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.

Holiday Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Earlier this afternoon, the Air Chief got to thinking of past Christmases and sat down to write about one that made him rethink his life and purpose.  Hope you enjoy it.

                   
                                                               Mona, Santa & Mom

Greetings Loyal Airmen and a continued Happy Holidays to all of you.  Never let it be said that the Air Chief's Mom doesn't know how to get into the Spirit of Christmas.  This past week the Wentworth Home held it's annual Christmas party for all its residents, to include Mrs.Gabrielle Fortier.  Sure enough, the following day the Social Director sent us this snapshop showing Mom (on the right) and her best friend, Mona, meeting with Old Saint Nick.  Upon seeing the photo, we gave her a call to confirm the situation.  Laughingly she swore she is sitting on the chair's armrest and not the Big Red Elf's lap.  If you say so, Mom.

As Val continues to clean out cabinets, we are uncovering lots and lots of things we didn't even know we had.  Like this drawing of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes, done for us by our granddaughter Chelsea a very long time ago.  Discovering that her Pepere (grandfather) was a huge Holmes fan, she whipped out her crayons and magic markers and drew this truly wonderful illustration that we promptly filed away for safe keeping.  We wonder when she sees it here, if she'll remember doing it.  She's a freshmen in high school days, and enjoying the experience of being a teenager to the max.

Amongst tons of comics and magazines, Val also dug up comic company fliers.  These are smaller comics or periodicals done up specifically to help promote a special event.  The above come from such a mag from the now long forgotten Tekno Comics out of Florida.  Between 1994 and 1996, we wrote Gene Roddenberry's Lost Universe for this outfit, and towards the end of our service with them, we were given the job of writing their first (and only) company wide-crossover.  This was one story that would run as four page chapters in the back of all their titles and thus feature all their characters in one adventure.  It was a challenge, but then again afforded me to the honor of being the only writer in the company's short history to write every single one of their characters.  Like a lot of comic companies of this time, they came on the scene with a big bang and then disappeared just as quickly.  Still, it was a blast while it lasted.

Another outfit promo was this page above highlighting The Boston Bombers, an alternate world series that I created and sold to Caliber Comics.  It was to be a six issue mini-series.  It ended up being a black and white offering and was canceled after only four issues because the artist on the book was immature and couldn't meet his deadlines.  Still it was one of the most original concepts we had ever come up with.  Our idea was to do a female version of the pulp hero, Doc Savage, in Indra Devine.  And as Savage had a team of five male aides, we gave Indra three unique women as her adventuring squad.  Once we had the characters, we then opted to put them in an alternate 1970s, one in which Jesus had been female, was accepted as the true Messiah by the Jews; where the Roman Empire survived in South Africa and where a powerful League of Nation prevented World War II from happening.  Against this background we created the Boston Bombers, a group of high flying female aviators who are secretly agents of the female Pope, caught in the middle between the cold war-like tensions existing between Christian Europe and Pagan Rome.

Years after those four issues were done, we still had comic fans coming to us at conventions asking the fate of the Boston Bombers.  Then, some ten years later, we managed to get those final two books completed and Caliber did print them together as a one shot special edition.  Best guess, few people ever got to see it.  If reading all this has got you curious, hang in there Loyal Airmen, because Ye Old Air Chief has an idea that may salvage the Bombers.  There may exist a way to collect the entire six issues and reprint them as a complete graphic novel.  It is something we are working on for next year.  Stay tuned.  It's something that truly needs doing.

Finally, we wrap up this week's entry with some fun and exciting news.   Moonstone Books has begun releasing more information on its new Green Hornet prose anthologies, the first of which is slated for next June.  Besides the Air Chief, the first volume will contain stories by James Van Hise, Harlan Ellison and James Van Hise, and others.  It will also feature a forward by actor Van Williams who played the Hornet in the 60s TV series along with martial arts star, Bruce Lee.  Moonstone will have two covers for this volume.

                       
                               Cover by Glen Orbik

One will be by the talented Glen Orbik whose work has appeared on many paperback covers in the past few years.  This is a project we're extremely excited about and hope you are too.

