Greeting loyal airmen.  Your old air chief is back at the Hangar, after a very long week as a patient at Wentworth Douglas Hospital in nearby Dover, NH.  When Valerie and I arrived there at 6 AM on Monday morning, little did either of us realize that I would be spending the entire week.  You really can't plan these things out.  Ha.  The surgery, performed by Dr. Robert Harrell went super.  He is one of the finest doctors I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and truly a gifted surgeon.  So precise was his work, that within those first 24 hours after the operation, I was already on the mend.  The lower quadrant of my left lung was removed and sent to the labs for biopsy.  Oddly enough that has yet to return.  Meanwhile two very long plastic tubes were inserted into my chest cavity to help drain bodily fluids as I healed.  That would be a telling sign of when I was allowed to be discharged or not.  When Dr.Harrell and I initially talked this out, he'd guessed between 4 or 5 days.  The liquid did not turn clear, the indicator to pull the tubes, until Sat., the sixth day.

But all of that is neither here nor there.  I want use this log entry to thank a dozen of the most wonderful ladies I have ever met, the nurses (day and night) of the Ward 3  South – Recovery.  These ladies are so filled with good humor and spirit, they always kept me perked up, never once allowing me to get down.  They were simply amazing and kept me laughing from sun up to sunset.  I kid you not.  Enough so that my roommate, a local fellow who arrived a day after me, having had a piece of his colon (ouch) removed, were hard pressed to keep up with them with our own quibs.  But we gave it the old college try.

Denise, Laura E, Tiffany, Miranda, Lucretia (have you finished that last Harry Potter book yet?), Rosa, Jamie, Karen and the others whose names now elude my old gray cells, plus Dave, the one male member of this elite gang of carers. YOU ARE THE BEST NURSES IN THE WORLD!!!  THANK YOU & GOD BLESS.

To all you airmen praying for me these past two weeks, I will be forever in your debt. All your prayers were wonderfully answered.  I'm home, on the mend and eager to get on with this beautiful life.  See you all back here Friday for our next “usual” Log Entry

Ron – Over & Out

Greetings loyal airmen.  I know many of you are expecting to read a report on my lung surgery.  Well, I can't write that report, as the surgery did not happen.  One hour before Valerie and I were set to drive to the hospital this past Monday morning, we were called and told my operation had been canceled.  It seems my surgeon had been called into emergency surgery to save another patient who was in the Intensive Care Unit and had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.  Saving a life has to be the priority over a routine procedure.  So, though frustrated at not being able to the get the thing done and over with, we had to accept that it was just not going to happen that day.  Happily the doctor's assistant was able to reschedule it for this coming Monday, 24h March, and this time, working with the hospital Operating Room scheduler, they've got me down for the first surgery of the day, 6 AM.  It means getting up at the crack of dawn, but that's okay.  At least my odds are better that this one will get done.  Since my last log entry detailing my condition and forthcoming operations, I've received so many letters from all of you wishing me well, that it is most humbling.  Thank you, one and all.  And please, keep them coming, as I still need them very, very much.  And now add one more.  Not only that I recover well from the surgery, but that it in fact happens. Ha.

Anyway, here we are on Good Friday, with Easter Sunday two days away and I'm left with finding a new topic for this particular log entry.  Hmm, why not keep with the religious theme?  And no, don't cringe.  I'm not about to ever use this log as a pulpit, or start preaching from it. Heaven forbid.  No, rather I want to discuss two books with you that have strong religious connections.  The first is a comic book series I did many, many years ago for Gary Reed's Caliber Comics.

