Robert Asprin

Via Bill Fawcett...

Robert Asprin (1946-2008)

On May 22, 2008, Bob passed away quietly in his home in New Orleans, LA. He had been in good spirits and working on several new projects, and was set to be the Guest of Honor at a major science fiction convention that very weekend. He is survived by his mother, his sister, his daughter and his son, and his cat, Princess, not to mention countless friends and fans and numerous legendary fictional characters. He will be greatly missed.

Asprin should have been the "American Pratchett". He wrote great humorous science fiction and fantasy. His career was impacted by the Internal Revenue Service, which took his income from solo works for a long period. With the Thieves' World series, he helped to start the shared-world anthologies that so many publishers fell in love with. The MythAdventure series and the Phule series were both great examples of humorous genre fiction.