Product Description
Demons Don’t Dream begins a Xanth sequence as young adventures play for the highest stakes of all: the future of Xanth--and of Earth as well!
Dug thought that the disk he got from his friend was just a fantasy game. He didn't particularly like fantasy games, but he'd made a bet with Ed, and a bet's a bet. So he loaded the game and…
Within moments he had left Mundania and was standing in a forest glade in Xanth, with his Companion in Adventure Nada Naga -- a beautiful Princess who just happened to be a shape-changing serpent. For a long time Dug thought that this was just an incredibly convincing virtual world. Then he began to believe in Magic. Which was a good thing, because the prize in this Game is the Power of Magic in Xanth.
In the next installment, Harpy Thyme, Gloha must brave a demoness and snow dragons, malevolent clouds and musical volcanoes, on a wild odyssey that takes her not only across the length and breadth of Xanth, but on journeys through Time, Space, and the perilous realms of Madness and Mundanity.
Two Xanth novels in a single volume: Twice the magic, twice the adventure – Xanth By Two.
About the Author
Piers Anthony is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. His Xanth novels have been read and loved by millions of readers around the world. In addition to his bestselling Xanth books, Anthony is the author of a series of historical fantasies called The Geodyssey, that makes the broad sweep of human history into very personal stories. Piers Anthony has a devoted fan following, and he daily receives hundreds of letters and emails from them. Piers Anthony lives in Inverness, Florida.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
COMPANION
Dug was exasperated. “Forget it, Ed! I’m not interested in any silly computer game. They all claim to be so easy to play and so exciting, and every one of them has a squintillion stupid
things you have to do just to get started, and then the games are just awkward
.gures on painted backdrops, and you have the May- I syndrome.”
“The what?”
“You know. No matter what you do, you get an error message and you have to start over, because you forgot to say ‘May I?’ or something just as idiotic before you did it. Computers are great at that. They .gure you’re supposed to know everything before you start, and they’re going to make you do it over and over until you .nally .gure out what they want, by which time you’re sick of it all. I don’t want to waste my time.”
But his friend Edsel had the annoying fault of being too per sistent. “I’ll bet I can .nd you a game you’ll really like. No May- I syndrome. No dull backdrops. Real adventure. Something you’ll get into easy and never want to leave.”
“And I’ll bet you can’t. There is no such game, because real people don’t program them, just computer scientists who lost touch with reality de cades ago.”
“It’s a bet,” Ed said immediately. “What’re the stakes?”
Dug refused to take it seriously. “My girlfriend against your motorcycle.”
“Done! I always liked your girlfriend anyway. Give me a week to get the game in, and you can kiss her goodbye meanwhile.”
“Hey, I wasn’t really—” Dug protested. But Edsel was gone. Oh, well. It
COMPANION
Dug was exasperated. “Forget it, Ed! I’m not interested in any silly computer game. They all claim to be so easy to play and so exciting, and every one of them has a squintillion stupid
things you have to do just to get started, and then the games are just awkward
.gures on painted backdrops, and you have the May- I syndrome.”
“The what?”
“You know. No matter what you do, you get an error message and you have to start over, because you forgot to say ‘May I?’ or something just as idiotic before you did it. Computers are great at that. They .gure you’re supposed to know everything before you start, and they’re going to make you do it over and over until you .nally .gure out what they want, by which time you’re sick of it all. I don’t want to waste my time.”
But his friend Edsel had the annoying fault of being too per sistent. “I’ll bet I can .nd you a game you’ll really like. No May- I syndrome. No dull backdrops. Real adventure. Something you’ll get into easy and never want to leave.”
“And I’ll bet you can’t. There is no such game, because real people don’t program them, just computer scientists who lost touch with reality de cades ago.”
“It’s a bet,” Ed said immediately. “What’re the stakes?”
Dug refused to take it seriously. “My girlfriend against your motorcycle.”
“Done! I always liked your girlfriend anyway. Give me a week to get the game in, and you can kiss her goodbye meanwhile.”
“Hey, I wasn’t really—” Dug protested. But Edsel was gone. Oh, well. It
wasn’t as if there was any real risk. Dug wouldn’t take his friend’s motorcycle anyway.
Now it was time to get into his homework. So he called Pia instead. “Hey, I just made a bet with Ed. The stakes are you against his motorcycle.”
She laughed. “You better hope you lose, because that cycle needs work.”
“I know. I won’t really take it.”
“But he’ll really take me if you lose. He likes me.”