                              
The concept behind  THE BOSTON BOMBERS was to create an alternate world adventure where things were much like our own world, but then again with some really strong socio-economic differences.  In ths world Jesus had been a woman and the Jewish community had accepted her as the true Messiah.  Thus the Catholic Church was centered in Jerusalem and the pope was a woman.  The Roman Empire never ceased to exist in Southern Africa and evolved in time to become a modern, pagan power.   There was a World War One in this world, but after it the League of Nations became a truly strong political and military alliance that negated the root causes of Nazism and there was never a World War Two in this imagined other world.  So now it is 1970 and the Roman Empire of South African is making war noises.  The League of Nations sends it all-girl squad of agents, the Boston Bombers led by Indra Devine, to investigate.    This six issue mini-series was my homage to the old Doc Savage pulp adventures, only I made my heroes women.  When the series came out, it was a critical success, but not a financial one and its life was a rocky one.  Now, after many, many years, the entire six books have been collected into one truly wonderful graphic volume and it is being published by Gary's new outfit, TRANSFUZION.  The book is now being solicited in the current issue of Diamond's PREVIEW Mag.   If you are a fan of my past works in this genre, ala the Green Hornet and Captain Hazzard, please, do not miss THE BOSTON BOMBERS.  The book, seen above, sports a brand new cover by the penciller, Chris Jones.  Chris, at the time he first did this project, was an up and coming young artist.  Now he is pro working at DC Comics on some of their Batman titles.  The book is 180 pages of all out action and adventure with little sci-fi twist.  I hope you'll order a copy.  Of all the things I've ever written in my thirty-five year career, this is one of my personal favorites.

Finally, while on vacation in Florida two weeks ago, I read a book that simply bowled me over with its exuberant storytelling.  It's called SPACE VULTURE and was written by Gary K. Wold (the same dude who wrote the Roger Rabbitt book from which the Disney movie was made) and Archbishop John J.Myers.  Yup, he's the Catholic Archbishop of New Jersey.  The authors have been friends since childhood and recalled enjoying those great space heroes like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.  So they got it into their heads to write their own wild and adventure filled space opera in that grand old tradition.  And they succeeded to max.  This book is available everywhere and if you, like me, love this kind of stuff, do yourself a big favor and pick up a copy.  It deserves a huge readership.

Okay, airmen.  That's it for this week.  I want to wish all of you a truly blessed, Happy Easter.  Spring is here and life as always is filled with hope and wonder.  Enjoy every single second of it.
Ron – Over & Out.

Oops, almost forgot.  Do click on to our store digirble there to the left.  We've added another title for sale at the Airship 27 Pulp Store.  Check it out.

                 
Greetings loyal airmen, it's good to be home after a truly wonderful week in Florida.  On first day there, March 5th, Valerie and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary and our children and family helped make it a really special day for us.  That's a basket bouquet made up of edible fruits sitting there on the table between us.  The smiles were also for the very fact of sitting outdoors in warm weather after leaving a cold, snowy New Hampshire behind.  We had a condo for the week in Orlando and did a little sight-seeing while there.  One of our stops was Epcot at Disney World which neither had done since our kids will little tykes.
                 
Valerie had experienced the ride called Soaring Over California while out at Disney Land a year ago with our son Alan, and his family, and she'd loved it.  Well, lo and behold, the entire ride had been packed up and moved to Epcot and so I finally had the chance to enjoy it as well.  It's a wonderful ride wherein the illusion of hand-gliding over the land is just incredible.  Then after we'd left that ride, I spotted the above Mission SPACE and there was just no way I was not going to hop on that baby.  The ride simulates a NASA launch and then speedy travel to our future colony on the red planet, Mars.  All of us, me, Val, her sister Barb and husband Gus, loved this truly imaginative ride. Truly as close to outer space as any of us will ever come, so thanks Disney & Co. for providing us with these truly unique memories.

As always, trips like this seem to speed up time and before we knew it we were on a plane winging our way back to snowy, cold New Hampshire.  Upon getting back to Hangar 27 and logging on, I found myself weeding through over two hundred and seventy e-mails awaiting me.  Ha.  Most were normal, routine stuff but amidst this tidal wave of digital news was one truly sad revelation that simply stopped me in my tracks. During our week away, one of my all time favorit comic artist, Dave Stevens died after long battle with leukemia.  He was only 52!
                         
                                               DAVE STEVENS        1955 – 2008
Most of my life I've been a fan of those classic Republic Serials, especially the three that starred Rocketman.  As I grew older and became an avid comic book collector, I always wondered why no one in that field ever shared that same love.  Until the mid-70s when a young fellow named Dave Stevens came along and created a comic strip called THE ROCKETEER!!  Clearly inspired by those wonderful Republic serials, it was set smack dab in the 1930s and told the story of daredevil pilot Cliff Secord and his discovery of a fantastic rocket-pack that allowed him to fly!!  Stevens was one of the most meticulous artist ever to grace a comic page and his arwork was rich in period details, the love of the story so obvious in every single panel.  I soon became a diehard Rocketeer fan.
                             
