Greeting Loyal Airmen, well the folks behind the new Brother Bones Web Series aren’t letting any moss grow under their feet as their new website is starting to come alive with the biographies of all the talented people joining the production team. You can find the website at the link below

(  http://brotherbonesseries.com/index.html)  Do check it out. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

And now for the sad news. Earlier in the year we reported that artist Chris Nye had signed on to draw the 130 pg original graphic novel of Brother Bones. Now, at the time Chris had been dealing with health issues involving his eyes and he is currently having to go through a series of surgeries to correct them. Not ever a pleasant thing and especially for an artist like Chris. As time neared for the surgeries, he found himself caught up in lots of other things, older projects demanding his attention and the reality that the use of his sight might be limited for a while as he recovers from what we all hope is a very successful surgery. Thus earlier in the week, Chris wrote asking to be released from the Bones project as the length is too much for him now. Whereas he at the same time offered to do smaller projects for Airship 27. Chris is really a great guy and his professionalism unquestioned. After reading his letter, the Air Chief knew immediately that we would grant his wish with absolutely no hard feelings. We value his friendship a great deal. So…Loyal Airmen, it would appear the Brother Bones graphic novel is back to square one as we begin anew a search for a graphic artist. Meanwhile, always true to his word, Chris is now doing illustrations for a new fantasy novel by Mike Bullock called RUNEMASTER, which Airship 27 will be publishing when completed. And as ever, Chris’ work is stunning. In the meanwhile, we’d ask all of you to keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he undergoes those crucial operations to restore his sight. Thanks ever.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, someone this week posted this photo from 1942 show not only the news headlines concerning the war, but this amazing display of classic pulp magazines which we simply had to share with all of you.  Oh to time-travel back to this place and pick up a few of these while they were brand new.

Last week, much to our surprise, we received a message from Art Director Rob Davis’ wife, Theresa. She wanted to remind us that yesterday, Aug 13th, was not only Rob’s birthday, but also his first official day of retirement. Yup, our partner in Airship 27 was about to sign up for social security after a lifetime of working.  Theresa obviously hadn’t let Rob know she was reaching out to me and hoped the Air Chief might be able to get the word out to all our friends and colleagues. The Air Chief immediately set about getting the news out without letting Rob know.

Then much to our surprised delight, British artist Graham Hill did up the portrait above and promised to post it on-line come the 13th which he did. We were thrilled. Then another British artist, Morgan Fitzsimons wrote saying she wanted to do a sketch of Rob, but in the costume of one of his favorite heroes. Now we knew Rob where comicbook heroes are concerned, like us, Rob loves Captain America and we almost replied with that answer.

But at the last second, we realized Rob is also a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and over the past decade has probably done more illustrations of the Great Detective than any other artist in the entire world. Geez, what would Rob look like that familiar get-up. So we told Morgan to do him up as Sherlock and wow, but did she deliver…as seen above. And not only did she make Rob a great Sherlock, she went and added the Air Chief (without telling us) as Dr. Watson. We absolutely love this piece, as does Rob.

And finally, we are happy that our copies of the newest Brother Bones volume 5, Tales of Cape Noire have arrived at long last. Hope to have these on my table next year when returning to the convention circuit. And who knows, maybe by then there might even be a Web Series on the air. Time will tell. Till then, the book is available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. Thanks ever Loyal Airmen for your continued support.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week we’re really happy to let you know that the long awaited, often stalled, Captain Hazzard graphic novel is once again back in production. For those of you who may not remember this project, a little history is in order.

Captain Hazzard appeared in his own magazine dated May 1938. The story was titled “Python Men of Lost City” and was credited to one Chester Hawks. Whereas that is believed to be a house name for the veteran pulp writer Paul Chadwick. The concept of Capt. Hazzard was to launch an adventure hero who could compete on the newsstand with Street & Smith’s popular Doc Savage. Sadly Chadwick’s hear wasn’t really in it and the story was subpar and never captured the readers. Ergo, after only one issue the mag folded thus earning the pulp reputation as the One Hit Wonder. Many, many…many years later, the Air Chief found a reprint of that original magazine and we took it upon ourselves to re-write that original adventure and republish via Airship 27 Productions. Which we did all those years ago. It would be the first of five Captain Hazzard novels would would write and publish.

