Piers Anthony
Bearing an Hourglass (1984)
Author: Piers Anthony
Genre: Fantasy (Allegorical)/Science Fiction
Plot Summary:
When wanderer Norton is approached by a ghost in the park he is unaware that his life is about to take an unpredictable turn. Norton's life spins out of his control and he agrees to take the complicated office of Chronos, becoming the incarnation of the life force, time. Little does he know that he accepts the office at a juncture when Satan is plotting political warfare against the forces of Good. Only Norton, with his ability to manipulate time and travel into the past and future, can save humanity from Satan's rule. SPOILER: Satan beguiles Norton, offering him contact with a lost love and Norton almost fails in his mission to right Satan's wrong. However, the continuing aide of his magic snake ring, Sning, and the other Incarnations he is able to survive Satan's trickery and saves the planet from evil.
Geographical Setting: Planet Earth, Purgatory
Time Period: 21st century
Series: Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2
Appeal Characteristics:
Anthony presents an interesting crossover of fantasy and science fiction, using both magical and scientific explanations of the world in his narrative. Readers who like this detail will like Anthony's description of planet Earth in the 21st century, where parks and landscapes hover over earth's cities. This detail also carries through as Norton and readers together unravel the elaborate details of time paradoxes and complications posed by Norton's assumed position in the office of Chronos. Under the veil of good versus evil, Anthony ponders what some might call a religious quest, but only subtly so. Via the novel's measured pace, Anthony encourages readers to be infected by Norton's introspection regarding the world's natural state and life forces. Readers will feel compelled to help Norton discover the truths of his new existence as well as win his battle against Satan. Just as intriguing as the questions he raises are Anthony's fleeting characterizations of Satan and the Incarnations of Fate, War, Death, and Nature, which he further untangles in the series's other novels. Despite the inherent dark nature of the plot, Anthony manages to keep the allegorical novel's tone lighter than one would imagine. Smattered throughout the novel Anthony also offers readers his ruminations on the purpose, meaning and role of fantasy and science fiction in our lives, which adds one more narrative layer for curious readers to consider.
Read-alikes: Readers will enjoy the background of the incarnations series if they read the series' first book On a Pale Horse, which investigates Piers's first immortal incarnation, Death, and which has been lauded as the best novel in the Incarnations of Immortality series. If investigating human immortality appeals to readers, they might try Poul Anderson's Campbell award winning novel Genesis. In this novel a man becomes immortal by uploading himself (via microchip) into another being. Those who enjoyed Anthony's protagonist Norton as an adventurer and wanderer, might enjoy Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius, a novel featuring adventure, a love triangle, and fiction based on Jules Verne and his friend and adventurer Andre Nemo. If time travel suits a reader, s/he might try Connie Willis's Hugo Award winner To Say Nothing of the Dog, a humorous tryst from 2057 back to Victorian England. The book's protagonist, Lady Schrapnell, travels back and forth to the end of rebuilding the Coventry Cathedral destroyed in 1940. Another time travel suited to Anthony's readers is Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp. de Camp's novel has been deemed a classic of "alternate history" within science fiction featuring a professor who is transported from current day Italy back to Roman rule. Finally, readers interested in delving into the fantastical darkness that Anthony merely skirts in Bearing an Hourglass, might try The Eternal Footman by James Morrow. This third and darkest novel in Morrow's Godhead Trilogy portrays a world where God is dead and his skull hangs in the sky as a constant reminder of that fact.
Red Flags: Some sex and some violence, slight misogynistic undertones, and a complexity in detail that some readers find hard to understand.
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