Published - August 8, 2016
Piers Anthony has written over 166 novels. An amazing feat! He has managed to combine science fiction and romance into most of them.
Two series that were science fiction/fantasy/romance are the Xanth and Adept series. Magical powers and magicians aren't all they seem in these series.
I more interestingly studied his Geodyssey series. This a series of five novels now, of which I have read four. Each novel picks a theme, and follows that theme from the beginning of time to the present and future of Earth. While following that theme - it follows only one family. That same family lives in each time period, for a period of time in each chapter. Each chapter is a different culture, different place, different time, same people, yet their values change as their environment changes. In one book, the characters go from having a name of one or two letters that evolve into a full first, middle, and last name by the end of the book. He does an excellent job of blending history, science, and time in one set of characters. In fact, some of his science theories were proven after he wrote about them.
In many ways, I used some of his techniques from the Geodyssey series to create my Trails Series. Interestingly, ten years ago, when I tried to interest agents in my three pair series, they said no such thing exists. Except it does. In the Geodyssey series. Of course, new writers are not supposed to compare themselves to such a famous writer as Piers Anthony. And in many ways, my writing is not at all similar. Romance is kept to a minimum in my novels. I'd prefer to leave it out altogether.
My Trails series follows the Geodyssey in a few ways. In Trails 1 and 2, we meet the parents of the future (and past) of Earth in contemporary times. In Trails 3 and 4, we meet their descendants. One family group, and their direct children and grandchildren. In Trails 5 and 6, we go even further into the future, and further back into the past to discover how contemporary people became the parents of all living humans, while trying to save the planet from the mistakes of their ancestors.