MythAdventures

MythAdventures or Myth Adventures is a fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin. After twelve novels by Asprin, published 1978 to 2002, he and Jody Lynn Nye continued the series with seven more books. After his death in May 2008,[1] she intended to complete their plans.[2]

The Myth Adventures are noted for and popular for their whimsical nature, myriad characters, and liberal use of puns. After the first book, every title turns on the similarity between the word "myth" and the prefix "mis-" or the word "miss". The inaugural title Another Fine Myth puns on the phrase "another fine mess". Chapters are usually headed by made-up quotes by famous or semi-famous persons.[3]

Indeed, the first book was advertised under that title, Another Fine Mess, from Oliver Hardy's often-used catchphrase directed towards his film comedy partner Stan Laurel, supposedly "This is another fine mess you've gotten me into." (The actual catchphrase referred to "another nice mess".) After it was too late to change the catalog, Asprin decided that using "Myth" would be much better if the book would become a series. They changed the title and claimed a typo in the catalog.[4]

According to Asprin, the original inspiration for the Myth Adventures was the "Road to..." comedy movie series, which stars Bing Crosby and Bob Hope as wandering con-artists/adventurers.[4]

Characters

The stories mostly revolve around the adventures of a few central characters:

The Phil Foglio comics based on the books also involve The Winslow: A small fuzzy alligator which happens to be utterly indestructible and presumably immortal, and figures prominently one way or another into fully three-fourths of the galaxy's known religions.

Known dimensions

Many of the names, like so much else in this series, are puns; see the parenthetical comments.

Dimensions that have been mentioned but not explicitly depicted:

Books

The "first" Myth Adventures series was written by Asprin alone for the now-defunct publishing house The Donning Company under their Starblaze Graphics imprint (with the last two published by Meisha Merlin, who picked up the contract from Donning). All twelve are collected in Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Meisha Merlin, 2006/2007).[7]

The "new" Myth Adventures series was co-authored with Jody Lynn Nye. As of 2010 it includes one collection and six novels.

After Myth-Gotten Gains, Meisha Merlin went out of business and publication of hardcover/trade editions changed hands again, this time to Wildside Press.[2] Robert Asprin died in May 2008, but Nye intended that year to write the books which she and Asprin had planned ("We had big plans").[2] According to the series website, the publisher of mass market editions Ace Books has commissioned two.[9]

In 2010, Baen Books published a collection of Asprin's short myth-stories under the title Myth-Interpretations. ISBN 1-4391-3390-5

Illustrated novels

The first novel was adapted into an eight-part WaRP Graphics comic book series in the mid-1980s. Illustrated and heavily rewritten by Phil Foglio, the series was later collected into two full-color graphic novels published by Starblaze Graphics, and in 2007 Airship Entertainment (the Foglios' publishing concern) reprinted the material in a single volume. Four more issues followed, featuring an original story by Asprin and artist Jim Valentino which attempts to bridge the action between the first and second novels in the series. (Apple Comics took over the second series halfway through.) In 2010, Airship Entertainment began re-releasing the story as a web comic.

The second novel was later adapted into another eight-part comic series by Ken and Beth Mitchroney and published by Apple from 1987 through 1989. Neither of these two later series enjoyed a graphic novel collection.

Foglio has also done the cover art and accompanying illustrations for the first editions of most of the novels. Before he started the cover illustrations, Kelly Freas did the covers of the first editions of the earliest books of the series.

Film and theater

Short-lived rumors circulated in the 1980s that Wendy and Richard Pini, owners of WaRP Graphics, were considering turning their adaptation of Another Fine Myth into a feature-length movie after doing so with their own property, ElfQuest, though the latter has yet to even make it past concept to this day.

Myth Adventures is the name of a 1997 play by Eric Coble, but it appears to be a retelling of some ancient Greek myths, and has nothing to do with Mr. Asprin's work.

The Board Game

A board game called "Myth Fortunes" was developed by Mayfair Games.

Featuring more of Foglio's artwork, the game assigns each player an identity from the series, which they attempt to keep hidden from the other players as they work their way around the board. It includes a "subgame" which offers the opportunity to play the infinitely complicated card game "Dragon Poker" from the series entry Little Myth Marker.

Designers included Micki Niebling, John Danovich, Matt Forbeck and Bryan Winter.

References

  1. ↑ Robert Asprin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  2. 1 2 3 Frequently Asked Questions (2008 inferred). by Jody Lynn Nye. Confirmed 2011-07-29.
  3. ↑ Asprin, Robert (1978). Another Fine Myth.
  4. 1 2 Author's Introduction from "M.Y.T.H. INC. LINK" by Robert Asprin. (unconfirmed)
  5. ↑ Robert Asprin (1995). Sweet Myth-tery of Life. Ace. p. 100. ISBN 0-441-00194-7.
  6. ↑ Robert Asprin (1995). Sweet Myth-tery of Life. Ace. p. 158. ISBN 0-441-00194-7.
  7. ↑ Myth Adventures series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  8. ↑ Amazon. Accessed 2013-07-01
  9. ↑ News (no date). Myth Adventures.net. Retrieved 2011-07-29.

External links

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