Greetings Loyal Airmen, as I write these words, we are only a few hours away from bidding farewell to 2009.  It's really been quite a roller-coaster ride start to finish and truly not one of the better years we want to remember.  Several of our good friends lost their fathers this past year and one of our sons got pretty banged up in the country's economic down-turn.  And it doesn't look like the recession is going to be ending anytime soon.  Still, we've been a happy-go-lucky optimist most of our life and truly believe there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, a new dawn just beyond the blackest hour of the night.

We got a little taste of that silver lining last week during the Christmas holiday.  Because of monetary limitations, it was simply impossible for us to shop extravagantly for our family members as we have done in the past.  Early on, Valerie and the Air Chief came to the realization that we were truly going to have cut back on the gift giving this year including not buy anything for each other.  Sound too Scrooge-like?  Well, give it a little more thought.  As Christmas neared, we found ourselves coming to appreciate the true meaning of the holiday, the message of God and how He sent us Jesus.  Jesus, who devoted his life to preaching the message of God's love to all men and women everywhere, in every time. Mass on Christmas morning was especially poignant this year and both of us realized having cast aside the commercialism, we in end found a richer, more meaningful Christmas then either of us ever experienced. We spent that afternoon with our daughter Michelle and her family and later that night son Scott and his gang came over, along with our daughter Heater, visiting from Chicago. After they left, we logged on to Skype and thanks to the wonders of modern technology, got to see son Alan and his family as well.  So we spent Christmas day with the people we loved and that's the greatest gift of all.  We truly hope and pray your own Christmas was as special.

One of the things both Val and the Air Chief love to do is go to the movies, and so in lieu of that personal gift giving, we caught a movie and went out to a nice dinner.  What was the movie?  We're glad you asked.

                 
                        Jude Law as Dr.John Watson  &  Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes

The new SHERLOCK HOLMES is a terrific movie.  For those of you purist who have shied away from it because you think it is too radical a departure from the traditional interpretation of the characters, let us assure you this is very much a traditional Sherlock Holmes mystery, and wonderfully acted.  Downey is great as the cold, methodical genius and Jude Law perhaps the best Watson we've ever been given.  We will grant you that several of the action sequences run a wee tad overly long and could easily have been trimmed, but that is our only nit-pick with a film that has already broken all kinds of box-office records.  We hope you get to see it.

Speaking of Sherlock Holmes, as we roll full tilt into 2010, we at Airship 27 Productions are ready to get back into the production of our pulp novels and anthologies.  Our goal is to offer a book a month and we'll be starting with SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE Vol. Two. Last year's Volume One was the most successful Airship 27 title we ever produced and you, our Loyal Airmen, made it so with your support.  You told us you wanted more traditional tales of the Great Detective and we are only too happy to oblige.  Again, keep following this log, as we'll be announcing that title's release in just another week.

                     
                         The Black Bat by Jay Piscopo

Meanwhile we thought you all would like a little peek at some of the other titles that will be coming your way in 2010.  Following the January release of  our second Holmes book, we will be offering up an brand new Robin Hood novel by British scribe, Ian Watson called THE KING OF SHERWOOD FOREST.  We also love putting the focus on lesser known pulp heroes and in May one of the best returns in BLACK BAT MYSTERY; four brand new tales of the Black Bat with interior illustrations provided by the amazing Jay Piscopo.  It will also sport a cover by Mark Maddox.

                 
                    Writer Bill Gladman and a cool named street.

Another almost forgotten B-hero was an occult detective called, RAVENWOOD – The Stepson of Mystery.  His exploits were featured as back up tales in the monthly SECRET AGENT X magazine.  In July we will be publishing an anthology starring this little known avenger and one of our writers is my very good pal, Bill Gladman. Shortly after tuning in his Ravenwood story, Bill was driving along a highway in Ohio and spotted a street sign with the character's name.  He stopped and snapped the picture about.  We guess he was just fated to be a part of the Ravenwood legend.

                  
                            Be Afraid!!!

Another photo that arrived in the Hangar 27 mail pouch was the one above send to us by writer Michael Vance.  Way back at the start 2009, the first Airship 27 title we published was Michael's WEIRD HORROR TALES, a terrific collection of 13 tales of the macabre by this truly talented writer.  Well, just recently a young lady bought a copy for her husband and then snapped this shot of his reaction to it.  That's Shawn Granger mugging for the camera, at a truly fantastic painting.  Note, this book is still available at our on-line store.  Simply go to the dirigible logo to the left of this column and click on it.  Michael's busy are work on a sequel which we are very, very excited about.

Again,  the Air Chief is setting this all down on the 31st of Dec., 2009 and two very special events bear taking notice off.  Many, many, many years ago when DVDs first hit the market and we started purchasing them for our then new players, we began logging down the titles of each DVD movie we watched before finding a place for it on our library movie shelves.  As time went on, so did the number of movies we owned and soon we owned a few hundred.  Ye Old Air Chief started wondering exactly what movie would ultimately become our 1,000 recorded title.  Well, two nights ago we popped in a disc to watch an old favorite.  It was a movie we'd picked up in one of those Walmart $5 bins a few weeks earlier.  This afternoon, between other chores, we sat down, pulled up our movies list and realized we were about to enter that 1,000 titled.  And that particular honor went to….

MAD MAX – Beyond Thunderdome starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner, it being the third and last of the Mad Max movie.  We believe it's release date was 1985.  Watching it again after all that time, we think it still holds up pretty well as a great action adventure flick.  Oh, and we do actually have more DVDs, by at least another 30 or so. But they are only officially counted after they've been viewed and then recorded.  So, dear Loyal Airmen, you can believe it when we say we do indeed love movies.

                
                            Logan Fortier  Age 4

And finally, the other BIG  THING about this last day of the year is that it is our grandson Logan's 4th birthday.  Logan, of the curly hair and ready smile, is the youngest of our six grand kids and we do so love him to pieces.  Happy Birthday Big Guy!!!  Now that's the kind of happy note to end any year, no matter how rough it was.

As 2010 rolls out with all her hopes and promises for new prosperity, we pray that she is a grand year, one that will bless and enrich all of us.  Take care and God Bless.
Ron – Over & Out.