Greetings Loyal Airmen.  This time tomorrow the Air Chief will be in Columbus, Ohio attending the second annual Pulp Fest.  Along with my pal and partner, Rob Davis, we will be setting up shop with our Airship 27 Productions table filled to overflowing with lots of great pulp novels and anthologies.  So we hope a lot of you Loyal Airmen will be stopping by to check out the goodies and saying hi.  And as always, any Loyal Airmen who comes to any of these conventions wearing Airship 27 swag from our Cafe Press on-line shop will get 50% any one book our table. Our way of saying thanks for you continued support.  How do you find the shop? Simply click on to our dirigible logo on the left of this column, which will then take you to our on-line bookstore.  Scroll all the way down to the bottom of that page and you'll find the link to the Cafe Press shop.  Believe us, there are lots of cool items there.

And speaking of our Airship 27 titles, this past week we proudly released our 28th book. It is one we are all extremely excited about.

Last year we released the first volume of the brand new adventures of the Green Lama with stories by Kevin Noel Olson, Peter Miller and Adam Lance Garcia.  Note, Adam received a Pulp Factory Award nomination for his story in that book.  After its release, Adam had an idea of writing a full novel length GL adventure and we happily encouraged him to do so.  The end result is THE GREEN LAMA – UNBOUND, one of the finest, most exciting and original pulp adventures we've ever had the pleasure of reading.  This great book is beautifully enhanced by the art Mike Fyles, himself another PFA nominee.  Mike had done the cover to our first GL book and this time asked to do both the cover and nine black and white interior illustrations.  We were more than happy to grant him his wish.  Mike recently began doing covers for Marvel and we are thrilled to have such a talented artist in our bullpen as well.  And of course rounding out the entire package with his gorgeous design work is Rob Davis, who is himself a PFA winner for his interior art on our first ever Sherlock Holmes anthology.
So as you can see, Loyal Airmen, this is truly an All-Star creative team and the book itself reflects their hard work cover to cover.  We hope you'll stop over to our on-line shop an order a copy.  Of course in another week or so the book will be available at Amazon, Barnes & Nobles etc.

Which is a nice segue into our second item of news this week.  Ever since we began Airship 27 Productions, we have always looked for ways to get out books out to a wider audience.  Alas getting our titles into book chains has always been near impossible.  As for converting to the digital market for things like Kindle and iPad, there is a very complex transfer process that we have yet to overcome. When trying to alter our book files for these digital readers, we lose all our interior illustrations.  They, Kindle and iPad etc. are just not sophisticated enough to translate pages of artwork. So we keep hoping someone will eventually devise a program that makes that possible.

Whereas our publisher Cornerstone Book Publisher yesterday took a major marketing step forward when he signed a contract, via Ingram Distribution, with the outfit that makes the Expresso Book Machines.  If you are unaware of this revolutionary on-demand invention, well hang onto to your hats Loyal Airmen.  This is a machine that is being sold to bookstores and libraries.  Each unit has hundreds of digital book files taken directly from the exact same pdf files we use produce our Airship 27 books.  A customer goes to the screen catalog, chooses the book they wish to buy, inserts their credit card and hits the Start button.  Within 5 to 8 minutes a brand new, store-quality book is printed up, collated, glued and given a four color cover then dropped into a retrieval slot!  If you think this is radical, we suggest you find their You Tube model video on-line which shows one in action.  At present the company that makes these amazing  machines has 35 of them in operation throughout the US and in several foreign countries.  There is one in the public library of New Orleans.  One in McMaster University Bookstore in Ontario Canada, another in the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, MA.  And on and on and on.

We personally see these amazing machines eventually appearing in every bookstore, coffeeshop and shopping mall across the land.  In just another few weeks, once our publisher delivers the files, all 28 Airship 27 titles will be available to be purchase from an Expresso Book Machine.  My Loyal Airmen, the Brave New World is here and we think it's grand.

