Press Release: Deals Done
Twelve-book Deal Struck For First Full Us Publication Of The Legendary Legends Of Lone Wolf
Posted at 6:03PM Wednesday 29 Jul 2009
July 28, 2009FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TWELVE-BOOK DEAL STRUCK FOR FIRST FULL US PUBLICATION OF THE LEGENDARY LEGENDS OF LONE WOLF Joe Dever's Lone Wolf adventure gamebooks, based on the title character's struggles against the evil forces attempting to take over the high-fantasy world of Magnamund, are a legend in gaming publishing, having been published in over 30 countries, been translated into 18 languages, and sold in excess of 10 million copies to date. The series was awarded the Gamemaster International "All Time Great" award in 1991 and also won "Game Book of the Year" awards in 1985, 1986 and 1987. It retains an enormous fan base worldwide. In the late 1980s and early 1990s there appeared also the Legends of Lone Wolf, a series of eleven novels and one collection of novellas, done by Dever in conjunction with prolific fantasy author John Grant. All twelve books were published in the UK; only the first four (edited into five volumes) appeared in the US. Although very well received, the Legends of Lone Wolf fell foul of the decline in the gamebook market, and eventually dropped out of print. Since then they have become collectors' items, with the later volumes in particular often fetching high prices at auction and online. Now, in a rare 12-book deal, Neal Levin at Dark Quest Books (http://www.darkquestbooks.com/) has acquired (via Pam Scoville of the Pamela D. Scoville Literary Agency) the US and World English language rights to the Legends of Lone Wolf, which Dark Quest will publish from early 2010. For this new reissue all twelve texts have been revised and re-edited, with myriad changes of detail plus the restoration of much material that was cut from the books' earlier incarnations. For the latter eight books, of course, this will represent their first US publication in any form. Said Joe Dever: "I am very pleased that Dark Quest Books will be re-publishing the Legends of Lone Wolf series in its entirety. The original stories were fondly enjoyed by fans of my Lone Wolf gamebooks, and frequently they have requested the resurrection of the books since the first editions went out of print some years ago. I am doubly delighted that the new versions will be produced by Dark Quest Books, an experienced and respected publishing house with a commitment to quality." John Grant, who since writing The Legends of Lone Wolf has won two Hugo Awards, a World Fantasy Award and a number of other awards, commented: "Obviously it's a great delight to see the Legends coming out again and with the texts the way they should always have been, but the icing on the cake is that they're going to be issued by Dark Quest Books, a company that really understands this type of literature. It's as if the novels are coming home at last." "We are extremely excited about this new venture," added Neal Levin, Publisher of Dark Quest Books. "It was very difficult to keep it under wraps until everything was finalized, but we managed. We are thrilled to be making these classic stories available to new generations of readers and that these two top-flight authors are joining the Dark Quest list." About the Authors JOE DEVER is an award-winning author and game designer who began his career as a musician and recording engineer. In 1976, he created the fictional world of Magnamund as a setting for his early Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. In 1982, he became the first ever UK winner of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Championships in the US. In 1984, the first Lone Wolf adventure gamebooks were published, and they became an international success. The various series have since sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Since 1996 Joe has been involved in the design and production of a succession of computer and console games, including Ground Control 2 (Ubisoft) and Killzone (Sony). He is currently revising the Lone Wolf Grand Master series and writing the final four books in the Lone Wolf New Order series (Mongoose Publishing Ltd). JOHN GRANT is the author of some sixty books. His many novels include Leaving Fortusa, The Dragons of Manhattan, The Far-Enough Window, The Hundredfold Problem and The World, plus (under a different name) the two space operas Strider's Galaxy and Strider's Universe. His "book-length fictions" Dragonhenge and The Stardragons were illustrated by Bob Eggleton. His first story collection was Take No Prisoners. His best-known works of nonfiction are The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (with John Clute), The Chesley Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy Art: A Retrospective (with Elizabeth Humphrey and Pamela D. Scoville), Discarded Science, Corrupted Science, and the forthcoming (Fall '09) Bogus Science. He has won two Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, the Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award, the J. Lloyd Eaton Scholarship Award, the Chesley Award, and a rare British Science Fiction Association Special Award. Contacts Trade matters, author interviews, etc.: Dark Quest Books Contact: Danielle McPhail PO Box 493 Stratford, NJ 08084 856 669-7395 dmcphail@darkquestbooks.com Rights matters: Pamela D. Scoville Literary Agency Contact: Pam Scoville PO Box 153 Hewitt, NJ 07421-0153 973 657-0560 fireflyhill@optonline.net
http://www.darkquestbooks.com/
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