And that wraps up this week, Loyal Airmen.  Again, we hope this season of giving has all of you in a happy, festive mood.  Till next week, be well.
Ron – Over & out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  The above card is our official holiday greeting wish to all of you and your loved ones for this wonderful time of the year.  Just as the Air Chief was wracking his brain with what kind of image to use, along comes our buddy, artist Rob Davis, who makes this terrific holiday image using the great detective, Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend, Dr.Watson.  It couldn't be more appropriate, as our book SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE, released this past summer, has gone on to become the most successful Airship 27 Productions title we have a ever done. To this day it remains a best seller on Amazon and Barnes & Noble on-line. If you haven't picked up a copy yet, simply go to either of these sites, or better yet click on to our Airship logo to the left of this column at shop at our on-line store where you can get the book at a sale price.

The Baker Street detective is poised to make a huge comeback when the new movie SHERLOCK HOLMES debuts on Christmas Day, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson.  The Air Chief is really anxious to see this film, as the trailers look like wall to wall fun and adventure. And trust me, we at Airship 27 Productions know when our readers want more of a good thing. Because of the overwhelming success of our Sherlock Holmes book, we immediately set about putting together a Volume Two which will be released in Jan.2010, thus becoming the first Airship 27 title of the new year.

And if bringing back a classic British based hero brought us success once, imagine what bringing back a second would do?  Or so we thought when British writer Ian Watson offered us a brand new Robin Hood novel entitled The King of Sherwood Forest.  We are currently editing this book and are extremely excited to have it on our roster, as it is a brilliant retelling of this classic adventure hero.  Ian has not only written a swashbuckling tale of action, but he's grounded it against an historically accurate time which makes it that much more entertaining.  This will be our second book of 2010 and be out in Feb. A good couple of months before Universal releases their new blockbuster Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott, with Kate Blanchette as Maid Marion. From what we've heard, this is going to be another rousing good movie.  Clearly lots of great reading and cinema ahead for all our Loyal Airmen.

This past week, Valerie started cleaning up drawers that haven't been emptied in nearly twenty-six years of our living here.  There is a plan to sell this place come next summer and move Hanger 27 to someplace out west. More or that as things develop. But for now let's leave it at she was starting to pack things in boxes.  Amongst these were hundreds of old photographs including some of the Air Chief during his tour of duty over in Vietnam between 1967-68.

                
                              Specialist 5th Class Ron Fortier

Looking at these brought back to Ye Old Air Chief tons of memories.  Recently someone sent me a poem about the men and women of our Armed Services who will not be home for the holidays this year, as they are serving our country in foreign lands, protecting all of us and our freedoms.  Seeing this photo reminded me of what it was like to be away from home at this time of year, and the pride we took in serving our country.  So please, during the hectic days ahead, if you should end up waiting in some long check out line, take a silent moment to pray for these men and women, ask God to bless them and keep them safe.  We all owe them so much.

Finally, due in large part to that photo above, earlier this evening, we logged on to the social network Facebook and punched in the name of a fellow who had been our closest pal while serving in Vietnam.  Lo and behold, not twenty minutes later we had a reply, and there he was, after all these years still the same fun guy we remembered. So now we've got a whole lot of catching up to do.  Sometimes Santa gives you an early present.

Take care, Loyal Airmen.  Enjoy these days as time to share with all your loved one. Till next week,
Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings Loyal Airmen. A few weeks ago we reported that we had been recruited to write an new Avenger story for a forthcoming anthology from Moonstone books.

                
                       Cover of First Avenger mag 1939

Created by Street & Smith, this pulp hero was a late comer, first appearing on the magazine racks in 1939.  Richard Henry Benson is a world traveling adventurer.  When his wife Alicia and their daughter Alice are brutally murdered by gangsters, he suffers a physical shock that leaves his hair white and all the nerve muscles in his face dead. He can thus mold them into any shape and become the greatest disguise expert of them all.  Using this bizarre ability, plus many others he learned over the years, Benson creates an organization called Justice Incorporated for the sole purpose of going after criminals the law cannot touch.  He recruits a small, but loyal band of similarly motivated people and thus the series kicked off.

Being asked to write an Avenger story was both a thrill and a tremendous challenge. Our story is called VENGEANCE IS MINE and divulges the background on a particular aspect of the Avenger's life that was never completely explained in the novels.  We turned it in yesterday and are anxiously awaiting the editor's response and verdict with all fingers crossed.  In the fiction game there are never any guarantees.  We will of course keep you posted.