And there you have it for this, the last week of July.  Once again time is whizzing by us.  Take care, stay well, and go read a pulp book.  We would be most grateful.  See you back here next week.
Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings Loyal Airmen, well in exactly one week ye Old Air Chief will be sitting here writing his Flight Log
and preparing to leave for Columbus, Ohio to attend the second annual Pulp Fest convention.  Airship 27 Productions will be there with flying colors, our table filled lots of great pulp novels and anthologies, a few comics and some odd posters or two.  Our partner, art director, Rob Davis, will even do sketches for anyone wishing to commission him.  Reasonably priced, these make a great treasure for any graphic lover.

                 
                     ISSUE OF CLUES WITH I.V. FROST
There will be close to two dozen vendors selling and trading all kinds of great old pulps like the one pictured above.  We chose this particular cover as it features Prof. I.V. Frost, a character we have recently been writing for Moonstone Books.  More on those as things develop.  So, if any of you Loyal Airmen are in the vicinity of Columbus, starting 30th Aug., please, drop on by Pulp Fest, come to our table and say hello.  We'd love to see you.

Several weeks ago I posted some amazing comic art by Brazilian artist Joe Bennett.  Joe and the Air Chief are now putting together a proposal about his mega science fiction saga called NEUTRAL WORLD.  The Air Chief has written a five page sample script and Joe is busy illustrating it.  He's also done some pin-up sketches of some of Neutral World's characters that we can share with you this week.

           
                               A  MENTANQUE

Above is robotic warrior known as a Mentanque.  As yet we have no idea if he's one of the good guys or one of the bad guys.  Stay tuned.  We still think the character is awesome to behold.

               
                                 ABSSARA THERU

And this is the beautiful, sexy and oh so cruel and deadly Abssara.  She is THE major villain of the saga.  She's also a shape-shifter and you will not believe what her true guise looks like.  Yeouch.  Again, stay tuned,there is lots more on the way.

With the return of dry heat and cool nights, summer has really become wonderful here in New England.  Fingers crossed it remains this enjoyable throughout the rest of our limited season.  Hope all you Loyal Airmen are having a great summer too.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  We write tonight's entry with a heart filled with both sadness and happiness.  We've a story to share we think is beautiful.  It is the story of two women and their friendship.  Mona K was a fun loving woman all her life.  She was one of those people who live loud. Always boisterous, enjoying life to the max in all she did, from being a loving wife to a loving mother to her only son, Dick.  After her husband died, Mona lived alone in their big house until a year and a half ago it just became too much for her.  She was having health issues and in the end she realized it was time to find a better environment and so she became a resident of the Wentworth Home and it was there that she met my Mom, Gaby.   Only in their early 80s, Mona and Gaby were the youngest of the thirty five residents and they hit it off instantly.  Gaby had never met anyone so full of life, so energetic, wild and mischievous.  Mona still drove and so together, the two of them began to go off on all kinds of day trips.  Together they became a storm of playfulness that had the residence and staff all laughing and in cheer.  They were soon labeled the Themla & Louise of the Wentworth Home.

                 
                                Mona in the blue at left front row, Gaby in the red in back.

It was such a great friendship that so enriched both their lives.  Then two weeks ago Mona's health began to fail and she was taken to the hospital.  It was serious and the doctors advised chemo-therapy, but Mona wanted no part of it.  At best it would only prolong her life a few months and most likely they would be painful months.  So she opted to forgo the chemo and face her end with as much courage and dignity as she could muster.  All of the folks in the Home were saddened, but none more so than Gaby.  Last week Mona was taken to a wonderful hospice home to be cared for until she passed.  Gaby visited her day and night, along with Dick and his wife. When Gaby arrived there this morning, the nurses told her Mona was having a difficult time of it and couldn't relax.  Her breathing was labored and she was struggling.  Gaby went to her, sat on her bed and cradled her dear friend her arms.  She bent down and whispered that she was there and that it was time for Mona to let go. To simply let go.  And so for the next hour, Gaby sat there, tenderly holding her best friend telling her it was okay to let go.  Mona calmed down and gently went to sleep…that perfect, peaceful, eternal sleep.  From her friend's loving embrace to that of her Creator.