Along about the time we were putting out the first novel, the idea of adapting it to comics popped into our heads and we set about doing a graphic novel script version. It would take us almost ten years to find artists Craig Shepard and inker Eric Lebow to agree to bring it to visual life. Another fifteen years passed and in that time both Craig and Eric move homes and of course pages that all of us assumed were safely stored away were not. Thus after fifteen long years, thinking all three issues were completed, we discovered to our horror that half of the pages for issue # 2 and all for # 3 had been lost. No one knew what happened to them. Craig and Eric by then washed their hands on what seemed a cursed project and said so-long. It seemed we’d ever ever seen a Captain Hazzard graphic novel.

Then last year, an artist named Clayton Murwin hooked up with Airship 27 via Facebook and ended up illustrating one of our pulp novels for us, “The Eye of Dawn” by Brad Sinor. Both Rob and the Air Chief were delighted with his work and made sure to keep our connection with Clayton. Then towards the end of 2019, the Air Chief did a posting in which we recapped the sad conclusion to the graphic novel project. Clayton saw it, dropped us a line and asked if we still had the scripts for those missing pages. Why? Because if we did, he was volunteering to draw them for us. To in fact, FINISH the project. A few days ago, Clayton messaged me on FB that he had begun working on project. Above is his first page and next to it my twenty-five year old script. We are simply bowled over. Will a miracle finally come our way? If Clayton Murwin has any say in it, you can take that to the bank.  WAHOOO!!

And because we love sharing early peeks at new artwork, here are a few you’ll soon be seeing in Airship 27 titles entering final stages of productions. To the left above is a scene from a Dan Fowler G-Man story from the new anthology by artist Kevin Paul Shaw Broden. To upper right is a scene from a new Curtis Fernlund story appearing in Mystery Men ( & Women) by our own Rob Davis. Both are gorgeous and drew up the volumes they appear in. We told you we had good stuff coming your way.

And three you have it for this week Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you here next Friday.

Ron Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, and welcome to this week’s Flight Log. As many of you will recall from an earlier post, the Air Chief has been busy writing a new short story for another alternate world style anthology. This one focuses on the famous bloodsucker, Dracula and all the contributors where challenged to invent a new, non-vampire Dracula. We loved the idea and yesterday afternoon put the words THE END to a 9,000 word tale we call “World of Wonders.” Valerie says it’s a winner and we’ve always relied on her judgment. Anyways we digital submitted the manuscript and are now awaiting the editor’s decision. We’ll keep you posted for sure.

We are also thrilled to announce the release of a new Airship 27 pulp title. This one is a sci-fi adventure novel called “El’aris” and written by the always entertaining Wayne Carey. When he was a teenager, the Air Chief would reads lots of sci-fi paperbacks from Ace and Daw books. They were lightweight space operas (think Star Trek & Star Wars) and we absolutely loved them.  “El-aris” is a genuine throw back to those kind of fun paperbacks.  Artist James Lyle provided the black and white interior illustrations and the ever amazing Ted Hammond the beautiful color cover above. As ever the book is now available from Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. Oh, and heads up, this is actually the first in a series, Wayne tells us. So you’d best hop on now.

Finally, with the Dracula tale wrapped up, the Air Chief turns his attention to his next writing gig. We’ll be writing new I.V. Frost  stories for Moonstone Books. I.V. Frost and his lovely assistant Jean Moray were the creations of writer Donald Wandrai and appeared in 18 stories in Clues Detective Stories. We’ve written both prose and comics stories of them and look forward to doing more. They are great pulp characters. Stay tuned Loyal Airmen, we’ll keep you posted.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, after a rather quiet past week, things are once again revving up. Not only with an old project made new, but the Air Chief is wound for sound in announcing the release of the newest Brother Bones book.

But first some truly exciting news about a project we created well over twenty years ago. “Satin’s Ways” was a character concept we introduced in a 48 pg comic script that was never published. It featured a Chinese jewel thief called Satin Wei, born and brought up in Hong Kong and now living in Seattle, Washington as an art boutique owner. Quite a few other artists over the years did sketches and even full pages of the character but nobody was willing to stick with it as we didn’t have a publisher. Thus the revolving door of artists kept on spinning. A month ago, we were contacted by writer/editor/publisher Roland Mann of Silverline Comics.  Apparently Roland had a very talented young lady wanting to work for him but no project ready to hand her. Having wanted us to work with Silverline, he came knocking on our door and after about ten minutes of thinking, we recalled “Satin’s Ways” still sitting there in our files collecting dust. We described it to Roland, he loved the concept and then went to sound out Ms Jenna Deriggi. Jenna is currently a student at the famous Joe Kubert School of Graphic Art in New Jersey. She loved the concepts, Roland hooked us up on Facebook and over the weekend, based solely on my script, Jenna drew the above the sketches of our hero.  We LOVE them and honestly believe, twenty years later, our girl is about to make her comic debut. Oh, and did we mention the comic will be in fully color? Stay tuned, Loyal Airmen, things are about to get fun.

