Greetings fellow airmen. This week we’ve a few items on the agenda covering a nice variety of topics. First up, Valerie and I are off to the Holiday Inn in Nashua, N.H. tomorrow to attend the first ever 2 day comic con in the Granite State. There will be over twenty professional guests (yours truly in that merry group) and a hundred (yup…that’s 100!) vendor tables selling everything the discriminating genre fan could want from comics to video games and action figures. So come early and bring your check books. Ha.

I’ll be selling copies of my pulp books plus a very neat poster of the BROTHER GRIM cover art painting. If they go over big at the show, I plan on selling them here at the old Airship 27 later. So keep a sharp eye out. Joining me at this Halloween fun-fest will be Craig Shepard, making his professional con debut. Craig is bringing up tons of original artwork from our CAPTAIN HAZZARD comics project. So fans will be in for a treat. The doors open at 10 AM both Sat. & Sun. and the show runs to 5 PM. Hope to see many of you airmen there.

Last week I gave you a little bit about the history of the composing of the score for the original KING KONG movie. Well, there has been more exciting developments on Peter Jackson’s new version, due the 14th of Dec.
It seems Jackson just loves the big gorilla so much, he has turned in a whopping 3 hours epic!
According to the press releases I’ve seen, executives from Universal were flown down to
Wellington, New Zealand, to view an early cut of the finished spectacular. Word is, after seeing it in this length, they all applauded Jackson’s
efforts and have given him a green light to release this long cut. So we are going to a get a full blown three hours of movie thrills from a master film maker. How’s that for an early Christmas gift?
Hoorah! Go Kong!

I’ve received some very nice comments concerning the addition of our gallery pages.
Per my promsise to keep it updated, this week you will find three really funny illustrations by Chad Hurd for a project called THE GODBOX. Its a way-out fantasy adventure featuring a teenage version of Indiana Jones. Chad is an art student at the University of Maine in Orono, and his work is just magnificent. Enjoy these shots of our hero and his kid sister.

Finally, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all you airmen and your families. Growing up in a small, New Hampshire town, I have lots of great memories of dressing up on Beggar’s Night and hitting the streets immediately after nightfall. My brothers and I used pillow-cases and pretty much
hit up half the houses in town with our Trick or Treating cries. By the time we got home, hours later, those pillow cases were bursting with enough candy to keep a dozen dentists busy into retirement. So, have a great time, stock your candy shelves, and get into the spirit of a truly American holiday original.

Over and out, Ron.

In 1933, RKO film producer, Meriem C.Cooper was making what would be his greatest movie ever, KING KONG. Cooper was a take-charge kind of guy and producing to him meant being responsible for the entire picture; assembling cast and crew, picking a director, etc.etc. Thus as the film was nearing completion, he went to RKO’s head of music, composer Max Steiner, and asked him to prepare music for his new monster picture. Steiner, a classically trained Austrian, then proceeded to assemble a score from bits and pieces stored in the RKO archives. It was pretty much choosing from already written music, preferably standard classics. Steiner did this based solely on his reading of the shooting script. When Cooper returned days later and listened to Steiner play some of it on the piano, he was crestfallen.

Cooper instinctively realized Steiner was not grasping what it was he wanted. When he explained he needed Steiner to watch a rough cut of the film and then compose music to
match it, the little Austrian reminded him of the money restraints his department operated under. Cooper, so positive his new kind of thriller required a fresh, original sound, promised Steiner he would pay for an orchestral recording from his own pocket. And he was true to his word, eventually shelling out a whopping $50,OOO for Steiner to compose and conduct his original score. (See picture above.) Once completed, Cooper said it was worth every single penny. KING KONG was one of the first true blockbusters and in the midst of the Great Depression, made $89,931 in New York City alone in only 4 days of its premier!

Movie historians, especially musicologist, are always quick to point out that Steiner’s original score was one of the major factors in the movie’s success. Never before had music been so perfectly matched in mood and rhythm to what was happening on the big silver screen.
Which is why, all these many years later, we fanatical King Kong fans are very aware of the newsmaking events which occured this past week on the Peter Jackson remake.

