4 ms·

It's worth noting that Isaac Asimov and Piers Anthony made it a point to respond to _every_ letter which they received (and PA noted that they were the only wri

It's worth noting that Isaac Asimov and Piers Anthony made it a point to respond to _every_ letter which they received (and PA noted that they were the only writers who never suffered from writer's block), though later the latter's mail grew to the point where he adopted a similar news letter/form-mail response system.

phonon 3y ago
Speaking of Piers Anthony...anyone know if he is okay? He hasn't sent out his monthly newsletter for almost 9 months. https://hipiers.com/newsletters/ https://hipiers.com/newsletters/
- ocdtrekkie 3y ago
  Maybe you should send him a letter.
- a2tech 3y ago
  Hard to believe he decamped from his house in Florida which was the genesis of the xanth novels to move to California. I didn’t realize he was almost pushing 90 years old either.
  - Scubabear68 3y ago
    I sent him a fan letter a few years ago. It was answered by an assistant that said Piers no longer directly responds to mail, but it is read to him.
  - nytesky 3y ago
    I’m from that part of Florida, it’s is crazy hot and humid and far from the beaches (though quiet as ‘the nature coast’). Medical care is spotty outside of the “big” cities, and California is much more temperate.
dugmartin 3y ago
I wrote Piers Anthony in the mid-80s when I was a teenager and I can confirm he sent non-form letter replies. He replied on a dot matrix printed postcard and (briefly) answered the two questions in my letter to him. I wrote to a few authors around that time and the biggest reply I received was from David Eddings. He sent me a thick 8.5x11 envelope with the syllabus and class notes from a writing class he taught when I asked him about how to become a better writer.
- 7thaccount 3y ago
  I've written to a few sci-fi authors who wrote amazing books that shook me in a good way just to say thanks and how much I appreciated their work and never heard back. In highschool I read a book by a well known astrophysicist and wrote him an email about getting into physics. I was delighted by a page long reply that gave me some pointers and insight. It may seem nerdy, but I really learned a lot from him and respected his communication style. It's a fond memory I'll forever hold onto and hope I can be as gracious someday. As much as I wish I could be a physicist, my mathematical skills are a bit more limited, so I went into engineering instead which is also hard and involves plenty of math, but doesn't require solving differential equations as a key part of my job.
ilamont 3y ago
There was a very good This American Life episode in which a teenaged fan visited Piers Anthony in the 1980s ("Just South of the Unicorns," https://www.thisamericanlife.org/470/show-me-the-way https://www.thisamericanlife.org/470/show-me-the-way). Per the Gizmodo summary: It’s an interesting story about the relationship between authors and fans, and how mundane fantasies can sometimes be more powerful than magical ones. It’s also an ultimately uplifting look at how Anthony, through his books and his advice, helped a young man through a particularly challenging time in his life. As a young SFF reader in the 1980s, I enjoyed the Xanth series to a point but got much further into his earlier hard-edged science fiction, specifically Chthon and Macroscrope.

phonon 3y ago

Speaking of Piers Anthony...anyone know if he is okay? He hasn't sent out his monthly newsletter for almost 9 months. https://hipiers.com/newsletters/ https://hipiers.com/newsletters/

ocdtrekkie 3y ago
Maybe you should send him a letter.
a2tech 3y ago
Hard to believe he decamped from his house in Florida which was the genesis of the xanth novels to move to California. I didn’t realize he was almost pushing 90 years old either.
- Scubabear68 3y ago
  I sent him a fan letter a few years ago. It was answered by an assistant that said Piers no longer directly responds to mail, but it is read to him.
- nytesky 3y ago
  I’m from that part of Florida, it’s is crazy hot and humid and far from the beaches (though quiet as ‘the nature coast’). Medical care is spotty outside of the “big” cities, and California is much more temperate.

dugmartin 3y ago

I wrote Piers Anthony in the mid-80s when I was a teenager and I can confirm he sent non-form letter replies. He replied on a dot matrix printed postcard and (briefly) answered the two questions in my letter to him. I wrote to a few authors around that time and the biggest reply I received was from David Eddings. He sent me a thick 8.5x11 envelope with the syllabus and class notes from a writing class he taught when I asked him about how to become a better writer.

7thaccount 3y ago
I've written to a few sci-fi authors who wrote amazing books that shook me in a good way just to say thanks and how much I appreciated their work and never heard back. In highschool I read a book by a well known astrophysicist and wrote him an email about getting into physics. I was delighted by a page long reply that gave me some pointers and insight. It may seem nerdy, but I really learned a lot from him and respected his communication style. It's a fond memory I'll forever hold onto and hope I can be as gracious someday. As much as I wish I could be a physicist, my mathematical skills are a bit more limited, so I went into engineering instead which is also hard and involves plenty of math, but doesn't require solving differential equations as a key part of my job.

ilamont 3y ago

There was a very good This American Life episode in which a teenaged fan visited Piers Anthony in the 1980s ("Just South of the Unicorns," https://www.thisamericanlife.org/470/show-me-the-way https://www.thisamericanlife.org/470/show-me-the-way). Per the Gizmodo summary: It’s an interesting story about the relationship between authors and fans, and how mundane fantasies can sometimes be more powerful than magical ones. It’s also an ultimately uplifting look at how Anthony, through his books and his advice, helped a young man through a particularly challenging time in his life. As a young SFF reader in the 1980s, I enjoyed the Xanth series to a point but got much further into his earlier hard-edged science fiction, specifically Chthon and Macroscrope.