Suddenly Dug was ner vous. “You mean, if— you’d—?”
“A bet’s a bet, Dug. You have to make good on it. You know that.” She hung up.
Shaken, he stared at his unopened books. She had hardly seemed surprised, and not at all annoyed. Had he been set up?
It didn’t take a week; Edsel had the game Saturday morning. “You crank this into your computer, and call me when you’re sick of it. If you don’t call in an hour, I’m calling Pia for a date, because I’ll know I won.”
“Aren’t you going to stay and help me get the thing loaded? You know it’s going to take time just to—”
“Nah. The bet is that you can do it yourself, with no hassle, and you’ll really like it. So if I’m right, you won’t need me at all, or care that I’m not around. If I’m wrong, you’ll be on the phone within an hour to let me know.”
“Half hour, more likely,” Dug said grimly.
“What ever. So try it and .nd out.” Ed departed.
He seemed so sure of himself! But Dug had never met a computer program he liked, other than the one that blanked the screen after .ve minutes, and he seriously doubted that he would like this one. But if it was easy- loading, he’d give it a fair try, and still be on time with the phone call.
He looked at the package as he went upstairs to his room. COMPANIONS OF XANTH. This appeared to be a silly fantasy setting, exactly the kind Dug didn’t much like. How could Ed think he’d go for this, even if it wasn’t too hard to get going? Then he looked again. There was a picture of a young woman of truly comely face and .gure, in an out.t resembling the sinuous contours of a serpent. Wouldn’t it be something to meet a creature like that! Maybe she was the inducement; they .gured that some poor sap like him would buy the game in the hope that she was in it. If she was, it would be only as an animated .at picture. A ripoff in spirit if not in technicality.
He settled himself by his computer table and turned the system on. While it warmed up and went through its ritual initial checks and balances, he opened the package. There were no instructions, just a disk. There wasn’t even the usual warning note forbidding anyone to copy it. Just the words INSERT DISK— TYPE A:\XANTH— TOUCH ENTER. He had to admit that was simple.
He inserted the disk, typed the mysterious word, and touched ENTER. There was a momentary swirl on the screen. Then a little man appeared, almost a cartoon .gure. The .gure looked at Dug and spoke. His words appeared in type in a speech balloon above his head. “Hi! I’m Grundy Golem. I’m from the Land of Xanth, and I speak your language. I’m your temporary Companion. If you don’t like me you can get rid of me in just a minute. But .rst listen a bit, okay? Because I’m here to take your hand and lead you through the preliminaries without confusion. Any questions you have, you just ask me. You do that by touching the Q key, or clicking the right side on your mouse. So go ahead— ask.”
Why not? Dug touched Q.
There was a ding. A huge human .nger appeared and nudged Grundy on the shoulder so hard that he stumbled to the side. “Hey, not so hard!” Dug had to smile. “Okay, so you have a question. You have one of those primitive Mundane keyboards, right? So you have two ways to do it. You can type the question so I can see it, or you can touch ENTER and it will bring up the list of the ten most common questions at this stage. Then you can use your arrow keys to highlight the question you want, and touch ENTER again, or just shortcut it by typing the number of the question you want. I’ll wait while you decide. If you want me to resume without waiting, touch ESCAPE.” Grundy took a step back, twiddling his tiny thumbs.
Dug found himself intrigued despite his cynicism. He touched ENTER.
Grundy reached down and caught hold of a bit of string at the bottom of the screen. He pulled it up, and a scroll of print unrolled. There were numbered questions.
1. HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS CRAZY GAME?
2. HOW CAN I SHORTCUT TO THE ACTION?
3. WHO IS THAT CREATURE ON THE COVER?
4. CAN I GET MY MONEY BACK IF I QUIT NOW?
5. HOW DO I GET A BETTER COMPANION?
6. HOW DO I SAVE MY PLACE SO I CAN TAKE A PEE BREAK AND PICK UP WHERE I LEFT OFF?
7. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THIS GAME IS SO GREAT?
8. CAN A FRIEND PLAY TOO?
9. WHAT’S THE PRIZE FOR WINNING?
1O. HOW MANY PRINTED QUESTIONS ARE THERE, AND CAN I CALL THEM UP ANYTIME?
Dug smiled. It seemed they had had some player input. He touched 0, which he took to be 10; he realized that it couldn’t be listed as 10 because when a player touched the 1 it would take him to 1 without giving him a chance to complete the number. That was one of the things computers did: pretending not to know what the player really wanted.
