Greetings Loyal Airmen, well we made it to Lombard, Illinois, for this year’s Windy City Pulp & Paper Con and it was arguably one of the best shows ever. Rob and the Air Chief were so thrilled to reconnect with so many of our old friends and made lots of new ones. Which was the best fun of all. We took a bunch of photos and now want to share them with you.

Windy City happens because of two amazing fellows and their loving, supportive wives. To upper left is Doug Ellis and Deb and to the right we have John Gunnison & Maureen. These four souls work tirelessly to make this great show happen and we owe them big time.

We arrived Friday afternoon, checked into the Westin Hotel and later came down to the hall to start setting up. Which is primarily Rob’s task. He’s got a system and the Air Chief does his best to stay out of his way. It was really humbling to have so many of our colleagues come over to inquire as to how we were feeling and tell us they had prayed for us during our recent surgery. This is the best community in the world.

There were so many vendors at this show, as always, selling everything from original pulp paintings to books, magazines, comics etc. Above is our pal David White with his tons of old magazines and comics and to his right a shot of the Airship 27 tables. Both of which were overflowing with two years worth of titles.

As we said, we met up with lots of old friends such as Dexter Fabi to left above and Gordon Dymowski with the Air Chief on the right.

Fellow publisher Rich Harvey to the right and writer Greg Gick with the Air Chief.

To upper left, writer Bill Maynard and to right Martin Gram above in checkered shirt with his Green Hornet mask, and a buddy.  Martin had copies of his giant History of the Lone Ranger on Radio book at the show and the Air Chief picked up a copy.

And then we had old friends who have since become writers ala Jay Sweet upper left and George Tackes with the Air Chief showing off the Sherlock Holmes with his story in it.

Writer Matthew Bieniek had his own table for the first time and was joined by his lovely wife Stephanie.

New writer Mark Vander Zander joined us, along with his girlfriend Robin.

Happily our pals from Pro-Se Press were set up across the aisle from us, manned by Tommy Hancock, the head honcho (in orange shirt) and is pal Texan Aubrey Stephens. We always have great time with them. On the Sat night of the con Tommy hosted an Irish Wake in the hotel bar in the memory of our dear pal writer Derrick Ferguson who passed away in March. It was a really great time, all of us reliving memories and sharing them. Derrick would have loved it.

Our pal Derrick Ferguson and one of his latest Dillon titles.

Another shot of Pro-Se table and the biggest surprise to the Air Chief, the model diorama Rob made up of us with his old truck and stack of Amazon boxes ready to go to the show. That’s the Air Chief on the right in his baseball cap and Rob with arms folded in blue shirt. This wowed all our friends when they came to our tables and saw it.

And we’re happy to report the Sunday New Pulp Panels were on. Upper left features moderator Gordon Dymowski with Mike Black, Jay Sweet, Doug Klauba & George Tackes. The second panel, upper right, featured moderator Andy Fix, Brian Morris, Dale Cozort, Mark Vander Zanden & Matthew Bieniek. Again a really great mix of old and new guard in New Pulp.

A tradition for New Pulp creators is to hit up a greasy burger joint on Friday after the show. And a bunch of us did just that, allowing Air Chief to snap two selfies. At upper left (going clock-wise) Air Chief up front then Matthew Bieniek, Rob Davis, Jay Sweet & Andy Fix. Second (clock-wise) George Tackes, Aubrey Stephens, Gordon Dymowski, Tommy Hancock, David white and the Air Chief. To say a good time was had by all would be an understatement for sure. So happy to have the newbies join us this year.

Another first was the fact that the Air Chief and Chief Engineer Rog actually recorded the Airship 27 Podcast # 78 while at the hotel. The major portion was done in our hotel room Sat. morning, and then Rob took lots of small video clips later throughout the main hall to cut and splice into the main part. Once all put together we’ll be up at You Tube. Hopefully by next week. Trust us, you won’t want to miss this show.

Of course you know the Air Chief wasn’t going to come home empty handed. Above is a shot of a few of the new books we picked up at the show. The biggest by far was that Lone Ranger monster assembled by Martin Gram and his partner Terry Salomonson. There’s the new Dillon, and other great reads we can’t wait to dig into. As ever, it was such a great show. Can’t wait till next year and who knows, maybe we’ll see you there, Loyal Airmen.

Ron – Over & Out!