Ron Miles New Member Posts:40  
| 12/4/2014 3:58 PM |
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Since this has shown up now on Facebook in the Deathlands group, and on MackBolan.com as well, I guess this has become public knowledge. I can confirm that, in the wake of the HarperCollins purchase of Harlequin last August, the decision has been made to shut down the Gold Eagle imprint. This includes the termination of all titles currently published by Gold Eagle - Deathlands, Outlanders, Rogue Angel, Mack Bolan, Executioner, and Stony Man. There are still several more books in the pipeline for each of these series, but 2015 will be the end of the line.
I don't know when exactly the decision was made, but editors and authors began to be notified early yesterday. I learned about this yesterday morning, but was asked not to speak about it publicly out of deference to the employees/contractors/editors/authors who had not yet been notified. Given that I have seen the news in several places online now, I believe I am free to discuss it.
At the moment I have very few answers for you. There are a lot of very sad and recently unemployed people, several of whom I consider to be friends. I am reaching out to all of my contacts, and will provide you whatever information I can.
Regarding the various properties, that is all in flux at the moment and I don't believe anybody really knows for sure what will happen. There is some hope I have heard expressed by multiple insiders that another publisher might be interested in picking up the Axler property. I assume that the same is true of the Pendleton/Bolan property, although I really don't have many connections there. Glenn Williams over at MackBolan.com would be a better resource for that side of things.
All upcoming books currently listed on this site will still be published. There are a couple more in the pipeline beyond those that will also be published. There is enough advance notice that the current Outlanders series will be able to wrap up some dangling plot threads and not end on a cliffhanger. Given the more episodic nature of Deathlands, I don't believe the last book will end with any real finality.
So that's all I have for you at the moment. Obviously I am disappointed. Over the years I have become friends with several GE authors and editors, and I am very sad for them as well.
I will post more here when I am able. |
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silentalbino Advanced Member Posts:742 
| 12/4/2014 5:53 PM |
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Man that totally sucks.
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Randarchist Basic Member Posts:217
| 12/4/2014 6:02 PM |
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Well, balls. Maybe they will sell it off.
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Ron MilesNew Member Posts:40
| 12/4/2014 10:02 PM |
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Updated info:
Gold Eagle will continue publication through December of 2015. Given that I usually have info about upcoming books about six to eight months out, it will probably be spring before I will know what the final titles are or who the authors are. I am certain that the last Outlanders published by Gold Eagle will be written by Rik Hoskin. I am virtually certain that I know who will write the final Deathlands book, but I am not ready to post that yet.
All of the remaining books to be published are either completed, or have approved synopsis.
To clarify regarding any other publisher continuing the series: it is a very slim chance, and I am not aware of any specific publisher that is interested. It would be more accurate to describe it as a "hope" than a "chance".
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RandarchistBasic Member Posts:217
| 12/5/2014 12:31 AM |
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Trust the force you must, for a powerful ally it is. Powerful ally.
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Ron MilesNew Member Posts:40
| 12/5/2014 7:52 AM |
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Outlanders update:
The remaining books are as follows -
#72 - Terminal White - January, 2015 - Rik Hoskin
#73 - Hell's Maw - May, 2015 - Rik Hoskin
#74 - Thralls of Styx (title not finalized, but manuscript complete) - August, 2015 - Douglas Wojtowicz
#75 - Apocalypse Unseen (manuscript not yet completed) - November, 2015 - Rik Hoskin
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DiabloBasic Member Posts:125 
| 12/5/2014 10:55 PM |
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this sucks
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)3az )3aziahBritish Bloke  Veteran Member Posts:1060 
| 12/6/2014 6:15 AM |
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I'm in two minds about this whole thing, one side is for the closure the other against.
For
All of the GE series are getting old and tired, there are finite variations on a theme governed by a formulaic system that you can write before you begin to rehash the same old thing again and again.
How many books can you continue to produce where the main characters never age, almost never change their clothes and recover from almost fatal trauma in the blink of an eye.
With numerous writers on board that appear to have read a handful of previous books (and prove it by throwing in odd bits of canon to prove they have read books 1, 6 or whatever) we end up with stories set in redoubts a few miles up the road from already established ones that the group just dont recall or settings so fantastic that they leave you wondering just how they got built in just 100 years after the total destruction of the world as we know it?
