Greetings loyal airmen.  I hope all of you are surviving the deep freeze that has most of the USA in its icy grip.  So much for what happened to winter, huh.  Still, we are getting through it and within another couple of weeks, lo and behold, our beloved Boston Red Sox open their Spring Training season in Ft.Myers, Florida.  A sure sign that true Spring is really just around the corner.

And after hibernating for so long these past few weeks, I want to be sure to invite all of you in the New England to stop by the Primates Production Comic Convention in Boston coming up quick.  Just a little over a week away, it is the 18th of Feb. and if you go to my links page, you'll be able to link up with their home webpage for all the details, times and directions.   The comic book guest of honor will be Rick Leonardi, who was a personal favorite of mine when I was collecting Marvel.  The guy is an amazing talent and it is going to be a pleasure to meet him.

I'm listed as tthe “author” guest.  Which, I suppose is what I am.  Although I've always prefered the term writer, myself.   Author somehow seems haughty, doesn't it?  Whereas writer implies a working stiff, which is what writing is in the end, work.  I may love doing it, but sometimes it is very much like pulling teeth.  Ha.  Anyway, I will be on hand with a slew of my recent Wild Cat Books titles to autograph and sell.  I'll be bringing copies of, BROTHER GIRM, THE HOUNDS OF HELL, CAPTAIN HAZZARD #1 and CAPTAIN HAZZARD #2.  So, if you are missing any of these from your collection of Ron Fortier books, come on down (or up..) to the show and pick them up.  Of course if you have any of these and would like me to sign them for you, by all means, I'm only too happy to do so, airmen.  And a special note here,  at conventions like these, I always sell my books for less than the current Amazon and Barnes & Noble prices.  My personal way of thanking each and every one of you for supporting my humble efforts.  Lastly, I can't really ever get away from my comic roots and I will also have copies of my Gargoyle comics on sale as well.  Here's keeping my fingers crossed lots of you airmen will stop by to say hi and make this a great show.

Finally, after being gone for the past eight weeks, my beautiful wife, Valerie, flies home tomorrow.   It's been a long, long eight weeks.  You see, Val hates the winters here and over the years both of us came to understand that she truly would get into a very bad depression in the middle of the season.  She's always been a summer girl ever since she was young.  When we started going to Ft.Collins, Coloado, to spend every other Christmas with our son, Alan, we were surprised to realize just how mild the winters are on the Eastern side of the Rockies. 

Lots milder than good old New Hampshire.  So, one year I suggested, that after Christmas, she stay with Al and his family through Jan.  That way when she came home it would be Feb. and even as brutal as this short little month can be, the days do get longer and we are all pretty much coasting down into Spring.  The idea was to give her a break from the long winter stretch.   We've been doing it for several years now and it has really worked out well, for both her spirit and mine.  When you love somebody, it's about making them happy.  Not you.  So the price for her health, is our separation for a month. This year, for reasons I won't get into, that 4 to 6 weeks turned into 8.  I don't like our being apart, but seeing her tomorrow will make the last few weeks vaporize from my thoughts instantly.  They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.   Amen to that.
And welcome home, sweetie.

Airmen, have a great week, Ron, over and out.

Greetings loyal airmen.  I trust all of you are keeping safe and warm as we progress through the true heart of winter. What with the freakish weather conditions throughout the country, it's truly one season lots of us are going to remember for a long, long time.

Happily my favorite TV show, LOST, returns this coming week, Wed. 7th Feb, after a long hiatus and will run all sixteen brand new episodes through to its third season finale in May.  Now over the past month I've been re-watching season two on DVD and realized recently that I had something very unique in common with the character of Desmond, as played by actor Henry Ian Cusick, shown above.  

In one of his first appearances on the show, Desmond had a copy of a lesser known novel by Charles Dickens.  When asked if it was his favorite book, he replied he didn't know as he had yet to read.  Then he went on to explain the following.  Dickens was by far his favorite writer and in his life, he had managed to read everything the great author had written, save for this one book.  Now having purchased it, he realized that when he read it, there would never be another tale from his beloved writer….ever again.  And so Desmond refuses to read this book, and carries it with him wherever he goes in the hopes that, if the fates are kind, someday, when he believes his life almost at an end, then, and only then, he will read this book.   Thus making it the last book he ever reads.