Then in 1991, much to my joy, Disney came along and turned the strip into a full-fledged color movie, starring Billy Campbell, who was perfect as Cliff.  The film co-starred the beautiful Jennifer Connelly as his girl Betty and Allan Arkin as his mechanic mentor, PeeVee.  Directed by Joe Johnston, the movie was a brilliant recreation of the Steven's comic adventures and he even had a small cameo in it.  I remember seeing it with some comic book pals and how we all screamed and cheered when he took off and soared through the stratosphere “like a bat out of hell”.  It was and remains one of my all time favorite adventure movies.
               
                            Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord – THE ROCKETEER 
It is difficult for me to put into words the sadness I feel at Stevens' passing and at such a truly young age.  Those of us who were his fans will never forget him and his legacy of capturing the thrills and excitement of a time long gone will echo in our own hearts forever.   Fly high with the Angels, Dave!

Finally, segueing into someone's demise by cancer, I'm about to undergo my own personal moment of truth with my continued existence.   Almost three years ago, back on March 22nd, 2005, I wrote a log entry I labelled RECENT TURBULENT AIR, in which I related to all you loyal airmen about two anomolies that had been discovered on my lungs and the inability of my doctors to clearly identify what their nature was.  A biopsy had ruled out cancer back then and I began a routine regiment of having scans done several times a year to keep tabs on these two little mysteries.  Last fall my most recent catscan actually indicated that the left nodule had grown by a millemeter.  Don't bother taking out your slide rulers, that's about the width of a cat's hair.  Still, the radiologist called it a change and all of a sudden what had been passive treatment became active.  Several meetings with my lung specialist and the surgeon seemed to be starting up the old carousel again, in that no one wanted to commit to a specific action.  One doctor even suggested I go to another hospital out of state for a second opinion.  Although I appreciated his conservative approach, such a process would have simply put me back three years to the GO spot, having to start all these tests all over again, this time with all new doctors and with absolutley no guarantees that by the end of this journey they'd have any more information to give us.

Frustarted to the max, I bit the bullet and asked that the spots be cut out.  Once the doctors realized I was completely serious about this route of treatment, I was finally given two new tests which surprised all of them by showing that my lungs, despite the msytery spots, are really very strong and healthy.  Meaning I'm an excellent candidate for this kind surgery.  Once that was determined, it was full speed ahead.
                   
Now airmen, I am not a doctor, and the above is just a crude representation by me to give you a little idea of what is going on here and what will happen to me starting this coming Monday, 17th March.  The two white dots are supposed to be the mystery growths (?) which have been sitting in my lungs for the past three years.  Come Monday morning, my surgeon will go in from my back-side and remove a portion of my left lung with the nodule in it.  Again, this picture is not real.  But is is in the ball-park.  The fact that my lungs are so healthy means that once he has removed this piece and sown me up, the lung should still, after a period of recuperation, function normally the remainder of my life.  I'll be in the hospital for four days to assure there is no infection etc. then released, wherein the next six week there'll be no heavy lifting, but I'll be able to do most normal things.  At the end of that time, if all is well, we will schedule a return trip to the hospital and the process will be repeated on my right lung.   Time-wise, by the start of June, all of this should be well behind us, and at long last I'll be able to get on with my life not having this mystery hanging over my head.  Oh, yeah, that's the real bonus factor here.  With cutting out these “things”, we are finally going to find out exactly what they are.  A cause for celebration around the old Hangar 27 for sure.

Of course if you know your dates, March 17th is St.Patrick's Day, and there'll be no green beer for the Crew Chief this year.  Darn!  But I'm hoping all you loyal airmen will tip one for me, and at the same time say a prayer on my behalf.  I'm a man of faith, and prayers are the currency I live by.  So thanks in advance.  You all take care, and God willing, I'll be back here next week, a wee bit lighter, but much, much happier.

Ron – Over & Out.
                  

