Robert Asprin

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Robert Lynn Asprin

Born 28 June 1946(1946-06-28)
St. Johns, Michigan
Died 22 May 2008 (aged 61)
New Orleans, Lousiana
Occupation Fiction Author
Nationality American
Writing period 1977–2008
Genres Science Fiction, Fantasy

Robert Lynn Asprin (June 28, 1946 – May 22, 2008)[1] was an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his humorous MythAdventures series.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Robert Asprin was born in St. Johns, Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1964 through 1965. From 1965 through 1966 he served in the United States Army. He was married (twice) and had two children. He was active in the early years of the Society for Creative Anachronism under the name "Yang the Nauseating" and co-founded the Great Dark Horde in 1971. He was also an influential member of the Dorsai Irregulars.

Asprin's first novel, The Cold Cash War, an expansion of an earlier short story of the same title, was published in 1977.

Over the next few years, he created and edited (with his then-wife, Lynn Abbey) the Thieves' World series of shared world anthologies, credited as the first project of its type. Soon after the series hit its stride they lost control over many of the authors and the series ended in anarchy.[citation needed] A series of graphic novels was published in the mid-1980s, and several of the authors, notably Andrew J. Offutt, Janet Morris, and David Drake published novels about their characters. In 2002, Lynn Abbey resurrected the series with the novel Sanctuary.

Also in 1979, Asprin began to chronicle the comic adventures of Skeeve and Aahz in the "MythAdventures" series. Originally illustrated by Frank Kelly Freas, and later by Phil Foglio, the highly pun-driven books follow a "demon" magician who has lost his powers and his inexperienced human apprentice as they travel through a variety of worlds in pursuit of finding their place in life, under the guise of seeking wealth and glory. Some of the early "Myth" novels were later adapted as comic books by Foglio and others. The Myth books have passed through three publishing companies over the years: Donning Starblaze, Meisha Merlin and as of 2008, Wildside Press.

In the 1990s, Asprin's "Phule" novels followed the humorous science-fiction exploits of a rag-tag company of the "Space Legion" and its wealthy and iconoclastic leader Willard Phule.

Due to a series of personal and financial problems, Asprin stopped writing in the 1990s. He had two books on the New York Times Bestsellers list which piqued the interest of fans and the IRS. Unfortunately this came right at the time of an almost seven year writing drought. Eventually, these problems were somewhat resolved, and in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he wrote several novels in collaboration with authors Peter Heck, Jody Lynn Nye, and Linda Evans. As a result of the conditions of his agreement with the IRS, [2] it would receive all income earned from books for which he was credited as sole author, making it in his own best interest to reduce his role to co-author. These novels included continuations of the "Myth" series and the "Phule" series as well as works in original series.

Asprin died 22 May 2008,[3][4] in bed, where he had been reading a Terry Pratchett novel. [5]

[edit] Partial bibliography

[edit] MythAdventures series

  • Another Fine Myth (1978)
  • Myth Conceptions (1980)
  • Myth Directions (1982)
  • Hit or Myth (1983)
  • Myth-ing Persons (1984)
  • Little Myth Marker (1985)
  • M.Y.T.H. inc. Link (1986)
  • Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (1987)
  • M.Y.T.H. inc. in Action (1990)
  • Sweet Myth-tery of Life (1993)
  • Myth-Ion Improbable (2001)
  • Something M. Y. T. H. Inc. (2002)
  • Myth-told Tales (2003) with Jody Lynn Nye
  • Myth Alliances (2003) with Jody Lynn Nye
  • Myth-taken Identity (2004) with Jody Lynn Nye
  • Class Dis-Mythed (2005) with Jody Lynn Nye
  • Myth-Gotten Gains (2006) with Jody Lynn Nye
  • Myth-Chief (2008) with Jody Lynn Nye
  • Myth-Fortune (forthcoming) with Jody Lynn Nye

[edit] Omnibus editions

  • MYTH Adventures (1984)
  • Myth Adventures One (1985)
  • Myth Alliances (Myth-ing Persons, Little Myth Marker, M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link) (1986)
  • The MYTH-ing Omnibus (1992)
  • The Second MYTH-ing Omnibus (1992)
  • M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action / Sweet Myth-Tery of Life (2002)
  • M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link / Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (2002)
  • Myth Adventures Three (2002)
  • Myth-ing Persons / Little Myth Marker (2002)

[edit] Duncan and Mallory series

  • Duncan and Mallory (1986) with Mel White
  • The Bar None Ranch (1987) with Mel White
  • The Raiders (1988) with Mel White

[edit] Phule's Company series

  • Phule's Company (1990)
  • Phule's Paradise (1992)
  • A Phule and His Money (1999) with Peter J. Heck
  • Phule Me Twice (2000) with Peter J. Heck
  • No Phule Like an Old Phule (2004) with Peter J. Heck
  • Phule's Errand (2006) with Peter J. Heck

[edit] Time Scout series

  • Time Scout (1995) with Linda Evans
  • Wagers of Sin (1995) with Linda Evans
  • Ripping Time (2000) with Linda Evans
  • The House that Jack Built (2000) with Linda Evans

[edit] Cold Cash series

[edit] Wartorn series

  • Resurrection (2004) with Eric Del Carlo
  • Obliteration (2006) with Eric Del Carlo

[edit] Other Novels

[edit] Selected short fiction

  • "The Ex-Khan" in Angels in Hell (1987), part of the Heroes in Hell series
  • "Two Gentlemen of the Trade" in Festival Moon (1987), part of the Merovingen Nights series
  • "A Harmless Excursion" in Smugglers Gold (1988), also from Merovingen Nights
  • "Mything in Dreamland" with Jody Lynn Nye in Masters of Fantasy (2004), part of the Myth series

[edit] Editor

[edit] Thieves' World series

  • Thieves' World (1979)
  • Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn (1980)
  • Shadows of Sanctuary (1981)
  • Storm Season (1982)
  • The Face of Chaos (1983)
  • Wings of Omen (1984)
  • The Dead of Winter (1985)
  • Soul of the City (1986)
  • Blood Ties (1986)
  • Aftermath (1987)
  • Uneasy Alliances (1988)
  • Stealers' Sky (1989)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Asprin's homepage News of his death
  2. ^ "Robert Asprin and Eric Del Carlo: No Quarter", Crescent Blues, Volume 4, Issue 5 (August 2002).
  3. ^ Trans World News
  4. ^ SFScope
  5. ^ http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_OBIT_ASPRIN_LAOL-?SITE=LAALE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Asprin, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Author
DATE OF BIRTH June 28, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Johns, Michigan
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 2008
PLACE OF DEATH