If you are a lover of books like I am, then that quirky story has to appeal to you as well.   And over the Christmas holidays I inadvertently put myself in the same situation as poor Desmons.  You see, my all time favorite writer was mystery novelist, Ed McBain.   I discovered his series, the 87th Precinct, based on a fictional squad of big city detectives, back in my freshmen year of high school.  It was a period of my life when reading was opening up both the world and maturity to my ever curious mind.   McBain's books simply astounded me with their style and grace.  As I grew older and read lots and lots of writers, his skills became more and more evident to me, to the point of sincerely trying to emulate him whenever I write.  The man was a true master of his craft.   And last year, after completing his 55th 87th Precinct novel, he passed away.  It was a very sad day to mystery fans across the world.
                                 

While in Colorado, I found this last book and purchased it immediately.   I came home, set it on my To-Read stack (most of you know what this is) and didn't give it much thought.   Two days ago I finished reading a western by Max McCoy (see the link to my Pulp Fiction Review column above) and headed for the stack to see what I would be reading next.  And there was FIDDLERS, by Ed McBain.   I picked it up, held for a few minutes…and then put it back on the stack and walked away.

For the past day I've been grappling with the sad fact that once I read this book, there will never…ever…be another McBain thriller for me to enjoy.  And I remembered Desmond from LOST.  Oh, do I now know exactly what he was feeling.  Unlike Desmond, I don't have that much trust in the fates allowing me to simply “know” when my end will come.   And I would be the biggest fool in the world to hold off enjoying, for one last time, this great writer's work, only to get nailed by a tractor trailer truck somewhere down the road.  Having kicked the bucket with it unread. I am not going to let that happen.  Most likely before this very day is over, I'll have found the will to pick it up and start reading it.  But I am so going to cry when the end comes.

Take care, my friends.  Have a great week.
Ron – over and out.

Greetings loyal airman.  I want to discuss a subject that has been on my mind for several years now. And that is the issue of why it is Hispanic immigrants believe they should be treated any different than all the millions of ethnic immigrants from all over the world who came to America in the past?  When the French, the Irish, the Germans, the Russians..all of them came to this country, it was to leave their homeland behind and to become Americans.
Yet our Mexican immigrants come and demand it is we, Americans, who change our language to accomodate them.  Back in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt made a speech that is very topical to our times and this current issue.  It filled with old fashion, common sense.

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.  But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here.  Any man who says he is American, but something else also, isn't an American at all.  We have room for but one flag, teh American flagl…we have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

A concise, intelligent and wonderful speech that welcomes all and at the same time defends what it is we all cherish so dearly, one America.  Not Hispanic-American, not French-American, not African-American.
One land, one people.  Teddy was a man ahead of his time.  Wish that we had that kind of no-nonsense leadership today.

The Spider.  Say that name to any true fan of pulp literature and watch their faces light up with a very special kind of glow.  It is safe to say no single character so embodied the essence of an entire genre than this creepy, fang-faced avenger with his blazing .45 automatics.   Arguably the three greatest heroes to emerge from the pulp era were Walter Gibson’s cloaked mystery man, the Shadow; Lester Dent’s world spanning adventurer, Doc Savage and Norvell Page’s psychotic vigilante, the Spider.  But it would the Spider who would quite literally, month after month, give weight to the term, “…the bloody pulps!”

Begun as a monthly from Popular Publications in 1933, he was invented by Harry Steeger to be competition to Street & Smith’s successful Shadow.    Steeger assigned writer R.T.M. Scott to this new series starring an uncostumed operator named Richard Wentworth who battled crime with the aid of his friends; the lovely Nita Van Sloan, his Hindu manservant Ram Sighn and his wartime associate, Ronald Jackson.   Had Scott remained on the magazine, it would most likely have never achieved the macabre glory it now lays claim to.  That particular, and unique, success was the result Norvell Page, who took over the series with its third issue and pulpdom would never be same again.