           
I don't know if sunning is a verb, loyal airmen, but it should be.  Ha.  It's now the evening of 4 March 2008. Outside it is cold and raining.  Tomorrow we fly out to Orlando, Florida, that magical land of warmth, sunshine and beaches.  The picture above is worth a million words.  Forecast for the next seven days…WARM!!!  As the photos from last week's log entry showed, we've had snow up to our eyeballs, both literally and figuratively.  Time for ye old Air Chief and his Lady to head south.  See you all back here 15th March.  Till then, adios.
Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings loyal airmen, on this rare 29th of February in a Leap Year.  All of you airmen celebrating a birthday today, many happy returns.  Always was a source of humor when we were kids to think of someone only having a birthday every four years.  Anyway, if you are one of those exceptional souls, a sincere wish for a truly fun filled day.  Me, I'm dealing with lots of things this morning, some good, others not so good.  The latter case being the year 1873 and its significance to us today in New Hampshire.   You see, back in 1873, the weather bureau recorded an all time snowfall of 122 inches.  I bring that up because sometime tonight, after midnight, in the  middle of yet another snow storm, we are going to break that record.  Joy, oh joy!!!  Not.  If you are having trouble wrapping your head around that number and what it means over a period of several months, let's put up some visuals here to help you better comprehend what we are dealing with.  The picture below was taken in January of this year, after we had experienced one of the snowiest Decembers ever!

This photo was taken from the dining room window facing down the driveway to Buffumsville Road, where we live.  That's ye old Air Chief with his trusty Ariens Snow-blower attacking the white stuff.  I'd like you to take note of two things in this picture.  The first is the lampost in our yard.  It stands five feet high.  As you can see the snow level is nowhere near the top of the pole.  Also looking right over you'll note I'm blowing the snow up over the hill mound, which is maybe four feet high back there.  At that level we could go down the drive, stop and just barely see if anything was coming up from the right.  Now take a gander at the pix Valerie shot yesterday as I was preparing to go out and snow-blow again.  I think for the 30th time this season!

The snowbank at the bottom of the hill is now approximately NINE FEET HIGH!!   It is impossible to see anything over it.  Pulling out into that main road is a real danger every time we do it.  And the lamp post, well that pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it?   And this all within one short month.  Oh, and did I mention the weather men (those sadist in three piece suits) are saying we've another storm coming in tonight!!  Quite honestly, the snow is now a real threat as all our roadways are shrinking into smaller lanes because the city plows simply cannot push it back off those paths any further.  I'm kidding my neighbors that soon all our roads will be one lane, but in all seriousness, that's not a joke.  There simply is no place else to put the damn stuff.  For the longest time Valerie and I dreamed of some day visiting Alaska.  After this winter, I think I'll pass.  Ha.

Next week, Wed. 5th of March, we're escaping and flying down to sunny Florida for an entire week.  Yahooo.  Warmth, sunshine and beaches for seven whole days.  Both of us are so looking forward to this getaway trip.  Stop by next Wed, I'll most likely post a final log entry before we leave.  Speaking of Florida and sunshine, most of you know Major League Baseball's Spring Training camps have opened and our Red Sox have started playing once again.

The best pitcher in baseball last year, Josh Beckett, our ace, pitched off the mound for the first time yesterday and reports are that he has lost absolutely nothing of his control and firepower.  Oh yeah, look out American League hitters, Beckett is back!! Speaking of the 2007 World Series Champions, we finally picked up the 2 hour MLB DVD documentary covering the play off season, highlighting the Sox's victories through to their winning the series in Denver with their sweep of the Colorado Rockies, a really remarkable team in their own right.  Was fun watching this excellent movie and really got us into the mood for baseball.

                              
Another bright spot in our wintery world has been the end of the writer's strike in Hollywood and the return of our favorite TV shows.  Topping that list for me, LOST.   This year, although it will be appreviated, has been the best ever with the stories finally beginning to open up the secrets of that mysterious island.  The writers of this show are so talented as was evidenced by last night's amazing, heart wrenching episode.  Desmond, as seen above, was somehow caught in a bizarre time loop which kept sending his consciousness from the present to the past, 1997 to be specific.  So violent were these back and forth flashes, it soon became evident that unless he could calm his mind with something stable, it would simply rupture and kill him.  And the thing that saved his life, the single constant that was forever in his thoughts and heart throughout all the intervening years?  It was his love for Penelope.  And true enough, he manages to contact her and the second he hears her voice on the phone, his time-jumping mind stops it erratic behavior and he is saved….by the power of love.  What more can I say.  This show is simply awesome.

