Robert Lynn Aspirin (June 28, 1946 – May 22, 2008) was an American science fiction and fantasy author and active fan, best known for his humorous Myth Adventures and Phule's Company series. He was active in science fiction fandom and in the early years of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Asprin died on May 22, 2008, of a heart attack at his home in New Orleans. He was found lying on a sofa with a Terry Pratchett novel still open in his hands. He was to have been the Guest of Honor at Marcon that weekend.
In 2008, his heirs donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Works:
Literature- Cold Cash
- Tambu
- The Bug Wars
- The Griffen McCandles Series
- Myth Adventures
- Phule's Company
- Thieves' World
- Time Scout
Graphic Novels
- The Duncan And Mallory series
- Myth Adventures
Tropes:
- Author Filibuster: Asprin lapsed into this mode on occasion.
- Died During Production: When Asprin died, he left several projects unfinished (since taken up by other authors).
- Society for Creative Anachronism: He went by the name “Yang the Nauseating” and co-founded the Great Dark Horde in 1971.
- Said Bookism: Avoiding the use of the word "said" was definitely one of Asprin's notable writing traits.
- Those Two Guys: Frequently partnered with Linda Evans. In part this was due to a good working dynamic. In part it was because Asprin got taken for tax evasion and the deal he worked out with the IRS was that they would garnish his earnings from solo projects and he could keep what he got working with a partner. So he stopped writing any books alone.
- Writer's Block: Asprin suffered mightily from this throughout his career, often leading to his spending months researching subjects instead of, well, writing. One example is the sport of fencing, at which he evidently became quite proficient.