Two years ago actor Ben Stiller starred in a funny movie called NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, wherein he played a night guard in the New York Museum of Natural History and witnessed all the exhibitions coming to life.  All the mannequins, through an old Egyptian magic, were alive only at night.  Characters from Genghis Khan to Teddy Roosevelt, wonderfully played by Robin Williams.  Much to everyone's surprise, including the producers, the movie was a hit and this past summer they released as sequel, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM – Battle for the Smithsonian.  Having seen it at the theaters, we were very anxious to have it come out on DVD and it did so this past week.

               
                         Amy Adams & Ben Stiller

Of course as one would expect, most of the regular cast from the first movie were back in this new one, but the real fun here was the additional historical figures that were added.  Amy Adams as aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart totally steals the movie with her effervescence portrayal of the plucky flier who was so ahead of her time in so many ways.  She totally shines in this role.

               
                            Christopher Guest & Hank Azaria

The second delight of this sequel is comic actor Hank Azaria portraying the evil Pharaoh who wishes the Egyptian tablet to take over the world.  Azaria plays him broadly using his voice mimicking skills to speak like the late Boris Karloff.  From the moment he appears on screen, the entire film is elevated into a new comedic level and he never lets up once.  There are several times when he and Ben Stiller completetly improvise their dialogue into pure screen silliness that is hilarious.  This is a funny-funny movie, and Ye Old Air Chief and Val give it two big thumbs up.

On another terrific note, our oldest granddaughter, Kristi, received her first college acceptance notice yesterday.  She is a high school senior graduating next year and had applied to half a dozen schools in the New England area. Yesterday's letter was only the first.  She is such a talented, bright student, we know she'll receive more as the weeks go by.  And we couldn't be prouder of her than we are right now.  It will be fascinating to see which school she finally chooses.

Lastly, the temperature rose to 69 degrees here today.  On Dec. 3rd in southern New Hampshire.  The TV weather guy said that was a full eleven degrees over the previously recorded high for this date.  Wow. And of course we loved every single minute of it.  Winter will come all too soon, so we take advantage of these rare, beautifully warm days.

And that's it for another week, Loyal Airmen.  Hope you are getting your Christmas shopping done early to avoid those last minute stampedes.  Till next week, take care and be happy.
Ron – Over & Out

Greetings Loyal Airmen. Well here we are, the Friday after Thanksgiving. Now known as Black Friday because this has become the official first day of the Christmas shopping season. Let's not even bother to consider what that says about our culture, wherein we start wondering about things to buy instead of celebrating the coming of the Lord of Peace. Right. And before anything else, it is Christmas we celebrate and not some no-name generate Holiday.  We celebrate Christ-mas  because America was settled predominantly by Christians and to this day is still populated by a majority that call themselves Christians; followed by other religions with atheists coming last in numbers. We are sorry if those numbers offend them but those are the facts. We are a Christian democratic society.

Which is why this scramble to buy and sell is bothersome to many of us. Of course not everyone is out there fighting and clawing in stores and shops. We'd like to believe most of our Loyal Airmen are spending some very wonderful time with their families, after having enjoyed the bounty of our land yesterday.  Be it watching footballs, going hunting for the family Christmas tree or simply sharing a few minutes of lively conversation over a cup of coffee. It's a nice time for families to catch up with one another, to take a break from the scramble of every day living and relax, recharge the old spiritual batteries.

As most Loyal Airmen know, the Air Chief is a big, big fan of movie music.  One of our two favorite films this year was the new STAR TREK. (The other was Pixar's UP, if you are interested.)  Upon viewing that science fiction adventure in the theater, both Valerie and the Air Chief were immediately aware of the beautiful score that underlined the events on the screen.  It took us only a few cues to decided we would hunt up this disc and own it.
Thus the other day, while working on a new comic book script, we threw in the STAR TREK score and played it as we worked.  One of the things we've learned over the years is that Hollywood writer/directors often form long lasting partnerships with the composers with whom they are associated first.  Such is the case here.  When writer producer, J.J. Abrams launched his super successful TV series, LOST, he hired Michael Giacchino to write the music for that show.  At the time Giacchino was a virtual unknown in the business. Abrams wanted old fashion orchestra-produced music for the series.  Giacchino gave him a truly marvelous, original tableu of melodies and cues that have since become fully ingrained into the show.  It is inconceivable to imagine LOST today without hearing some of those familiar, haunting melodies.

