Will Murray (1953-2026)

The Flinch Books team is still reeling from last week’s news of the sudden passing of Will Murray at age 73.

Will was an enormous figure in the pulp community – not just a prolific fiction writer but also a journalist, historian and a scholar. Since the twilight of the original pulp era in the late 1940s, he more than anyone else kept interest in Doc Savage alive in the latter half of the 20th century and beyond. But his intimate knowledge of all things Doc – and Lester Dent, Doc’s primary creator – was just the tip of the iceberg. Will was one of the most knowledgeable individuals on the planet about the history of the pulps in general and the thousands of writers who populated this unique form of storytelling.

Will’s lifetime output of fiction and nonfiction work was massive – something far too lengthy to list in this space. We’re proud to say it included a few short stories that appeared in three anthologies published by Flinch Books over the last five years: “The De-Nazification Blues” in Occupied Pulp (2021), “The Law of Judge Colt” in Six-Gun Legends (2023), and “Hero Forgers” in the recently published Freeform Flinch (2026). “Hero Forgers” was Will’s last published work before his death.

We’ll miss Will’s talent, his encyclopedic knowledge, and most of all his friendship. We’ll miss his presence at Pulpfest every summer. We’ll push onward, but the pulp community will never be quite the same without him in it.