I was trying to come up with a theme for today’s posting. April,2,2005. A few things came to mind. Small, but relevant things. My pulp novel, BROTHER GRIM, went on sale at Amazon.com this past week. Hopefully lots more readers of the fantastic are going to find it now.

With any luck and no snafus, Ralph D is going to post the second installment of my review column,
PULP FICTION. Hit the link above and see me rant on paperback noir thrillers.

Wrote a new 5 page sci-fi horror comic strip called ROBOT LOVE, this past week for my good friend, Stacie Ponder. It will appear in an new EC like anthology she is editing. The art is by some new Phillipino who has tons of talent. I’ll keep you posted. The first of my Father Michael Ryan stories for Blinding Force Pulps is completed and now being edited. A few more weeks and this should be available for your perusal.

Again, items of interest, but nothing you would label as monumental stuff. Until this afernoon, when two things of interest to me seemed to collide in my thoughts. One has made me deliriously happy the past few weeks while the other just happened and has left me reflective and sad.

I am the biggest KING KONG fan in the entire world. Have been since my dad took me to the theater at the age of nine (a 1955 re-release)to see this 1933 classic fantasy adventure. What can I say? The big gorilla imprinted himself on my imagination and I’ve been a devoted fan ever since. Naturally I was thrilled when Peter Jackson took on the new remake which he’s now whipping up in New Zealand. I’ve been following his video diaries weekly on the net and feeling like a little kid again. Last week they were shooting the sequence when the Navy Hellcat planes attack Kong atop the Empire State Building. Of course there’s no gorilla yet. He’ll be added later by the magic of CGI. The film’s release is scheduled for this coming December. I predict it’s going to be an amazing blockbuster.

Then, in the midst of this fun stuff, I
was informed that our beloved Pope John Paul II
had finally passed away this afternoon. It was
sombering news, not unexpected, as we’d all been
serving one kind of vigil or another sense his
health began to deteriorate yesterday. Still,it comes as a blow. I’m a Catholic. This man was more than just a pope, he was an exceptional
human being who lived his mission in life, bringing the message of God’s love to the world.
A world very much secular and in need of that
message. Now he’s gone to his glorious reward,
leaving this world so much better for his having
been in it. I’m praying now, when I think about
him, and will do lots more of that in the next
few days. Movies are cool, even our favorite ones. But the passage of a great man, is what
resonates in my heart.

The roller coaster of my life was at full speed today, both in its highs and lows.

God bless you all, over out, Ron.