fate depended on winning the great Games.

On Phaze, he could survive only by mastering magic.  And if he used any magic at all, the werewolf and the unicorn who were his only friends were determined to kill him at once!

FIRST PAPERBACK PUBLICATION

THE TYRANT FALLS...

Child of flame and terror, born and bred to violence, Hope Hubris had ruled the solar system's most powerful empire with a fierce, uncompromising passion, His was a white-hot flame of justice that scarred friend and foe alike. Yet now he left Jupiter as an exile, his autocratic rule overthrown by the one person he could not oppose.

Deposed, disgraced, but forever unbroken, the tyrant's greatest hour was still to come. For only he couldshoulder the burden of humanity's boldest dream: to leave behind the confines of the solar system and journey outward to the stars...

THE EPIC OF HOPE HUBRIS COMES TO A BLAZING
CLIMAX!

STATESMAN

VICTORY!
Our invincible space fleet has occupied the monsters' worlds!
VICTORY!
Our mighty space force has seized the aliens' home planet!
VICTORY!
Our triumphant space warriors have captured the enemy system!  But then why are we suffering so beneath the tread of those heartless conquerors from the stars?

TRIPLE DETENTE is Piers Anthony's alternate to interstellar warfare.  It is a thought-provoking novel of cultures in conflict and the enigma of outworld psychologies.

-A DAW BOOKS ORIGINAL-
NEVER
BEFORE IN PAPERBACK

FROM DAW
WATCH FOR
HERE ABIDE MONSTERS
BY ANDRE NORTON
UY1134

"Energy and complexity... Adept fans will snap this one up!" - Kirkus

PIERS ANTHONY
UNICORN POINT

Neither the magic of Phaze, nor the technology of Proton, can save the parallel worlds from a ruthless takeover.  The fight for freedom must be waged by Mach and Bane, robot and wizard, linked between worlds.  But they are not the only ones with this strange ability.  For their children have been born - each possessing powers the enemy could never imagine...

One of Anthony's most popular series!" - Library Journal

DEFENDERS OF THE VOLES

For young Esk, the ogre-nymph-human, what had begun as an escape from the clutches of a seductive demoness - and a pilgrimage to the Good Magician Humphrey - was now an errand of mercy.  A running river paradise and its harmless inhabitants were perishing in the wrathful wake of a greedy demon horde.  And it was up to Esk and his new-found companions - a beautiful winged centaur and a brave burrower named Volney - to search Xanth's treacherous reaches, gathering together a mind-boggling company of creatures to defend the precious VALE OF THE VOLE.

FIRST TIME IN PRINT

THE START OF
A THRILLING NEW
XANTH TRILOGY!

The
Scourge
of
Enmity

Sol controlled the mountain, and Sos the Empire.  No one could calculate the destruction which would follow if they went to war.

Var - half animal, half man - rescued from the badlands, was the chosen one.  Exiled from his own legion, supported only by his courage and skill, he wandered the earth, fleeing certai deeth for him and for Soli, the valiant companion he loved more than life itself.

"A SKILLFUL, ENJOYABLE BOOK."  - Publishers Weekly

Imagine a world where the clouds are made of crystals that constantly change their beautiful colors.  Where joy is sacred.  Where conjurers fly people from village to village.  Imagine, too, that this world and more exist simultaneously and that it is possible to travel between them...

VIRTUAL MODE

At first, Colene didn't believe the strange man she found lying on the side of the road.  He spoke of a different world filled with wonder, was dressed in clothes she had never seen before, and knew a language she had never heard.  He said that he loved her and wanted to take her back to his home.  Colene suspected Darius was crazy - until he vanished before her eyes.  Well, if falling in love was crazy, Colene was now fully prepared to say goodbye to reality - and hello to an infinite world of dragons and monsters and impossible dreams...

"PIERS ANTHONY (IS) ALWAYS ENTERTAINING."  - Rave Reviews

VISCOUS CIRCLE

In the far, far future the bloodthirsty Solarians, in their rage to find the mysterious Ancient Site, are determined to wipe out the Bands, a strange and beautiful species whose society is an anarchy of peace.  Only Rondl, the whirling green Band, can save his race, for he has a singular and awesome knowledge.  But suddenly Rondl makes a shocking discovery about his identity - a discovery that may cost him his honor, his beautiful lover Cirl, even his very life...

THE GALACTIC ANNIHILATION
IS BEGINNING!

WAR - AND HELL

Mym was a dutiful son, but his father the Rajah interfered in his love life once too often.  Rather than wed without love, he took up the Red Sword, symbol of the office of the Incarnation of War.

At first he thought his efforts could ameliorate some of the suffering caused by Earth's constant petty wars.  But he found that behind all his involvement were the clever traps of Satan.

When seeming mischance placed him in Hell, Mym organized a great rebellion among the Damned.  And Satan seemed to capitulate.  But free again, Mym learned that Satan had been busy stirring up riots and war.  Now it seemed things had gone too far and Satan must surely win.  There was only one desperate chance.

HERE IS A FOURTH COMPLETE-IN-ITSELF NOVEL OF THE INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY, PIERS ANTHONY AGAIN COMBINES FASCINATING MAGIC WITH A GRIPPING, COMPLEX STRUGGLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.

FIRST PAPERBACK PUBLICATION

THE WOMAN WHO WANTED REVENGE

When the man Niobe loved was shot, she learned that she had been the target, in a devious plot of the Devil's.

Hoping for revenge, Niobe accepted a position as one of the three Aspects of Fate, only to find that Satan's plots where tangled into the very Tapestry of Fate.  Now the Evil One was laying a trap to ruin Niobe's granddaughter Luna, who threatened his plans - and he had tricked her son into Hell.

Niobe's only chance to save her son and Luna was to accept a challenge by the Prince of Deceit - a challenge to be decided in Hell and in a maze of Satan's devising!

HERE IN THIS THIRD COMPLETE-IN-ITSELF NOVEL OF THE INCARNATIONS OF IMMORTALITY, PIERS ANTHONY WEAVES A FASCINATING PLOT AS TANGLED AS ANY SKIEN OF FATE.  THIS IS ANTHONY AT HIS MOST INGENIOUS, WITH ANOTHER GRIPPING FANTASY OF THE STRUGGLE OF THE INCARNATIONS AGAINST THE MACHINATIONS OF SATAN.

YON ILL WIND

A fickle flux in the fabric of space has allowed a horrendous hurricane to blast into Xanth, stirring up mischief and madness wherever she goes.  Trapped in a preposterous form by a cosmic wager, the Demon X(A/N)^th must join forces with a vexatious vixen named Chlorine to save Xanth from this terrifying and tempestuous threat.

Their companions on this haphazard quest are a hapless human family - Jim and Karen Baldwin, and their two teenaged sons, David and Sean - gusted into Xanth from the mundane world beyond.  Together they encounter a host of turbulent misadventures as they struggle to keep Xanth from being blown off the map forever.

A brisk and breezy adventure in the grand Xanth tradition.  Yon Ill Wind is sure to bring gales of laughter and excitement to Piers Anthony's legion of loyal readers.

Raves for Piers Anthony's previous Xanth adventures:

"Fans of the author's trademark humor will relish this latest jaunt through the wacky world of Xanth; new readers too will enjoy the fun."  - Publishers Weekly on Harpy Thyme

"Another of Piers Anthony's frothy and delightfully fivolous fantasy novels about the land of Xanth, where puns and playfulness reign supreme."  - The Toronto Star

A Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. Book