Finally, and this is only to do with the OL books, Mark may well get his hands back on Kane & Co.and we will once again get some REAL OL action back in print, all be it in a new guise I'm guessing?
Against
I will miss my regular trips back to the 80's when I used to read a hell of a lot of post holocaust fiction. DL kept this dream alive. I have grown up with Ryan and co. I used to wonder at what I would be like when I was in my late 30's like Ryan and now Ryan is still in his late 30's -maybe pushing 42, and I'm now OLDER than him!!
DL and OL fill a niche in the market that will be left empty with their passing, what is out there to replace them?
Will they be picked up by another publisher, I doubt it? If they are it will most likely be with new authors with new ideas, Ryan and co. will be changed and become alien to us long time readers. No, I think it is time that we let them go, we have had our fun and they have had there's. I only hope that the last book finishes either with:
"Ryan closed his eye..."
or
some link into the start of the rise of the Barronies a la OL.
Jim
=============================== Billy Fish: He wants to know if we are gods.
Peachy Carnehan: Not gods - Englishmen. The next best thing.
Please check out my FLICKR photos
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RandarchistBasic Member Posts:217
| 12/6/2014 8:13 AM |
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I would like to have seen more of the world outside the US. What's going on in India, Africa, Eastern Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia etc? South America kind of got a toe tip into it.... There is a whole planet of interesting cultures, and their view of the apocalyptic world so underserved... Oh, I know some might say "The book is for a narrow segment of the 'Merican market, and 'Mericans are not interested in stuff outside of 'Merica." and all that, but I think that the media in general underestimates Americans too often. There was a lot of cool potential untapped. The setting is still cool, themes of adventure, survival and standing up against tyranny have appeal to each generation of readers.
If DL gets to have a true ending, I'd like to see one where Ryan decides to grow enough to realize that he has run from responsibility for too long and picks a place to start making into a place he will stand, fight and defend/protect aggressively. It would be interesting to see what kind of people the companions' children would turn out to be, a generation later, what ideals would they fight for. It's easy to destroy, to tear down and run; building takes courage, personal investment and risk. That was always my one problem with the series: as brave as Ryan Candor is in a fight, he was a coward when it came to that.
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The PhantomBasic Member Posts:219 
| 12/6/2014 8:20 PM |
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I would like to hear Mark Ellis chip in his thoughts regarding the end of Outlanders at Gold Eagle...
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Jax2Published Author Veteran Member Posts:269 
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Jax2Published Author Veteran Member Posts:269
| 12/7/2014 8:17 AM |
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Now that some of the dust and other debris has settled from the shocking announcement--shocking to some, not to me--of the Gold Eagle imprint's demise, here are my final thoughts on it...at least for a bit.
When the sale of Harlequin to News Corp was announced back in May, I suggested that the cancellation of GE was a real possibility. I took a rasher of snark for it from some quarters....significantly, those quarters have been strangely quiet over the last few days.
And despite an accusation from one GE scribe, I did not "revel" over writers being thrown out of work or anything of the sort. I won't say I was unhappy when my suspicions about the cancellation of GE series were confirmed, but I wasn't overjoyed either.
My strongest reaction was a profound sense of closure...and relief that an open wound can now begin to heal and the fate of the characters and concepts of my creation will no longer be left up to others...or consigned to limbo.
I'm not going to engage in Monday morning quarter-backing about things GE could've done/changed in order to have kept this from happening...I don't think it would have made any difference. The hand-writing was on the wall as far back as early 2009.
Action-adventure is a niche market and the big publishers are all about global positioning. The Mack Bolan books wouldn't be very popular in countries with large Muslim populations, nor would Deathlands which was very regional-centric.
If action-adventure has a future as a genre, it will be with smaller, independent publishers. But that will require a degree of entrepreneurial spirit and just plain old guts on the part of writers. So far, I haven't seen either. But maybe after a few months of no contracts and no advance checks, they'll break their conditioning.
