Will Murray (writer)

Will Murray (born 1953) is the author of more than fifty novels and a scholar of pulp fiction. Much of his fiction has been published under pseudonyms.

Murray is the literary executor for the estate of Lester Dent, the creator of Doc Savage, and has published seven Doc Savage novels from Dent's outlines under Dent's pseudonym, Kenneth Robeson. [http://www.locusmag.com/index/b403.html] He was one of the ghostwriters for "The Destroyer" series, writing or co-writing more than 40 of the novels. [http://www.sinanju.net/authors.html] He has written Cthulhu Mythos stories, including a pair of stories about Nug and Yeb, the Twin Blasphemies, and contributed single novels in the "Executioner" and "Mars Attacks" series.

Murray is also a prolific author of nonfiction about pulp writers like Dent, Shadow creator Walter B. Gibson and H. P. Lovecraft. He edited the fanzines "Duende" and "Skullduggery", and wrote "The Duende History of The Shadow Magazine" and "The Assassin's Handbook", a "Destroyer" sourcebook. He edited "Tales of Zothique" and "The Book of Hyperborea", two collections of stories by Clark Ashton Smith. A contributor to many anthologies, Murray has written stories about such classic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, The Hulk, The Spider, The Avenger and Lee Falk's immortal Ghost Who Walks, The Phantom.

Other Murray stories have appeared in The UFO Files, Future Crime, Miskatonic University, 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, 100 Creepy Little Creature Stories, 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories, The Cthulhu Cycle, Disciples of Cthulhu II, The Yig Cycle, and many others. He wrote the collection "Spicy Zeppelin Stories" under various pen names. For National Public Radio, he adapted "The Thousand-Headed Man" as a six-part serial for "The Adventures of Doc Savage," which aired in 1985. For Marvel Comics, he scripted "The Destroyer" black & white magazine, as well as single stories starring Iron Man and The Punisher.

With artist Steve Ditko, Murray co-created Squirrel Girl, and in her debut, Murray scripted an unbelievable story of a girl who supposedly defeated Dr. Doom, one of the most powerful comic book villains of all time, by commanding ordinary squirrels to somehow chew through armor that is tough enough to withstand direct blows by the Incredible Hulk. Subsequent writers have continued this humorous conceit until the seemingly unbeatable mutant is now arguably the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe.

As contributing editor to "Starlog" magazine, Murray can be found on movie sets and locations all over the world, interviewing the cast and crews of Hollywood's latest genre films.

With S. T Joshi and Jon L. Cooke, Murray organized The Friends of H. P. Lovecraft, which raised funds to place a memorial plaque dedicated to the Providence fantasy writer on the grounds of Brown University's John Hay Library on the centennial of Lovecraft's birth in August, 1990. Murray's Year 2000 novel, "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Empyre" (which identifies him as a trained remote viewer) accurately predicated many of the operational details of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, including the use of hijacked airliners to target U. S. cities. One of his Destroyer novels, "Angry White Mailmen" (1996), focused on a terrorist group allied with the Taliban attempting to blow up the World Trade Towers. It is to be noted that this book was released after the World Trade Towers were attacked in 1993. The Taliban did not come into power in Afghanistan until 1999, however. Interviewed by Ralph Dula on Home.gate.net in July 2000 just before the publication of "Empyre," Murray noted that since writing the book, some of it had already come true, specifically citing the Egypt Air 990 incident, where the co-pilot apparently threw his passenger jet into a fatal suicide dive. Murray went on to warn, "No one should be surprised if other elements of "Empyre" don't prove uncannily precognitive." Murray currently acts as consulting editor for Nostalgia Ventures' successful "Doc Savage" and "Shadow" reprints. He has also written several introductions to the reprints being published by Altus Press, covering characters such as Secret Agent X, Ravenwood and Thunder Jim Wade. With Off-Trail Publications' John Locke, he is co-editing a three-volume collection of Anatole France Feldman's Big Nose Serrano stories, featuring the legendary Prohibition gangster of the early 1930s.

He also trains people to become "super psychics", including "How to become a Tarot Tiger." Murray has been described as "A professional psychic and medium with over 10 years experience".

References

* Will Murray, [http://www.sinanju.com/murray1.html "Who Is Will Murray? An Autobiographical Sketch"] (Murray email address linked there is inactive)
* L. Wayne Hicks, [http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2000/01/17/newscolumn3.html?page=1 "Murray Has Hopes for Savage"] , "Denver Business Journal", January 14, 2000.