Greetings, airmen.  Well here we go, into the long Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of summer.  Locally we've been seeing the familiar yellow school buses popping up on neighborhood streets and kids put away their bats and gloves and pick up their books and pencils once more.   First thing Valerie and I noticed was how quiet the block was this morning while on our daily two mile walk.   September is a transitional month, summer's last gasp if you will.  Time to start thinking about the fall and what comes next.

Since coming home from Pulp Con 35 and seeing the successful debut of our LANCE STAR – SKY RANGER book, I've been a very, very busy guy.   Most of this activity all centered around our new series of pulp anthologies that I'm producing for Wild Cat Books, of which LANCE STAR was number one.   Now I'm focused on our second anthology title…SECRET AGENT X.

                                                 
I'm really excited about this book as Agent X is truly a great pulp character with his ability to disguise himself at the drop of a hat.  He was known as the “Man of a Thousand Faces.”   I've assembled a really talented group of creators to do this volume and they include writers, Steven Atkins, Mark Justice, Brian Meredith and Kevin Noel Olson.  Artist Rob Davis is providing all our interior spots and the cover as well.   Recently I also added a new member to our pulp-house team, art designer Anthony Schiavino.   Anthony's a good friend and one of the most talented designers I've ever met.   His work is so brilliant, he brings such a level of enthusiam to his work, it is just a joy to behold.  Anthony has as much fun playing with fonts, logos and layouts as kids have in a toy store.

                                                   
Besides doing the anthologies, I've also started producing other pulp series that will showcase talented newcomers to the field.  One such case is writer Wayne Skiver's new action hero, Prof.Stone.  Wayne had self-published a smaller book of Stone's adventures last year and I bought a copy.   After reading and enjoying his stories, I contacted him and suggested he should be working in a higher-profile outfit ala Wild Cat Books.   Wayne listened to what I was offering and signed on.  The end result, Wild Cat Books, i.e. yours truly, is now putting together a Prof.Stone volume that will not only reprint some of those earlier storis, but include a brand new novella…THE EYE OF RE.   Taking charge of the art for this project is my good buddy from Maine, Michael Mitchell and again, Anthony is on board as our designer.  The above is an advertising flyer they produced together, which Wayne hopes to hand out at the grand opening of the new Lester Dent-Doc Savage Museum in Dent's home town of LaPlata, Missouri.   Mitch has knocked himself on this piece and I promise you all, it is just a small sample of the fantastic work you'll find in the finished book.

Pulps, pulps and more pulps.  You just can't get enough good action adventure fiction, in my humble opinion. Ha.

On other fronts, one of my new favorite actors is Britisher Jason Statham of the TRANSPORTER movies.  He has a new movie coming out today, CRANK, and it looks like a modern day re-write of the classic noir thriller, D.O.A.   In that old flick, the hero, played by Edmund O'Brien,  is injected with poison by parties unknown and has only twenty-four hours to live.  He chooses to spend that time in hunting the person who poisoned him.   It is a classic and was remade sometimes in the 80s, I believe, with Dennis Quaid in the part.   Now the variation on this one is that our hero has been given a drug that will slow down his heart and kill him..within an hour.  Ergo, he has to find a way to keep his adrenalin up while he chases down the bad guys.   Looks to be wild.

Finally, before signing off, a few words on the Red Sox and their sad state of affairs.   Watching this team fall apart has been painful.  At least they did the right thing by veteran pitcher David Wells and let him go to the San Diego Padres, who have a shot at making the play-offs.  This is most likely Boomer's last seaon as a ball player and he deserves to finish in a play-off atmosphere.  He is a trooper who only ever gave the Red Sox his best in the two years he was here.  Good luck, Boomer.  We're pulling for you all the way.

That's it, airmen, for another week.  Take care, one and all.  Ron, over and out.