It was reported that Jackson’s LORD OF THE RINGS partner, composer Howard Shore, had left the project; after having completed a full score! The news articles, including Jackson’s own public statement, explained that the two had come to an impasse concerning the music. Part of me was not at all surrpised to hear this. Although I liked Mr.Shore’s work on the RINGS trilogy (he deseveredly won an Oscan for one of the three scores), I always felt (simply by listening to that music) that he did not have the sensibilities to capture the bombastic sounds of an over-the-top jungle epic. And let’s be honest here. Be they organic or concrete, the story of King Kong is a jungle adventure.
It was at the same time reported that Jackson had recruited James Newton Howard to come on board and do the music. I was delighted. Howard has written wonderful music for such movies as the live action PETER PAN, Disney’s
TREASURE PLANET & ATLANTIS-The Lost Empire,plus
all the scores for M.Night Shyamalan’s weird thrillers ala THE SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS, UNBREAKABLE and THE VILLAGE. He is a consumate composer with a very good feel for pure adventure melodrama. I’m excited at what kind of music he will deliver and can’t help but wonder if it will echo the great work of Max Steiner. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Finally, I just wanted to let you know the 8 week course I mentioned a while ago on comic books has been launched. Rich Woodall and I started classes two weeks ago and we’re having a blast. The class is small, but with these new flyers Rich whipped out, we hope to see it grow once these and word of mouth get out there. Isn’t anything more fun, at least in my humble opinion, than sharing the knowledge of something you love with others. That’s what this class is all about for Rich and me.

What with the foul, rainy weather finally letting up and sunshine back again, I’ve been able to take out my new bike and go riding. Still a few sore muscles, but it is getting easier. Ha. Not bad for a dude pushing 59!

That’s it for this week, fellow airmen.
Take care, over and out, Ron.

Greetings, airmen. My son, Scott, the PC whiz guy, was busy this week setting up our pages for the art gallery. It was something we had planned on doing right from the start, but like everything else in life, it just seemed to always get postponed. The purpose of Airship 27 has always been, aside from yours truly venting his thoughts and opinions on a helpless public (ha), to keep you informed on the various comic and pulp projects I’m currently invovled with. Obviously in that line of work, I collect lots and lots of very cool artowrk. Artwork I wanted very much to share with all of you. So here it is. Hopefully there will be lots more added as the weeks go by.

So let me identify the pieces I’ve put up to kick this off. The first two pieces, going left to right, on the first gallery page are from my
18 pg. story FRANK NG-HIRED GUN. The story is a prequel to the independent horror movie, GOD OF VAMPIRES, written, produced and directed by my good pal, Rob Fitz. The artist on this comic tie-in is Javier Lugo and that’s his work on the first page of the story. Next to that is the full color cover for the project as done by the
amazing Johnny Atomic; my parnter on TEMPLE & NASH. Johnny’s work is just gorgeous as this cover piece testifies.

Up next is some BROTHER GRIM art. The first piece is of course the powerful painting by Tom Floyd that was used for our pulp book, still available for those of you who haven’t yet picked up a copy. (See the Air Fare page.) With the success of the pulp book, co-creator Chris Mills and I decided it was time for a BROTHER GRIM comic book. It is going to be a 48 pg one-shot called BULLETS OF JADE and is being
drawn by the talented John Polacek. He did up
pin-ups of Blackjack Craddock and Det.Rod Riley
for us, both appear in the comic. And lastly, on
the next Gallery page, is John’s take on the
undead avenger. I love it.