And now this week’s big news. After a rather lengthy delay, BROTHER BONES – Tales of Cape Noire is now available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. This is the latest in the Bones series (#5) and contains four stories by yours truly and three other talented pulp pen pushers. Fred Adams Jr. kicks it all off with his Harry Beest story. This is followed by a Sister Blood tale by writer Andy Fix. Then comes Drew Meyer’s story featuring detective Lt. Dan Rains. Each of these writers produced amazing stories and then left it up to the Air Chief to tie all the various plot elements together at the end. Which is what we did our best to accomplish in a story called “Dark Real Estate.” Keep in mind, the events in the Brother Bones saga do keep affecting future stories, characters come and go. Some die and are replaced by others. Art Director Rob Davis provided 10 wonderful interior illustrations for the volume and that gorgeous cover you see above is by Michael Stribling. We’re very excited about this book, especially now that the new live action Brother Bones Wed-Series is in pre-production. We hope you’ll check it out and as ever, thanks Loyal Airmen for your continued support.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. Thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you next week.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen. One of the things we love to do is enjoy super talented artists who post their work on Facebook. One such is Thomas Haller Buchanan, who’s portraits are simply gorgeous. The other day he posted one of a young woman and….

…the Air Chief about fell out of his chair, as she looked exactly like our beautiful granddaughter Chelsea. We posted the pix of Chelsea on-line to show Mr. Buchanan and he not only agreed, but said she was “…a natural beauty.” Amen to that. We just had to share that with all of you.

After a heartfelt missed start of the 2020 Baseball season, MLB is going to begin a shortened season next week, on the 27th. All teams will play 60 games total, and strictly in their divisions to stadium with no fans. It is going to be weird for sure, but even limited baseball is better than no baseball at all. Mark your calendars.

And finally, the next Brother Bones Airship 27 title, #5, Tales of Cape Noire should be out in just a few more days. Again it features a Harry Beest story by Fred Adams Jr. A Sister Blood story by Andy Fix. A Lt. Dan Rains story by Drew Meyer and wrapping everything up is the Air Chief’s new Brother Bones adventure…part of which is connected to the one-shot Brother Bones comic-book “Bullets of Jade” still available from (www.IndyPlanet.com) – Rob Davis provided all the interiors and yesterday artist Michael Stribling turned in a stunning cover…which all of will see right here next week. Thanks for you patience, Loyal Airmen. We think the wait was worth.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we’re fairly certain you’ll recall how a few months ago we announced we’d soon be working on a truly summer special project to be called WHO’S WHO in NEW PULP.

And now we are thrilled to announce the book is finished and available up at Amazon. Above you can see both covers (back cover on left – front cover on the right). Airship 27 Production’s own Art Director Rob Davis did a truly fantastic job compiling 222 entries we got in, plus lots and lots of photos and artwork to create something truly beautiful and we hope useful in the years to come as literary historians look back on these days and the rise of New Pulp. A heartfelt thanks to all who contributed to make this a truly special book.

Meanwhile work continues on the new Brother Bones Web Series with writer Jeff Provine having completed Part One of Episode One, “The Bone Brothers” adapted by our story which is the origin story. In reading it, we were intrigued by the small changes Jeff did with his version to suit the needs of film and approve of them. Earlier next week we will join Jeff and producers Bryan Patterson and Eugene Hawkins for another video conference. We’ll go over the script and talk about the next step in the process. As ever, we’ll do our best to keep you all up to date. Meanwhile the new Brother Bones book, “Tales of Cape Noire” is in the final stages of production. Cover artist Michael Stribling is doing the cover and sent in the preliminary piece to the right above. There will be lots more added before the piece is completed, but we thought you Loyal Airmen would appreciate this sneak-peek.

