5 reasons why the Incarnations of Immortality books would make a great series
By Brian Miller
Image: On a Pale Horse/ Del Rey Books
Networks continue to search for the next great fantasy drama. Here’s why Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series would be perfect.
Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series may not be for everyone, but as more content creators look for ways to woo viewers, this eight-book saga could give the right network season after season of excellent content.
Incarnations of Immortality explores the realms that lie beyond our everyday lives. We can’t see them, but they’re where immortal agents engage in an eternal battle between good and evil. Each book covers a different supernatural “office,” with different mortals being drafted to fulfill these roles over time. The offices are Death, Time, Fate, War, Mother Nature, Satan, God and Night. This is a series that will grip you early and surprise you at the end.
But before we get to why this series work so well on TV, let’s find out who these immortals are. Throughout the series, we learn how these beings become immortal. On a Pale Horse, which came out in 1983, tells the story of Death, who roams the world collecting souls and balancing the scales of good and evil to determine their fate in the eternal realms.
Bearing an Hour Glass tells us the story of Time, who lives his life backward, knowing the future but not the past.
With a Tangled Skein introduces us to Fate, she who controls the threads of mortal life, and immortal life as well.
Wielding a Red Sword introduces us to War, the incarnation of immortality who feeds souls to Death, and lives to coax men to evil deeds.
Our last “Immortal” is Mother Nature, whom we meet in Being a Green Mother. The other Immortals trust her, possibly at their peril.
The final two books in the series, For Love of Evil and And Eternity (1990) bring us face to face with Satan and God respectively, but with a twist. (There’s also a final book, Under a Velvet Cloak, which came out in 2007, but it has a different setting probably wouldn’t be adapted as part of the main series.)
So those are the basics. Why are these books so ripe for adaptation?