M.Y.T.H.-Interpretations: The Worlds of Robert Asprin

The Myth-Adventures: the original proposal to be written by Robert Lynn Asprin

An outrageously tongue-in-cheek series tracing the haps and mis-haps of a young sorcerer named Skeeve and his brusque demon-mentor, Aahz (no relation). In the course of their travels, they lampoon every done-to-death plot of action-adventure-fantasy literature and cinema.

Book 1: Another Fine Myth — Our heroes meet for the first time and pool their meager talents to stop a mad master magician who is out to rule the dimensions.

Book 2: Myth Conceptions — A battalion couldn’t take that position, but a few, hand-picked, well-trained men…At Aahz’s insistence, Skeeve accepts a position as Court Magician at the down-at-the-heels kingdom of Posseltum. Too late, they discover that the job includes defending the kingdom — specifically against the oncoming might of a massive Roman legion-type army. At a McDonald’s in another dimension, the pair recruit a force of their own, consisting of a Trollup assassin, an Imp who has lost his powers, an aging Archer, a Gargoyle with his salamander sidekick, and a Gremlin. Of course, nobody warned them that the opposing army is funded by an organized crime syndicate.

Book 3: Myth Direction — A blend of the Master Heist, the Great Escape, and the Big Game. A shopping trip through the dimensions in search of a birthday present for Aahz goes awry, forcing our heroes to organize a team to compete in a three-way game which is best described as rugby played for keeps.

Book 4: Hit or Myth — A medieval War Against the Mafia. Remember the organized crime syndicate from Book 2? Well, they’re looking for Skeeve with a vengeance, and this time he has to handle it on his own — Aahz is back visiting his home on Perv and completely incommunicado.

HIT OR MYTH

Troubles in Perv require that Aahz return to his home dimension, separating him from Skeeve for the first time since their initial meeting.

It couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

The organized crime loan sharks arrive in Posseltum looking for a) their pet army, which has mysteriously disappeared, and b) the magician named Skeeve who was responsible for the disappearance — but not necessarily in that order.

Torn between his duty to protect king and kingdom and his more rational desire to hide until Aahz gets back, Skeeve settles on a compromise. He sends the king into hiding and masks his own identity behind royal robes to deal with the intruders. His charade is jeopardized, and eventually ruined, by the early arrival of the real king’s brid-to-be.

His ruse discovered, Skeeve must solve the problems himself without the assistance or guidance of his mentor. In desperation, he strikes a bargain with the mob: an army for a world. To protect his friends in the mob’s now-disbanded army, Skeeve trades their freedom for passage into another dimension — one ripe for the mob’s brand of gentle plunder. Everybody’s happy.

Then Aahz comes back.

Fast on his heels arrives a delegation from another dimension (guess which one) seeking the aid of the renown magician Skeeve to save them from a criminal invasion. Of course, they offer a sizable fee for this service. Of course, Aahz accepts the commission. Of course, this puts Skeeve back in trouble up to his ears.

All he has to do is successfully move against the gangsters without a) endangering the friends he was protecting originally, b) breaking his promise to the gangsters, or c) letting his new employers know that he was the source of their newfound problem. That’s all.

Under the best of circumstances, the assignment would be nearly impossible.

Unfortunately, Skeeve is not working under the best of circumstances — Aahz has decided that his apprentice needs a helping hand.