Requiescat Robert Lynn Asprin (1946-2008)
Posted May 23rd, 2008 by Howard TaylerI just got word that Robert Asprin passed away yesterday. The full text of the article on the SFWA website can be found here.
Asprin was a great writer, and I count his comedic works (especially the Phule’s Company series) among my strongest influences. I loved the Myth Adventures series with Aahz and Skeeve, and Phil Foglio recently sent me the graphic novel he and Asprin collaborated on.
I’m especially saddened because his writing career had lapsed for years, and it’s only recently that he was rebounding from that long, rough patch.
Goodbye, Robert. We’ll surely miss you.
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May 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Howard, I like you count Asprin as one of my writing influences. I was shocked and saddened when I read the news this morning. I think his works are greatly overlooked and clumped into the same type of fantasy as Piers Anthony’s Xanth series. I just wanted to thank you for acknowledging the passing of one of my literary heroes.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Howard I’d just like to thank you for recognizing one of the biggest literary influences of my life. Asprin was my first real introduction to fantasy and I’ve been hooked since. I’ve lost track of the copies of the Myth books I’ve read and replaced over the years.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
The Phule’s Company books, especially the first two, are some of the funniest novels I’ve ever read. Hopefully the reprinting of the Myth books will continue so that people may continue to be introduced to Asprin’s wonderful works.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Rest in peace Robert. You will be missed.
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Aspin’s Myth Adventures played a big part in my fantasies.
He will be missed.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Oh, no. I can’t believe it!
The two people that I went to last year’s DragonCon to see have both died since. Bob Asprin and Hank Reinhart. I didn’t enjoy the convention at all, but I’m so glad now that I went. I got to see Hank swing a sword around for an audience and Bob read an excerpt of a new work, for possibly the last time. I’m so sad now.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:12 pm
sad news, i enjoyed asprin’s sense of humour in his tales.
“gunner”
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
The Myth series is what recaptured my interest in the fantasy fiction relm. It was so refreshing to have it portrayed in his sarcastic humor.
I remember the graphic novel too. It was a great adaptation.
I’m going to go re-read his books and then maybe cry.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Haven’t followed him, of late, but Thieves’ World was one of the most fun series’ I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.
D.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I had the honor & pleasure of meeting Bob at Midsouthcon last year. An excellent storyteller and a hell of a nice guy.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 pm
@gunner: “asch”?
D.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Someone I would have liked to meet.
May 24th, 2008 at 12:51 am
RIP Bob Asprin. I’ve met him before. I will miss his sense of humor, his wit, and his personality. And his books.
-ambush
May 24th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Robert Asprin was a fun and interesting writer, and will be missed.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:17 am
No! He just started a new series “Dragon’s Wild.” Now I’ll never know how it comes out.
May 24th, 2008 at 6:08 am
yeah … heard about it thursday night.
I never got to meet him (the one time it was possible, Mr. Asprin didn’t show up for the con, though Stephen King did).
… I just hope he managed to finish the book he was reading at the time.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:02 am
According the post I saw on an SCA list, which was by the lady who found him (she was supposed to drive him to the airport) he was reading a Terry Pratchett novel. This is the text of that post:
“I write this with a heavy heart. Today, sometime between 2 pm and 5 pm,
Yang the Nauseating passed away.
I spoke to him around 2 pm – to confirm that I was to pick him up at
5 pm and take him to the airport. He was to go to a convention in Ohio
this weekend – MarCon. At 2 pm, everything was fine. When I arrived at
his house, he wasn’t outside, didn’t answer his cellphone,
didn’t answer his landline. Of course, as I was trying to figure
out what to do, someone came up behind me and I had to drive around the
block. (The French Quarter.) I called him again as I made the block,
but still no answer.
I *thought* I had a key to his house, but I wasn’t certain I had it
with me. I tried to call another one of his close friends (who works in
the Quarter), because I knew that he would have a key, but I
couldn’t get him. So I parked the car and dug through my briefcase
and found the key that I thought was for his house. I did get in with
the key, but it took some tugging and pushing.
I found Yang lying on his bed, with a book in one hand (a Terry
Pratchett book, no less) and his other hand by his side, his glasses
just beyond. To all extents and purposes, it looks as though he had
decided to take a nap. But I could tell he wasn’t breathing and he
had no pulse. I called 911.
The paramedics and firemen arrived quickly and were quite nice and very
good. They actually worked on him for 30 minutes, which sort of
surprised me, because there was no activity on the heart monitor when
they hooked him up. It might have been standard protocol. Whatever the
case, they tried very hard, but couldn’t bring him back.
