RIP, Robert Asprin

Sigh. Sad news that Robert Asprin has passed away. He was a bright talent and reading his books gave me a lot of pleasure. His later work suffered as a result of some problems he went through at one point, but the early Myth Adventures books, in particular, are gems.

The best single-dollar purchase I ever made was in high school. One of my favorite stores, The Great Escape, had one of those Science Fiction Book Club combined editions on sale for a buck--a jacketless edition of the first four Myth Adventures books. I'd read a bit about the series (in an old Dragon magazine, I think) and decided to give it a shot and was absolutely hooked. I've re-read that volume at least a dozen times. I really, really like the first six books in that series, and have enjoyed some of the later ones, too. This Amazon Listmania list has a good take on the progression of the series.

The first two Phule's Company books are great, too. And that's not even touching on the tremendous influence of the Thieves' World series.

Sigh again. Peace be with you, Robert.