Finally, as most of you know, the really big project on my plate these days is my bringing back the classic pulp hero, CAPTAIN HAZZARD. I’m doing both new pulp adventures and a comic book series. When I decided to rewrite the original Hazzard book, PYTHON MEN OF LOST CITY,
Ron Hanna over at Wild Cat Books agreed to publish it once it was ready. So I went to best pulp artist I know, Tom Floyd, and offered him the gig of doing the new cover. Tom jumped at the chance and is now hard at work on that assignement. To get it rolling he turned in three pencil sketches for me to choose from. I won’t tell you which I picked, but one of those pencils is now being painted by Tom. And since I detest wasting great artwork, I also picked another of these roughs and told my comic book
artist, Craig Shepard, to make a comic cover out of it. And while on the subject of that very same book (see the mock-up Chris did over the original pulp cover by the legendary painter Norm Saunders), Brian Meredith has begun serializing PYTHON MEN OF THE LOST CITY over at his (www.ModernPulp.com)site. He is posting a new chapter every Sunday and will do so until all 15 have been done. So if you’d like to read what I did to this 1930s adventure pulp, head on over and give it a go. Note, once the book is completely serialized, it will come off his site and go to the printers. Meaning, it will no longer be available to read for free. You’ve been advised.

Hope you all like the gallery. Scott and I still have more plans for Airship 27. So stay tuned and please, make your visits to the Airship a habit. We always love spending time with our friends. Have a great week, Ron, over and out.

Some of my fondest memories of growing up revolve around a gorgeous red bicycle my parents bought me for 12th birthday. Since my birthday is November 5th, it drops smack dab into the start of winter and not a time to be outdoors riding bikes.
I distinctly remember that particular year the snow had come early and there was no way I was going to be able to take out my new beauty on two wheels and even try it out before Spring. Talk about having the patience of a saint, ha.
It stayed in out basement all winter long. If you know anything about New England winters, that was many, many months. When the cold finally left and the warm weather returned, I must have driven my folks nuts with my contant pestering to take out my bike. The big day finally arrived and off I went down the street at full speed. She rode like the wind and handled like a dream. You could not have found a happier kid in all of Somersworth, NH that Spring and Summer.

This was somewhere around 1956/57 and bikes were not complicated machines as they are today.
There were no gears, no handle brakes. Just two wheels on a sturdy steel frame with a chain, two pedals and a handle bar. If you wanted to stop or slow down, you stepped backwards on the pedals.
Like I said, uncomplicated. Of course it required muscle to move and get from here to there. And in my town that was no small achievement. You see, Somersworth was built on a series of hills along the Salmon Falls River that divides NH and Southern Maine.
In fact the town’s nickname is the Hilltop City.
It is impossible to go one single mile in Somersworth without going up or down a hill. Now when you are a pre-teen and have a brand, new,shiny bike, that is not a problem, it’s a blooming blessing to one’s daredevil soul. And we were reckless, oh yeah. I have so many memories of whizzing down busy streets, my brother and cousins tagging along on their bikes, at breakneck speeds, through intersections and curving roads without any thought of how dangerous it all was.

These were the days before helmets and knee pads and elbow pads and whatever. If you took a fall in those days, and I took my share, then you got the bumps and bruises to show for it. Luckily I never broke anything, although how I managed that is pretty much a miracle.

Eventually I left grade school behind, entered high school and got my drivers license and that once new bike was stashed in the garage and like all childhood treasures, forgotten. Time rolls along, you grow up and there comes a time when those memories resurface. You have kids and then they have kids etc.etc. Which I think is what triggered it all for me when I saw my grand daughters learning how to ride their new bikes. I started reflecting on those wonderful days of youth and Valerie suggested I get a bike. What the heck, the riding would be good exercise as well. So we did. But the mistake we made was getting a modern contraption with all those fancy gears and gizmos and what-not.
I wrote it all of two months and never really enjoyed it, being always worried about shifting properly and never really figuring it out properly.
In the end it went up on hooks in our garage and still sits there to this day. It just seemed to me nobody way making bikes the old way anymore.
With no fancy doodads. Valerie kept telling me they did, but I didn’t believe her. All I had to do was watch Lance Armstrong do his thing with those handle-thingees and know my ever riding again was just a silly dream.