Finally I want to end this week's entry by recommending to all of you a new pulp adventure novel, TO BATTLE BEYOND written by my good buddy, C.J.Henderson.   For most of his career, C.J. has written horror and private eye thrillers.  A few years ago I introduced him to pulp fiction and he took to it like a duck to water.  After writing a short Black Bat story for an anthology I was planning at the time, he then got really ambitious and decided to write a full length novel that would team up several classic pulp heroes to include, Black Bat, Domino Lady and Ravenwood, Stepson of Mystery, all battling an alien entity intent upon dominating the world of mankind.  When it was finished, the smart folks at Marietta Pub. in Georgia picked it up immediately and even invited me to write an introduction, which I was only too happy to provide.  I love the cover they've slapped on it too.  Anyway, loyal pulp-loving airmen, the book is out and available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other fine book sellers.  Pick up a copy, it's a terrific action packed adventure. 

And speaking of pulp thrillers, I want to thank all of you who have clicked on to our dirigible icon here and visited our new on-line store.  Many of you have written saying how you like the layout and even more of you have been ordering our books.  I am so grateful for all your continued support.  I have the best fans in the world.  That's it for this week, airmen.  I hope wherever you hang your caps, the weather is decent and all of you are bearing up well.  Spring is REALLY just around the corner.

Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting loyal airmen, some exciting news for you this week.   That's Captain Kevin Douglas Hazzard above, the hero of my pulp adventure series, giving the thumbs up to the announcement that our AIRSHIP 27 STORE is now open for business!!

See that familiar flying dirigible icon to the left of this log, the one flying of the Airship 27 Prod. banner.  Well that is your link to some of the most exciting, pulse-pounding pulp thrills ever put to paper.  Go ahead, click on it and check out our spanking new storefront.  The set up is the work of our publisher, Michael Poll, and chief designer, Rob Davis.  Currently the store is offering four titles, two of them new and two claissc reprints.  The two new offerings are WITCHFIRE (my suspense novel with Ardath Mayhar) and the pure pulp, BROTHER BONES, which we only released a few short weeks ago and its selling through the roof.  Thanks to all of you.

The two reprint editions are CAPTAIN HAZZARD # 3 – CURSE OF THE RED MAGGOT, which I spotlighted here last week, and THE MOON MAN by Lance Curry as shown above.  The thing to keep your eye out for, airmen, is our dirigible logo as it will help you distinguish between the new books and the reprints.  All reprint volumes will have the words NEW EDITION – UPDATED & RE-EDITED scrolling around the dirigible for all to see.  The new books will not.   Please keep in mind, we are not merely just reprinting old files here, but have made it a point to go over these books and clean them up.  At the same time we've added new essays, introductions and artwork.   Several will ultimately have brand new covers.

Regardless of old or new, all books offered to you at this line store will always be discounted 25% off the retail prices you would pay in bookstores and other outlets.  That's our small way of saying thanks to all of you who have so generously supported us these past two years and allowed Airship 27 Productions to grow and become successful.   It is our goal to eventually have nine of the original ten books back up for sale before the end of this year, at the same time adding many more exciting new titles.  We've some exciting plans that will blow you away.

I also want to thank all of you who answered my call to tell us where you purchased our previous Airship 27 books.  Lots of you were kind enough to write in and tell us and that information is truly helpful in our planning how we distribute our future books.  Your answers told us were we obviously have a strong presence and where we need to make new inroads.   Please, this is one of those surveys that is ongoing, so if you didn't response already, please do so now.  Where do you buy our books?  Let us know.  And again, to all of you who helped out, many thanks.  You are still the finest bunch of airmen out there and it is a joy share my love of pulps with all of you.

