MythAdventures

MythAdventures is the collective name of a series of humorous fantasy novels by Robert L. Asprin, popular for their whimsical nature, myriad characters, and liberal use of puns. The center around the (very very) diverse adventures of Skeeve, a journeyman magician from the dimension of Klah (who learns about demons very shortly after his mentor dies), and Aahz (short for Aahzimandius), a demon (dimensional traveler, as it is explained) from the dimension of Perv (making him a Pervect, thank you very much).

The title of each novel contains some sort of wordplay on "miss" or "mis-" or "mess" (in the first novel), The "first" series contains twelve novels:

Another Fine Myth (1978)
Myth Conceptions (1980)
Myth Directions (1982)
Hit or Myth (1983)
Myth-ing Persons (1984)
Little Myth Marker (1985)
M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link (1986)
Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (1987)
M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action (1990)
Sweet Myth-Tery of Life (1993)
Myth-Ion Improbable (2001)
Something M.Y.T.H. Inc. (2002)

The "new" Myth Adventures series, co-authored with Jody Lynn Nye (who intends to continue the series after Asprin's death), currently contains the following novels:

Myth-Told Tales (2003)
Myth Alliances (2003)
Myth-Taken Identity (2004)
Class Dis-Mythed (2005)
Myth-Gotten Gains (2006)
Myth-Chief (2008)
Myth-Fortunes (2009)

Additionally, the first novel was adapted into an eight-part graphic novel by WaRP Graphics in the mid-80s, illustrated and heavily rewritten by Phil Foglio, who also supplied illustrations for many of the novels. Four more issues followed, attempting to bridge the action between the first and second novels. 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. Foglio's comics are slowly going online, three pages a week, at his website.

Now has a character sheet.

Tropes used in MythAdventures include:

