Firefly [Mass Market Paperback]

Piers Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

When a fleshless corpse is found on a Florida estate, a reclusive caretaker, an investigative reporter, a police officer, and a woman discover that a creature whose victims die in a frenzied state of sexual ecstasy is preying on human beings. Reprint. K.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Using the same Florida setting as his horror novel Shade of the Tree , Anthony here conjures up a nightmarish creature who stalks humans through sexual attraction and leaves them grotesquely sucked dry of their protoplasm. When bodies reduced to skin and skeleton are found on a remote wildlife sanctuary, the reclusive owner of the estate refuses to call in outside help to track down the killer. His employees are left to fend for themselves against the menace of a predator who lures them in the way a firefly traps its prey--by emitting pheromones, powerfully sexual chemicals--and uses digestive acids to dissolve the bodies of its victims. Speculating about the power of an alien monster to decimate the human race, Anthony devotes much of the narrative to plumbing his characters' past experiences, many of them couched in allegorical terms, and examining the differences between love and sex, with emphasis on sexual abuse. Absorbed in working out his theme, Anthony unfortunately overlooks flawed logic and plot inconsistencies. While some readers may find his ideas intriguing, many will be put off by a narrative that verges on the pornographic.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

A mysterious monster stalks a private wildlife preserve, leaving behind only the skin and bones of its victims--and an overpowering pheromonic residue. The author of a multitude of fantasy and sf series and single novels tries his hand at horror with mixed results, producing an unfortunate trivialization of the problems that beset the novel's protagonists. Despite Anthony's strong imagination and affection for his characters, this is not recommended.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 466 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380759500
• ISBN-13: 978-0380759507
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More 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, and he daily receives hundreds of letters from his devoted fans.In addition to the Xanth series, Anthony is the author of many other best-selling works. Piers Anthony lives in Inverness, Florida.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

153 of 191 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Too pedophile-friendly for my taste March 7, 2004

By Rennie Petersen

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This book has several problems, the worst one being that I found that the tone was much too sympathetic towards pedophiles.

In chapter 32 a leading character tells a story about a five-year-old girl named Nymph who is being sexually mistreated by her father and her brother. This girl, in her confusion, seduces an adult man who she encounters. The seduction is described over 10 pages and becomes pornographically explicit at times. The story is presented in the context that the adult man (whose name is Mad) should not be condemned because he only did what the child asked him to do.

In chapter 37 the same character tells a story about an old woman who happens to have a one-way mirror in the wall between a darkened room in her house and a shed built onto the outside of the house. One day two children, a boy and a girl approx. 9-10 years old, wander into the shed and eventually take off their clothes and try playing man and wife, without much success. The old lady is watching through the one-way mirror, and after the children leave she places a tube of lubricant in the shed. When the children come back next day they find this lubricant and use it and their playing is more successful. The old woman, who is watching again, finds this satisfying.

At the end of the paperback edition that I read there is an 8-page "Author's Note". (I believe this note is shorter or missing in some other editions.) In this "Author's Note" Piers Anthony tries to justify the stories of sexual activities between children and adults and the sympathetic slant towards the adults in the stories.... In fact, he shoots himself in the foot:

"The games five year old Nymph played with Mad where a joy to her at the time, but it was nevertheless abuse by our society's definition (not necessarily that of other societies) ..."

"One of the included stories was written by Santiago Hernandez, in prison for pedophilia."

"On another occasion she (an innocent five-year-old girl) is left at home with a kindly uncle. He is very attentive and gives her what she likes best: candy. He plays a game with her, but cautions her that it must be secret or they won't be able to play it again. It involves tickling in funny places ... She loves it; no one else treats her like this. She looks eagerly forward to future visits with Uncle, and to the sharing of more secrets."

Now it's certainly true that the sexual abuse of children is a problem that exists, and pretending that it doesn't exist won't make it go away. But why make the pedophiles look sympathetic and why try to claim that (some of) the victims are not really victims? I simply can't understand how these pedophile-friendly sections of this book got past the editor.

Just out of curiosity, and to check that I wasn't completely off base, I did a Google search for '"piers anthony" pedophilia'. This resulted in quite a few interesting hits, many of which referred directly to this book.

The most shocking web reference I found was a message board where pedophiles hang out and exchange messages concerning their sexual preferences. (I had no idea that such a message board existed.) Here were several messages about how good the books of Piers Anthony are. So despite Piers Anthony's claim that he is not sympathetic towards pedophiles, the pedophiles certainly think that Piers Anthony is sympathetic towards them.

Neglecting the pedophile-friendly problem, what about the rest of the book? Well, until I hit chapter 32 I was preparing to give this book only two stars because I found that none of the characters are believable. They all do strange things and are driven by strange motives, and none of them act like normal human beings.

There is a lot of allegorical story telling in the book, and at one point I wondered if that explained the strange behavior of the characters. In other words, the entire book was perhaps intended to be an allegorical story instead of story about real people. In that case the allegorical messages, other than the suggestion that pedophiles aren't necessarily bad, went over my head.

Not recommended.

Rennie Petersen Read more ›

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Just awful; Anthony shames himself February 17, 1998

By [e-mail]

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This book ended a 10-year relationship with Piers Anthony and his novels. I began with his Xanth novels and continued to consume well over 50 of his books. I read this book in 1993, after taking some time off from his work - I had come to the conclusion that he was becoming a hack. This novel confirmed it. Using the horror novel as a not-so-subtle means of preaching his message of "tolerance" in all things sexual, Anthony continues to degrade the memory of every book of his I had read and loved. If it had just been the message, I could have enjoyed the book on its artistic merits. Unfortunately, it has none. A total sham. If you're thinking of reading Anthony, I recommed "Macroscope" and the "Chthon" & "Pthor" books. These books, written 30 years ago, put his recent work to shame.