Thus it was no surprise that when given the opportunity to relaunch the Star Trek franchise with a new, exciting re-boot feature film that Abrams would hire Giacchino to write the music.  And as we've already said, the guy delivered a truly grand, sweeping score that is filled with exciting and emotional motifs.  Aside from the half dozen familiar characters, the story is really about one man and his rise above adversity, that man being James T.Kirk.  Giacchino's score takes us on that life journey adding another beautiful layer to that tale.  It is one of the finest scores we have ever heard and discover something new in it with each new listen.

Segueing from that topic, this time of the season does often mean new block-buster film releases and we are truly looking forward to two of these.  The first being James Cameron's powerful FX sci-fi wonder, AVATAR.  It looks to be another ground breaking step up for film making.  The other is SHERLOCK HOLMES starring Robert Downey Jr. as the great detective and Jude Law as his loyal companion, Dr.Watson.  The Air Chief has loved these characters since he first discovered them as a teenager in high school and we are anxiously awaiting what looks to be a truly fun interpretation of these classic heroes.  We do love movies.

Once again, we hope all of you are having a great holiday.  Son Scott and grandson Logan popped up yesterday afternoon to brighten our own celebration and will be staying another day.  Yahoo.  Till next week, enjoy this time with your loved ones…and all those yummy leftovers in the fridge.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, here we are a week away from Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season. Once again the year seems to have sped by us in the blink of an eye. Lots of very cool things happening here at Hangar 27 and we want to update all of you on what the Air Chief has been up to.  But first a few words about that amazing Star Wars symphony concert that Valerie and the Air Chief attended last Wednesday night in Manchester. It was simply spectacular! The live music by the amazing John Williams was so beautifully played, against the backdrop of a giant HD screen on which scenes from all six Star Wars were projected. My fondest memory of that evening was looking across that huge stadium to the crowds seated in the stands opposite our box seats. In the dark, many youngsters in attendance were waving their glowing light saber toys. One particular fan, with a green glowing saber, was actually moving it in time with the conductor's baton, as if he, with that toy light was actually leading the orchestra. To all the people who created and put on this magnificent evening, our heartfelt thanks. It is playing at theaters and stadiums across the country. If any of you Loyal Airmen have an opportunity to catch it, Valerie and the Air Chief give two big thumbs up. Do not miss it.

         
                       Characters from Dr.Demise & the Space Gypsies by Eric Hurley

Earlier in the year, over at the Digital Webbing Presents website, the Air Chief struck up a friendship with a talented young artist named Eric Hurley. We liked his work a great deal and saw much potential in it. Enough so that we continued to applaud and encourage any new works Eric would post on that site. Then, as summer came along, we stopped communicating, as each of us obviously had lots of other things keeping us occupied. Then out of the blue, several weeks ago Eric contacted us with some terrific news.  He was planning on a starting up a web-comic strip and was wondering if Ye Old Air Chief would be interested in scripting it.

        
                                        Doctor Demise & Madame Destiny by Eric Hurley

Eric had an ideas for a wild space opera he called DR.DEMISE & THE SPACE GYPSIES. He sent along half a dozen really cool drawings and sketches and asked us to give them names and biographies.  Something we love doing.  Creating a fleshed out plot based on Eric's nugget of an idea, the project is coming together quickly.  As more of it develops, we will be certain to keep you posted, especially once it is up and running on-line. 

The pulp side of things, as yet more exciting news.  Once of the greatest classic pulp characters ever created was Richard Henry Benson, better known as the Avenger. His magazine, published by the same people who did the Shadow and Doc Savage, first appeared on the newsstands in 1940. Later in the 1970s Bantam paperback reprinted the entire run in their paperback series, the first of these reprinted above. It was here the Air Chief first discovered this great pulp hero. Last year Moonstone Books published an Avenger's anthology with all new stories by some of today's best thriller writers. Apparently the book was was extremely successful because two weeks ago they announced they would be doing two new volumes in this series and Ye Old Air Chief was invited to contribute a story for book # 2.  To say we are excited would be a whopping understatement.  Moonstone is a fine outfit and their series of new pulp titles have been wonderful.  We've already done stories for their Spider, Phantom and Domino Lady titles and this will be our fourth story for them.  Again we'll keep you posted on the book's progress and when to expect it.