Of course what I forgot was the truth, as Jimminy Cricket says in the song, “if you believe hard enough, dreams do come true.” Two days ago Valerie and our daughter Michelle went off shopping for the day. Upon their return home,
Val waved from the front seat, “Come give us a hand getting stuff out of the back.” Michelle has a big SUV. I went over as she opened up the rear door and began pulling out this shiny,new black bike. Hmm, I thought, maybe its a new bike for one of the girls. They are shooting up
like sprouts and most likely one of them had outgrown her current bike. So I helped Michelle take hold of it, heave and bring it out and set it down in front of me. And realized it was a boy’s bike…WITH NO GEARS OF ANY KIND!!!
Which is when Val came over, gave me a hug and a kiss and said, “It’s early, but Happy Birthday.”

I have a new bike! It handles like a dream.
I took it around the block later that afternoon
and feeling the wind slapping me across the face almost got me crying. I was 12 again and life was just a series of hills, up and down. I couldn’t be happier. Of course that night certain 58 year (soon to be 59) leg muscles were
hurting. Oh yeah, but it was such a sweet pain.

Take care, airmen. And should you see this white haired old kid zipping down the road,
give him lots of room. Ha. Ron, over and out.

FAMILY EPILOGUE – Since writing the above yesterday, my son Scott e-mailed me pictures from our grand daughter’s 4th birthday. Among
Miss Taryn Rose Fortier’s gifts was her very own big bike. So here she is, conquering her hills and maintaing a noble family tradition. She sure is whole lot prettier a rider than yours truly. Way to go, T! Love yah, Pep.

Greetings airmen, another week has just flown by. They seem to really speed up this time of year, as summer weather wanes. The nights get colder and baseball season wraps this coming weekend. What with the Red Sox playing the Yankees in Fenway, for the whole enchillada, who but God could have scripted a more dramatic end to the season. A priest once told me it’s okay to pray for your team. Just keep in mind, good folks are also praying for the other guys.

A few weeks back I posted the primary portion of the awesome picture above. Back then I showed off the works of our penciller Craig Shepard and our inker, Sean Tenhoff. Well, as you can see, there was lots more to the picture than what I chose to reveal. Here it is complete with the book’s menace, one of the Python Men of the Lost City. And a big tip of the hat to colorist Bishop Bowie, who did such a bag up job here. Come on folks, if you saw this on the comic racks in your local shop, wouldn’t you have the urge to pick it up? Am hoping that’s the case. Ha. The project is coming along smoothly with everyone on board delivering some amazing work.

I spent an hour with some kids from the Barrington, NH middle school yesterday afternoon. I’m part of an after school enhancement program and I’m giving them a three week crash course in comic books. Had ten kids, nine boys and one girl, sign up. They were a good bunch and I’m looking forward to seeing them again next week.

My favorite TV show from last season was the Emmy award winning LOST. It kept me glued to the edge of my recliner all season long and I simply couldn’t wait to see it pick up again.
Well, it has and we are already two weeks into season 2 and it still rocks! The show is like an elevated, televised video game. My wise partner, Valerie, made that observation after we’d seen the season’s premier. She says it certainly feels like we’ve all been bumped up to the next level. Top notch writing, great characters and a mysterious setting. What more could you ever want from a TV show.

And finally, this week I have to offer up my sincerest apologies for NOT being at the Wizard World Boston convention, as I’d stated I would be. Circumstances beyond my control negated my
hoped for transportation and so I’ve sadly had to bow out. I do not drive in big cities, and Boston is one of the biggest, and the worst to navigate. Take my word on that one. I am particularly sorry I won’t be able to join the gang from Digital Webbing as they sign copies of
DWP #24. But on an upbeat note, DWP #25 is out and at comic shops across the country. It features the second MASK OF THE GARGOLYE story by yours truly and art by the gifted Dario Carrasco. I hope you’ll pick it up. As for you
folks hoping to see me in Boston, again, sorry.
I will be in Nashua, Halloween weekend, and that you can take to the bank.

That’s it for another go round. Tare care and have a great week. Ron, over and out.