Later in the afternoon, Mom called to tell us the news and of Mona's last hours.  I have never been so proud of my mother.  She needs her rest now.  I'll be calling her tomorrow to make sure she's alright.  We'll all be going to Mona's funeral mass when it is scheduled.  Oh, we'll cry, we all loved that wild woman.  But we will also laugh a lot and celebrate her life.  She made the world a better place for her being in it.  You can't ever ask for any more than that.

Have a great week, Ron.  Over & Out.

Greeting Loyal Airmen. Well the heat wave that has blanketed the country this past week continues unabetted here in New England with high temps and bloody high humidity.  The Air Chief and Val have pretty much become in-house dwellers, venturing out doors only when absolutely necessary, or that occasional dip in the backyard pool.  Of course we assume many of you Loyal Airmen have found release either at lakes or beaches to find those elusive cool breezes.  If so, we are also assuming you have brought along reading material to entertain yourselves between swimming plunges.  The Air Chief rarely mentions books here in the Flight Log, as we also write the Pulp Fiction Review blog (see the link above this column).  A few days ago we reviewed a marvelous thriller we want to bring your attention.

             
CEMETERY DANCE by writers Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is the thirteenth Special Agent Pendergast mystery and we love this series.  A few years back one of our oldest friends sent us a Pendergast novel and we ate it up.  Special Agent Pendergast is by far the coolest, modern day pulp hero on the market today.  He is so the heir to all the great pulp heroes like the Shadow and Secret Agent X.  He is a brilliant, Southern born gentlemen whose knowledge of the arcane is amazing.  Each of his cases involves some elements of the supernatural and each is a gripping roller coaster ride of suspense and action.  If you've never read a Pendergast book, what are you waiting for?  Check out my full review of this particular title at the link above.

             
                         RAFAR THERU
Last week we told you all about Brazilian artist Joe Bennett and the new comic book project he and the Air Chief are now putting together called NEUTRAL WORLD.  Here's another look at the main character of that science fiction saga, Rafar Theru of the Impossible Men.  Enjoy.

               
                         GIDEON CAIN – DEMON HUNTER
On the pulp front, Airship 27 Productions is in the last stages of putting together our next pulp anthology and this one will feature a brand new hero, Gideon Cain, the puritan soldier who travels the globe in search a  monster demon that murdered his wife and daughter.   Rob Davis is providing the artwork and the illustration above is his first depiction of our grim protagonist.  Look for this book to be out before the end of the month.

And speaking of the end of July, Rob and the Air Chief are once again packing up the good old Airship 27 for our second trip to Columbus, Ohio for Pulp Fest.  This is one of the finest three day get togethers of all things pulp in the country.  We are hoping, as last year, we will be seeing many of you Loyal Airmen on hand to help us celebrate this nostalgic literature of the past.  And if you've never been to a convention, let the Air Chief assure to you there tons more cool things to browse beside pulps.  Old paperbacks, golden age comics, movie serials on DVD.  Tons of fun treasures to be found.  Plus the real fun of spending a few days with creative folks who share one's passions.  Really counting the days till Pulp Fest.

That's it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  Please stay well and cool.  We'll be back in seven.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings, Loyal Airmen.  The Air Chief has always believed that no act of kindness ever goes unrewarded in this world. No matter how small that kindness may be, one never knows how it may some day come back to you.  Which is what happened recently to the Air Chief.  You see, long ago back in the early 80s we were writing the second Volume of Green Hornet adventures for Now Comics.  At that particular time there was no regular art team assigned to the book and it seemed like every other issue there was a new artist on board.  Now most of these were professionals we had heard of in the business and then there were the new kids whose names were totally alien to us.  Such was the case with issue # 21 titled The Return of Mr.Death.