The question highlighted. Grundy came to life. “There are a hundred questions in this edition of the Companions of Xanth Game, and there may be more in future editions as we get more player feedback. You can call up the list anytime by touching HELP and paging down. For two- digit numbers you can hold down the .rst number while you touch the second, and both digits will register. But it’s probably easier just to ask me.”
It probably was. But Dug decided to play with the list a bit more. The questions were still on the scroll. So he touched 1.
Grundy animated again. “To quit this game, touch ALT ESCAPE and turn off the set. But I hope you don’t quit yet; you haven’t given us a fair chance. We hardly know you.”
They hardly knew him? As if they were real and he was a mocked- up player! That seemed arrogant. But also intriguing. Dug touched 2. “To shortcut directly to the action, touch SHIFT ESCAPE. But I strongly advise against this, because there’s more you have to do, like checking in, and you’ll be stuck with me as your Companion. Once you know the ropes, you can skip this whole scene, but please don’t do it this time.”
Fair enough. So far there had been no confusion, and he had not yet gotten into the game proper. He could skip ahead and look at it, but it made sense to give the Golem his chance. He touched 3.
“That creature on the cover is Nada Naga, Xanth’s most luscious eligible princess. She is one of the available Companions.” Grundy cocked an eye at him. “Maybe it’s time you asked about Companions, if that isn’t clear yet.”
So Dug typed WHAT ABOUT COMPANIONS?
“I’m so glad you asked about Companions!” Grundy said. “That is of course the name of this game, and the main thing that distinguishes it from others. In this game you are never left to .ounder helplessly, guessing at the procedures. You have a Companion to guide you through. Anything you need to know, you can ask your Companion, and if he (or she, if you select a female) doesn’t know the answer, he’ll give you a responsive guess. He will also warn you when you are going wrong, and in general be a true friend to you. You can trust your Companion absolutely—except for one thing. Touch Y or ENTER if you want to know about that one thing.”
Dug was tempted to touch the ESCAPE key instead, but was hooked. So he touched ENTER.
“That is smart of you,” Grundy said. “You see, your Companion is your truest friend, ordinarily. But there is one chance in seven that he will be a Fa...
Now it was time to get into his homework. So he called Pia instead. “Hey, I just made a bet with Ed. The stakes are you against his motorcycle.”
She laughed. “You better hope you lose, because that cycle needs work.”
“I know. I won’t really take it.”
“But he’ll really take me if you lose. He likes me.”
Suddenly Dug was ner vous. “You mean, if— you’d—?”
“A bet’s a bet, Dug. You have to make good on it. You know that.” She hung up.
Shaken, he stared at his unopened books. She had hardly seemed surprised, and not at all annoyed. Had he been set up?
It didn’t take a week; Edsel had the game Saturday morning. “You crank this into your computer, and call me when you’re sick of it. If you don’t call in an hour, I’m calling Pia for a date, because I’ll know I won.”
“Aren’t you going to stay and help me get the thing loaded? You know it’s going to take time just to—”
“Nah. The bet is that you can do it yourself, with no hassle, and you’ll really like it. So if I’m right, you won’t need me at all, or care that I’m not around. If I’m wrong, you’ll be on the phone within an hour to let me know.”
“Half hour, more likely,” Dug said grimly.
“What ever. So try it and .nd out.” Ed departed.
He seemed so sure of himself! But Dug had never met a computer program he liked, other than the one that blanked the screen after .ve minutes, and he seriously doubted that he would like this one. But if it was easy- loading, he’d give it a fair try, and still be on time with the phone call.
He looked at the package as he went upstairs to his room. COMPANIONS OF XANTH. This appeared to be a silly fantasy setting, exactly the kind Dug didn’t much like. How could Ed think he’d go for this, even if it wasn’t too hard to get going? Then he looked again. There was a picture of a young woman of truly comely face and .gure, in an out.t resembling the sinuous contours of a serpent. Wouldn’t it be something to meet a creature like that! Maybe she was the inducement; they .gured that some poor sap like him would buy the game in the hope that she was in it. If she was, it would be only as an animated .at picture. A ripoff in spirit if not in technicality.
He settled himself by his computer table and turned the system on. While it warmed up and went through its ritual initial checks and balances, he opened the package. There were no instructions, just a disk. There wasn’t even the usual warning note forbidding anyone to copy it. Just the words INSERT DISK— TYPE A:\XANTH— TOUCH ENTER. He had to admit that was simple.