Hi airmen, well another busy week is wrapping up and I’m beat. Spent the most of the day in
nearby Massachusetts at a funeral. Now home, tired and wanting to just kick back and watch a little TV. But not before introducing you to my little friend, Yoda.

My son, Kevin, works as a manager for a local supermarket. Last Friday night he called asking if I was going to be home all evening. He said he had something for me and wanted to drop it off. Well, my wife and I spent the next forty minutes trying to figure out exactly what it was he had. Kevin has access to a lot of cool cardboard presentations the various merchandisers display in his store and we assumed that was what he had for his old dad.

We were on the right track, but way off on the object and its make up. Apparently at the height of the last Star Wars movie blitz, Pepsi and Lucas Film had 500 life-size Yodas made from hard resin. Then there was some kind of drawing as to what Pepsi retail customers would get the statues. Kevin’s was one of those stores.

During the months the movie was out, this figure stood atop a high rack in the store, with hundreds of Pepsi cans stacked beneath him. Kevin tells me at one point a man came into the store and offered his boss $500 for it. As they were still in the middle of the promotion, the manager turned him down and told him to come back later. Lucky for me, the dude never came back. Once the promotion was all done, the folks at the store tried to auction it off on E-Bay and supposedly got a whopping big bid.
Unfortunately the person who placed it didn’t come through and they ended up holding the Yoda.
Soooo…last Friday, Kevin’s boss told him to go into his office, where it was stored, and get rid it of it. Anyway he wanted. Trash it or give it away. It was his call. Now Kevin might have kept it for himself, being a true Star Wars buff like his dad, but alas his apartment is a wee small one. And so, God bless his heart, he thought of his father.

Of course Val raised both eyebrows when he came walking into our house carrying this heavy
little treasure. But when she saw the look of rapture on my face, she just accepted what must be. And so, if you are ever in the neighborhood, you are most welcome to come and visit. I’ll bring you down to me den and introduce you to my new little friend.

Aren’t children marvelous. Thanks Kevin, this is by far the biggest toy I have ever received.

Have a great week airmen, Ron, over and out.

After some twenty odd years, my plans to produce a comic book based on the pulp hero CAPTAIN HAZZARD are finally being realized. Thanks in large part to a crew of extremely talented creators. The two principles are Craig Shepard, the penciller, and Sean Tenhoff, our super talented inker. I found both these artists on
the forums over at Digital Webbing and am told it is now the busiest comics related website on the internet. I won’t argue that a bit. Rounding out our production team are Digital Caps own Jaymes as letterer and another good airmen, Bishop Bowie, as colorist. The sample artwork above clearly demonstrates Craig and Sean’s perfect take on a pulp classic. It is actually a portion of the what will become our first cover. Once it is completed, colored and the masthead logos affixed, I will post it for all to see and enjoy.

The Captain Hazzard pulp magazine only ever put forth a single issue. It was obviously intended to be a Doc Savage clone, whereas the larger than life hero would travel the globe fighting injustice accompanied by a colorful group of assistants. Sadly that single issue was an abysmal failure and there never was a second issue. I, and writers Martin Powel and Chris Mills, hope to remedy that situation. The illustration above features Captain Kevin Douglas Hazzard and his loyal team of adventures. Left to right they are, Dr.Martin Tracey, the Captain’s first cousin and the team’s medico. Tyler Randall, ace mechanic and pilot. Cowboy Jake Cole, an expert marksman and tracker. Prof.Washington McGowen, a scientist without peer and the Captain’s mentor. Finally William Crawley, a crime reporter for a big New York City daily. Together, these six men will take readers into unparalled adventures filled with wonders and daring-do. Hopefully we’ll see both a new pulp series and comic series launched simultaneously in 2006.

Martin and I are co-writing the new pulp adventures and Chris and I are handling the comic exploits. Twice the pulp thrills for fans of both media. Stay tuned, airmen. We’ll keep
you posted.

