There are no tales like…
Myth-Told Tales
It’s a nightmare when master magician Skeeve and Aahz the Pervect fall into Dreamland…
Massha gets married with something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blew…up.
Bunny turns to Skeeve for help when an inter-dimensional beauty contest turns ugly.
Reality shows were never quite like this. Eligible bachelors vie to win Princess Gloriannamarjolie’s hand-if not her heart…
Join Skeeve, Aahz, Massha, Tananda, Bunny, Gleep, the Fairy Godfather, and random myth-ical creatures in eight stories that span the manic MYTH universe. Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye have compiled their favorite tales-and concocted some new ones-for this hilarious collection of myth-adventures…
Myth-Told Tales
by Robert Aspirin and Jodie Lynn Nye
Series
Myth Adventures #13
Genre
Fantasy
Comedy / Humor
Publisher
Ace
Publication Date
February 27, 2007
Myth-Told Tales is a collection of short stories, ranging from a few that were already published in previous Myth volumes to a couple of new ones by Robert Aspirin and a few by him and Jody Lynn Nye, his new co-author at the time. I mostly skipped the forewords, yes, there are more than one, which are a common feature of the Myth books, never just the story in these. Sometimes you get an afterword, too. But, my husband read it and let me know that these two authors were feeling each other out in these short stories. That the co-author was needed because Robert had more books he was obligated to write, and that there was such a long gap between this and the last one due to their original publisher going under and them needing to wait out the contract. Good stuff, right?
Anyhow, all that aside, about the stories themselves, most of these are from various points of view, not Skeeve’s. There were two Gleep stories (Gleeps the juvenile dragon who thinks Skeeve is his pet). I loved those the best. But there was also a pretty fun Aahz story set in a great hunt. Most of the stories were good, though the ones with the new author seemed rather obviously so. Just not the same flair and natural timing as Robert. And as for the overall humor, regardless of which author wrote the story, these, like the other Myth books, tend to be punny, rather than funny. There’s a heavy reliance on tongue-in-cheek character, place, and item naming, which I enjoy but don’t always pick up on right away. But when I do pick up on it, it’s always worth at least a giggle or an amused smirk.
I skipped reading the Masha’s wedding story, but only because I read it before. It was in one of the other books (one of the Myth, Inc. ones, since Gleep’s the hero). Pretty great, as I remember, but I just wanted to read the new ones. Also, there was another nod in one of the stories to “the One Ring” though not the same as in the wedding story (there’s one in there or in the alternate POV version of it). Anyhow, it set off my inner geek alarm in a good way.
Besides the Gleep stories and the hunt one, I also really liked the one about the beauty pagent. Pretty funny. That was a Skeeve one, if I remember correctly.
So overall, I really liked the stories. They’re not all quite as naturally funny as previous Myth stories, but they’re good for a bit of a laugh and a couple of groan-worthy moments. I’d recommend these to folks who enjoy some light fiction, magical sleuthing, and cute humor. They’re appropriate for tweens and up.
My husband gave me this book as a gift, which earned him a lot of bonus points. Robert Aspirin is one of my favorite authors, and I hadn’t known this last batch was out there or that another person had taken up his Myth stories after he passed away.
The review copy of this book was purchased by the reviewer.
About Robert Asprin
Robert (Lynn) Asprin was born in 1946. While he wrote some stand alone novels such as Cold Cash War, Tambu and The Bug Wars and also the Duncan and Mallory Illustrated stories, Bob is best known for his series fantasy, such as the Myth Adventures of Aahz and Skeeve, the Phule’s Company novels and the Time Scout novels written with Linda Evans. He also edited the groundbreaking Thieves’ World anthology series with Lynn Abbey. Other collaborations include License Invoked (set in the French Quarter of New Orleans) and several Myth Adventures novels, all written with Jody Lynn Nye.
Bob’s final solo work was a contemporary fantasy series called Dragons, again set in New Orleans.
Bob passed away suddenly on May 22, 2008. He is survived by his daughter and son, his mother and his sister.
Author Links
About Jody Lynn Nye
Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as ‘spoiling cats.’ When not engaged upon this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction books and short stories.
Before breaking away from gainful employment to write full time, Jody worked as a file clerk, book-keeper at a small publishing house, freelance journalist and photographer, accounting assistant and costume maker.
For four years, she was on the technical operations staff of a local Chicago television station, WFBN (WGBO), serving the last year as Technical Operations Manager. During her time at WFBN, she was part of the engineering team that built the station, acted as Technical Director during live sports broadcasts, and worked to produce in-house spots and public service announcements.
Over the last twenty or so years, Jody has taught in numerous writing workshops and participated on hundreds of panels covering the subjects of writing and being published at science-fiction conventions. She has also spoken in schools and libraries around the north and northwest suburbs. In 2007 she taught fantasy writing at Columbia College Chicago. She also runs the two-day writers workshop at DragonCon.
Jody lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, with her husband Bill Fawcett, a writer, game designer, military historian and book packager, and a black cat, Jeremy.
Author Links