Finally, the Red Sox are all back in Ft.Myers, Florida, and Spring Training for the 2008 baseball season is finally underway.  The year ahead looks terrific for the Sox, as they have almost 99% of their roster back from last year's World Series Winning squad.  That truly bodes well.  I'm not too thrilled with the news of Schilling's ailing shoulder and really think the organization is going down the wrong road not allowing him to have surgery now.  They tell us he will be out for the first few months of the season, as he undergoes a vigorous strengthening program and we shouldn't worry, as they have dept in their pitching rotation.  Well, hell, if that's the case, then why not let the guy go get his surgery and if he can, come back to the team at the end of the season.  If we have enough depth to deal with his loss.  My prediction is, without the surgery, Schill's arm/shoulder will give out half way through the season and then they will really lose him for good.  But hey, what do I know?  I'm just a fan.

Take care, airmen, again, hang in there, visit the store and have a great week.
Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings loyal airmen.  Sorry to be riffing off a classic Spaghetti western, but the truth of it is, the range of subject matter I will be discussing this week covers a lot of that ground.   After my somber comments last week, my good friend and colleague, Mark Justice, wrote to let me know my information on the grade school teacher attacked in her classroom wasn't complete accurate.  Happily so, as she did not die and is recovering even as I write these words.  Her messed up husband though, did climax the horror by taking his own life.  Now all of this started an exchange of e-mails between myself and Mark which led him to report what investigators uncovered during this entire sad affair.  The gentlemen who went nuts had several years earlier been prescribed the drug Oxycntin and become addicted to it.  It then went on to take over his personality and entire life.  In the end he was so eratic, his wife, the teacher, had no recourse but to file for divorce and then it was just one tragedy after another.  Mark went on to detail how crimes in his neck of the woods, small town America, have risen greatly due in part to people needing cash to buy more drugs.  Perscription drug abuse is a national catastrophe that truly threatens every aspect of our lives.  It is absued by the doctors and drug companies to are more interested in getting rich than actually treating us, and by people themselves, too lazy to do anything but pop a pill and believe it is the panacea sent from heaven.  From the Ridlin we dope our children to the rise of autism in those same kids.  We are drugging ouselves to death!!!  This was not the way I'd hoped to begin this week's entry, but then yesterday a student some Illinois college west of Chicago took a shotgun to school and went on a killing spree.  As of this morning, I'm hearing six lives are lost, not counting the shooter.  Now here's my bet, when all is said and done, what to do you want to bet we will all be told the fellow was…..on medication!

Getting away from the horrors of the every day world we live in, I want to offer my condolences today to the family of Steve Gerber, who passed away earlier this week.  During the 1970s, when Marvel Comics was exploding with vibrancy and creativity, giving the entire comics industry a much needed lift, one of its premier writer/editors was Steve Gerber.  I never met the man personally, but I was a fan.  I liked his work a great deal, especially his run on the team book, THE DEFENDERS.  Steve seemed to have a special knack of infusing characters with an odd humor that was completely human and ream.  He died of a lung disease in Los Vegas, he was only 61 and will be greatly missed by all of us who love comics.

                             
And speaking of that media, allow me to point you in the direction of a truly terrific new title soon to be available from AC Comics, GREEN LAMA.   The Green Lama was a pulp hero from the 30s who appeared both in his own pulp monthly but eventually jumped over to the comics as well.  Now, after many years absent, he is back in a brand new, thrilling adventure by my good friend, artist James Ritchey.  Jim has spent over the last two years of his life meticulous researching this classic hero and writing/drawing the maspterpiece of his career.  Hell, that cover alone shoule be enough to get you diehards to go and grab a copy of this soon be classic.  Way to go, Jim.  I hope the Green Lama is back to stay for a long, long time.

So, loyal airmen, question for you, where do you buy most of my novels?  Recently our new publisher of Airship 27 Production pulps, asked that very question.  “Where do people go to buy your books?”  Do they go to Amazon, do they go to Barnes & Noble, or do they go to Lulu on the net?  Of course from what I've been led to understand, most of the airmen here have either gone to Lulu or Amazon, but that's just guess work on my part.  We would really like to know, so you can consider this an informal survey.  Please, if you have bought any of the ten pulp classics I helped produced over the past two and a half years, drop me a line and let me know where you purchased it.

The real reason for all this is that, as we promised you months ago when those old titles were deleted from our former publisher's catalog, we are going to reprint most of them in new editions and we have begun that very work.  As in evidence from the reworked cover below.