             
                 Green Hornet # 21 Vol. Two
We were told by our editor that a new kid, one Joe Bennett, would be drawing that particular issue.  Okay, all well and good.  Several months later the book is published and for the first time we saw Mr. Bennett's work. And we liked it, a whole lot.  There was something really original about his style with both pencil and inks.  Delighted by his work on that single issue, we wrote him a letter telling him so and sent it off to him via the publisher.  End of story.  As far as we were concerned you see, because Joe never did another issue of the Green Hornet.  Eventually the series and Now folded and all of us moved on.

As time passed, we did lots of other comics and eventually drifted out of the industry to devote ourselves to prose writing etc. and quite frankly we never heard the name Joe Bennett again.  And had absolutely no clue as to what had happened to him.  Until two weeks ago when out of the blue Joe sends us an e-mail asking if we would like to join him in creating an original science fiction adventure comic project that he has been working on for the past ten years called Neutral World.  At first we honestly didn't recognize who he was, although the name struck a faint bell in our memory gray cells.  Joe mentioned how we had sent him a letter and how much it had meant to him and now he very much wanted to work with us again.  Oh, and in his second letter he send along some artwork.

           
                                    Art From NEUTRAL WORLD by Joe Bennett
And our eyes widened in sheer amazement.  Above is just one of the awesome illustrations Joe sent us.  Well, Loyal Airmen, by now the Air Chief was really-really curious as to who this guy was and what he had been doing the last eighteen years since that long ago Green Hornet comic.  So we surfed over to the internet and lo and behold we discovered some pretty fantastic things about Mr.Joe Bennett.  Bron in 1968, his real name is Benedito Jose Nascimento and he hails from Belem in Brazil.  He obviously changed his name to appease American publishers.  He is a self-taught artist and for the past eighteen years has had a remarkable professional career having worked on such characters as Spider-Man, Captain American, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Teen Titans, Hawkman, Birds of Prey and many, many others.  He is considered one of the finest comic book artist in the business today.

Which is why we were bowled upon learning of Joe's truly great career.  Off all the pro comic writers out there he could have tapped to work on this, his personal dream project, he came to us.  Why?  Because Joe is at heart a sentimental guy and he always remembered his first ever comic book gig and the nice letter he got from that writer telling him how good an artist he was.  And that, Loyal Airmen is a hell of a moral to remember.  Right now, Joe and the Air Chief are packaging Joe's notes into a workable presentation package and we have a great comic book publisher very interested in seeing it once done.  So hang in there, keep your fingers crossed for us and we will keep you posted as NEUTRAL WORLD moves ahead.

Jumping further back into the Way-Back Time Machine, we wonder how many of you remember a wonderful movie called THE GOONIES.  Written by Chris Columbus and directed by Richard Donner, it is the stories of a bunch of kids who lived in the Goon Dock neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon in 1985.  When the city starts making plans to raze the neighborhood for whatever reasons, the gang, led by actors Sean Austin and Corey Feldman decide to find the treasure of a 17th Century pirate named One-Eyed Willy and save the day.  The movie, produced by Steven Spielberg, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.  We tell you all this because our daughter Michelle and her family gave the Air Chief a Goonies tee-shirt for Father's Day a few weeks back and we love it.

           
                       The Big Goonie
All of which got us thinking, why hasn't Spielberg and company gotten around to doing a sequel?  There had been some talk a few years ago that someone wanted to do a “remake.”  Which we find stupid. All they would have to do is bring back the original kid cast, now all grown up and with their own sons and daughters who would naturally become the “new” Goonies.  It such as logical progression.  We mentioned this idea over on Facebook and many, many friends chimed in affirmatively.  So come on, Spielberg, give us GOONIES 2!!

