Robert Asprin is a very humorous author to read. He delights in words with double meanings.
The first series I read by Robert Asprin was the MythAdventures featuring Skeeve the Magician, who resides on the planet of Klah (which makes him a Klahd...."clod"...get it?) He is a thief who was captured by a magician and was forced to become apprenticed to said magician as repayment for his thievery. Just as his mentor tries to amaze him with a "summoning" spell, assassins kill the old magician, leaving Skeeve in the presence of a "Demon"(another play on words, "demon" is actually a nickname for "Dimension hoppers") Anyway, these two make a interesting team, and are usually surviving by luck as opposed to any magik skill they claim to possess. Included in the series are the following books (all of which, excepting the first, use the word "myth" as a "play" of the prefix "mis"- or of the word "miss"): Another Fine Myth, Myth Conceptions, Myth Directions, Hit or Myth, Myth-Inc. Persons, Little Myth Marker, M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link, Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (a play on the planet that the "Demon" is from, "Perv" which makes him a "Pervect"), Sweet Myth-tery of Life, Myth-ion Improbable, Something M.Y.T.H. Inc., Myth-Told Tales, Myth Alliances, Myth-Taken Identity, Class Dis-Mythed, Myth-Gotten Gains, Myth-Chief, and Myth-Fortunes. I thoroughly enjoyed this series, and laughed nearly every page at the word choices and wonderful puns.
Also by Robert Asprin is the Phule's Company series....(Phule-fool). The main character is Phule, or Willard J. Phule, the super-rich heir apparent of Phule Proof Munitions, currently serving in the Space Legion. His Legion name is Jester, and holds the rank of Captain, being addressed thus as Captain Jester, and occasionally and inappropriately as Captain Phule or Captain Clown. The setting of the book takes place centuries into the future, where humans and other species have come together to form the Interplanetary Alliance, a federation government of numerous planets. The Alliance's military includes not only the Space Legion, but also the Regular Army and Starfleet. The Space Legion is considered the lowest on the totem pole, and the laughingstock of the armed forces. Space Legion protocol has all persons using a pseudonym chosen upon enlistment, and commissions are purchased. It is a violation of Legion rules to release another Legion member's real name, but not to reveal one's own.
After being court-martialed for ordering the strafing of a peace conference, Captain Jester is shipped off to command the Omega Company, a dumping ground for the Legion's foul ups and misfits. Applying his business sense to the running of the unit, he soon turns it around, winning the almost fanatical loyalty of his troops and turning the "Omega Mob", as it is affectionately nicknamed, into a crack unit. This does not please General Blitzkrieg, who expected Phule to sink from sight. The general becomes the unit's main adversary. In each book, he contrives to send the unit on yet another 'impossible' assignment. They usually manage to come through unscathed. (Wikipedia) This series was also extremely funny, and entertained me with every installment. Included in the Phule's Co. series are the following: Phule's Company, Phule's Paradise, A Phule and His Money, Phule Me Twice, No Phule like an Old Phule, and Phule's Errand. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone older than fourteen or fifteen (anyone younger would not get most of the humour, as it is mostly plays on words and puns, not because of any foul or crude humour.) I would recommend the Phule series over the Myth series because Asprin became less exemplary as he continued to write.
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