Greetings Loyal Airmen, well 2012 is off to a good start.  The Air Chief has been really productive this past week getting a lot of writing under way.  We mentioned last week be assigned to write two new Spider pulp stories for Moonstone Books.  Well “Spider Trap” is now under way and we are having a blast with it.  At the same time one of our artist pals, Brian Level, took it upon himself to do an amazing collage starring the new Space Captain Jain Marlee that we created for our short story, “The Smuggler's Lament” and Brian help bring to life graphically. He obviously has fun drawing her and did this piece as a complete surprise for the Air Chief.

The fun of this piece is that Brian dreamed up these different little scenarios that would all make great Captain Jain stories and believe me, the Air Chief has been properly inspired here.  Thanks, Brian. Note another pal who saw this and a few other illustrations of the character compared her to a female Han Solo and we'd have to agree that's exactly the kind of rogue-personality she has. Stay tuned, we will of course let you know when her first story does see comic print.

Our first I.V. Frost 12 pg story, “The Beastmaster” has been drawn completely with gorgeous pencils by Jake Minor and beautiful inks by Jeff Austin.  Brant Fowler will be adding letters in the next few weeks and then off it goes to Moonstone Comics.  Speaking of Brant, our co-host on the ZONE 4 TMV Cafe internet radio and yours truly are both having a grand time doing this show, along with the Professor, Gordon Dymowski and the show now airs on the internet at 9 PM EST on Tuesday nights.  We really hope you'll tune us in.

Earlier today, over on Facebook, the Air Chief posted a list of the first four Airship 27 Productions pulp title.  The plan is to release a book a month.  January will debut Gary Lovisi's novel, “Sherlock Holmes – The Baron's Revenge.”  In Feb. we'll release “Deathwalker” a novel by R.A. Jones.  Imagine Conan as an early Native American Cheyenne and you'll get the idea of this great fantasy adventure.  In March we bring out “The Ruby Files,” an anthology featuring a 1930s private eye that you won't want to miss.  The book features a gorgeous cover by Mark Wheatley.  And then in April look for, “The Moon Man” another anthology featuring the bizarre pulp Robin Hood like hero from the 1930s in four brand new adventures.  We at Airship 27 are very excited about this line up and can't wait to bring them to you, plus all the other books coming down the hangar assembly line.

To that end, we've today registered for our table at this year's Windy City Paper & Pulp Show which opens April 27th.  Now there's a lucky number.  And again this year, Rob Davis and the Air Chief will be presenting the Pulp Factory Awards for 2011 at the con, awarded excellence in four categories; Best Pulp Novel, Best Pulp Short Story, Best Pulp Cover and Best Pulp Interior Artwork.  Nominations have now begun and once a ballot is completed, members of the Pulp Factory will have from the start of Feb. to the end of March to vote. We wish all our colleagues, both artists and writers the best of luck.

                   
                                  ACTOR  ERROL FLYNN
And finally, we finished off our last Flight Log for 2011 by listing our favorite book of that year. We thought you might enjoy knowing what we've chosen to read as our first book of the new year.  It is ERROL FLYNN, a marvelous biography of the late screen star by Thomas McNulty.  Flynn was the epitome of the dashing, adventure swashbuckler and one of the Air Chief's all time favorites while growing up. We don't believe the screen has ever seen his equal since.  This biography is superbly researched and written and we are enjoying it a great deal.  You can expect a full review when we are done.

And that's it for week one of 2012, Loyal Airmen.  Take care and as ever thanks for stopping by, see you in seven.

Ron – Over & Out!