Keeping on the pulp track, we want to remind you that this past Tuesday night we were the guest of Ric Croxton and Dr.Art Sippo on their podcast show, the Bookcave.  We discussed our Captain Hazzard novels, how we came to write them, the process involved and our plans for the series' future.  It was a lot of fun, Ric and Art making it so and we hope all of you will stop by the Bookcave website and give it a listen. The show ran just a little over an hour. (http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/) – The episode (#49) will be posted on Friday morning, 20th Nov. Thanks Ric and Art for making this so much fun.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen.  We want to wish all of you and your loved ones a truly Happy Thanksgiving.  When giving thanks, remember, the real blessings in our lives are the people in them, our family and our friends.  Everything else is secondary. That said, part of my prayer will be thanking the Good Lord for each and every one of you.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen. This week's Flight Log comes to you early, as the Air Chief has a full plate this week.  Yesterday afternoon, Valerie flew home after a month in Colorado visiting our son Alan and his family.  We are so happy to have her back home, and getting our lives back to some semblance of routine.  But watch that get all twisted around starting tomorrow night no less.  We are heading down to Manchester to attend the Star Wars concert at the Verizon Center.  If you are unfamiliar with this program, it is an amazing show that features a one hundred member symphonic orchestra playing cuts from John Williams scores from the six Star Wars movies, while on the world's biggest High Definition screen, scenes from the movies are projected.

As an avowed, dedicated fan of film music, we were thrilled when we first learned of this engagement and scrambled to get tickets.  Happily a family relative came through for us and provided us with box seats for the show.  Realizing this would be happening within days of Val's return home, we went the extra step and booked a hotel room at the Radisson across the street from the stadium.  Thus the Air Chief and his lady are going to make a really nice, get away night of it all.  And thus why we will not be here to do up the Flight Log as usual.  Thus you Loyal Airmen get to see it early this week.

                          
A long while back, we had the good fun of reading and reviewing Max Allan Collins' thriller THE LAST QUARRY from one of our favorite publishers, Hard Case Crime.  Quarry is the stoic hitman, Collins created years ago and has appeared in a half dozen of his books.  Upon reading this terrific paperback, we learned that it was in fact the expansion of several other pieces starting with a short story called A MATTER OF PRINCIPAL.  This little tale was later used as the basis of a film script co-written by Collins Peter Biegen which was directed by Jeffrey Goodman as THE LAST LULLABY.

When we learned about this film, we went searching the web to see if it might be available somewhere. Sadly we came up empty-handed.  Being a fan of Collins' work, we were really anxious to see this movie.  Lo and behold, several weeks ago a package arrived in the mail from said writer.  Initially we thought it was his latest book and we were wrong.  It was a DVD copy of THE LAST LULLABY.  Talk about a wonderful surprise.  Several days later we threw in the machine and sat down to watch it.  Note, for whatever reasons, Collins opts to change the name of his protagonist in the film, where in he becomes Jack Price, rather than Quarry.  Veteran actor Tom Sizemore plays the laconic, world weary hitman who comes out of retirement to take on one more job.  He is excellent in the role, playing it with a quiet, understated drive that is nothing less than riveting.  He is aided considerably by a stellar cast headed by the lovely and talented Sasha Alexander.  This is a gem of a noir story and director Goodman deftly brings it along in a such a relaxed pace, we marveled at how perfect the entire viewing experience was.  Oh, don't get us wrong, there's plenty of violence here, but it serves the story but it is the characters that pull us along from scene to another.  THE LAST LULLABY has won numerous awards at various film festivals, which comes as no surprise.  And we are happy to say, it is available for sale on-line by simply go to (www.the lastlullaby.com).   Loyal Airmen, if you like tough, gritty, no-nonsense crime tales, please go and pick this up.  You can thank us later.

Moving back into the world of pulps, all you Loyal Airmen are aware that for the past two years we have been writing brand new novels featuring Captain Hazzard and his brave gang of five.  A few weeks ago we received an invitation by pulp fan Ric Croxton to appear on his popular podcast show, the Bookcave.  Ric, along with his co-host, Dr.Art Sippo, have come up with a pulp-book-of-the-month club wherein once a month they announce which pulp book they are going to read, hope their listeners will do the same and then fire off questions to them about that particular title.  All leading to a show where the author is a guest and answers the gathered questions.  And that is what is going to be happening next week.  Ric and Art have chosen as their first pulp book to read, our second Captain Hazzard novel, CITADEL OF FEAR.

