For lack of a spell...

Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled - where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. It was a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks.

For Bink of the North Village however, Xanth was no fairy tale. He alone had no magic. And unless he got some - and got some fast! - he would be exiled. Forever!

But the Good Magician Humphrey was convinced that Bink did indeed have magic. In fact, both Beauregard the genie and the magic wall chart insisted that Bink had magic. Magic as powerful as any possessed by the King of by Good Magician Humphrey - or even by the Evil Magician Trent.

Be that as it may, no one could fathom the nature of Bink's very special magic. Bink was in despair. This was even worse that having no magic at all...and he would still be exiled.

The Magic of Xanth

As a ruler of a country steeped in enchantment, King Trent was naturally curious about the source of its magic. It made sense to order Bink, the only one of his subjects immune to supernatural harm, to undertake a quest to discover the wellspring of Xanth's uniqueness.

From the beginning, Bink and his companions, Chester the centaur and Crombie, the soldier transformed into a griffin, were harried by an unseen enemy determined to thwart them. Even the power of the Good Magician Humfrey, together with Bink's protective talent, scarcely saved their lives.

Then when Humfrey and Crombie turned against him, all seemed lost. But Bink's ingenuity and luck prevailed and he reached his goal. The King's orders had been carried out...

But the King had not expected Bink's next act - to destroy utterly the magic of Xanth!

Once Upon a Past

Millie had been a ghost for 800 years. But now, restored by the magic of Xanth, she was again a maddeningly desirable woman. She could have had any man she wanted...except the one she did want, Jonathan the zombie. To grant Millie her desire, and to prove his right to rule Xanth in the future, young Magician Dor embarked on a quest for the elixir which would restore Jonathan to full life.

But the potion could be found only in the past...so, through a magic tapestry, to the past he went, taking over the body of a barbarian warrior. The first person he encountered there was Jumper, a giant spider - a nightmare monster, but a staunch friend and much-needed ally in peril-haunted, ancient Xanth.

Then Dor met Millie - 800 years younger but just as lovely. And he realized that in his new body, he was no longer twelve years old...

Into Darkest Mundania

Dor was having troubles growing up to be the next Magician King of the magic Land of Xanth. He wanted no part of running the Kingdom. But now Good King Trent was leaving on a trade missing to non-magical Mundania, home of such weird beasts as horses and bears, so Dor had to take over as King for a week.

A week passes. No Trent. Then three weeks. King Trent still hadn't returned. Surely, something terrible had happened; he was apparently held captive in some foul dungeon, unable to escape. Dor was left with the burden of ruling - and with Irene, who was entirely too willing to be his Queen!

His only hope was to enter Mundania and free King Trent. But how could it be done without the powers of magic? Nevertheless, he started forth bravely - together with Irene, a golem, a centaur, and a young ogre - heading for the far south of Xanth.

The entrance to Mundania, of course, lay to the north.

When Ogre-hood Was In Flower

Smash knew all about ogres. After all, despite his having a human mother, Smash was an ogre himself. Ogres were not onl huge and horribly ugly, as Smash was; they were also so stupid they could hardly speak, and they spent most of their time fighting, destroying, and eating young girls.

So what was he doing here with seven assorted females looking to him to guide them and save them? Even in Xanth, where magic made anything possible, why should Tandy the Nymph trust him and seem fond of him? And how could all that high-flown conversation be coming out of his mouth?

But that, it seemed, was what he got for going to Good Magician Humfrey for an Answer - before he even knew what the Question was!

"Beware The Horseman!"

The Nextwave of barbarian warriors was invading Xanth from the north, ravaging and destroying as they advanced. But Mare Imbrium had her own problems. Ever since she had gained the half soul, the night mare had begun to mishandle her job of delivering bad dreams. Now the Night Stallion dismissed her, exiling her to the day world with a message for King Trent: "Beware the Horseman!"

She had not idea of what that meant. But that was the way with prophetic warnings - nobody could understand them until it was too late.

Then she met the Horseman. And she discovered that one who would ride a night mare was a master of bit and spur, and not a man to surrender her.

For the night mare, it began to be all a horrible nightmare!

There was trouble in Xanth again - all kinds of trouble in fact.

The Gap Dragon had escaped from the Gap and was ravaging across the land. The forget-spell that had covered the Gap was breaking up into small forget-whorls that wandered about, giving amnesia to all they touched. Good Magician Humfrey might have had the Answer, but he had overdosed on water from the Fountain of Youth and was only a helpless baby.

And Ivy, three-year-old daughter of King Dor and Queen Irene, was lost in the jungles south of the Gap. While Irene sought her without much hope, Ivy was wandering further into danger, her memories erased by a passing forget-whorl. Her path was leading her directly to where the Gap dragon was seeking dinner.

A knight of ghosts and shadows.

Jordan was a ghost in Castle Roogna now, spending his time with little five-year old Ivy and watching his own past unfold on the magic tapestry. But once he had been a valorous knight, riding his ghost horse Pook on a fabulous and dangerous mission.

He had been betrayed with a cruel lie by two wily magicians and the woman he loved. He had been killed at the end, and his bones had been scattered. Now he could not even remember where they had been buried.

This was important, because Jordan's talent had been to recover from almost any injury, provided enough of his body could be assembled to grow together again. But all that had been four hundred years before. Nobody who was alive today knew or cared where his bones might be.

It was hardly the proper ending for a gallant adventure!

A golem to the rescue.

Grundy Golem was the size of an inconsequence, and nobody had any respect for him - including Grundy! To prove himself, he volunteered to ride the Monster Under the Bed to the Ivory Tower to find little Ivy's long-lost dragon, Stanley Steamer.