He inserted the disk, typed the mysterious word, and touched ENTER. There was a momentary swirl on the screen. Then a little man appeared, almost a cartoon .gure. The .gure looked at Dug and spoke. His words appeared in type in a speech balloon above his head. “Hi! I’m Grundy Golem. I’m from the Land of Xanth, and I speak your language. I’m your temporary Companion. If you don’t like me you can get rid of me in just a minute. But .rst listen a bit, okay? Because I’m here to take your hand and lead you through the preliminaries without confusion. Any questions you have, you just ask me. You do that by touching the Q key, or clicking the right side on your mouse. So go ahead— ask.”
Why not? Dug touched Q.
There was a ding. A huge human .nger appeared and nudged Grundy on the shoulder so hard that he stumbled to the side. “Hey, not so hard!” Dug had to smile. “Okay, so you have a question. You have one of those primitive Mundane keyboards, right? So you have two ways to do it. You can type the question so I can see it, or you can touch ENTER and it will bring up the list of the ten most common questions at this stage. Then you can use your arrow keys to highlight the question you want, and touch ENTER again, or just shortcut it by typing the number of the question you want. I’ll wait while you decide. If you want me to resume without waiting, touch ESCAPE.” Grundy took a step back, twiddling his tiny thumbs.
Dug found himself intrigued despite his cynicism. He touched ENTER.
Grundy reached down and caught hold of a bit of string at the bottom of the screen. He pulled it up, and a scroll of print unrolled. There were numbered questions.
1. HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS CRAZY GAME?
2. HOW CAN I SHORTCUT TO THE ACTION?
3. WHO IS THAT CREATURE ON THE COVER?
4. CAN I GET MY MONEY BACK IF I QUIT NOW?
5. HOW DO I GET A BETTER COMPANION?
6. HOW DO I SAVE MY PLACE SO I CAN TAKE A PEE BREAK AND PICK UP WHERE I LEFT OFF?
7. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THIS GAME IS SO GREAT?
8. CAN A FRIEND PLAY TOO?
9. WHAT’S THE PRIZE FOR WINNING?
1O. HOW MANY PRINTED QUESTIONS ARE THERE, AND CAN I CALL THEM UP ANYTIME?
Dug smiled. It seemed they had had some player input. He touched 0, which he took to be 10; he realized that it couldn’t be listed as 10 because when a player touched the 1 it would take him to 1 without giving him a chance to complete the number. That was one of the things computers did: pretending not to know what the player really wanted.
The question highlighted. Grundy came to life. “There are a hundred questions in this edition of the Companions of Xanth Game, and there may be more in future editions as we get more player feedback. You can call up the list anytime by touching HELP and paging down. For two- digit numbers you can hold down the .rst number while you touch the second, and both digits will register. But it’s probably easier just to ask me.”
It probably was. But Dug decided to play with the list a bit more. The questions were still on the scroll. So he touched 1.
Grundy animated again. “To quit this game, touch ALT ESCAPE and turn off the set. But I hope you don’t quit yet; you haven’t given us a fair chance. We hardly know you.”
They hardly knew him? As if they were real and he was a mocked- up player! That seemed arrogant. But also intriguing. Dug touched 2. “To shortcut directly to the action, touch SHIFT ESCAPE. But I strongly advise against this, because there’s more you have to do, like checking in, and you’ll be stuck with me as your Companion. Once you know the ropes, you can skip this whole scene, but please don’t do it this time.”
Fair enough. So far there had been no confusion, and he had not yet gotten into the game proper. He could skip ahead and look at it, but it made sense to give the Golem his chance. He touched 3.
“That creature on the cover is Nada Naga, Xanth’s most luscious eligible princess. She is one of the available Companions.” Grundy cocked an eye at him. “Maybe it’s time you asked about Companions, if that isn’t clear yet.”
So Dug typed WHAT ABOUT COMPANIONS?
“I’m so glad you asked about Companions!” Grundy said. “That is of course the name of this game, and the main thing that distinguishes it from others. In this game you are never left to .ounder helplessly, guessing at the procedures. You have a Companion to guide you through. Anything you need to know, you can ask your Companion, and if he (or she, if you select a female) doesn’t know the answer, he’ll give you a responsive guess. He will also warn you when you are going wrong, and in general be a true friend to you. You can trust your Companion absolutely—except for one thing. Touch Y or ENTER if you want to know about that one thing.”
Dug was tempted to touch the ESCAPE key instead, but was hooked. So he touched ENTER.
“That is smart of you,” Grundy said. “You see, your Companion is your truest friend, ordinarily. But there is one chance in seven that he will be a Fa...