And with that we wrap it up for this weekend.  HAPPY 4th of JULY to all our Loyal Airmen and God Bless America.  She's still young as ever.
Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  First up, I want to thank all of you who wrote concerning my Father's Day entry last week.  It seems like the theme of Dads & Cowboys was a very familiar one with many of you and some of your stories and comments were marvelous and touching. Thanks so very much.  This week we are going to be talking again on our favorite topic, family, in a rather special way.

But before we do that, we have to report that the Sanford Maine Stage Theater's new production of our play, Where Love Takes You had to be postponed.  Our directors simply could not fill the large cast required in time to put on the show for their targeted July dates.  So they are going to reshuffle their schedule and do a series of smaller shows and come September, revisit the situation.  Hopefully by then they will have made numerous connections with various acting groups in the area and the casting will not be a problem.  It was disappointing news, but again, only a bump in the road.  As the pros say, the Show must go on!!

                     
                                    Our Cousin Ada
Coming from a huge French Canadian clan, we grew up with literally dozens of cousins on both sides of my family. Our Mom was one of ten kids and so you can imagine the number of children born to my generation. One such was my cousin, Elaine.  Only a year younger than the Air Chief, Elaine and we older cousins grew up together.  After high school, she joined the Air Force to see the world.  There she met a civilian contractor named Dennis and fell in love.  They had several children, the oldest a daughter named Karen.  Karen grew up, married and gave them a sweet granddaughter named Ada.  Tomorrow, Ada will appear as one of the children of the main cast in the new Adam Sandler comedy, GROWN UPS.  Mom had told us all this months before we ran into Cousin Elaine a few months ago at a local restaurant.  When we told her we'd heard about her granddaughter's movie, she reached into her purse and whipped out the postcard you see above.  Talk about one proud grandmother.   So, tomorrow morning, Val and the Air Chief are picking up Mom at her home and driving to the cineplex to watch and cheer on our cousin Ada.  We now have a movie star in the family.  That is just so cool.

                
                           PROF. I.V. FROST  & JEAN MORAY
On the creative front, we've been busy knocking out a second Frost comic script for Moonstone.  In fact today we learned that our first 12 pg. Frost adventure, art by the talented Jake Minor (that's his work above) will be the back up feature in Moonstone's new Secret Agent X title.  The Air Chief will keep you posted when the title is solicited.  Writing this little known pulp hero has proven to be a real treat and we are having fun chronicling his new adventures with his lovely and brilliant assistant, Miss Jean Moray.

Lastly, after much procrastination, we have indeed begun writing a new Captain Hazzard novel.  When finished this will be the fifth in the series.  If we've already announced this, please forgive the Air Chief.  So many things are happening all at the same time, it's easy to forget an item or two.  Ha.  Speaking of which, as yet still no takers on the house, but we remain optimistic.  We opened our in-ground pool this morning and all the real estate people who have seen the property agree that pool is a major asset.  We tend to go along with that, especially for a family with young children.  All our kids and grand kids learned to swim in that pool.  Like the house, it contains lots of great memories. 

There you have it for another week, Loyal Airmen.  Thanks ever for dropping by and we'll see you next week.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, sorry we are late getting this week's Flight Log up and running.  Seems our servers have been getting zapped by shifting power surges.  Our son, Scott, runs those servers and he lives down in Conn. where all this funky electrical stuff has been going on.  So here it is Friday afternoon and we're hoping we can log this in before another such surge shuts him down again.  Here we go.

             
                 Mom & Dad 1945
What with Father's Day coming up this Sunday, the Air Chief's thoughts have been giving this fatherhood thing a lot of thought.  He was blessed from the get go with one of the greatest dads ever, George J. Fortier.  Sadly he passed away in 1976, and although he lived to see Scott, Kevin and Heather born, he never had the chance to be a grandfather to them.  Which is one of the reasons the Air Chief wrote that play about how he and Mom met and fell and love.  So that my own children might get to know him a little bit better.  Most boys do grow up idolizing their dads and memorizing in their hearts all the stories they tell them.  The Air Chief was no exception and recently the U.S Post Office has been instrumental in helping us relive one of those facts.