After many adventures, he reached the Tower, to learn that the Evil Sea Hag kept lovely Rapunzel imprisoned there, her body destined to be used to maintain the witch's immortality. Grundy managed to free the damsel, and they fled together.

As the descendant of Jordan the Barbarian and Bluebell Elf, Rapunzel could become any size, even that of any Golem's dreamgirl. But Grundy knew she was surely fated for someone better then he. Besides, the Sea Hag still pursued them to destroy him and get her back.

And he still hadn't found Stanley Steamer.

Defenders of the Voles.

For young Esk, the ogre-nymph-human, what had begun as an escape from the clutches of a seductive demoness - and a pilgrimage to the Good Magician Humfrey - was now an errand of mercy. A running-river paradise and its harmless inhabitants were perishing in the wrathful wake of a greedy demon horde. And it was up to Esk and his new-found companions - a beautiful winged centaur and a brave burrower named Volney - to search Xanth's treacherous reaches, gathering together a mind-boggling company of creatures to defend the precious Vale of the Vole.

A boy's fabulous quest.

To Xanth's precocious shape-shifter Prince Dolph, searching for Humfrey, the missing sorcerer, is a perfect chance to see the world. Setting off with his faithful companion Marrow, an enchanted skeleton, he will penetrate an island of illusion...escape a goblin kingdom...outwit a husband-hungry mermaid...nest-sit for fiery dragons...and find romance with a slinky snake princess - all on his way to discovering a magic coin with the answers!

The quest continues.

There's nothing more exciting than a Quest, especially for a young princess of Xanth who's bored with sitting around Castle Roogna. But when Ivy uses the Heaven Cent, it takes her not to the top of Mount Rushmost, where the winged monsters gather, not to the sea where the merfolk swim - but to Mundania, a boring world (much like our own), where she meets a young college student so dull that he doesn't even believe in magic, or princesses, or Xanth!

Does he ever have a lot to learn!

Lovelorn loveworn love lost

Perplexed Prince Dolph, Xanth's precocious shapeshifter, should be in love but isn't. Nonetheless, he must choose between two fiancees - Nada the uninterested and Electra the uninteresting - or all three of them will suffer the most dire consequences. Luckily a convenient catastrophe has popped up to distract Dolph from his dilema - the foal-napping of young Che Centaur by goblins. And the only one who knows where Che is is a nice but remarkably naive elflike girl named Jenny from the World of Two Moons. If anyone can save the missing centaur...she sure can't!

Youth is wasted on the young.

Being grown up is a drag...or so thinks Lacuna, one of the mischievous Castle Zombie twins. So she makes the Good Magician Grey an offer he can't refuse. Thirsty for a taste of the Elixir of Youth, she'll help him outwit the evil Com-Pewter if he'll send her to Hell (in a handbasket, no less) to find Humfrey, the missing sorcerer. And while there, she'll learn the True History of Xanth (simplified) and help rescue a blushing Rose from the demon X(A/N)th...with the help from a gorgon or two.

We see England, we see Xanth, we see Mela's underpanth.

In fact, Gwenny Goblin, Che Centaur and Jenny Elf are just about the only creatures on Xanth who have been spared the sight of Mela Merwoman's undergarments - preoccupied as they are with helping Gwenny beat out her awful half-brother Gobble for chiefship of the goblin horde. But first they must master space and thyme...and find the fabulous egg that sits between the Roc and teh hard place. While Mela - who would gladly relinquish her oft-viewed undies for a new husband - joins the Adult Conspiracy...and quickly discovers the power of a perfect pair of panties.

Demons Don't Dream begins a thrilling new Xanth sequence, as a pair of young adventurers play for the highest stakes of all: the future of Xanth - and of Earth as well!

Drawn into Xanth by a harmless-looking computer game, two young people find themselves competing for a precious prize: Dug, who is beguiled by a beautiful serpent-princess, and Kim, who discovers her favorite fantasy realm has suddenly become frightenlingly real.

In a desperate race against time, Dug and Kim battle their way across the wonderous, perilous land of Xanth, testing their courage against dozens of fearsome obstacles (and their wits against a host of outrageous puns!). But when treachery, danger, and deceit place Xanth itself in peril, Dug and Kim learn that some things are more important than winning or losing.

A breathtaking, madcap quest filled with fearsome monsters and far-fetched fun. Demons Don't Dream is vintage Xanth, an unforgettable escapade from fantasy's most imaginative story-teller.

Gloha is the only creature of her kind in all the world of Xanth, the beautiful offspring of a chance mating between a harpy and a goblin. As she grew to womanhood, she wondered where she would find the one true love with whom she could share life.

So naturally, she sets off to find the Good Magician Humphrey to ask him for an Answer to the riddle of her heart's desire. But Humphrey, for mysterious reasons of his own, propels her instead on a perilous quest in search of truth, friendship, and, just possibly, happiness.

Since Xanth began, the gargoyles of that magical place have been under a magical compulsion to protect the purity of the Swan Knee River which flows into Xanth from dreary Mundania. But recently the pollution from the outside world has grown ever greater, and young Gary Gar, latest in a long line of gargoyle guardians, is finding it ever more difficult to fulfill his responsibilities.

So Gary does what any sensible Xanth resident with a dire dilema would do. He goes to see the Good Magician Humfrey, who sends him on a peculiar quest - to transform himself into a human shape, tutor a precocious child with more than her share of wild magical talents, and find a philter which can restore the river to its previous pristine state.