Aged like Milk...

I had every intention of starting a short series of posts about authors that I grew up reading (and continue to today) talking about their stories and how they shaped my childhood. But... woof, some haven't aged very well. So what do YOU do when you realize something you loved from ages long ago, was actually... kind of shitty? This reminds me of a while back when I wrote a big WMW post about one of my favorite (former favorite) bands Iced Earth. I was super stoked to talk about them, but then while doing research, I quickly discovered that lead guitarist and writer Jon Schaffer actually participated in the January 6th attack on the capitol! He entered a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol wearing an "Oath Keepers Lifetime Member" hat and sprayed police officers with bear spray. Yeah, fuck Iced Earth and Shaffer forever... gross.

Coincidentally, Piers Anthony was one of my favorites too. And while I still hold fond memories of his world of Xanth, it's amazing just how creepy some of the stories got. His inability to write any type of personality when it came to female characters, outside of their physical attributes immediately comes to mind. Like, growing up, or even getting back into reading ages ago, I was like... "Well, it's like being told bed-time stories by your dirty old grampa!" That excuse can only go so far. When he starts defending under-age sexual situations and writing about grooming minors... it gets pretty disgusting. I went from thinking Anthony was a brilliant writer to realizing the dude's got some issues.

For what it's worth, the first four books were rather clean (ish?) and didn't dive too deep into the icky topics that trouble a lot of his later books. He still thinks very little of females and it shows in these books. Especially 'A Spell for Chameleon', which I thought was just as good as 'The Hobbit' or 'Wizard of OZ'. But now after having re-read it this month I'm finding out just how much of a sad, misogynistic piece of shit it really is. :(

Every female character encountered in the book is just an obstacles, prop or object of lust and condescension.

A select few quotes from the book:

“I like beautiful girls,” he said. “And I like smart girls. But I don’t trust the combination. I’d settle for an ordinary girl, except she’d get dull after a while. Sometimes I want to talk with someone intelligent, and sometimes I want to—” He broke off. Her mind was like that of a child; it wasn’t really right to impose such concepts on her.

Oh, it gets better. Or worse, rather. On that same page, Bink decides to lay out his worldview on women to Chameleon, you know, the one he’s supposedly in love with.

“That’s the point,” he said. “I like variety. I would have trouble living with a stupid girl all the time—but you aren’t stupid all the time. Ugliness is no good for all the time—but you aren’t ugly all the time either. You are—variety. And that is what I crave for the long-term relationship—and what no other girl can provide.”

Bink sure has a way with words...

So what the heck do I do? What about when the series loses all fucks to give? Yeah, seriously, Piers goes full creep mode when he writes an entire book about underage girls' panties. Sigh, thanks, dirty grandpa, way to ruin my childhood.

Trying to compartmentalize his stories into a "Well, things were different back then" mentality certainly doesn't work. I might just get rid of my Piers Anthony book library. Or I dunno, take 'em off my shelf.

He was never very shy about using misogyny in his work or being a creep in general. So maybe I was just dumb for not noticing it sooner.

What's a person to do when they want a solid laugh mixed with some good fantasy world-building? If you are looking for that exact sweet spot, I have great news. Robert Asprin is your guy. His Myth series still holds up surprisingly well against modern comedy and fantasy. It feels like reading a lost Monty Python sketch packed with rapid-fire puns and sharp wit.

The comedic style leans hard into a lighthearted, campy fantasy vibe straight out of the genre's classic era. Don't let the dated framing fool you, either. The women anchoring this cast, including heavy hitters like Tanda the dimensional assassin, Massha the powerhouse witch, and later operatives like Bunny, are fiercely competent and razor-sharp. They are almost always running circles around the bumbling male protagonists, Skeeve and Aahz.

I'm certain some readers will still find issues with character story arcs and the paths crossed with overly sexualized female characters along the way. But I would imagine these have aged far better than the Xanth stories. They're fun, quick, and just a good time.

I just hope with my first release on the horizon that feedback for my writing style, if you can even call it that at such an early phase of my career, ages fairly well.

Early criticism and responses from my beta readers were overly positive and constructive. I have lots to learn, of course, but am excited to see where I can do better and how I can learn to better flesh out world-building and character growth.

I've always heard that a writer's first book will wind up being horribly written. While I don't know how good it really is, I feel like it's an okay adventure that shouldn't insult anyone. However, if it's pissed you off enough to give me a bad review, I'm excited to hear why!