Finally, Wayne Carey is one of our finest Airship 27 pulp writers and recently he’s put his tremendous talent to creating a new space opera series. These center around a former mercenary turned trader named Anthony Michaels who flies around the galaxies meeting other alien races and having incredible adventures. Though Carey has finished two manuscripts, we’re only just now getting the first book into production and thought you’d like a peek at one of the interior illustrations that will be featured. It’s by artist James Lyle and it, and the other eight to go in this book are gorgeous. We hope we can get a cover to match them. Stay tuned, as ever we’ll keep you posted.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. Thanks for dropping by. Be well and stay safe.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Last week we gave you all the good news about the new Brother Bones Web Series now being developed and how a Facebook pg had been created dedicate to it.

At the same time we announced there would be a new Brother Bones You Tube channel put up to keep all of you posted on the progress of the web series. Thus after an hour long video conference meeting, a short video clip was done to introduce you all to the production team and here is a screen shot for you. At upper left is Producer Bryan Patterson, the guy who started all this. To upper left is his partner and co-producer Eugene Hawkins, who will be also be directing the pilot episode. To bottom left is series script writer Jeff Provine, who will be adapting our stories from the first book collection, Brother Bones the Undead Avenger. And of course that the Air Chief at bottom right. Should any of you Loyal Airmen have any questions regarding this project, please send them along and we’ll try to answer them for you in our next video Update. Stay tuned.

The pulp side of things, Airship 27 Production just released its latest title, “The Road Twice Taken” by writer R.A. Jones. This is a wonderful fantasy about a man who, towards the end of a very sad life, is given the magical opportunity to relive it…and this time get it right. When first reading/editing it, all the Air Chief saw was “It’s a Wonderful Life” by way of the Twilight Zone. “The Road Twice Taken,” is one of the finest novels the Air Chief has ever read and we recommend it highly. Art Director Rob Davis provided the cover along with 9 beautiful pencil illustrations. Available now at Amazon in paperback and by the time you are reading this, on Kindle. As ever, thanks for your continued support.

We’re sure many of you Loyal Airmen will recall the anthology “Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Was Not” that was published a few years ago and edited by Christopher Sequeira in which the Air Chief had his one and only Sherlock Holmes story, “The Locked Cell Murder.” Above is the cover to the left and to the right a beautiful illustration for my story showcasing Dr. Amelia Van Helsing, who accompanied Holmes in this story. Sadly at the last minute, the publisher opted not to include these illustrations and no one ever saw them outside we writers. Anyway, the anthology itself went on to be a profitable winner (it is still available at Amazon should you be interested) enough so that the publisher has asked Christopher to do more of these so called “what-fi” anthologies and we are delighted to report, we’ve been signed on to do a story for the next volume. This one will be focus on none other than the King of the Vampires, Dracula. Of course the caveat being, we writers have to envision this fictional character in an entirely new way. Initially we thought that might prove difficult, but within minutes of signing the contract, we had an idea way too much fun to pass up. We ran it by Christopher and he was extremely excited about it. So there you go, Loyal Airmen. What’s next on the Air Chief’s writing schedule. Oh, and at present, they are considering titling the new book, “Dracula Unfanged.” Stay tuned, more as things develop.

And lastly we are thrilled to announce the arrival of Mr. Jigsaw # 16. This one features a main story by yours truly with are by co-creator Gary Kato and a very special 8 pg back-up by writer/artist Jon Bonjour and letterer Elisa St. John. It features two supporting characters from the series, the Blimp & the Turtle in their first adventure.  We think you are going to love it. The comic itself should be available from (www.IndyPlanet.com) in another few days.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As every thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you back here next Friday morning.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, we’ve some big news for all of you this week, but we’re going to save that for last and go out with a bang. First up more on the Air Chief’s varied comic book projects.

BULLDOZER is a story we wrote ages ago when still living back in New Hamsphire. It is about what happens to three young boys in Maine in the summer between Jr. High and High School and we were thrilled with Jon Bonjour signed on to do the artwork for the project. Then letterer Elisa St. John joined the team and elevated to an entirely new level. When finished, issue # 1 of BULLDOZER will be published Wicked Wolf Pub, the outfit run by our good friend Todd Jones. Will keep you posted.

And then we have the stand alone story, DEATH DERBY inspired by Japanese anime cartoon shows. This wild and wacky racing comic was illustrated and lettered by Brian Loner. He took our 9 pg script and turned it into a 14 pg knock-out strip that is just fantastic and fun. You’ll be seeing this in a future issue of RON FORTIER’S TALES OF THE MACABRE.

So at the start of the Flight Log we hinted at a major announcement in regards to Brother Bones, the Undead Avenger and here it is.