You see, when George Fortier was a teenager he got a job as an usher in the local movie house.  That would have been in the mid-1930s and he loved it because he loved the movies and now got to see them for free.  Easily his favorite genre was westerns and his favorite cowboy actor was Tom Mix.

         
               Western Super Star Tom Mix
Dad would go on and on about Mix and his Wonder Horse Tony and the fact that they once made a personal appearance in the nearby town of Rochester when he was very young.  Over the years Dad would become a fan of all the great cowboy stars from Randolff Scott and Joel McCrea to the Duke, John Wayne.  But in his heart, there was never anyone to hold a candle to Tom Mix.  

             
So you Loyal Airmen can all imagine the Air Chief's thrill when a few months ago the U.S. Post Office released a set of commemorative stamps entitled Cowboys of the Silver Screen, and they featured four of the greatest ever, William S.Hart, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and ….Tom Mix.   You better believe the Air Chief went right and bought several sheets immediately.  It is such a joy when slapping them on an envelope.  We never look at the Mix stamp without thinking,  “Gee, Dad would have loved these.”

It is funny what little things will bring back the memories of our loved ones.  So as we near this particular family orientated holiday, we want to wish a special Happy Father's Day to sons Alan, Scott and son-in-law Chris, three of the BEST DADS we know.  These men are terrific husbands and loving fathers to our six grand kids. Our family is so blessed to have them and they carry on a rich tradition we are all so very proud off.

To all you Loyal Airmen who are dads, especially my pal and partner, Rob Davis, God Bless you and continue to guide you as you watch over and protect our most precious treasures of all, our kids. 

Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings Loyal Airmen, as promised, we are releasing our newest pulp title today. But before we get to that, we've another story to relate to you. One so dear and precious to both Valerie and the Air Chief.  Over seventeen years ago, our daughter, Michelle, gave birth to a daughter, our very first grandchild.  She named her Kristi Valori Leclerc.  Valori is a combination of her grandmother's name (Val) and her great-grandmother's name, Lorraine (Lori).  She was born late at night and Val was at the hospital with Michelle and her husband, Chris, for the delivery. By the time she drove home it was after midnight and she was happily exhausted.  The next morning she rested while the Air Chief jumped into his Toyota pick-up truck and headed out to the hospital to meet his new granddaughter.  As he drove, he said a special prayer that he be allowed to be a special part of this new life, that they would form a truly loving bond together.  Ten minutes after arriving at the hospital, the Air Chief was holding little Miss Kristi carefully in his arms.  It was the beginning of a beautiful thing.

              
                      Me & Kristi Go For A Ride
From the day they took her home, Kristi changed all our lives.  Michelle and Chris learned the true joys of parenthood and Val and the Air Chief took to being grandparents like ducks to water.  All four of us, and all the other members of her family, totally surrounded this happy child with unending love from day one.  Kristi's visits to our house were always occasions of unabashed joy and laughter.

          
                             Kristi Takes The Wheel of the Toyota Pick-Up.
As she continued to grow, so did the laughter and joy.  All of us became better people because of her and she continued to bless all our lives with her infectious spirit of happiness.  When she was three, Michelle had their second daughter, Chelsea, and Kristi quickly and easily became a loving Big Sister.  The two of them are still loving sisters who rely and depend on each other without question.  It was just an added dimension to Kristi's personality.

And time just kept rolling along as she started pre-school at Bunny's & Blocks, where the Air Chief would pick her up every Wednesday at noon and they would go to lunch at the nearby McDonald's.  Then came regular school and she excelled.  Was there ever any doubt.  Then she was playing soccer and softball and still getting all As.  Middle school came and went and suddenly she was in highly school and going to proms.  It was a whirlwind ride for all of us.