Sad thing is, they'll have no choice...Gold Eagle was the last game in town...even the long-running "adult" western series like SLOCUM and LONGARM are no more...apparently all of them will be gone in a few months as part of a industry-wide slash n' burn.
Anyway...thus endeth the sermon. |
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RandarchistBasic Member Posts:217
| 12/7/2014 10:22 AM |
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May I dare suggest, folks, that crowd source funding sites, like Kickstarter for just one example, of a way to put the funding together? A small press cooperative made up of writers, with the help of a couple of people to give administrative assistance, could make for a new venue. Print is great, but digital format is pretty much how I and most of my friends and the younger people that I work with read everything these days anyway -mobile libraries for mobile lives.
Audiobooks are also a medium good for the genre, I've read in a few places that the Deathlands series was popular with a lot of long haul drivers who enjoy a good action yarn.
So, if those partnered writers had the freedom to write, the rights to their titles and the fans behind them -count me as one - they would own the market and their futures. Instead of the profits going to making fat lumps of festering puss like Rupert Murdoch even fatter, they would go to making the actual content creators lives more comfortable.
Just spitballing.
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Jax2Published Author Veteran Member Posts:269
| 12/7/2014 10:45 AM |
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Good ideas...similar to ones I've proposed.
However, with the exception of myself and OL, none of the last 15 years worth of GE series were created by any of the writers. I would imagine the rights to the Bolan series will go back to the Pendleton family.
The former GE scribes would have to come up with new series...which wouldn't be hard for most of them.
What's hard is breaking through the mindset that the writers need the old system of publisher/editor/advance check.
I don't blame them for that mindset...I had it myself...it took the 2008-9 implosion of the publishing industry to get me to seriously consider self-publishing...starting with CRYPTOZOICA.
The sorry fact is--there is no imprint by a major publisher anything remotely like Gold Eagle...there hasn't been in years and most likely there never will be again.
So if action-adventure creators want to take control of their careers instead of leaving it up to a mainstream publishing industry that has no place for them any longer, they're going to have examine all options.
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RandarchistBasic Member Posts:217
| 12/7/2014 1:01 PM |
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Fortune favors the bold! Rally the ranks and damn the torpedoes! Lay on, McDuff, and remember the Alamo!!!!
Sorry, couldn't resist the urge.
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RandarchistBasic Member Posts:217
| 12/7/2014 10:20 PM |
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So what niche market the big publishers ignore other than missiles&muties are underserved but still profitable for a small, more agile, group to cater to?
You mentioned the pulp westerns, my grandad gave me a healthy appreciation for spurs&sixshooter tales. They are a great American genre appreciated world over. Good thinking, sir!
The Spy&SpecOps fans just got Glock blocked.
Um... Shotgun&Sorcery? That's a thing, probably, right?
I am sure there are mini series that all of the writers have wanted to do but were told "Pass, but we all really liked it." or something about quarter percentages of market shares, blah blah, paradigm shift....
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Jax2Published Author Veteran Member Posts:269
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silentalbinoAdvanced Member Posts:742
| 12/12/2014 7:55 PM |
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Well said Mr Ellis. From what you have hinted at please let there be a new series in the pipeline.
I think the most ironic thing about this is that the Deathlands series(can't say for Ol) was in the best place it has been in years, with the return of Alan Philipson( Penguin killer extraordinaire) , the amazing but oh so infuriatingly irregular novels from Mr Chuck Rogers and Victor Milan's novels.
It is horrible for the people that work for GE to be made redundant with apparently not very much notice but in the end will always come down to the lowest common denominator= in this case MONEY.
Let me end with a thank you to all the staff and writers who have kept me entertained and waiting for the next Dl novel these last three years.
So long and farewell.
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silentalbinoAdvanced Member Posts:742
| 12/12/2014 7:59 PM |
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And since its nearly Christmas, please let my gift be that the last novel either be by Alan Philipson or Chuck Rogers. Or and excuse my profanity, F@@K it both of them in a collaboration.
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Ron MilesWebsite Owner  Commander In Chief Posts:864 
| 12/13/2014 9:07 AM |
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The last book will by written by Victor Milan.
"Sadly then I knew the answer. All her life she was a dancer, but no one ever played the song she knew." - The Residents
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