We are just about ready to open our brand new official AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS LULU STORE.  Come back next Friday for the big announcement and the actual link to this spiffy new pulp store.  We've high hopes for this venture and hope all you loyal airmen will continue to support us.  Till then, have a great week,  Spring is just around the corner.  As for the dark threads that began this column, always keep in mind, good wins over evil when YOU do good things.

Ron – Over & Out

Greetings loyal airmen.  Well here we are in February already and 2008 is moving along at rather good clip.  When I awoke this morning, I was still undecided on what my subject matter was going to be this week.  There seemed lots of things of interest going that might ramble on about.  Case in point, the political campaigning and Mitt Romney's truly noble decision to leave the race before a protracted contest did damage to his party and his country.  My respect for this man had only grown because of this.  I'm also delighted that my personal choice for president, John McCain, is now assuredly the Republican candidate come November.

On the other hand I could have also made some comment about the sudden rash of violence across the U.S. in the last few days, from a grade school teach being brutally murdered in front of her classroom, to the idiot who
ran into a Missouri city council meeting last night and shot  the Mayor and other officials before being gunned himself.  It seemed in the last 48 hours I couldn't turn on the TV or get on-line without some awful incident of senseless violence being reported.  My prayers go out to the victims and the families of all those touched by these random acts of evil.  And let us not forget that in the midst of this blood-letting, we were all shown video tapes of small children over in the Arab world being trained by the terrorist groups to be junior killers.   The people warping those young minds are the truest definitions of the word…monster.  No movie or TV vampire or werewold could come close to this kind of merciless cruelty.

Of course I could also have discussed the surprise and disappointing news from the Red Sox front office that veteran pitcher, Curt Schilling has an ailing arm/shoulder and may not be able to report to Spring Training as planned.  Now there is some debate between the club and Schilling as to what course he should pursue.  Surgery would most likely put him on the disabled list for the entire season, whereas playing with a bum arm doesn't seem a logical alternative.  Does it?  Stay tuned for further developments.

As I was flipping through the TV channels yesterday afternoon, in search of more information concerning Romney's exit from the campaign, I by good fortune came to the launching of the space shuttle Atlantis a mere five minutes before blast-off.   I stopped channel surfing and sat back to watch the show that, to this soul, never gets old.  Watching that magnificent craft rocket off into the heavens on a trail of roaring fire once again had me feeling like a kid, and remembering the optism that is inherent in our exploration of outer space.  As a religious person, I simply refuse to believe the Good Lord made the splendor and vastness of the universe around us just so we could ogle it through a telescope.  That is just silly.  The heavens were made for us to climb to and explore, expanding our knowledge of God and this wonderful reality He created.

When compared to the problems and woes we face on this big blue planet, the awesomeness of this endeavor dwarfs those issues immediately.  To conquere the final frontier, we have to work together a one people.  The space lab is the result of dozens of countries working hand in hand to achieve that dream.   The Atlantis was taking a new addition to the Space Lab that was built in Europe.  The next package to join that fantastic station is now being constructed in Japan.  The images above were from the last flight of the Endeavor and if you look closely at the crane arm, you'll see it was made in Canada.

The drive to explore and solve the mysteries of the universe is the greatest, most noble quest of mankind in the 21st Century.  It is one all of us should applaud and support in any way we can.   And that loyal airmen, is our log for this snowy week in Feb.   Thanks for stopping by as always and hope to see you back here next week.  Till then keep your chins up and keep looking at the skies.

Ron- Over & Out.

Greeting loyal airmen.  We start this week's log with some sad news.  But first a little history.  When I came home from Vietnam back in the summer of 1968, I quickly got back into comic book collecting, a hobby I'd put aside my three years in uniform.   Soon I began to realize that a huge fandom had grown up in America and from it all these wonderful fan publications we called fanzines.   I began buying them and discovered a small segment were actually devoted to the old pulp heroes.   Writer Robert Weinberg put out a great series of reprint digests in this vein, many sporting stunning covers by a pen and ink artist named Frank Hamilton.  Over the years I became a huge fan of his work, as seen in the two covers above.  Frank was a master of the art of stipling, a slow technique using tiny dots to shape a pattern or image.  Earlier this week, my colleage, Howard Hopkins of Maine, a personal friend of Frank's, informed the pulp community that Frank had passed away this past Monday at the age of 90.   He leaves a huge empty hole in pulp fandom and he will be sorely missed.  Rest in peace, Frank, a peace you so richly deserve.

