Howard Hopkins, R.I.P.

My friend, and fellow writer and editor, Howard Hopkins, passed away last week at the too young age of 50. Howard was my editor on the first two Avenger anthologies from Moonstone Books, and the forthcoming Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook anthology from Moonstone. He was the authority on the pulp hero The Avenger, and penned The Gray Nemesis, which is and will remain the go-to comprehensive overview of the character.

I also had the pleasure of co-editing three of his Green Hornet tales (the third forthcoming in The Green Hornet: Still at Large). He turned in some of the cleanest, most professional first draft manuscripts I've seen.

Howard's authorized Lone Ranger novel, Vendetta, is also due out soon from Moonstone, and I know that Howard was justifiably proud of this achievement. I can't wait to read it the moment it comes out.

I learned a lot from Howard, who was very patient in his commentary, and am proud to say that by my second and third submissions to him, I had very few comments back. As I said, he was a good an patient teacher, and truly cared about craft in writing. I will miss working with him, and will miss him.


The best way I can think of to honor Howard is to go out and buy and read as much of his work as possible. Here is a link to his novels available on Amazon.

But there's another way to help... unfortunately. 

At the request of Howard's wife, Dominique, Chuck Juzek has passed the following info along to the pulp fan community. Due to a mistake by their insurance agent 6 months ago that Dominique only became aware of after Howard's death, Howard's life insurance had lapsed at the time of his death. As a result, in addition to everything else that his passing means to her, she's now scrambling in order to find the funds to pay for his funeral expenses. If you have the ability, she's accepting donations to help pay for those expenses; at her request, below is her address for anyone that wishes to contribute.

Dominique Hopkins
2 McKee Drive
Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064


I'm still in shock, but I can't begin to imagine what Mrs. Hopkins is going through. Any help will be greatly appreciated, I'm sure. Meteor House, a small press I sometimes work with, is also pitching in.


Rest in Peace, Howard. You were--are--the epitome of a Pro.