Greetings Loyal Airmen, we've got a TON of things to chat about this week so let's get going.  Issue number eleven of our on-going comic series, MR. JIGSAW Man of a Thousand Parts is now out.

This one features the full length adventure The Pirates of Perchance, script by the Air Chief, art by Gary Kato and edits by Redbud Studio's own Rob Davis. This is our homage to the old comedy TV show, Gilligan's Island for those of you Loyal Airmen old enough to know what we're talking about. The book is available from (www.IndyPlanet.com).  Enjoy. It was a blast to do.

As most of you know, the Air Chief loves visiting local elementary schools and talking about writing and creating comics.  Last week he, and local professional artist Felipe Echevarria teamed up and visited a fifth grade class to talk about how writers and artists work together.  Here is the Air Chief with half the class talking about how to build a story.

Later Felipe and I teamed up at a digital board where he proceeded to draw a page from a script the Air Chief had written.  We'd shared the page with the kids and all of them got to see first hand how Felipe, as a professional graphic artist set about interpreting what we had put down on the script.  Both of us truly had a great time with these kids.

We've mentioned in the past that there are two awards given out these days for excellence in writing and drawing pulp fiction.  One is the Pulp Factory Awards which are presented every year at the Windy City Pulp & Paper show in April in Chicago.  The other was the Pulp Ark Awards which were handed out at the Pulp Ark Convention in Arkansas, as managed by Tommy Hancock.  Sadly there will be no PA Convention this year but happily Tommy chose to continue the awards, only with a name change; they are now the New Pulp Awards and today Tommy released the names of all the creators who made the final ballot.  Unlike the Pulp Factory Awards which only have 4 categories, the New Pulp Awards have a full dozen.

The Air Chief was thrilled to see so many of our Airship 27 Productions titles and creators represented throughout the various categories.  What was a genuine surprise was finding that we had been personally nominated in a few categories and for that we are truly honored and appreciated.

Last year we wrote a short story, “The Lawman,” for the Pro Se Press anthology, BLACK PULP. It has been nominated for Best Pulp Short Story.

We also wrote a Brother Bones adventure entitled “The Plastic Army,” which appeared in Pro Se Presents Summer 2013 issue.  It has been nominated for Best Pulp Novella.  Honestly, Loyal Airmen, we are simply bowled over by both these nominations and can't thank people enough for voting for us.  Note, the voting is open to the public at large and you can obtain a copy of the ballot on-line.  Just Google New Pulp Awards Ballot.  We thank you for your support.  No announcement has been made as to where these will be presented.  We'll keep you posted. 

Here's the link to downloading a ballot –
(http://newpulpawards2014.blogspot.com/p/new-pulp-awards-2014-official-ballot.html)

And finally, last week we mentioned the news of Fort Collins first ever comics event, the FoCo Comcis and Gaming Festival to be held at the Drake Center here in Fort Collins, Co. on Sat April 19th.  Well,
as of today, the Festival has its own Facebook page with pictures and articles on the sixteen guests who be appearing at this fun show. Here they are in alphabetical order –

Abe Akin, Mike Baron, Chad Blakely, Matt Campbell, Ron Fortier, Greg Guler, Jeff Herndon, Zach Howard, Todd Jones, Patrick Joel de Leon, Eric Meador, Ben Mikkleson, James Montoya, Lee Oaks, Tom Webster and Jolyon Yates.  As you can see, a really stellar line up…even with that Fortier dude.  Ha.  Again, go check out their Facebook page.  We are really looking forward to this first ever comic show in our fair city.

And that's it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  Again, go get that New Pulp Award ballot and vote for the Air Chief if you so desire. We appreciate all your support.  Till next week, stay safe,

Ron – Over & Out!