WEB SERIES – BROTHER BONES

Filmmakers Bryan Patterson and Eugene Hawkins are teaming with accomplished comic book/New Pulp writer Ron Fortier to bring Fortier’s New Pulp character Brother Bones to life in a new web series. Patterson is producer of Another Girl (by Allison Burnett), War of the Zombies and Broken Freedom, and his production partner Eugene Hawkins served as producer of Daddy’s Little Girl and Totem and director of Two Scoops and The Sacrifice. Fortier has written for such prestigious names as the Terminator, the Green Hornet and the Incredible Hulk. Brother Bones is released by Fortier’s very own Airship 27 Productions. The pilot, to be directed by Hawkins, will be scripted by Jeff Provine, whose previous screenplay was The Woods. He also founded the Okie Comics Magazine, where he edits and contributed New Pulp titles such as “When Film Goes Missing” and “Thunderbird.” In addition to his writing, Provine is professor of English at OCCC and instructor at OU for their History of Comics seminar.

Needless to say we’re pretty excited about this. The gentlemen behind the project have already created a dedicated Facebook page – Brother Bones Web Series. Be sure to sign on to it to get updates as things move along. Also by the end of the weekend there will be a Brother Bones You-Tube Channel, be sure to check it out.  And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen, as ever, thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you here next week.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, we’re sure you remember our posting the beautiful sketch artist Luisa Russo did of our mother who passed away last month. Well Valerie went out and found the perfect frame for it and now it is up on one of the walls in the Air Chief’s office where we can see it every day…and remember how blessed we were to have such a wonderful mother.

After a somewhat lengthy period, we are delighted to announce the release of Airship 27 Production’s newest pulp title – The Bay Phantom Vol 3 Midnight in Hell’s Cathedral by writer Chuck Miller. Artist Kevin Paul Shaw Broden provides the interior illustrations and Chris Rawding did that dynamite cover above. As ever the book is available from Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. Thanks so much for your continued support.

Talk about something sweet. My niece, Emily Robinson, walked into her daughters’ room the other night to kiss them goodnight and found them sitting up reading our children’s book, JAMIE & THE FISH-EYED GOGGLES. They are Kylie to left in yellow and Brenna to the right.  Emily reports they loved the story and said they want to meet me the author some day. Hopefully, when this whole Covid 19 crisis is past, Valerie and the Air Chief will able to fly back to New England and make that happen. Thanks Emily for this wonderful pictures. Your girls are so beautiful.

And as we are talking about the book, a humble reminder it is still available at Amazon in paperback as written by the Air Chief and illustrated by Gary Kato. Fun for all ages.

AIRSHIP 27 & RADIO ARCHIVES TEAM UP
We’re thrilled to announce the newest promotional event orchestrated between Radio Archives and Airship 27 Production. For a very limited time, Radio Archives will be selling their Doc Savage and The Shadow Bargain Pack, containing 14 Double Novel Pulp reprints that feature 7 classic Shadow pulp books and 7 classic Doc Savage books. This is 28 pulp novels for the low sale price of $56. Here is the Cool Part. Along with this purchase, customers will receive 25 Audible.com codes redeemable for 25 Airship 27 audiobooks at no extra cost. Postage is $4.00 and Radio Archives will select the 25 audiobooks you will receive. Don’t worry, there will be opportunities for buyers of the Bargain Pack to get codes for all 147 Airship 27 audiobooks on Audible/Amazon.
Podcast listeners can go to:
https://www.radioarchives.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=5999or go to RadioArchives.com and type Bargain in the search box.
This is a “last call” bargain event as Radio Archives has a limited number of this Bargain Pack remaining. As each purchased if finalized, you will receive 25 promo codes and a url link to redeem them at Audible.com. There is no cost to redeem the codes at Audible. You will have a library of 25 audiobooks of the best New Pulp adventure titles from Airship 27. You’ll be able to stream or download the audiobook to your smart phone, tablet or computer. You own the audiobooks for your lifetime.
This is a fantastic deal not to be missed. Pulp fans get 14 mint classic pulp reprint books plus 25 exciting Airship 27 audio experiences. Airship 27 is one of the leading pioneers of the New Pulp movement and Audible contains 147 of their titles. Something for any pulp fan’s taste. Don’t waste another second. Again, once the audiobooks are gone, the event ends.

Well that ends a BUSY week, Loyal Airmen. As ever, thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you back here next Friday. Till then be safe,

Ron – Over & Out!!