August 23-29 has been awful. Dolly Parton, a sweetheart who endlessly promoted children’s literacy, died on Tuesday. Tim Curry died on Wednesday, and I recently wrote a tribute to him. Then, yesterday a friend of mine Steve Donoso, who was the founder of The Shadowed Circle journal died on Thursday and finally, Will Murray died on Friday (today).
I am deeply saddened that we have lost two important people in the world of pulp fiction. I remember sending multiple submissions to The Shadowed Circle because I am a big fan of The Shadow. Steve was always kind and helpful and so far, two of my essays have been published. He pointed me to an online catalogue to help me fill in some gaps in my Shadow collection for which I am grateful. Steve honored me last year by inviting me to contribute to a collaborative essay for the Second Shadow Compendium, which will hopefully be released in the near future; no doubt it will be dedicated to him. When Steve announced that he would be stepping away from The Shadowed Circle due to his health, I hoped he was doing so in order to prevent it from getting worse and would make a recovery only to hear a few weeks later that he passed away. I can only hope it was peaceful and in turn that his family is at peace.
I got to know about Will Murray in 2021 and for several decades he has had his hand on the pulse of pulp fiction history. Not only has he published multiple books about the pulps such as Master of Mystery: The Rise of the Shadow, Dark Avenger: The Strange Saga of the Shadow, and Knight of Darkness: The Legacy of the Shadow, but he wrote numerous novels of pulp characters, most recently of Dr. Death and The Spider. You may also be aware that Will carried on the legacy of Doc Savage but not only completing novels using Lester Dent’s notes, like The Sinister Shadow, but he also wrote numerous originals under the Doc pen name Kenneth Robeson. He gave us 22 Doc Savage novels to my knowledge, not including his non-fiction about the character. Will’s death was more of a shock to me than Steve’s because I didn’t hear anything about failing health of any variety. Once again, I hope he passed peacefully.
Both these guys made contributions that helped to keep pulp fiction alive, one of my most passionate fandoms that I’m active in. Steve was a great editor with a great vision who was open to new ideas and perspectives, and Will was a master of fiction and pulp scholarship. I’ll miss both of these men.
Written by Nick Montelongo
I am deeply saddened that we have lost two important people in the world of pulp fiction. I remember sending multiple submissions to The Shadowed Circle because I am a big fan of The Shadow. Steve was always kind and helpful and so far, two of my essays have been published. He pointed me to an online catalogue to help me fill in some gaps in my Shadow collection for which I am grateful. Steve honored me last year by inviting me to contribute to a collaborative essay for the Second Shadow Compendium, which will hopefully be released in the near future; no doubt it will be dedicated to him. When Steve announced that he would be stepping away from The Shadowed Circle due to his health, I hoped he was doing so in order to prevent it from getting worse and would make a recovery only to hear a few weeks later that he passed away. I can only hope it was peaceful and in turn that his family is at peace.
I got to know about Will Murray in 2021 and for several decades he has had his hand on the pulse of pulp fiction history. Not only has he published multiple books about the pulps such as Master of Mystery: The Rise of the Shadow, Dark Avenger: The Strange Saga of the Shadow, and Knight of Darkness: The Legacy of the Shadow, but he wrote numerous novels of pulp characters, most recently of Dr. Death and The Spider. You may also be aware that Will carried on the legacy of Doc Savage but not only completing novels using Lester Dent’s notes, like The Sinister Shadow, but he also wrote numerous originals under the Doc pen name Kenneth Robeson. He gave us 22 Doc Savage novels to my knowledge, not including his non-fiction about the character. Will’s death was more of a shock to me than Steve’s because I didn’t hear anything about failing health of any variety. Once again, I hope he passed peacefully.
Both these guys made contributions that helped to keep pulp fiction alive, one of my most passionate fandoms that I’m active in. Steve was a great editor with a great vision who was open to new ideas and perspectives, and Will was a master of fiction and pulp scholarship. I’ll miss both of these men.
Written by Nick Montelongo
The author does not allow comments to this entry
No comments