Finally, Hollywood lost one of the finest directors ever this past week. Rober Wise died at the age of 91. His remarkable legacy includes such classic sci-fi flicks as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE BODY SNATCHERS,
THE ANDOMEDA STRAIN & STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE. He also helmed such wonderful musicals as THE WEST SIDE STORY and THE SOUND OF MUSIC.
We certainly won’t see another like him again.

Have a great week, airmen. Ron, over and out.

Earlier this year, my writing pal, James Chambers, notified me that publisher, Vincent Sneed, was putting together an anthology based on the theme of beautiful women versus monsters. James thought I might have a decent pulp yarn to fit that kind of book and he could not have been more correct.
Excited by the theme, I whipped up a story entitled FURY IN VERMONT. It is the debut of a new character named Kate Fury. She is an adventurer traveling the globe circa the 1930s with a very unique assembly of aids. One of these, a former Candadian Mounted Policeman named Donat Cartier, figures prominently in this first outing. Thus far several of my anthology mates who have read the tale have asked if they can expect more exploits of the lovely Ms.Fury in the future. Time will tell, amigos. For right now, I need all of you to go SHOCKLINES on the web. That’s where DARK FURIES is for sale,
a bargain at only $14.95, besides my action packed yarn, it alos features 14 other stories by some of today’s finest horror and fantasy writers. People like James Chambers, C.J.Hendreson and John French to name a few. Don’t miss this one, airmen. I’d also advise you to visit Vincent Sneed’s own site, DIE MONSTER DIE. He’s done some remarkable books in the past few years and you really should check them out.

Anyone who buys a copy of DARK FURIES and sends me an e-mail telling me, with some evidence that you have done so (such a relating
the plot of my own tale therein), I will send
them a special art treat for their efforts. My small way of saying thanks. Who says I don’t love my fans!

The news from the South and the plight of survivors of hurraciane Katrina is still very disheartening, although lots of Americans, both as organizations and individuals have stepped up to the plate and answered the call. But lots, lots more needs doing. So please, whatever you can offer, be it a cash donation, or to go and give blood..whatever. It will all add up to getting our fellow Americans back on their feet again. No gift, no effort on their behalf is too small. And please, coupled with that, continue to pray; it’s a powerful resource for
people of faith. Try it and see for yourself.

Finally, I’ve picked up another small teaching gig. In the next three weeks I will be giving an after-school enhancement program to the students of the
Barrington, NH middle-school. My topic? What
else, Comic Books! Should be a blast. Am really looking forward to it.

Take care, have a good week, and write when you get the chance. We miss yah. Ron, over and out.

No comic graphics this week, my friends. The pictures from the south, in Katrina’s wake have been more than graphic enough for all of us.
I will be offering my mass this weekend for all those poor people who’ve lost everything. And I urge all of you, not only to pray, but give what you can to the Red Cross relief effort. And to
understand the economic ripples of this historic disaster will be felt by everyone eventually.
The government is asking Americans to conserve
energy and lessen their cosumpiton of fuel usage.
It means sacrafice for all of us and a golden opportunity to show the rest of the world what we are really made of.

Once again, my fellow airmen it’s been a fast week. The big news is Digital Webbing Presents #24 (see that gorgeous cover above) is now in comic shops across the world! Yup, and from what I’m hearing, it is selling off the racks quick. So if you haven’t gotten a copy, what are you waiting for? Get down to your favorite comic shop and grab one. If they’ve already sold out,
then ask your shop manager to reorder one for you. Remember, they are there to serve you, the customer. So never take, “Gee, they’re all sold out,” as a final word. Besides my MASK OF THE GARGOYLE, this beautiful issue also features a Teenage Mutant Ninaj Turtle story and a rollicking superhero yarn called FIST OF JUSTICE. All good stuff. I’m proud of this project and I hope those of you who see it,
enjoy it as well.

If you are curious as to this week’s heading, well one of the things I’ve always tried to do in my life is make my dreams come true. It’s never enough to just have dreams. Unless you make them a reality, or at least do your best to achieve that end, what is the purpose of dreaming? In my life, I’ve been blessed with lots of dreams fulfilled which leads to the following experiences of the past week.

