Greeting loyal airmen.  I want to start this week's journal entry with a little talk about trains.  Trains have held a very special place in our country's history going back to the early days of the first transcontinental line.  Prior to World War II, America moved most of its economic freight via rails that criss-crossed our vast country.  Train stations were a common sight in most small towns throughout the USA.   Then, after World War II, sadly they fell into disuse as the great American love affair with the automobile began.  Suddenly transportation via the highwarys was supposedly cheaper and industry shifted its gear.  Never mind that the roads would rip up the countryside, that cars would pollute the air and kill thousands of Americans annually.  Apparently the positives of trucking outweighted such insignificant negatives.  What load of BS the public was given, and sadly bought by the shovel full.

Today, that love affair with the open road has begun sour and with it we are seeing a slow renewed interests in railroads.   A few years back, Valerie and I, took a train trip from Boston to Denver.  It was by far one of the most enjoyable traveling experience we have ever had and I would urge all of you airmen who have never ridden on a train to do so.  It is just plain fun.  Let's keep our fingers cross this trend continues. 

Meanwhile I've started to digress and should get back on my own “track”.   You see, during the heyday of the pulps, there were even magazines devoted to trains.  Above is the cover to one such dated 1949.   Recently several of my writers at Wild Cat Books came to me suggesting we produce a pulp anthology with a railroad theme like these classic titles.  Considering that my son, Scott, is a major train enthusiast, I was thrilled by the idea and gave them the green light.  Some time next year, with fingers crossed, Wild Cat Books will publish volume one of TRAIN TALES.   We've already three writers signed on to the book and things are moving at a good clip.  I'll keep you posted.

One of the elements in the picture above is that the train is traveling through snow country.  Well, that's exactly what we in New Hampshire woke up to this morning, for the first time this winter season.  And considering we had the warmest November on record, that's saying something.  Happily it was simply a dusting and I was able to brush off the driveway in less than a half hour, all the while recalling the major snow dumping our friends in the midwest received just last week.  I'm hoping that's still a ways off in our future.  Please.

Finally, last night I had the fun of going to a movie theater to see a very private screening of my pal, Rob Fitz's first feature length movie, GOD OF VAMPIRES.  It's an action packed, gore-filled, thriller about Chinese vampires and wonderfully made.  Rob spent the last five years of his life making this movie and the level of qualtiy in it is as good as anything coming out of Hollywood today.  All of us who were there last night gave him a hearty applause when the film ended and the credits rolled.  He's an amazing young filmmaker and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is only a matter of time now before a major studio sees GOD OF VAMPIRES and picks it up for national distribution. 

That's it for another week, airmen.   We've had some big news on our Wild Cat Books in the past few days, but I am still not at liberty to make it public just yet.  Hopefully I can do so next week, when I write my last log entry before leaving for Christmas in Colorado. Till then, don't let the shopping get you down, smile at people, wish them well and say Merry Christmas from your heart.  It truly is a joyous season.
Ron, over and out.