Name: ASPRIN, Robert Lynn Aged: 61
Born: June 28, 1946 Where: St. Johns, MI
Died: May 22, 2008 Where: New Orleans, LA
Interred:
Married: Anne Brett When: Dec. 28, 1968 (div 1978, 2 children)
Married 2: Lynn Abbey When:early 1980s (div 1993)
Awards: Balrog Awards for best collection/anthology in 1982, Shadows of Sanctuary, and 1983, Storm Season.

Robert Asprin

"The only time I see 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning is if I'm still up for it, and that
happens on at least a semi-regular basis. I sleep until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and
I usually don't start crashing until somewhere between 5 and 8 in the morning."

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes a person with a life-style that constantly pushes the envelope dies peacefully. That this should happen at age 61 to Bob Asprin is something of a surprise given that he was a night person, pool hustler, "filk" singer, lived in New Orleans (notoriously unhealthy), had IRS troubles, and sat for long hours compressing his heart while writng whimsical fantasy stories ... with about everything tried at some point.

Asprin's writing career, after college and military, began in the late 1970s, but quickly split into two separate decade-long projects ... writing the MYTH series of humorous fantasy novels and editing the THIEVES' WORLD anthologies of original short stories from f&sf writers willing to work in the shared-world discipline. It all worked well for a while. By 1990, Myth books had reached 9 and Thieves' World books were at 12, with both projects being very popular, the latter containing several of Asprin's shorter works.

Then THIEVES' WORLD as a venture under Asprin's editorial control crashed from writer's conflicts over direction (killing off other writer's characters) and writers wishing to expand their characters into books. Additionally, a run-in with the IRS over the success of the first two PHULE'S COMPANY books led to a period of four or so years of creative inactivity. In the late 1990s and 2000s, Asprin returned to fiction but writing with co-writers that included Eric Del Carlo (Wartorn series), Linda Evans (Time Scout series), Peter J. Heck (Phule's series), and Jody Lynn Nye (Myth series). All of that seemed to work very well.

Active publishers were Ace, Baen, and Meisha Merlin Publishing (which went out of business recently). Wildside Press had picked up the MYTH series (with the demise of Merlin), and planned to reissue the MYTH books as doubles after publishing the last, Myth-Chief (w Jody Lynn Nye) in 2008, and the unreleased Myth-Fortune. Perhaps another Myth-placed generation will have the chance to smile at some very clever wit and some very strange characters.

"If you hear of my death...tell them Bob was Myth-taken."

Thumbnail from a larger photo offered to the trade by Jody Lynn Nye.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.

OBITUARY: Ramon Vargas in the Times-Picayune & Myth Adventurer passes quietly in French Quarter home.

ON-LINE: faqs

Send relevant email to George C. Willick