Pendleton's Executioner novels not for sale any longer

[andydecker]

For those who are interested:

As the Mack Bolan Website noted: "In 2022 the rights will revert back to the Pendleton Estate and all Gold Eagle published ebooks on Amazon etc., will be removed from sale."

As the last ones before they finally stopped publishing new novels at the end of 2020 were Ebook only, these will vanish. Currently the still available Ebooks are sold at reduced prices. Not only the Executioner range, but also those Stony Man and Mack Bolan novels which were those 300+ pages books. They were cancelled in 2015 already while the main series limped on, but quite a few were sold as Ebooks. These also will vanish.

I never took much notice to such things until Dark Horse Comics lost the Conan licence. I never completed the digital comics edition of Savage Sword because the collections in question were not my favorites and I thought one day at bargain prices. But the whole section vanished over night and you won't get a chance to buy them again.

Speaking of series, the Adult westerns Longarm, Lone Star, the Trailsman and Slocum are still available by Berkley as Ebooks. Lone Star is the only series which was digitalized complete, the rest is mostly the last years of their existance. Of course they will vanish without notice one day.

[ripper]

A few years ago I bought a western on Kindle. There were several dozen titles by the same author. Some time later when I decided to buy another the whole lot had been deleted. No idea why, but I haven't seen anything else by the same writer and none were available as printed books.

[andydecker]

Jul 31, 2021 10:37:16 GMT ripper said:

A few years ago I bought a western on Kindle. There were several dozen titles by the same author. Some time later when I decided to buy another the whole lot had been deleted. No idea why, but I haven't seen anything else by the same writer and none were available as printed books.

I still kick myself for not completing McDowell's Blackwater edition. I only bought the first four installments, as I never was a big fan of the last two books. Wanted to wait till the mood was there, as chances were high that I would never read them. Then the licence changed hands, the 6 part edition vanished over night, to be replaced with the new Valancourt edition, which of course is only one book.

I really don't want to buy this for the third time just to have a complete edition. Also I truly hate the cover - who thought that a pseudo-manga illustration is just right for a Southern Gothic is working in the wrong job.

 

[cauldronbrewer]

Jul 31, 2021 13:19:57 GMT andydecker said:

I still kick myself for not completing McDowell's Blackwater edition. I only bought the first four installments, as I never was a big fan of the last two books. Wanted to wait till the mood was there, as chances were high that I would never read them. Then the licence changed hands, the 6 part edition vanished over night, to be replaced with the new Valancourt edition, which of course is only one book.

I really don't want to buy this for the third time just to have a complete edition. Also I truly hate the cover - who thought that a pseudo-manga illustration is just right for a Southern Gothic is working in the wrong job.

I don't mind the Valancourt cover so much; I'm mostly just happy someone brought Blackwater back into print. Still, the original paperback covers are iconic.

[andydecker]

Jul 31, 2021 16:11:36 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

Jul 31, 2021 13:19:57 GMT andydecker said:

I still kick myself for not completing McDowell's Blackwater edition. I only bought the first four installments, as I never was a big fan of the last two books. Wanted to wait till the mood was there, as chances were high that I would never read them. Then the licence changed hands, the 6 part edition vanished over night, to be replaced with the new Valancourt edition, which of course is only one book.

I really don't want to buy this for the third time just to have a complete edition. Also I truly hate the cover - who thought that a pseudo-manga illustration is just right for a Southern Gothic is working in the wrong job.

I don't mind the Valancourt cover so much; I'm mostly just happy someone brought Blackwater back into print. Still, the original paperback covers are iconic.

To be honest, the covers of the 6 part edition of Tough Times Publishing were an abomonation. Valancourt at least put some thought and effort into its cover. Still I think it tone-deaf to its theme.

[jimpickens]

Hopefully the series can get restarted with Mack and company not being restricted by Harpers Press.

[andydecker]

As of today the books are still avaiable. Either the information was not sound or things have changed in the meantime. After the death of Linda Pendleton in December maybe things will be handled differently in the future, who knows. Writer Mike Newton, who wrote a lot if not most of the Harlequin books, also died in September.