Aggressive Negotiations: Skeeve is parleying with the head of the opposing army when suddenly he realises the opposing army has been moving into position to attack him while he's distracted by the peace talk. He complains that this is a breach of protocol, and is informed that yes, it is, but it also works extremely well.
Ambition Is Evil: Subverted. The main characters tend to use their functional magic to make money and wind up even richer than they started.
Another Dimension: A whole plethora of them, more than any individual can visit in one lifetime.
Arbitrary Skepticism: Played for laughs. Magic? Fine. Demons? Fine. Dragons? Fine. Interdimensional travel? Fine. Blue gremlins? NO WAY!
Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: Fortunately for Skeeve, logic is not high on the priority list of requisite skills for Mob bosses.
Author Filibuster: Asprin and (evidently) Nye both have the bad habit of dropping into lecture mode.
Author Existence Failure: Possibly averted, more books were planned to be written by Nye after Asprin's death, but as of spring 2012 nothing has yet come of this.
Bare Your Midriff: Masha is determined to prove that one doesn't need a slim waist to bare one's midriff. The other characters (privately) disagree.
Berserk Button: Don't youse be makin' fun of how Guido talks, know what I mean?
- He had to practice a lot to get that speech pattern down in the first place.
The Big Guy: Chumley is a Class 3, with Class 5 tendencies. As the male Trolls have found that being Big and Dumb tends to land them lucrative jobs as hired muscle, the entire male half of his race consists of Class 3 Big Guys.
Brick Joke: In "M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link", the brick needed several chapters to land. Briefly, it's about a worker's union in a factory.
Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: Skeeve's native world has such combination animals as spider-bears or fox-squirrels, but Skeeve is baffled by such mundane animals as cows.
Cats Are Magic: Lampshaded in one of the books: "Cats and computers can work through dimensions."
Chain of Deals: This is how Deveels make their fortunes.
Character Development: The whole series is that for Skeeve, in a way. His views and opinions about the world really evolve throughout the books. This goes for some of his friends/allies too.
Cheap Gold Coins: Parodied. Skeeve and Aahz are given a pitiful amount (on Klod) of gold coins to win a war with, but on Deva it turns out that one gold coin is a pretty decent asking price for an interdimensional mercenary's services.
Chekhov's Gun: Around the time he was actively working with/against the Mob, Skeeve acquired a Djin in a bottle. It took several years in-story and 8 year in real time to put it into use. His name is Kalvin, by the way.
Cool Gate: Skeeve's tiny tent leads into a huge luxurious mansion. The mansion is actually in another dimension, which occasionally leads to some problems.
Covers Always Lie: The Ace reprints of the series sadly offer this trope in spades.
Cute Monster Girl: The women of Trollia, who are Trollops. Contrast their male counterparts, the Trolls.
Defeat Means Friendship: Skeeve often winds up working with people who were previously his enemy. Though he subverts it in Little Myth Marker when he flatly refuses a request by the Ax to join his group. And that's only a temporary subversion--Skeeve and the Ax end up collaborating much later.
Delusions of Eloquence: Inverted with Guido and Nunzio who, in order, possess an MBA and was once a schoolteacher. Guido spent a considerable amount of time perfecting his mook-speak, though, because that's what people expect him to sound like.
Disney Death: Used as a Running Gag.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!
Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Gleep the dragon is actually very intelligent, but you would only know that if you spoke Dragon.
- All of Skeeve's employees are smarter than him when they have their own POV stories. His mob muscle has the local equivalent of an MBA.
  - Better educated, yes, but not necessarily smarter.
Encyclopedia Exposita: Each chapter has a fictitious quote. An example might be something like, "Violence is never the right thing to do" - Attila the Hun. This is dropped in later novels; Asprin commented at one point that thinking up the quotes had become the hardest part of the writing.
Epigraph: Parodied. Most of the quotes are fictitious, but some are genuine quotes that are made funny in the context of the associated chapter.
ET Gave Us Wi-Fi: Most "inventors" are alleged to be closet dimensional travelers, who generally introduce technology from more-advanced dimensions in order to make a buck.
Evil Chancellor: Although Grimble frequently engages in power struggles with General Badaxe, he has no desire to rule.
Explosive Breeder: There is a Running Gag in one of Foglio's comic adaptations involving small dragons that reproduce on contact with water (The Myth Adventures sequence can be read starting HERE) One of them happens to get into a market stall demonstrating umbrellas, and after that they keep showing up everywhere, until at the end of the scene the original owners are forced to round them all up.
Expy: In Something M.Y.T.H. Inc., parodies of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Zorro, and the Fellowship of the Ring all make trouble for Possiltum. In the latter case, their expy status is deliberately self-engineered ("We need a dwarf!").