On a much a happier note, allow me to say welcome to our newest airman, John Bruening of Ohio.  Seems while surfing the web this week, John managed to trip over the old Airship 27 Hangar and stopped in to take a good look.  Then he graciously sent me a wonderful letter saying how much he enjoyed our site.  John is way too young to know about pulps and classic golden age comics, but somehow he does and so he truly got a kick out of what we do here.  Nothing makes me happier than to know these weekly ramblings amuse and entertain such nice people as John and all the rest of you airmen.  It's why I'm here. Thank you all so very much.

Unless you've been living in a mountain cave the past few months, you all know that Presidential politics have been filling the media.  The recent Florida primary has proven to be very telling in which candidates are emerging as the front runners as the field in both parties narrow.  John McCain is clearly striking a chord with Republicans and I'm truly amazed at the bashing he is getting from extremist in our party.  Yes, I'm a Conservative Republican but I'm also an American who, like McCain, is fed up with twenty years of in-fighting that has so taken over Washsington.  Our representatives, from both parties, are so caught up in beating their opponents across the aisles, nothing ever gets done!!  McCain openly advocates moving to the center and compromising and I for one applaud that.  Likewise I see Senator Obama doing the exact same thing among Democrats, realizing we have to stop party politics once and for all or none of the issues that plague this country will ever be resolved.  Its only when we work together as one people that things get done.  Obama is very much another agent of change as opposed to the old guard Clinton so clearly represents.  It is my fervent hope that come November the contest for the White House will be between the two best candidates, McCain and Obama.  Now that will be a campaign worthy of the American people.

Finally I can't end this week's entry without telling you how thrilled I was to see the return of my favorite TV show last night, LOST is back!  It remains the most innovative, original and exciting drama on the boob tube.  I'd rather watch reruns of LOST than 99% of those stupid reality shows.  Sometimes I wish we could take AMERICAN IDOL and SURVIVOR, put them on a boat and LOSE them!!

Take care, have a great week,
Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting loyal airmen.  Well the cover above pretty much tells you what has your old Air Chief is all wound up about this week.  After months of hard work and planning, we've finally gotten BROTHER BONES released.  It is one of the first of our new Airship 27 Productions titles.  (That's me and artist Rob Davis bringing you as much pulp goodness as you can handle.)  All these titles are being published by our partner in this venture, Cornerstone Book Publishers.  They publihsed our WITCHFIRE last year.

This book had a bumpy road to this day.  Oh yeah.  Some of you veteran airmen will remember I started my pulp career years ago with another character molded along these similar “grim” lines.   That book did extremely well for all involved, including the publisher we were then associated with.   When Rob and I began making plans to rerpint that older title as part of our new Airship 27 Prod. launch, we were dismayed to learn we could not obtain permission from the rights holder.  I won't bore you with the complexities of it all, but in the end we were left with six terrific pulp stories and nowhere to use them.  The solution was to simply change the names in those tales and create a brand new pulp hero, this one we would own all rights to.   Rob was willing and we pressed onward.

From that point on, things really livened up.  Rob was eager to do a full out painting of this BROTHER BONES avenger and he delivered a stunning masterpiece, in my humble opinion.  Looking at that smiling face here.  Is that a happy artist or what?  Ha. Folks who are now seeing this cover are ranting and raving, as they should.  This is pure pulp!  Meanwhile I remembered a story that had never made it into the old volume and immediately dusted it off, made the necessary changes and we added it to this new book. It's called GHOST TRAIN and is a Brother Bones adventure no one has seen until now.

So, something old has morphed into something very fresh and new.  The book is available at Amazon on-line, simply go to the Air Fare page here to find the link.  Also at bookstores around the globe.  All of us invovled with BROTHER BONES hope you'll check it out and then drop us a line.  We very much want this to be the first in a series of his adventures.  So let us know what you think of the gruesome avenger who haunts the streets of Cape Noire.  We're listening.

Ron, Over & Out