But most of the former Harlequin series indeed have vanished as Ebooks for Kindle. Deathlands and Rogue Angel are no longer sold.

[pulphack]

I wonder who Linda Pendleton left the rights to? Years back there was an issue with her and Gold Eagle as she wanted them to republish the early Executioners and the editorial team beleived this wouldn't work for the simple reason that the series as was then (about 15 years back) was very different from Don pendleton's original. Harpers had a company option the movie rights just before Gold Eagle was closed. I wonder how much input Linda Pendleton had, or if she was even included? The contractual snarl-up with her owning early rights and Harlequin/Harper owning later rights could be the thing that actually stalled her getting the series up and running again. IP rights are a nightmare at the best of times. As we have discussed before, Andy, it would be interesting to go back and do a retro/period Bolan, but the original conception of the character would be strange and ill-fitting to the modern world. There's space for Bolan to rise again if she's left the rights to someone who is proactive. Linda and Mike Newton going so close is sad, though. Steven Mertz is still around, I think (I hope).

PS - hello Andy, happy new year and how you doing? And happy new year to everyone (almost) on here.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jan 6, 2022 19:24:02 GMT pulphack said:

I wonder who Linda Pendleton left the rights to? Years back there was an issue with her and Gold Eagle as she wanted them to republish the early Executioners and the editorial team beleived this wouldn't work for the simple reason that the series as was then (about 15 years back) was very different from Don pendleton's original. Harpers had a company option the movie rights just before Gold Eagle was closed. I wonder how much input Linda Pendleton had, or if she was even included? The contractual snarl-up with her owning early rights and Harlequin/Harper owning later rights could be the thing that actually stalled her getting the series up and running again. IP rights are a nightmare at the best of times. As we have discussed before, Andy, it would be interesting to go back and do a retro/period Bolan, but the original conception of the character would be strange and ill-fitting to the modern world. There's space for Bolan to rise again if she's left the rights to someone who is proactive. Linda and Mike Newton going so close is sad, though. Steven Mertz is still around, I think (I hope).

PS - hello Andy, happy new year and how you doing? And happy new year to everyone (almost) on here.

Obvious the almost is aimed at me.
Well at least I got you to post on here. Which is a rare occurrence.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

Jan 6, 2022 19:24:02 GMT pulphack said:

I wonder who Linda Pendleton left the rights to? Years back there was an issue with her and Gold Eagle as she wanted them to republish the early Executioners and the editorial team beleived this wouldn't work for the simple reason that the series as was then (about 15 years back) was very different from Don pendleton's original. Harpers had a company option the movie rights just before Gold Eagle was closed. I wonder how much input Linda Pendleton had, or if she was even included? The contractual snarl-up with her owning early rights and Harlequin/Harper owning later rights could be the thing that actually stalled her getting the series up and running again. IP rights are a nightmare at the best of times. As we have discussed before, Andy, it would be interesting to go back and do a retro/period Bolan, but the original conception of the character would be strange and ill-fitting to the modern world. There's space for Bolan to rise again if she's left the rights to someone who is proactive. Linda and Mike Newton going so close is sad, though. Steven Mertz is still around, I think (I hope).

PS - hello Andy, happy new year and how you doing? And happy new year to everyone (almost) on here.

You like the idea of this site, but have contributed zero in almost a year.
And I haven't said anything insulting to anyone in all the time I've been here. Unlike you.

You've let dem bones and a handful of others do the work, and think because you've been here all those years you have a superiority over others who have only been here for a little while. You have no right to think that.

[andydecker]

Jan 6, 2022 19:24:02 GMT pulphack said:

I wonder who Linda Pendleton left the rights to? Years back there was an issue with her and Gold Eagle as she wanted them to republish the early Executioners and the editorial team beleived this wouldn't work for the simple reason that the series as was then (about 15 years back) was very different from Don pendleton's original. Harpers had a company option the movie rights just before Gold Eagle was closed. I wonder how much input Linda Pendleton had, or if she was even included? The contractual snarl-up with her owning early rights and Harlequin/Harper owning later rights could be the thing that actually stalled her getting the series up and running again. IP rights are a nightmare at the best of times. As we have discussed before, Andy, it would be interesting to go back and do a retro/period Bolan, but the original conception of the character would be strange and ill-fitting to the modern world. There's space for Bolan to rise again if she's left the rights to someone who is proactive. Linda and Mike Newton going so close is sad, though. Steven Mertz is still around, I think (I hope).