 Page brought to the character an entire new complexity that would propel him into bizarre and sensational plots no other sane hero would ever dare venture.   Under Page’s fevered imagination, the Spider became a true representative of the country’s poor and downtrodden, as he battled the most fiendish, outlandish villains this side of a Dick Tracy comic strip.  And the more over-the-top the stories became, the more lurid the covers were painted, the fans devoured it all.   Soon the Spider was not only equalling the Shadow in sales and popularity; he was at times exceeding them.  But less you think Richard Wentworth was a two-dimensional, gun crazy lunatic, there was a strength of honor and nobility that permeated his persona.  Wentworth knew he was often all that stood between a world of civility and utter chaos.  If he was a fanatic, it was because he loved his fellow man and was willing to sacrifice his life, and those of his aides, in his self-appointed crusade to battle villainy.

 There was only one Spider!

 Thus you can imagine my elation when Joe Gentile offered me the opportunity to write a brand new Spider adventure for Moonstone’s forthcoming anthology.  It was a joy colored by apprehension.  Hell, it was outright fear.  You see, Joe explained there would be twenty stories in this volume and each would be limited to 5,000 words.  I felt my stomach flip.  Only 5,000 measly little words…to tell a Spider story!  It was ludicrous!

The Spider was the battler of the bombastic!   His 60,000 word novels centered about crimes so horrible and world-shattering as to shock the imagination.  This was a character that fought only Herculean monsters!  How on earth could any of us do him justice in 5,000 words?  Could anyone actually write a small Spider yarn?   The more I wrestled with that idea, the more I was forced to examine all I of knew about this iconic pulp figure.  What was it that truly made Richard Wentworth tick?   Was it a dangerous junkie-type addiction to action and thrills?  Lots of people over the years have argued that Wentworth had a death-wish and expressed it in his alter-ego, laughing in the face of the grim-reaper, always taunting him with his daredevil exploits.

But there again there was that honor I referred to earlier.  There was no denying Wentworth was a man of deep passions.  A war hero, he loved his county, his city and the people who dwelled there.  He saw himself as their protector and it was a self-imposed duty he would never shirk.  So, I mused, how would he react to a crime ring that victimized the young and the innocent?  It wouldn’t matter one iota if this new cartel were an elaborate, sophisticated crime organization.  No, all that would matter, in his mind, was the cruelty and suffering inflicted on the victims. 

Thus was the kernel idea around which I began to weave a story I titled THE INVISIBLE GANG.   It is not your typical, over-the-top Spider thriller.  Oh, there’s action aplenty in its short 5,000 words.  There are gun-battles and villains vanquished, but in the end, it is about righting wrongs, even the little ones.  That was what I learned from this truly wonderful experience; for the Spider, the Master of Men, there are no small crimes.

Moonstone's new anthology, THE SPIDER CHRONICLES will be out soon.  It is available for pre-order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble on-line.  I hope you'll pick up and copy and check out my story and the other nineteen as well.   It's all good stuff.  Thanks.

And that wraps another week, airmen.  Ron, over and out.

Greetings loyal airmen.  As promised from last week, here are a couple of sneak-peeks at two classic pulp heroes making their return in brand new stories via my Wild Cat Books projects.  The first is a well-known radio and comic book figure and the other a true pulp favorite.

Captain Midnight got his start on radio and was a very popular show for many, many years.  Eventually he would become an equally popular comic book series and ultimately in the 50s evolve into television.  I'm sure many of you senior airmen will remember that half hour, black and white TV show with Richard Webb as Captain Midnight and the show's sponsor, Ovaltine.

Well the good Captain is about to make a wonderful return and all through the creative endeavors of my pal, writer David Walker.  David is writing a new series for Wild Cat Books that will be appearing and our forthcoming FLYING ACES title.  Dave has already turned in the first, origin yarn and it's a winner.  Aviation pulp fans are going to love this.  And in keeping with all this, Dave has also started up his own Captain Midnight website (http://mysite.verizon.net/theshadowreturns/)  Stop on by and check it out.