Above is the cover to that book as it was published several years ago by Wild Cat Books.  WCB no longer has the rights to the book and I believe places like Amazon and Barnes & Nobles no longer have copies in their inventories.  WCB may still have a few, as we did see them selling such at this year's Pulp Fest in Columbus, Ohio.  Thing is, Loyal Airmen, early next year, Airship 27 Productions will be reprinting this very book, so stay tuned.  In the meanwhile, any of you who do have this first printing and would like to participate with next week's podcast, can send your questions about it (or any other Hazzard book in this series) to Ric at the following e-mail address (ric.croxton@gmail.com) – And please do so before next Tuesday, 17th Nov.  That is the evening we will be doing the actual show. Ric informs us, after he's edited it, it will be posted on his Bookcave site for the following Friday, 19th Nov.  So if any of you Loyal Airmen have ever wanted to ask the Air Chief about Captain Hazzard, here's your chance.

And there you go, Loyal Airmen.  Another week's Flight Log wrapped up.  Take care, stay healthy and we'll see you all back here next week at our regular Friday morning time.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Several times in the past we've used the Flight Log to show all of you how we came up with the ideas for some of our pulp covers and the executions, in various stages, of those cover images.  Last week we announced the release of our Dr.Watson novel, SEASON OF MADNESS.  Today we'll show you how that dramatic cover came together.

We are always on the look out for classic pulp covers that, for whatever reasons, strike us as dramatic and with potential to be adapted for various scenarios.  Above is the cover an old Saucy Romantic Adventure that we found on the net months ago and saved in our Pulp Illos file.  Upon reading through writer Aaron Smith's tale of Dr.Watson, we came upon a scene in which the good doctor is in a dark, cellar maze hunting a mysterious, white skinned, bald fellow who has kidnapped a young lady.  As Watson moves through these ill-lit corridors, he is on guard, aware his prey may be waiting to pounce on him at any moment.  When reading that passage, we recalled that Saucy cover and pulled it up.  Sure enough, there was the composition we were after.  An unsuspecting figure walking into a deadly attack.  But of course ours would need to be altered by our ace art director, Rob Davis.

Since the character of the villain reminded us of the old film vampire, Nosferartu, we dug up this picture of him and sent it along, with the Saucy cover to Rob.  We explained how we needed that composition to be put into a cellar setting and the lovely Spanish lady turned into the robe wearing, bald fiend.  And of course we needed to change the dashing, sword wielding soldier into the cautious, gun carrying Dr. Watson.  It was time to strike a pose.

         
                  The Air Chief as Dr. Watson

So we hastily threw on a tie and jacket, grabbed an trusty toy-pistol and began stalking the hallway as Valerie snapped the picture above.  With these three images, it was time for Rob to do his magic and draw our cover sketch with the elements combined.

Within days, Rob delivered the stunning pencils you see here.  That was exactly the scene from Aaron's novel and the perfect choice for our cover.  Now it was time to whipped it off digitally to digital painter, Shane Evans in New Zealand.

And as always, Shane delivered above and beyond, turning Rob's sketch into a truly dynamic piece of art, ready for the final stages.  Back to Rob it went for design, logo and cover text.

And there you have the finished cover, as we debut it to the world last week upon the book's official release.  We hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into how a cover is put together from idea to conception and finally realization.  Working with artist like Rob and Shane is a pure joy for ye old Air Chief.  We hope you Loyal Airmen will give the book a try.  It really is a great pulp adventure.

Finally, we turned 63 years old today, 5th November.  Family and friends have been flooding us with such wonderful birthday greetings all day, both in our private e-mail box and over on Facebook.  Earlier this afternoon, Christopher Chance of Images 2 Icons sent along the picture of a truly perfect pulp birthday cake.

So, all you Loyal Airmen, imagine yourselves here in Hangar 27, sharing this yummy looking cake with the Air Chief, all of us having a grand old time.  Thanks to all of you who helped make this a truly wonderful day.