67 of 86 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Writing on the wall, anyone? March 6, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Like another reviewer, this book has ruined what was originally a longtime loyal readership of Piers' work.

As with VC Andrews "work," Piers' books were great reading as a teenager and it wasn't until I went back as an adult that I really started to wonder what the heck was going on with these two particular authers and how literary classics like To Kill A Mockingbird and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings were yanked off shelves in a censorship frenzy, while material like this sits on them instead.

Both authors were/are immensely popular, and both were writing fiction that doesn't just cover a sexual "taboo," but attempts to get you to sympathize with the people committing child abuse, incest, etc.

Firefly, as it's been mentioned over and over again, is not teen material...it's adult material...and then some. And since others have gone to the trouble to describe the plot and point out there are graphic scenes regarding child abuse...let me clarify that for you: the scene in question involves a child (under 10) having sex with an adult male (30's). This scene is not written from the perspective of a horrible thing having happened. And it is not just "graphic," it is explicit down to every last detail of the encounter and horrifyingly enough, it is written from the viewpoint of eroticism. Anthony shallowly does his little disclaimer saying that this child didn't understand love in any other way...but we're to see these two as a couple tragically seperated. We're to see the child as a lusty nymphomaniac who talked the adult into the situation and instigates it.... It might be said I'm missing the point that Anthony was trying to make -that the child's perspective was damaged by abuse into equating all things sexual with love - but if there was a good "cause" there, he blew it by writing it out like a [poor quality] story in penthouse letters. It comes across as though we're to see molestation from a different perspective...that the child might instigate it and that sometimes it's "not the adult's fault, after all, he did ask her if she was 'sure.'"

With this scene in mind, I went back and looked over Piers' other work...books that I enjoyed as a teenager. It's ruined for me now. If shallow, hack writing (compare him to Bradbury, McCaffrey, Asimov and you find there just is no comparison at all, even in his more "serious" works) is what you enjoy and barely veiled pedophile fantasies don't bother you, by all means, read it, but I would suggest using the library to review Piers' books first rather than spending (wasting) your money and supporting this man. Going back, I see everything else he's written has that disturbing undercurrent to it and what creativity is evident in his writing has been soured. Read more ›

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not So Great April 10, 2002

By Jesse B Ellyson

Format:Hardcover

Unfortunately, this is not a great book. One would expect better from Piers Anthony but, with Firefly, Anthony does not deliver. Everything is too easy in this book. The characters leap to conclusions with no real logical means of doing so. Things seem to simply be presented to them. The characters don't really have to work very hard to find the answers to their questions. Everything just falls in their laps. I was monumentally disappointed in this book. Piers Anthony has written some wonderful books in the past but this is not one of them. Perhaps he has spent too much time in Xanth where things are expected to come easy and he has forgotten how to write a grown up novel. Too bad.

30 of 42 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A primer for pedophiles April 6, 2009

By Keen Reader

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I purchased this book with relish, having read several Piers Anthony tales in years gone by. After reading it, however, I am compelled to address its damaging and damning content. I have become aware, since reading this book that Piers Anthony has come under criticism more than once for including in his stories sexual affairs between adolescents with adults in which the children were adjudged to be consenting.

In the case of Firefly, the "consenting" sexual partner is a 5-year-old girl who is depicted as a child sexually abused by her brother and father, then not only initiating a graphically portrayed sexual encounter with an adult male, but relishing it as a child, and the memory of it as an adult.

This child grew up to be an adult with a fragmented personality that was blamed solely on her brother, father and spiteful mother. The on-going sex she had with her neighbor was something she remembered as the only real "joy" she'd had in her childhood, which was brought to an unhappy end when the neighbor was imprisoned and killed there by another prisoner. Another cause of her fragmentation was the guilt she felt thinking she had killed her "lover." His imprisonment was depicted as unjust, because he had brought the only joy to an otherwise unhappy and tormented child.

I only finished the book because I expected the female character would finally grow to realize she had been sexually abused by her neighbor as well as her family, but that was not the case. The author obviously thinks there is such a thing as healthy, consenting sex with a 5-year-old, as if it were for her own good....

The author was compelled to add an author's note at the end of the novel explaining that he was only exploring alternative sexual contexts and that although he prefers sex with female adults, he doesn't have the preconceived biases of our culture against unorthodox sexual relationships.

This book is damaging in that, as he admits in the expanded author's notes he included in the paperback, it serves as rationale for pedophiles to exploit and abuse children. He refers to feedback from a clinical psychologist to that effect. Anthony's response? "Ouch. He makes uncomfortable sense."

This book is damning because he never depicts the neighbor as an abuser. Yes he is caught and imprisoned, but it's depicted as a travesty of justice. The only negative influence on the girl he attributes to the neighbor is the guilt she feels that he was killed in prison. This is irresponsible in the extreme. The author readily admits he has "researched" pedophilia by interviewing and corresponding with pedophiles in prison. One of them even wrote a minor part of the book. But he never mentions any research of victims. Not once. He tries to justify pedophilia as an alternative sexual experience instead of abuse because it is common in some cultures. So is AIDS, but the infected do not merely consider it an alternative state of health.

My copy is in the trash where it belongs. If I could give it zero stars or a negative number I would. Read more ›