Meanwhile we are hard at work on a classic pulp revival; Ki-Gor Jungle Lord.   After the debut and popularity of Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan, in both pulps and movies, other publishers were eager to cash in on the jungle savage theme and dozens of such characters began popping up.  The most successful, and longest running such series was that of Ki-Gor Jungle Lord, which ran in every single issue of JUNGLE STORIES.  Ki-Gor, the orphaned son of a Scottish missionary killed in the Congo, raised himself in the wilds to become a blond Tarzan.  Within the next few months Wild Cat Books will releasing a brand new Ki-Gor anthology, with four action-packed stories by Wayne Skiver, Tom Johnson, Duane Spurlock and Peter Currane.   Our WCB artist supreme, Tom Floyd has turned in the cover below.

It's a beauty, isn't it?  To get a look at it without all that text, check out the Gallery pages.  Tom has truly outdone himself this time around and we couldn't be more delighted.  Naturally when the book is available for sale, I'll post it in this log.

Speaking of such postings, I am going to be the guest at a Boston Comic Convention on the 18th of Feb, put on my Primate Promotions.   I'm hoping lots of you airmen will jot that date down on your calendar and come down to say hi.  I'll have three or four of my pulp novels on hand for sale plus a comic or two.  Should be a fun day.

And that wraps up another week, amigos.   After a long delay, winter has finally settled in New England and we're once more a snow-covered scenery.  See you in seven, till then, stay warm.
Ron, over and out.

Greetings loyal airmen.  I thought we'd talk about one of my favorite things this week, movies.   My father got me hooked on motion pictures when I was little guy not much older than six or seven.  He would drag me to the local movie house on Saturday afternoons to catch the matinees.  Thus I grew up loving movies; mostly all kinds of movies.  Oh, there are one or two movie genres I won't visit, but I'll talk about them at a later date when I'm feeling more self-reflective, ha.  For right now, let's talk about some movies that have entertained me mightily, old and new.

First up is a movie that debut just last year and this past week arrived in DVD form in stores everywhere.  It is called THE ILLUSIONIST and stars a truly wonderful Edward Norton as a stage magician named Eisenheim who has come to his home town of Vienna to perform.  Upon arriving, he discovers his long lost love is also there, played by the lovely Jessica Biel, and that she is soon to marry a cruel and sadistic prince, deliciously played by Rufus Sewell.  Once the lovers are reunited, it is clear they can never be together because the prince will not be content to simply allow his fiancee to leave him for a commoner.  No, he will most likely have them hunted down and assassinated.  All this Eisenheim learns from both the princess and a chief of police named Uhl, brilliantly acted by Paul Giamatti.  Uhl sympathizes with the magician, but is weak and afraid to go up against royalty.   In the end Eisenheim must devise the greatest illusion of his life, or else he and his beloved will be doomed.  But can even the greal Illusionist escape the clutches of the grim reaper?   THE ILLUSIONIST is a very moving, entertaining experience that is both romance and mystery in the best sense of both.  If you've already seen it, you know what I mean.  If you haven't, I would strongly suggest you do so.  You will not be dissappointed.

Next up more of what Santa brought your Air Chief over Christmas.    I was fortunate enough to get some extra spending funds and immediately logged on to my favorite DVD site on the net, Deep Discount DVD.  (I've a link to them on my links page.)  They sell thousands of movies, old and new, at the cheapest prices with absolutely not shipping and handling fees, ever.   So taking that bonus cash, I went and ordered a bunch of things I've had on my wish list for a long-long time.  Two days ago the mailman delivered my box of movies.   Inside was….

THE MALTESE FALCON 3 Disc-Special Edition.   One of the finest mystery classics of all time, with a superb cast that included Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.  All of them directed by John Houston based on the novel by Dahiell Hammett.  Along with the film and a great documentary, this set also included two earlier versions of this same movie; the 1931 Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade and the 1936 Satan Met A Lady, starring Warren Williams and a very young Bette Davis.  Truly..”…the stuff dreams are made of.”

THE GREEN ARCHER – From 1940 comes this 15 Chapter serial out of Columbia studios starring Victor Jory, Iris Meredith and James.  (Hits The Bull's-Eye For Thrill Lovers)  Serials were the cinematic versions of pulp adventures and I have a few dozen in my collection.