Ron – Over & Out!!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, and a Happy Halloween to all of you.  Hope it's a fun time with lots of parties, horror movies and plenty of Trick or Treating for every Loyal Airmen.  We here at Hangar 27 are excited to roll out our tenth and final Airship 27 Production Pulp title of the year.

SEASON OF MADNESS is a Doctor Watson by Aaron Smith.  When a deadly drug begins infecting the people of London, it is up to Dr.Seward (of the Dracula novel) to discover the origin of the deadly powder.  He seeks out Sherlock Holmes only to discover the great detective is out of the country on a secret mission for the government and so he enlist the aid of Dr.Watson.  Together they must solve the mystery before more people fall victim to a Season of Madness.  The book features interior illustrations by artist Pedro Cruz and a gorgeous cover (very appropriate for Halloween) by Rob Davis and Shane Evans.  Like all our Airship 27 pulp titles, it is available at our on-line store, reached simply by clicking on to the dirigible logo to the left of this column.  According to our publisher, our most successful book of 2009 has been SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE.  It is our hope that all of you who bought and enjoyed that volume will take a look at this gripping thriller.  Trust the Air Chief, you won't be disappointed.

As mentioned above, this is our last scheduled release for 2009.  This has been a banner year for Airship 27 Productions, but rest assured, Loyal Airmen, we are not resting on our laurels.  During the remaining months of the year, we will continue working on new titles in the works which will be debuting in 2010.  We are very, very excited about all of these.  Some are original works starring classic pulp heroes we've yet to work with like the Black Bat and Ravenwood – Stepson of Mystery, while others are returning ala our second volume of Jim Anthony Super Detective and a hopeful volume four of our favorite pulp hero, Secret Agent X.  We've also got a few full length novels we think you will enjoy.  So stay tuned.

               
                          The Fortier Family Celebrating Gabrielle Fortier's 85th Birthday.

In just a few days, our mother, Gabrielle Fortier will be turning 85, on Nov. 1st, All Saints Day.  Last Sunday afternoon the Air Chief and his siblings put together a party to surprise her. Seeing that it was a week early, Mom didn't have a clue and was truly bowled over when she arrived at the restaurant and found us all waiting for her.
One of the highlights was the family debut of Ms.Kylie Robinson, my niece's new baby daughter.  That's Emily and her husband Rob at the front left of this photo.  At the far end on the left, his gray head sticking up, is the Air Chief, and that's Mom at the head of the table with two month old Kylie in her arms.  Note, the little curly headed fellow to the right front is our grandson Logan and his bearded Dad, son Scott, the fellow responsible for creating and maintaining this site.

               
                           Gabrielle “Mom” Fortier and her third great grandchild, Kylie Robinson.

All of us had a grand time.  Sadly Val, who helped plan the event, is still in Colorado and couldn't join us.  Still the party was a ball, and Mom was truly happy to have her family all gathered together like this.

Speaking of Val, she and everyone out there in Ft.Collins, CO, have been dealing with a two day snowstorm that left over eight inches of the white stuff on the ground.  Here's hoping it stays out there.  Ye Old Air Chief is still picking up the millions of brightly colored leaves carpeting our front and back yards.  Will most likely be doing for another week before all the trees around the house are nude.

We want to thank all you baseball loving Loyal Airmen who commented on my Flight Log baseball rant last week.  We do stand by our words.  As we pen these words, Game Two of the World Series is on and the Yankees, having lost Game One, are battling to even things up before the teams travel to Philadelphia for Game Three.  We're going to be sorry to see the season come to an end. 

Finally, before we sign off, we'd like to remind you Loyal Airmen that we still continue to write our Pulp Fiction Review column. See the link underlined above this column.  This past week we had the good fun of reviewing a new children's book we wanted to bring to your attentions.

CROMWELL DIXON'S SKY-CYCLE is based on a true story of a 14 year old boy who in 1907 build a modified bicycle and tied it to a giant balloon and actually flew it over Columbus, Ohio.  The book is beautifully illustrated and the story is simply amazing.  There's even a black and white photo of Cromwell and his mother at the book's back.  If you, like the Air Chief, are a fan of aviation history, this is the book for you or some young dreamer in your family.

That's it Loyal Airmen.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN.  By this time next week, Ye Old Air Chief will be a year old, turning 63 come 5th Nov.  It's been a very wild sixty-three years, made special because of good people like you.
Thanks ever.

Ron – Over & Out!