          
                                        Miss Kristi Valori Leclerc – High School Graduate
On Saturday night, 12 June 2010, our Kristi will graduate from Noble High School Suma Cum Laude. You can well imagine the excitement our entire family is going through.  Kristi has grown into a beautiful, intelligent, wise and truly loving young woman.  As the Air Chief writes these words, he can't help but wonder where did all those years go?  How did that curly-haired muppet he sat on his lap turn into this engaging creature?  And no, dear Loyal Airmen, we don't feel old. We feel blessed, and we thank the Good Lord for answering our special prayer on that ride to the hospital so many years ago.   In a few months she'll be attending the University of New Hampshire, a college student.  Good luck, Princess, me and Mem love you so very, very much.  Thank you for making the past 17 years so wonderful.

Val and the Air Chief have six amazing grand kids.  All of them are gifts from God and family truly is the greatest treasure this world can offer any of us.  We pray all you Loyal Airmen are equally blessed.  And now to the long awaited release of Airship 27 Productions 27th pulp title – BLACK BAT MYSTERY.

This book features four brand new, action packed stories starring this classic pulp hero said to have inspired many comic book heroes like DC's Batman and Marvel's Daredevil.  Writers Andrew Salmon, Aaron Smith, Frank Schildiner and Mark Justice, each pits the night avenger against a series of colorful and deadly foes.  With his unique ability to see in the dark, he will answer each challenge with both courage and blazing .45 automatics.  These stories of pure pulp fun start to finish. The cover is by Mark Maddox, design and interior illustrations by Rob Davis. And as usual, the book is available right now at our on-line store.  Simply click on to the dirigible logo to the left of this column.

So 27 books in our catalog for Airship 27 Productions. That's a good feeling. But we aren't about to quit just yet. All of us, writers and artists, are having way too much fun bringing these books to all you Loyal Airmen. And there you have it, as this very, very special weeks wraps up for the Air Chief and his family. Take care, do good deeds and appreciate your loved ones every single day.  You can never thank them enough for their love.  See you in seven.

Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Sadly we cannot announce the release of our new BLACK BAT MYSTERY pulp book this week as he had hoped.  Our dedicated proof-reader, Charles Saunders, ran into some PC problems that forced him to have to go back to square one and this simply put us off track. So keep your fingers crossed we'll have it for you next week.  Meanwhile we never did get around to showing you all our photos from our wonderful trip to Chicago after the Windy City Con. And there were a few the Air Chief really wanted to share with you.

             
                      AT WRIGLEY FIELD
As you all know, the Air Chief is a baseball fan and every years cheers on the home team, the Boston Red Sox. One of the joys of this franchise is that they play in one of the oldest stadiums still in operation, Fenway Park.  Another in this select history is the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field and the opportunity to catch a game there was too good to pass up.  God bless our daughter, Heather, who got us tickets to a Monday night game against the Washington Nationals.  Heather lives within walking distance of the ballpark.  Above is a shot of the two of us taken by Val, as we wait to get in.

          
                                       Heather & The Air Chief at Wrigley Field
The night was a pure blast, not too hot or cold. Perfect for a ballgame.  The crowd was totally into the game and we really loved being there.  The Cubs fans have a wonderful tradition. If the team wins, they all stand up at the end of the game and sing a special song to them.  Thousands of fans in one voice, singing to their team.  Both Val and the Air Chief were really touched by this wonderful moment of fan appreciation.

And the other very cool thing awaited us outside, when we turned around and saw the brightly lit neon letters announcing the team's victory.  We will never forget our first trip to Wrigley and the fun we had there.  And we can't think of a better way to close out our Chicago trip but with the cheer, GO CUBS!!!