LUST FOR A VAMPIRE – 1970.  One of the last vampire movies produced by the popular British studio, Hammer.  Growing up in the 50's & 60's, I was a major fan of the Hammor horror movies and their wonderful reinterpretations of the old classic monsters ala the Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster and of course, Dracula.  Towards the end of their operations their films, like this one, became a little more adult orirentated, adding a touch of eroticism to their brand of terror.

STAR TREK VI THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY – Clearly the second best Old Trek movie produced, after the WRATH OF KHAN, thanks in large part to the writing and directing skills of Nicolas Meyer.  There is something wild about a Kligon warrior, played to over-the-top perfection by Chirstopher Plummer, quoting Shakespear that is just too funny.  But at the same time, Meyer wisely addressed the age of this beloved cast and the fact that this will be their last mission together. And that they go out with so much dignity and class is what has endeared this particular movie to me.

SAMURAI  JACK – SEASON 3 – One of the most original action-adventure cartoons ever produced by an American stuido..ever!!!  And now I own all three amazing seasons.  Yahooo.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : DEAD MAN'S CHEST – Okay, so it wasn't as good or funny as the first one, but then again Johnny Depp is back as the most ridiculously bad sea rover of all times, Captain Jack Sparrow.  I do like the fact that it was a cliff-hanger and will wrap up when #3 comes out later this year.
And actor Bill Nighy's octopus-head make-up as the legendary Davey Jones was just too plain freak!!

There you have it, airmen, my lastest stash of celluloid magic.   Now the real trick is going to be finding the time to watch half of them.   Ha.  Sincerely, since getting the new year kicked off, I've been up to my elbows in tons of great new pulp projects.  I'l be giving you a sneak-peek at one of them next week.  Till, then, have a great week.

Ron, over and out.

Greetings loyal airmen, and here we are, home, safe and sound after a wonderful ten days in Ft.Collins, Colorado.  I certainly hope all of you have had as wonderful a Christmas as we did, with our son, Alan, and his family, and that Santa brought you all tons of new toys.  I've a half dozen terrific new DVD movies that I can't wait to watch.

If you've been watching the weather at all on your TV, you'll all know that Denver got socked by a major snow storm only days prior to Christmas.  Luckily for Valerie and I, that was two days after we arrived.  Denver and parts of eastern Colorado, that sit on this side of the Rocky Mountains, generally do not get lots of snow like this, especially in December.  That stuff is usually reserved for the ski country on the western side of the mountains.  Thus, you can imagine on how unexpected this storm was and the crippling effect it had on the region.  Denver International Airport was shut down for a whole two and a half days!  Over 3,000 travelers were stranded there and many didn't make it home for Christmas.

While in Ft. Collins, where we were, Alan and his snow removal crew were out all night battling the steadily falling snow.  His men worked tirelessly in a valian attempt to keep their residential and commercial customers clear.  Of course they fell behind, as did every other such enterprise.  The day after the snow let up, we went grocery shopping with our daugher-in-law, Nicole, only to find empty shelves in all the local supermarkets.  The bread shelves were empty, as were the milk iceboxes and other stables.  That's just how severe the area was hit.  Major highway arteries were shut down and nothing got through, except emergency services.

I left Denver yesterday morning at 7 AM with rumors of a second snow front on its way.  When I reached Midway Airport in Chicago, I called Valerie, still in Colorado, and she said it had started snowing, but they weren't sure if it was going to be bad or not.  Well by late afternoon, when I touched down in Manchester, NH, my brother-in-law, who picked me up at the airport said, “Man, you got out of there just in the nick of time!”  Sure enough, upon getting home, I turned on the weather channel and learned that Denver and points north were once againg getting dumped…and dumped bad!   Val called last night and said Alan and he crews were at it again.  Amazing.  Meanwhile, southern New Hamphsire, which should have all that stuff this time of year, is still drab and gray with bare ground!  Believe me, things are just plain upside-down.  Ha.

                            
Now the name of Alan's landscaping business is Yard Elves, something I came up with years ago when he first got started.  Once he accepted the name, I recruited my long time artist friend, Gary Kato, to design a logo and then start drawing up several cartoon elves that Alan could use in his marketing and advertising.  Over the years Gary has done a half-dozen of these loveable little guys.  And Alan has used them in many ads and we even produced a coloring book for his customer's childrens a few years back.   In a few short months Alan will be publishing a full color childrens book based on these characters.  

