Vale of the vole.

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 hole. 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.

Piers Anthony was born in Oxford, England. When he was four years old, his family immigrated to the United States. He graduated from Goddard College in Vermont in 1956, the year he met and married his wife, Carol Marble. After working at odd jobs, he joined the U.S. Army in 1957 for steady income and medical insurance. In 1958, he became a U.S. citizen. He became an editor and cartoonist for …