Warren Murphy’s THE DESTROYER series is going to have a new home. After a long, tumultuous relationship with Gold Eagle, Murphy is taking the hugely popular series to Tor Books, which will bring out THE DESTROYER in hardcover and mass market paperback, along with reissuing some classic titles in trade editions. Murphy will write the new books with James Mullaney, who has written 20 books in the series already. The news was announced in the Destroyer Newsletter, of which I am a proud subscriber.
"it’s something new for us and for the Destroyer series. But it’s
a far different publishing world out there than the one we started out
with and you either grow or go away. We’ve decided to grow. That’ll
no doubt entail startup pains and getting used to a whole new set of
systems and procedures but Jim Mullaney are I are looking forward to
the challenge."The
Destroyer series was begun by Richard Sapir and Murphy back in 1971.
Its first publisher was Pinnacle Books, followed by N.A.L. Signet and
then, for the last ten years, by Harlequin Gold Eagle of Canada. […]Gold Eagle sought a
book contract renewal from Murphy but he declined because, he said, "I
didn’t like the direction the books were taking."The
final Gold Eagle Destroyer, #145, is due out in October. The first Tor
book is scheduled for release in April 2007.
YESSSSSS! Remo and Chiun got me through high school, college, and young adulthood (that ironic phase of life where we think we know *everything*….and are actually quite ignorant; it’s sad….) I stopped reading the series several years ago because, frankly, the books were going flat, but if Warren Murphy is going to be more involved now, I’ll be back in a heartbeat. It’s a shame no one has been able to do the movie properly (although, in my opinion, Roddy McDowell in the failed TV pilot was perfect as Chiun), but there are rumors of a new movie and I have hope.
YIPEE! What really has me excited is that they will reissue some of the early ones. Hopefully four to a collection would be a good start. Even better doing it like the Robert E Howard reprints.
Did that say Harlequin Gold Eagle? So The Executioner series is published by a romance house?
Wow, 35 years and still going strong. Those early books are great stuff. Except for the first one, which is hardly typical of what the series became.
Harlequin started off as a general paperback publisher, back in the day, before concentrating on their romance line. It’s pretty much the same business model — made-to-order series novels, available by subscription — but you can see why the book spines don’t say “Harlequin Gold Eagle” right above Decimator #124: Massacre in Macao.