The thing is, ever since he got the business up and running and started plastering these cartoons all over Ft.Collins, I've wanted to do something truly unique for him.  Last summer, I was introduced to an amazing young sculptor named Ver Curtiss.  The guy is a genius.  I showed him the above illustrations from Gary and asked if he could possible turn it into a three dimensional statue.  He took the commission and delivered the amazing piece you see below.   He then wrapped it carefully and shipped it to Colorado, where, on Christmas morning, it was Alan's premier Christmas gift.  He lit up like a little kid when he saw it and it now sits atop his shelf in his main company office.  It was a special moment for all of us and I wanted to share it with all of you.

                         
The craftsmanship in this piece is amazing.  Ver was going to do the wheel barrel that appears in the sketch, but it would have taken more time and Christmas was only weeks away when he started sculpting.  So we lost the wheel barrel. Ha.  Not that it makes any difference in the end result.  Thanks, Ver, I owe you big time.

So there you have it, airmen.  A fantastic holiday, and now we are home and once again getting the Pulp Factory cranked up anew.  I've lots of projects in the wings for 2007 and am very anxious to get to them.  Stick around and I'll keep you posted as always.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AIRMEN….Ron, over and out.

Greetings, loyal airmen.  Well in two days Valerie and I are off to Ft.Collins, CO., to spend Christmas with son Alan, his wife Nikki and our two grand kids, Cora and Alex. You'd better believe we've been counting the days. Alex is now nine and the last pictures I saw of him, I almost didn't recognized the little guy. Well, that's because  he just isn't little anymore.  He's starting to shoot up, lose the baby-look and you can almost get a glimpse of the  teenager he's going to be.  Two more days, and I'll be hanging with him and his beautiful, older sister, Cora.  Gonna be so much fun watching them on Christmas morning digging into those brightly wrapped packages to see what special surprises Santa delivered.

Which got me to thinking about Christmas past, and all the wonderful toy memories I have.  And how some of them have colored my life ever since.  Among them, my childest passion of action figures.  Which all began with the King of Cowboys.
             
                                            
When I was ten years, one of the most popular half hour TV shows on the television, was the Roy Rogers show.  Every week, in glorious black and white, we would get to visit the Double R Ranch and join Roy, his lovely wife Dale and their cast of human and animal co-stars on an new action-packed thirty minute adventure that always ended with the two of them riding off into the sunset singing, Happy Trails.  It was a wholesome, wonderful family show that all the Fortiers watched faithfully.

You can imagine my surprise that year, when the Sears Wishbook catalogue (that was the big fat one that came just after Thanksgiving and was overstuffed with toy ads) arrived and there, in the middle of that huge toy section, was a miniature display of the Double R Ranch.  The set included Roy on Trigger, with his loyal German Shephard dog, Bullet,  Dale on Buttermilk and Pat Brady, the ranch foreman, riding his loveable jeep, Nelly-Belle.  And there was the ranch house, a long fence and the barn, with extra horses.   The entire kit and caboodle all spread out in an eye-catching layout.   Upon seeing it, I came to believe there couldn't be a greater Christmas gift in the entire world than that Roy Rogers ranch set.  And oh boy, did I become the biggest kid pest you can imagine.  I surely must have driven Mom and Dad nuts those intervening weeks to Christmas.

But here's the thing I want you to understand.  Back in the mid-50s, we were really a low end middle-class family, with both Mom and Dad working to keep us afloat.   We rented half a duplex from my father's parents and although never thought of ourselves as poor, we didn't have all that much either.  So, even though I don't remember the exact cost of that toy set-up, I do know it was pricey and part of me didn't believe I would actually get it come Christmas.  It was one of those things you sigh and wish for, with no true hope of making it a reality.