If you are a regular visitor to the Airship, then you’ll know my favorite movie of all time is the original, 1933 KING KONG. You will also know there is a tremendous amount of hype these days for Peter Jackson’s new version due out in theaters this coming December. So it should be no surprise that the merchandising markets are now being swamped with KONG items, to include various tie-in publications. I know of at least three paperback KONG books due, never mind the more expensive hardback volumes being planned. Oh, to hit the megabucks and get them all, ha. But I’m off track here. Back to my tale of dreams reaching out to touch you. A few weeks back I was
approached by a publisher pal who was in negogiations with a Hollywood firm to produce a KING KONG comic book and he wanted to know if I’d like to write it for him. After I stopped jumping up and down for ten minutes, and calmed down a wee bit, he explained the situation etc. The deal was this licensor in California would put forth the plot idea and I would write a script from it. They wanted to do Kong’s story up to the point where the 1933 movie begins. Seemed logical enough to me. I began jotting down notes and ideas on how I would lay the narrative to show Kong, how he was born on that savage, forgotten world of Skull Island, how his mother and father raised him, how they died and how,
left alone as the last of his kind, he became the true, mighty ruler of his domain, KING KONG.
I tried to keep all this under wraps, as I didn’t want to jinx anything until the deal was official. Two weeks went by without a word. I was getting very, very nervous. Then a few days ago the publisher sent me the licensor’s proposed plot and the minute I began reading it,
my dream of being connected with a KING KONG project slowly slipped away. Their idea was that aliens came down to Earth in prehistoric times, zapped a gorilla into giant size and continued to do this over the millions of years that followed. In their grand vision, a giant gorilla is present when the pyramids of Egypt are built! It is a giant gorilla who answers Joshua’s horn summon and destroys the walls of Jericho!! And on and on and on. Truly the most ridiculous, idiotic story I have ever read. I wrote my publisher pal and told him I hated it. Ten minutes later he called me personally and admitted so did he.
Neither of us wanted our names attached to this mess, in any shape or form. My buddy was going to call those Hollywood dudes and diplomatically
try to explain to them why their idiocy won’t fly, and maybe they might want to listen to our
ideas. But I’m not holding my breath. Hollywood types are notoriously as stubborn as they are stupid. So there you go, it was a real dissappointment. But those things happen. For all the dreams that do come true, others go unrealized.

Of course, life does have a certain balance to it and no sooner did I put the KING KONG dream behind me then another equally important project took a big step closer to fruition. Super cover artist, Tom Floyd (his work graces both my pulp books..BROTHER GRIM and THE HOUNDS OF HELL) sent along three rough sketches for the proposed cover of my latest pulp actioner, CAPTAIN HAZZARD. For those of you not in the know, I have rewritten an old pulp classic, starring this lost hero. It is called PYTHON MEN OF LOST CITY, and with fingers crossed, it will see publication early next year. Obviously we needed a new cover and Tom, the loyal pal he is, stepped right up and took the assignment. Like he said, “What’s a Ron Fortier pulp book without a Tom Floyd cover?”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. So, Tom in his professionalism sent along three sketches for yours truly to pick from. Talk about a tough decision. All of the sketches were beautiful, when using imagination to see them fully painted. I went to several of my artists pals for their advice and the final choice was acutally unanimous. It is posted here for you to see. As Tom develops the final version, I’ll continue to post them here. In fact, son Scott, my personal PC guru, is in the final stages of getting a gallery page added to the Hangar. Once that’s done, I’ll be showing you lots of very cool artwork. Anyways, seeing CAPTAIN HAZZARD moving ahead like this was a real charge and took away the sadness of losing the KING KONG gig. Win some, lose some. It’s what life is all about. The trick is to take the losses for what they are, learning experiences, and move on. There are always dozens of other dreams waiting in the wings. Believe it.

Have a great week, Ron, over and out.