On to another very cool topic.  One of the Air Chief's all time favorite comic book heroes has always been Captain America.  Created during World War II by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, he was the ultimate patriotic hero for young boys and girls during those difficult times.  When Stan Lee and Kirby brought him back in the early 1960s as part of their super team, the Avengers, this young 13 yr. comic fan was in his glory.  Cap soon became my number one comic hero.  Now as all of you know, Marvel has been bringing all their fantastic characters to movie life what with such hits as the Spiderman movies, the X-Men films and most recently the highly successful Ironman pictures with Robert Downey Jr.  Coming up next will be a big screen adaption of their Norse God hero, THOR.  Then some time next year, 2012, under the helm of director Joe Johnson, we are at long last going to get, CAPTAIN AMERICA -The First Avenger.

The Air Chief has been a huge fan of Joe Johnson since he made his directorial debut with the great comic book movie, The Rocketeer, and we are convinced he will do justice to our red, white and blue warrior. A few days ago the studio released several illustrations which depict actor Chris Evans wearing the official Captain America costume as it will be done in the movie.  We could not have been happier.

             
            The Movie Captain America
The costume is a truly fitting adaption of his star-spangled look, done with much respect to Kirby's original drawings in the comics. The movie will be set in WW II, as it should, depicting Cap's battling his dreaded foe, the Nazi fiend Red Skull, to be played by Hugo Weaving.  When the Air Chief sees all these great comic book movies, the 13 yr old kid inside truly is yelling for joy. These are really fun times to be a comic book lover.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen.  We hope your own summer has gotten off to a great start. See you all back here next week. Till then, take care,
Ron- Over & Out.

       
                              ARLINGTON   NATIONAL  CEMETERY

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  Well, here we go rolling into the unofficial start of the summer season with the Memorial Day weekend.  With good weather predicted throughout most of the country, Americans everywhere will be stoking up the grills, playing baseball, hitting the beaches and just having lots of good old fashion fun with friends and family.  The Air Chief hopes to be among these having a good time, but at the same time, as Monday rolls around, we will also be find time to reflect on the actual purpose of this holiday of remembrance.  It is a time for all Americans to recall those brave men and women in uniform who paid the ultimate sacrifice in protecting our cherished way of life.  From the Revolution, through the various wars and campaigns, Americas soldiers, sailors and marines have given their all for our country.  It is only right that we take one day a year to dwell on their sacrifices and offer a silent prayer of thank.  Then we should all recommit ourselves to the same grand ideal they so courageously fought and died for, liberty and justice for all mankind.  Amen.

Barring any major catastrophes, Airship 27 Productions should be announcing the release of our 27th title next week, BLACK BAT MYSTERY.  As we don't want to give away the gorgeous cover by Mark Maddox, we thought we'd whet your appetite with this excellent back cover illustration by art director, Rob Davis inspired by a black and white illustration by Ver Curtiss. This is going to be a great title.  Stay tuned, official announcement coming next week.

We also want to thank all you Loyal Airmen who were kind enough to write and congratulate us on the re-staging of our play, Where Love Takes You.   A few days ago we stopped by the Sanford Maine Stage Company and met with our old friends, directors Mary Stair and David Goodwin. They, like us, are very, very excited about doing the show again.  Play dates have been set and the company will do four performances between 22nd and 25th of July.  The first three Thur.-Fri-Sat) will be 8 PM evening showings and the last on Sunday the 25th, will be a 2 PM Matinee.  Note, should any of you Loyal Airmen be vacationing in the area, we'd love to have you come and see the show.  The Air Chief will continue to keep you posted as they begin auditions to fill the cast.

                     
Finally we recently displayed a Green Lama bookmark painted by British artist Mike Fyles as a promotional piece for the new novel GREEN LAMA UNBOUND by Adam Lance Garcia, which we hope to have out within a month or so.  Above is the latest in this collection and it features one of the creepy fishmen who are the minions of the book's villains.  This is a truly amazing pulp adventure and we can't wait to publish it.

So there you have it, Loyal Airmen, for another week.  Thanks as always for stopping by, have a super holiday weekend and do keep our current men and women in uniform in your thoughts and prayers.  They are the ones who make our freedoms possible.

Ron – Over & Out!