When I woke up that particular Christmas morning (my kid brother George and I usually were up before 6 AM on that special.  I mean, come on, it's Christmas, no kid can sleep on Christsman!) and beat George out of our bedroom and down the stairs to the front room where the Christmas tree was stationed.   The night before we'd gone to bed leaving it a solitary sentinel in that back corner, but now, only one short night later, we beheld a floor devouring display of wrapped packages all bearing small little white cards with family names on them.  But what froze me in my slippered feet was what was spread out over the entire quilted floor rug in front of the tree…the entire Roy Rogers Ranch set!!!   I fell to my knees in front of it, my heart beating like a giant trip-hammer, as I picked up that little palomino horse with the gaudily clad cowboy riding him, and held it up for close inspection.
Could a child ever have been happier?  I doubt it seriously. 

So here we are, some fifty years later and I'm writing this in my own private Batcave, surrounded by some of the coolest action figures ever.  There's Samuel L.Jacskon, all six inches of him, as Shaft (with wrap-around shades) beside him is Xena, Warrior Princess, her throwing shakra in-hand, followed closely by the one-eyed Kurt Russell and Snake Plisken from the movie, Escape From New York.  Then there's Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow.   Oh, and let's not forget the Mighty King Kong, on his steel pedestal, roaring his challenge to the modern world.

As you can see, the love that started fifty years ago has never left me.  I am a nut for action figure toys.  And by far the best company producing them today, is McFarlane Toys.   Last month, in honor of my 60th birthday, my daughter Heather went and presented me with the latest addition to my toy collection.

Here, in all his engimatic glory, is actor Terry O'Quinn as John Locke from my favorite TV show, LOST!  I had heard McFarlane was doing these, but had never seen them before.  When I unwrapped the box and found him in his plastic wrap, I let out a very 10 yr. old like yell, that Valerie will happily attest to.  Another great action figure to add to the collection.  Does this young lady know her dad, or what?

There is something about toys that carries a unique magic.  They have no other purpose than to make us smile, to make us happy and for a brief moment in our hectic lives, make us forget our troubles.  That's what they have done for me and continue to do.  I wish each and everyone one of you a Santa bag-full of toys this Christmas morn.  A gift of laughter and youth and forever joy.

So I'm out of town and the hangar is closed for the next couple of weeks, airmen.  God bless all of you and your families.  See you at the end of the year,  Ron, over and out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greetings loyal, airmen.  Well, its been another busy week, as Valerie and I start making arrangements for our trip out to Colorado come the 17th of Dec. to spend Christmas with out son, Alan, and his family.  Meanwhile the whole world seems to have gone topsy turvy weather-wise, as we just finished one of the mildest November's ever here in New England.  Today it's in the mid 50s, and just plain unnaturally warm.  Whereas the rest of the country, especially the mid-west is getting walloped by foul weather.  Mother Nature can be freaky when she wants to be.  Lots of odds and end stuff this time around.  Hope you enjoy.
 
                                      

I just finished reading LUCKY AT CARDS yesterday.  Lawrence Block is one of my favorite writers and you can see my full review of the book by clicking on to my Pulp Fiction Review link in the paragraphs above.  If you haven't visited my review site in a while, please do.  It has more than a half-dozen reviews up now, all of books you might get a kick out of.
  
                                                

Of course, holiday seaon or not, my pulp work continues for Wild Cat Books and one of the anthologies we have in production for next year feature..THE BLACK BAT.   Here is a super pin-up of that classic pulp hero as turned in by artist Jason Baroody and inker Chris Chua.  They will be doing both the cover and the interior spot illustrations.  I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday I sat down with a pot of coffee, three full boxes of Christmas cards and pulled up my address list on my computer.  It was time for the treaded Christmas card chore.  Of course I'm only kidding, as it is one tradition I actually look forward to every year at this time.  Why?  Because in going down the list of names in my files and stopping at those people I consider friends, I was once again reminded of just how many I do have.  And this year in particular, the list seemed to almost double, thanks in large part to lots of you airmen and the new writers and artists who've become part of my pulp-family.  By the end of the afternoon I had used up all the cards in the those three boxes and still have a few more to send out!!!  Boy is the Post Office going to love me this year.  Ha.  Of course one of the realities of life is, no matter how hard you try to not to forget someone, you invariably do…and you don't catch it..until you receive their Christmas card to you.  At which point you slap yourself on the head and go, DUH.   Well, my dear, loyal airmen, I don't want to miss a single one of you, so if you allow me to go digital a wee bit, the Christmas Elf boy is my good wishes to alll of you.

