"I love puppies and flowers...baked together at 375 degrees with a bit of lemon and garlic."
-Istvan, Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin
I offer this tribute to all those Asprin fans out there living in a state of agony over the fact that Asprin has not come out with a new Myth book in...over 5 years, methinks. Maybe longer.
To those unfamiliar with the Myth books, Robert Asprin began them a decade or two ago, inspired by the Road Show books of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. They involve a young magic student/former thief named Skeeve, and his teacher, a demon named Aahz (no relation), and their journies through life and learning.
The series is simple yet absorbing and amusing, and Asprin deals well with coming-of-age concepts as well as some very interesting turns on classic ideas about the mob, rulers, and just who the bad guys are in the first place. Within context of recent books, the Myth Universe definitely lives in a moral state of grey...but this is not necessarily a bad thing.
In 91 he swore he'd come out with a book a year, then realized that that was stupid, came out with two more and then quit, so far as we can tell. Lately he's been doing time travel books with a co-author.
I haven't touched them, I don't know what they're like. I don't know that I'll ever bother...
I don't mind it when authors take their time. But I don't care for it when authors tell us that they'll deliver...and then don't. And then appoligize, resize, and then...don't deliver again. That's asinine. I'd prefer they'd just pull a Douglas Adams and admit outright that none of their dealines are believable or possible, rather than pretending.
Dead puppies and flowers to all of you.
Recently, Asprin has managed to wrangle his way out of the copyright and contract issues that had him at bay for so long (between the original books, and the comic series he started, he found himself in something of a pickle) and is starting to try to get back into the Myth books... but he discovered that he actually lost track of his thread of writing those books. The newest Myth Book actually falls between the 2nd and 3rd, and was mostly a refresher course for him in remembering the characters. Hopefully we'll see more soon.