Extreme Omnivore: Aahz, in a visual Running Gag in Foglio's graphic novels, is occasionally seen snacking on various objects not usually considered food. However, considering the content of Pervian food (See Masochist's Meal, below), this may be entirely justified - or just Foglio's sly way of pointing out Aahz's scenery-chewing ways in the novels.
Fairy Godmother: A fairy godfather for The Mafia.
Fake Ultimate Hero: Aahz builds up Skeeve as one of these, although Skeeve becomes a genuinely talented magician.
Fantasy Gun Control: The series has dimension-hopping, high technology, and heavy warfare, but no guns. The mobsters carry crossbows in their violin cases.
- A couple of firearms do appear in the later books, but are generally ineffectual or introduced purely for the incongruity.
- On Klah even demons use crossbows due to Masquerade and possibly logistics, though not everyone's too picky to use heat-seeking quarrels. Pookie was rather amused by crossbows and had something different on Perv. Then again, magic staves can send downrange all sorts of nasty things.
Finger in the Mail: In M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link, Skeeve gets a finger in the mail; the ring on it is one of the linking rings he used on King Roderick and Queen Hemlock, initially leading him to believe she cut off her own finger so she could kill the king and pursue her ambitions. Later in the series, we learn it's Roderick's finger, he died of natural causes, and Hemlock sent it to show she figured out that the rings were bupkis and that she still wanted Skeeve.
Foreshadowing: In Myth-Chief, in which Aahz and Skeeve compete over who gets to be M.Y.T.H. Inc.'s new president, Guido accidentally calls Bunny "boss". Guess who ends up getting the job...
From a Single Cell: In one of the comics, Isstvan gets blown up by a spell, and then rather squishily reconstitutes.
Fur Against Fang: In one dimension Skeeve visits, vampires are urbanites who look down on werewolves as country bumpkins.
Gambling Game: Dragon Poker from Little Myth Marker, appears to be a cross between standard poker and the fictional "Fizzbin" from Star Trek: The Original Series, and is always played for a table stake.
Gayngster: Don Bruce, the Mob's "fairy Godfather". Skeeve suspects, of course, but it's not confirmed until the books from Guido's point of view.
Genie in a Bottle: Skeeve meets one of these, a Djin from the dimension Djinger. They are only three inches tall, and hire themselves out for Bottle Duty because their entire dimension is in debt. They tend to be a bit short on Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, though, despite what the salesmen say.
Genius Bruiser: Chumley is a rather highly educated troll, but goes by the workname of Big Crunch, mainly because most available jobs require dumb muscle instead of smart muscle.
- Guido and Nunzio also count, but not quite as much. See Big Guy above.
Gentle Giant: Chumley, a huge green-furred Troll. While he works as hired muscle under the pseudonym "Big Crunch", he is actually a quiet poet at heart. Gus the gargoyle is also large and a sweetheart.
God Save Us From the Queen: Subverted in Queen Hemlock, who is rumored to be greedy, ambitious, and cut-throat, even going so far as to murder her parents for the throne -- but who in real life is actually rather down-to-earth and cunning... and, yes, ambitious.
Guile Hero: Aahz. In the early novels especially, there are very few problems that he isn't able to simply talk his way out of.
- Asprin pointed out in an afterword that the inspiration for Aahz and Skeeve was an all-night marathon of the Hope & Crosby Road To ... series.
Heir Club for Men: Don Bruce tried to play matchmaking with Bunny and Skeeve, considering Skeeve as a potential heir. As to exactly how successful this attempt was...
Hostage Spirit Link: Skeeve sets up King Roderick and Queen Hemlock with unremovable magic rings, claiming that if one of them dies, so does the other, all in an attempt to keep both of them in line (and from killing one another). He was bluffing; they're just normal unremovable rings. The bluff works but several books later, Hemlock catches on when Roderick dies of natural causes and nothing happens to her.
Hurricane of Puns: Oh Lord, yes... usually ranking F4 or F5. Fortunately, they tend to be a bit more highbrow than similar storm systems in Xanth, so your head isn't as likely to explode.
Insistent Terminology: Denizens of Perv are called Pervects. One would be wise not to forget this, lest one be the subject of percussive education. Pervert, it is explained, is actually a racial slur.
Interdimensional Travel Device: The D-Hopper is used throughout the series to get to different universes.
Interquel: Myth-ion Improbable, written after a multi-year hiatus so Asprin could regain a feel for the characters before tackling Something M.Y.T.H. Inc.. Chronologically set between the third and fourth book.
It Can Think: Gleep is a lot smarter than his puppy-like demeanor indicates.
It Must Be Mine: In Myth Directions, Tanda the Trollop assassin wants to procure a hideous green frog statue whose only value is as a trophy in a sporting competition, as a birthday present for Aahz. Hilarity Ensues. Then gets cranked even higher when Aahz learns about his intended gift and includes snatching it back as part of the plan to deal with the hilarity.
- Even funnier is how it happens. Aahz chews Skeeve out when he learns that the thing everyone's been going nuts over is a butt-ugly statue. But as soon as Skeeve admits that it was supposed to be his birthday present, Aahz practically falls in love with it.
Judgment of Solomon: Subverted in Hit and Myth. The decision is rendered by Skeeve (while disguised as King Roderick) regarding a dispute over a cat, but:

"This was supposed to inspire them to settle their difference with a quick compromise. Instead, they thanked me for my wisdom, shook hands, and left smiling, presumably to carve up the cat."

Kayfabe: Used in-universe by two Trolls from a Myth-Told Tales story, who secretly have a conversation while appearing to beat the living crap out of each other.
Ley Lines: These are necessary for the casting of any magic whatsoever.
Living Legend: Skeeve the Magnificent, renowned across the dimensions. And it costs an arm and a leg to hire him because of it.
Loads and Loads of Characters
Long Running Book Series
Lost Him in a Card Game: Subverted. This was deliberately done on the orders of the "child" in question so as to infiltrate the hero's household.
The Magic Poker Equation: Justified in Little Myth Marker, as Skeeve has no skill or knowledge of the game in question, betting everything on the first hand without even looking at the cards. By reducing the game to what amounts to a coin flip, he renders skill irrelevant.
Masochist's Meal: All of Pervian food. According to Aahz: "The biggest problem with Pervian food is to keep it from crawling away from your dish while you are eating it..."
Master Apprentice Chain: Garkin & Aahz > Skeeve > Massha
Mildly Military: The Possiltum military is under funded and underfed, so it's justified that they're insubordinate and incompetent.
More Hero Than Thou: Who gets to go through the door (Myth-ing Persons)? Also, who gets to whack Hemlock (M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action)?
Naive Newcomer: Skeeve.
No One Gets Left Behind: The villain reaction is elaborated upon by Guido and Nunzio in M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action - aside from the benefits of a live prisoner, wounding a soldier takes three out of the action - one man down, one to carry him, and one to report back to his superiors.
Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Gremlins, see above.
Obfuscating Stupidity: The entire race of Trolls embrace this trope, apparently having found it difficult to get work if they spoke as eloquently as they do among themselves. Also true of dragons, who aren't even considered sentient. What fools these mortals be...
Older Than They Look: Markie
Our Demons Are Different: In this case, a "demon" is just a dimensional traveler. Some of these, the Deveels, do look the part, but a human outside his home plane would be considered a demon as well.
Our Genies Are Different: The denizens of Djinger are all strapped for cash and hire themselves out to work in magic lamps, rings, bottles, and so forth. Beyond that, they work entirely on hype.
- Not entirely. The Djinni explains to Skeeve (but only AFTER he had already technically fulfilled his contractual obligation and was about to leave at Skeeve's insistance) that he had been deliberately underselling his abilities so that Skeeve would be more impressed when he finally DID perform his single service. He gives Skeeve a Self Reliance Aesop Speech before leaving.
Parody Magic Spell: All incantations are fake trappings meant to impress Muggles. Quite a lot of them fall under the trope, including "Alakazam-shazam" and the perennial favourite "Walla Walla, Washington".
Please Put Some Clothes On: Skeeve has this problem with Queen Hemlock and Bunny. The fact that he's embarrassed tips off Hemlock that he's not who he's magically disguised as.
Proud Merchant Race: The Deveels.
Psmith Psyndrome: Go ahead. Call him "Oz the Pervert". We'll wait.
Rock Beats Laser: In Little Myth Marker, a crooked casino dealer disdains magical cheating methods (which the gamblers are watching for) in favor if the simple finesse of a marked deck (which they aren't).
Shirley Template: "Markie" from Little Myth Marker is a classic Shirley Temple expy, which is to be expected considering the title and half of the plot of the novel comes from the Shirley Temple movie Little Miss Marker. The trope is played with when the book's plot diverges from the movie.
Shout-Out: E.g. Guido & Nunzio (see their WWE prototype in the Unrelated Brothers article).
- Idnew and Drahcir, the Woof Writers - A shout out to Wendi and Richard Pini... in werewolf form.
  - Phil Foglio's illustration of Don Bruce for one book looks like a certain Mr. O'Malley.
    - For that matter, Nick the Vampire is Phil's avatar in-universe.
Shown Their Work: Asprin dealt with writer's block by doing research. On the negative side, this sometimes led to the Author Filibusters mentioned above.
Smoke Out: Skeeve tries a variation of this to intimidate an army. Unfortunately, he quickly learns that his ninja smoke makes him sneeze.
Springtime for Hitler: Guido and Nunzio's attempts to disrupt the Possiltum army in M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action only end up improving the army and/or getting them promoted. Even when they go as far as to have supplies delivered at random.
Squishy Wizard: Justified for humans. Aahz observes that humans simply don't have the lifespan necessary to become proficient at both magic and combat, whilst non-humans have longer to practice and become both magically competent and non-squishy.
Student and Master Team: Skeeve and Aahz, after the latter is stripped of most of his magical powers.
Take That: Myth-Told Tales, a collection of short stories, is a whole string of them, slamming fox-hunting, beauty contests and hair salons. After Asprin's Real Life troubles with the IRS, Myth-Taken Identity also worked in an anti-tax-agency subplot.
Taking the Bullet: Gleep takes an arrow for Aahz in Something M.Y.T.H. Inc., finally earning Aahz's respect (and the reader's forgiveness for how he tried to roast Tananda in M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action).
This Is My Human: Skeeve has a pet, the little dragon Gleep. Gleep has a pet,too -- the Klahdish boy Skeeve.
- At one point, Gleep even thinks of Guido and Nunzio as Skeeve's pets.
Those Two Bad Guys: Guido and Nunzio, who come to work for Skeeve as part of his new partnership with the Mafia.
Translation Convention: Averted at the bazaar - Deveels speak every language, or can hire on short notice someone who can, because they're far too savvy as merchants to lose a sale just because of the language barrier.
Unit Confusion: Aahz has trouble with Klahdish units of time.
Vignette Episode: Mostly released as novels, but some of the books are collections of short stories about the universe.
Virgin Power: Embarrassingly, Skeeve is the only one in the group that does not elicit a negative reaction from a ~~stolen~~ borrowed war unicorn.
- Considering he almost killed himself by attending too many drunken parties at one point, that's quite a feat.
- Well, they never did actually figure out whether he had or not, and by that time he had already owned that unicorn for years. Long enough for it to overlook if he did or didn't.
  - The again, it seems to put up with Aahz too, who almost certainly has, so it may just be very well-trained.
Vocal Dissonance: Nunzio's a big man described with a tiny voice.
Watering Down: The book M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action features Mob enforcer Guido discussing this phenomena, noting it's a way for the bar owner to make more money off less product, and his customers don't mind because less alcohol per glass makes the drink "healthier".
We Are as Mayflies: Skeeve's human lifespan is occasionally mentioned as being very short by Aahz's standards.
We Sell Everything: The Deva Bazaar... which, by the way, consists of the entire planet.
Weak but Skilled: As a magic-user, Skeeve only knows a handful of basic spells. Nevertheless, he's able to use these (along with copious amounts of cunning, negotiation, and B.S.) to get the reputation of a sorcerous demi-god.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Isstvan in Foglio's comic-book adaptation.
Whole-Plot Reference: Little Myth Marker, to Little Miss Marker.