                                       MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY TO NEW YEAR
                                                           From Your Air Commander

Till next week, Ron, over and out.

Greetings loyal airmen and a day belated HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you and yours.  I hope it was a wonderful day filled with family and friends, as our was.  All that good food, fun with our daughter Michelle and her family, rich deserts and lots of football on TV.   I personally began the day in prayer, thanking God for all our brave men and women in uniform defending our freedoms far from home.  It's a daily prayer, that one day the conflict will be won and they will come home permanently.  But until every single human being is free, let us not delude ourselves that there will ever be world peace.  As long as people are oppressed and denied their basic rights, that we so cherish in this land, then there will always be wars.  I pray America will never her lose her will to fight those battles. 

Now let's talk movies.  Specifically Bond, James Bond and his newest incarnation now seen in CASINO ROYALE.   Every time there has been a new actor filling 007's shoes, the publicity blitz has been like a three ring circus and this time was no different.  But to my total surprise, they pulled it off and actually gave us a tough, deadly killer in actor Daniel Craig.  Gone are the annoying pretty-boy looks and those stupid tinker-toy gadgets that made most of the Roger Moore entries nothing but live-action cartoons.   In CASINO ROYALE, based loosely on Ian Fleming's very first Bond book, we are given an imperfect, completely fallible human being who is doing his own on-the-job training as the story moves along.  That he can be beaten and does make mistakes only allows us as viewers to empathize much more with him as a hero.   This movie has quickly jumped the ranks on my own list of favorite Bonds to join the Top Three, coming in a close third after GOLDFINGER.  What's the first?  That's easy, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE.  It's the one where Bond actually cries at the end.  As you can tell, I like my super-spies a little less super.  Thumbs way up on CASINO ROYALE.  Am keeping my fingers crossed they can maintain this grittiness in subsequent offerings.

Last week another film favorite arrived on DVD and that was Ron Howard's version of Dan Brown's best selling novel, THE DAVINCI CODE.   Valerie had never seen it at the theater and was very anxious to watch it with me on our big-screen TV.  After the viewing, like me, she found herself discussing the points in the plot that mirror a lot of what we, as a Catholic couple, don't like about our church.   It has been a sexist, good-old-boys club far too long and ultimately the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of the higherarchy to their blatant hypocrisy of treating half the human race (women) as inferior beings.  That was not God's plan, nor Jeus's preaching.  One day there will be women priest.   As the father two wonderful daughters, and five absolutely beautiful granddaughters, I say, the sooner, the better.

I'm very thrilled to announce my latest pulp production, THE MOON MAN is now on sale at Lulu.Com.  Five short stories and one novella, guest starring Secret Agent X, all by the talented Lance Curry.  Interior art by Rob Davis, cover by Rob and painted by Rich Woodall.   The Moon Man was by far the most original, unique and bizarre pulp hero of them all.  If you really want to experience the fun of the pulps, pick up a copy of this marvelous book.  Simply go to the top of the column, where you'll find a highlighted link to Wild Cat Books.  Click on it and away you go.   Now the Moon Man becomes the seventh title I have produced  for Wild Cat  Books in the last two years.

BROTHER GRIM – THE HOUNDS OF HELL – CAPTAIN HAZZARD : PYTHON MEN OF THE LOST CITY – LANCE STAR SKY RANGER – CAPTAIN HAZZARD : THE CITADEL OF FEAR – SECRET AGENT X.   All of are available at Lulu.com and, as of this week, five of these six are now on sale at both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble on-line.   We are extremely proud of these books and want to thank all of you who have purchased any of them.  Your continued support has made this a joy to be a part of.  Thanks.  And trust me, there is lots more pulp goodness on the way!

And there you go, for this, Black Friday of 2006.  We are now officially in the Christmas season.   The stores are going to be mobbed and everyone and his uncle will be out there looking to pick up that perfect gift.  In all your coming weeks of frantic activity, try to remember the greatest gift you can ever give your friends and loves one is your time.   Remember to take time with people you care for, to share a smile, a hug and a kiss.  These things aren't on sale in any department store and they make the best gifts of all.

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