happy new year too! I read On A Pale Horse and loved it! I had the dictionary at hand, and actually loved that too. I won't remember half the words I looked up, but repetition helps. I've got Bearing An Hourglass on order. I hope being 'time' will be as thought provoking as being death.

Merry belated Christmas and a happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Squirelznflight!

Thanks for the overview!

I was able to find On A Pale Horse on amazon for one cent, yay! I'll add Bearing An Hourglass to my 'books to read' list for checkout from the library. I like to make my brain ache, as long as it's rewarding (The Elegant Universe is one such book).

(previous message continued--Curse that length restriction!)

Anyway, On a Pale Horse deals with a lot of moral and philosophical conflicts relating to death. It also talks about the idea of sin, heaven, and hell in the universe of the book--as written by an agnostic, which was pretty awesome.

	Sounds like you're hooked on Piers Anthony. Any recommended 'best of'?

I'm more hooked on his ideas. The only books by him I've read are those in his Incarnations of Immortality series, which is about different forces in the world--Death, Nature, Fate, Time, Good, Evil, etc.-- being personified as "offices." The series is about the people who hold these offices and how they carry out their jobs. I highly recommend the first and second books--On a Pale Horse and Bearing an Hourglass, about Death and Time, respectively. #2 will make your brain hurt.

Unfortunately, Piers Anthony has a habit of making romance an integral part of his plots. The lineup of "beautiful"/"handsome" protagonists who invariably fall in love with someone wondrously attractive will get to you. Luckily the actual characterization makes it bearable. I was actually quite impressed with Death in #1.