I have been in touch with his literary agent, who in turn notified his
family. Because Yang was also an author, the news is already spreading
very quickly. I am very sorry to have to share this news with my SCA
family, but I wanted everyone here to hear it from me before you read it
on some sfnet board.
Yang was 62 years old, born June 28, 1946. He had no obvious health
problems, but he was also notorious for avoiding doctors. To those who
knew him “way back when” – Isolda, John the Bearkiller, and many others
- he was very pleased with how the SCA has developed since the “bad old
days” of freon can helms with women not allowed to fight in the lists.
He would have come and played with us more if he could have.
- Lady Alsinda de Rochabaron”
David S.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I can’t believe none of you went for the obvious hat-tip…
Mr Asprin, we’re going to myth you…
May 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am
At the very, very least …? It sounds, from what the “Lady Alsinda” reports (as quoted by David S., and thank you for that, sir), that he went peacefully and quietly … which is a thing to be thankful for, and perhaps, somewhat envious of.
Honestly, when my time comes, if I could be reading a good book, and simply drift off to sleep …? I honestly can’t think of a nicer way to go.
Aside from that, I can only echo the words of others: “Farewell; you will be missed.”
May 24th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I’m reminded of one night in 1984, pulling an all-nighter studying for a particularly troublesome final exam. This was at an engineering school on the east coast, the kind of school that starts you off with 19 units your first freshman semester and never lets up from there. I went through an entire thermos of Dunkin Donuts coffee before I was done, that night. The stress was almost intolerable, but when it was about to get to be too much for me I’d pull out the SFBC collection of the first 3 Myth Adventures books and laugh my ass off for 15 minutes. It put my brain back together so I could go on. I aced that final too.
Thank you, Mr. Asprin. Memory Eternal!
May 24th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
reply to: “dev dot null”
“@gunner: “asch”?”
no, m.o.s. 0331 machinegunner, u.s.m.c. 1955/59
May 25th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Howard, do you have regular check-ups?
May 25th, 2008 at 1:19 am
@gunner: My bad. Sorry to bother you.
D.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:33 am
I hope that if the latest books he was collaborating on were far enough along for the co-authors to finish, that they don’t turn out travesties like Spider Robinson’s “Variable Star”.
Very sad he’s gone. I just recently read the later Phule’s Company books. I’ve read the early Thieves World books and the Myth books up until he quit writing for so long. Now I must find and read all his stuff.
I read somewhere he’d got into a mess with the IRS and did a deal with them to where they’d get practically all the profits from any book he was the *sole* author of. That explains why his later books were collaborations. ;)
May 25th, 2008 at 6:26 am
A lot has been said about Bob as an author, and rightly so. But you might also be interested to know about his other activities.
Not much is being said on official channels, for example, that he was active in the SCA (as Yang the Nauseating), and founded the Dark Horde — a legendary household of Mongols, still strong today.
Within science fiction fandom, I am proud to note him as the founder (and Dread Commandammit) of the Dorsai Irregulars — his legacy lives on here, too, as we’ve been doing SF con security for 34 years.
He was also one of the early movers and shakers in getting Filk singing accepted as a Fannish activity at cons.
He rode out Hurricane Katrina in the French Quarter, and his only complaints were that the beer was warm and the toilet wouldn’t flush.
The man had a lot of talent in a lot of fields, and radiated charisma. We’ll not see his like again.
May 25th, 2008 at 10:46 am
=(
My brother and I both loved the Phule series. Our copy of the first book got read right down to the spine. It was always a happy day when we managed to find one of the sequels in a store or garage sale.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
“Dev Dot Nul Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 1:19 am
@gunner: My bad. Sorry to bother you.”
————————————
no bother, no worries mate.
“gunner”
May 25th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Thanks, gunner.
Respects,
D.
May 26th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I have to say thank you.
I had never heard of these books before now, and hearing they are a great inspiration to you I located and read the Phule’s Company series. He was indeed an awesome writer, and I am sure I will now go on to locate and read more of his books.
It is sad that it is so often the case that we do not hear about great artists until they are but memories, and it is wonderful that their memories will be with us forever due to the quality of their works.
May 26th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Blade: Oddly, *that’s* what I know him for — haven’t read any of
his books (I know, I know…), not a SCAdian, not a filker; but I’ve
also been on con-sec detail (not with the DI, tho’ — I imagine that
a con with both the DI and the group I was with would be *very*
quiet, except for the folks scared out of their wits listening to our
groups swap war stories in the halls… :) ).
The Thin Black Line got a little shorter. :P
May 27th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
@ csadn:
“The Thin Black Line got a little shorter. ”
Nah. He’s just organising Con security on a different plane, is all. I mean, what? You think just because gamers DIE, they stop PLAYING? Hah! Fat chance of *that* …! ^_^