UPDATE 29 OCT 2007 – RED SOX WIN WORLD SERIES !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greeting loyal airman and welcome to another Airship 27 Log Entry for this, the final weekend of October.  Halloween is coming fast and I hope all you airmen have stocked up on candy and gotten your scariest outfits ready to go.  Having been born the week after this colorful holiday, I’ve always been a fall lover.  Watching the leaves change color in New Hampshire is a magnificent grace from God that never fails to amaze me.  That vibrant green leaves should suddenly morph into reds and golds and browns before they tumble to the ground has always seemed a beautiful comfort to me from the Almighty.  His way of telling us passing from one existence to another is not only natural, but beautiful.

A few weeks ago I was asked by the alumni director of my old high school, St. Thomas Aquinas, if I wouldn’t write a short article on my writing career and how much the school influenced me in that vocation.  I loved my four years at STA and the memories of those wonderful days have never left me.  For those of you counting, I graduated a member of the first ever graduating class of 1964.  What follows is the short essay I submitted.  It will appear in the Jan. 08 edition of STA’s REFLECTIONS.

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 By the time I arrived at St. Thomas as part of the first class in the fall of 1960, I knew I wanted to write fantastic fiction.  I was an avid comic book reader and dreamed of one day being able to write them.  Enter Sister Raymunda, both my homeroom and Freshman English teacher.  She recognized that tiny spark of creativity and did everything she could to fan it into a flame. 

One night we had to write an essay on the subject of family life.  I did mine in the form of a short story.  Two days letter, to my utter amazement, Sister Raymunda stood in front of the class and spoke about the weariness teachers’ often endure having to read thousands of student papers during their careers.  Yet every now and then one would cross her desk and make everything worth while.  She then proceeded to read my story aloud, word for word.  It was the first time I realized that I could actually entertain people with my writing.  It was a moment I never forgot.

She would continue to mentor and guide me during the next three years.  Then came our senior year, 1964, and Sister Nora invited me to join the staff of our first ever school paper.  It would eventually be collected as our first yearbook.  I wrote several feature articles for that paper.  It was the first time I ever saw my by-line in print and Sister Nora became my very first editor.  There have been many others since, but none as important to me. 

My writing career now spans thirty five years with well over five hundred comic titles and a half dozen adventure novels published.  I’ve also done a little editing and had a three act play produced.   Today I continue to use my imagination in writing pulp and graphic novels.    My latest novel, WITCHFIRE, co-written with Ardath Mayhar, was recently released by Cornerstone Books.  In Jan. 08 they will release my fourth Captain Hazzard pulp adventure, CAVEMEN OF NEW YORK and a collection of horror tales featuring my newest character entitled, BROTHER BONES.

None of which would have been possible without Sisters Raymunda, Nora and all the other wonderful teachers of STA.   It seems wonderfully serendipitous to be writing for STA once again.  Thanks so much for the opportunity.   
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                                             ME…….SKIPPER….&….CORA

Finally, I cannot end this entry without yelling HALLUJAH; the Red Sox have won their first two games of the World Series against the Colorado Rockies.   Game 3 is tomorrow night at Coors Field in Denver Colorado.  This will be Denver’s first ever World Series.  Good for them.  Let it be known, the Rockies are my granddaughter Cora’s team.  So still a diehard Sox fan, I am still applauding the Rockies and their championship season.   Regardless of the final outcome, both these teams are winners in my book.

Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN.   Ron – Over & Out.