PS - hello Andy, happy new year and how you doing? And happy new year to everyone (almost) on here.

Happy new year to you too, Andy, thanks for asking. Well, times have been better, haven't they? I hope that this year will be not so lousy as the last two years, but isn't hope just a lack of information?

Steven Mertz still writes action/adventures, as far as I gathered. As no publisher does those novels any longer, it is self-publishing or some of those little outfits who do ebooks only. Frankly I couldn't muster enough interest to check. He posts now and then on one of the Bolan facebook groups, like Mike Newton and Linda Pendleton did. Mike Linaker also does.

As I surely mentioned already in the many, many years I post on this forum ;-) I collected Pendleton since a was a young lad and later had one of those Gold Eagle subscriptions. But after a while I stopped reading, I think in the 90s. And in the early 2000s I canceled the subs or it got cancelled by the publisher. I honestly don't remember. Nowadays I pick one from the shelf when the mood strikes, but I seldom finish them and as with so many things reading about the genre has often become more interesting then reading the works itself.

Last year I read one or two of the original novels after reading about them on Joe Kenney's blog. I found it hard going, to be honest. The past is indeed a different country, and the Pendleton novels in the 20s numbers have aged badly. They seem tired and bordering on self-parody, while becoming strangely subdued and plotless. I really would like to know how many were ghost-written, a few by Newton and Mertz are known, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are more.

A retro Bolan could be fun, but I think it would be hard work. It would be difficult to not overdo it, and those official James Bond novels don't seem to work so well.

Last month I bought a few of those Bolans which may - or not - vanish, even if I may never read them. But after 40+ years of interest in the character it seemed to be the right thing to do :-) I chose them according to writers, to complete Newton's and your's.

[pulphack]

Heh - lack of information - that sums the world up for the last two years really...

Yeah, it's been an odd time and it's not getting better sooner. Been occupied this last twelve months working with this ex-NASA guy which has meant I've read very little other than technical stuff to do with sustainable energy (hint - it's not very at the moment) and also with solar energy harnessed from space and transmitted wirelessly, which isn't as sci-fi as it sounds at first hearing. It explains the Chinese and Musk and Bezos arguing about space junk. I was never great at physics, so this has been fascinating but hard work.

I'll bet the Pendleton books do read clunky these days - he was never the greatest stylist, and almost at times on Rosenberger standards for a bit of lengthy diatribe. Sapir and Murphy were better technically, though much of The Destroyer has aged. Murphy's son was discussing movie rights with someone about a year ago, but I haven't caught up with him for while. It would be an ‘interesting’ job to refashion the original setting and period for a post-millenium audience but it could be done, and a decent action movie franchise fashioned. Of course, it depends on whoever is managing the estate.

Good to see Mertz is still at it – he’d know how many of the early books Pendleton handed over, and there were a few things about it he said on Joe Kenney’s blog, which I check in on occasionally. The odd thing is that there is a lot of old-scholl stuff like that out there, and a lot of it through the ebook specialists. There’s still an audience, and as long as these guys can reach them it’s all good. The paperbacking for a living crew have moved into kids/YA and tv/film franchises these days.

I suspect Bolan’s day has passed until such time as he becomes the kind of history that means he can be rediscovered like a lot of once popular fiction. There’s a lot of rights selling going on, and some companies that have bought estates to market for cross-platforms, like IPL. A lot of their successes are ‘golden age’ writers who slipped out of fashion after their death. Forty-fifty years and then rediscovery seems to be the sweet spot at the moment.
It all comes round again, and will probably do so more and more as the amount of media grows and there is more that is preserved digitally and not in paper stocks that can be burned, lost or damaged. The problem these IP holders will have then is how they monetise it, as that’s their purpose…