Robert Asprin: Myth-Fortunes

Privately, I resolved to go looking for that warehouse where Aahz had had his stone delivered. I wanted a look inside. I had more than a slight suspicion that the papyrus I had signed was so Aahz could order a stone block for me. I didn't want to tell him what I guessed. He obviously wanted it to be a surprise. Moreover, I wanted to check and see if that block I had seen Ay-Talek working on with all the details that were so close to the story of my own life was being stored next to the big triangular monument that Aahz had selected for himself. It was nice to know he thought that much of me. But I wouldn't say

anything. That's what loyalty meant to me.

"Next time, warn me when I start to get too emotionally involved in a project," Aahz said. "Anyone hungry? I'm in the mood to splurge."

"You?" Chumley asked, astonished.

"Yeah. Dinner's on . . . Samwise." Aahz held up a jingling purse. "I got my commissions out of him for the sales I made. How about it, Skeeve? Want to go out and get some food? It won't be as fancy as Le Mouton Suprisee, but it'll be edible."

"Gee, Aahz, I would love to, but I've got a date."

"A date?"

"Aaaahhhh!" my partners chorused. Bunny and Tananda looked pleased.

"With the pretty secretary with the black hair?" Aahz winked.

I was abashed. "Uh, no. She and I don't have anything in common." I didn't want to tell him how much I had humiliated myself with Matt. "I'm going to see Aswana. She's a lot of fun."

Aahz raised an eyebrow. "See-Ker's healer? I didn't think she was your type."

"She was really nice to me when I fell into Necropolis. I thought I'd go back and take her out for a great dinner."

Bunny and Tananda exchanged approving nods.

"Fine, kid," Aahz said, with a lazy wave. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Gee, Aahz," I said innocently. "I wouldn't think of it."

I bamfed discreetly out of the room.

Dear Readers,

I know. Ironic, isn't it?

Bob and I had a few different plots we ran by the publishers back in mid-2006 as to what would happen next in the Myth-Adventures. The one we wanted to do first they considered too immediately topical, and wanted this one instead.

For those of you who don't know the backstory, Robert Asprin, creator of this series, and my writing partner on it for the last six books and an anthology, passed away suddenly on May 22, 2008 in his home in the French Quarter of New Orleans, LA.

Bob was a remarkable person, who when he was inspired strewed creativity broadcast. He had a lot of talents, all of which he was willing to share with others. His second ex-wife, Lynn Abbey, co-founder with him of the groundbreaking shared-world anthology Thieves' World (and now its sole proprietor/operator) said that he was the best first teacher that you could ever have. He gained new interests the way that a magpie picks up shiny things. His eclectic interests informed his literature, which is why you find the Myth Adventures full of references to the Road pictures featuring Bob Hope and Bing

Crosby, the Marx Brothers, Hollywood musicals, gambling, game shows, Star Wars, the writings of Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, Damon Runyon and

many others, on top of sly characterizations (we call them tuckerizations in American SF literature for their founder, Wilson "Bob" Tucker) of people he knew.

Several years ago, he and I began to work together. A lot of theories abound as to how and why we did. The truth is we thought it would be fun, and it would help break Bob out of the writers block he had suffered for years. Our first collaboration was not a Myth book at all, but a stand-alone magical spy adventure called Licence Invoked. I can't say I was the reason Bob started writing again, but I feel I helped prime the pump, as did Peter Heck, who stepped in to give Bob a hand on the bestselling series Phule's Company. Most of the credit goes to a good friend of Bob's, Bill Fawcett, tuckerized by Bob in Mything Persons as Vilhelm, the vampire with the desk full of telephones (and now my husband). Bill encouraged Bob to get back on the keyboard again. He helped Bob create other collaborative projects, such as with Linda Evans on the Time Scout novels, with Esther Friesner on E. Godz, and with Eric del Carlo on NO Quarter.

At the time of his death, Bob had just published a new fantasy series, Dragons. The first book, Dragons Wild, had gained rave reviews. The second book was complete and ready for copy-editing. The publisher was prepared to offer a new and lucrative contract for two new Phules as well as more Myth Adventures. Our Hollywood agent was talking to a couple of producers who were interested in the series. The day he died Bob was just about to be picked up to attend a major SF convention in Columbus, OH, where he and I were slated as the literary guests of honor.

In my college pinball arcade, when you maxed out the score, loaded the machine with all the free games possible, racked up all the extra balls, then turned away from the machine, never to return, it was called it the Boston walkaway. Bob just staged one of the greatest walkaways of all time. It was ironic because so much was going right, only a phule would leave at that moment, wouldn't he? Or someone who suffered the greatest of myth-fortunes.

All joking aside, Bob was my dear friend for many years. I will miss him. I'll miss working with him, hearing that staccato delivery he used when he was excited about something, or the bellowing laugh. I will miss the two of us breaking into song in the middle of hotel lobbies (to Bill's embarrassment). I'll miss the wisdom that informed the characters he created, and his absolute belief in the magik of that marvelous friendship between Aahz and Skeeve. We should all be so lucky to have a bond like that.

The series is in my hands, now. I hope you will trust me to do right by it. I have learned at the master's knee (mostly what a bony knee looks like), and will do my best.

Thanks for supporting the series.

Best wishes, Jody Lynn Nye

(To learn about Skeeve's connection with the casino in question, read Little Myth Marker.)

(To review Skeeve's job history with the notorious queen, invest in copies of Myth-Conceptions and Hit or Myth.)

The details of Aahz's last visit to the Magicians' Club on Vaygus can be read in the thrilling Myth-Gotten Gains, a real page turner available from your local huckster of literature.

For the fullest account existing of Skeeve's date, read Sweet Mythery of Life, available in plain brown wrappers at your local bookseller's

(To discover the secret identity of the assassin magician known as The Ax, read the thrilling Little Myth Marker, a volume no library can be complete without)

This is a real quote.