Greeting Loyal Airmen, this week we're talk about two special awards that were announced this past week. Both are focused on pulp creators working in the field today and they their very existences bodes well for the entire field.

        
                                        THE PULP FACTORY AWARDS

Aside from the writing and editing we do, the Air Chief is also the moderator of a terrific Yahoos Group called the Pulp Factory, made up of over seventy pulp artists, writers and fans.  Last year, the Pulp Factory inaugurated the Pulp Factory Awards given out to the best works of pulp fiction and artwork produced the previous year.  Rob Davis commissioned his sculpture friend, Phil Dutcher to created the beautiful trophies you pictured above and at last year's Windy City Paper & Pulp Show, Rob and the Air Chief presented them to the winners; the four categories being Best Pulp Novel, Best Pulp Short Story, Best Pulp Cover and Best Pulp Interior Illustrations.  This past Tuesday morning we announced the official nominees for this year's awards and the members of the Pulp Factory have until the end of March to vote on their favorites.  Once again winners will be announced at the Windy City show in April and the awards presented the Friday night of the con.  Recognizing superior talent is a fun event and one we truly look forward to.

Now in May, the month after Windy City, the newest pulp convention, Pulp Ark, will debut in Batesville, Arkansas.  Pulp Ark is the brain child of our good friend and fellow writer/editor, Tommy Hancock.  Tommy has truly gone out of his way to make the first ever Pulp Ark something truly memorable to entertain all the creators and fans who will be attending.  Including taking a page from the Pulp Factory and devising their own awards, the Pulp Ark Awards.  There are ten categories for these and they were announced, along with the nominees on Thursday of this week.  See what I mean about it being a stellar week for pulp fandom.

Much to the Air Chief's surprise, we found ourselves nominated in three categories, Best Author, Best Revival Character for our series of Captain Hazzard novels and Best Pulp Comic for our graphic novel, The Boston Bombers.

This last nomination was the one that truly excited us the most.  You see, after thirty years of writing comics, there is a handful that the Air Chief remembers fondly and is the most proud of.  The Boston Bombers is at the top of that small list.  It is was a joy to write, most likely because it allowed us to combine our two favorite genres, comics and pulps, into one long adventure tale.  Since receiving that nomination, the book has once again been put in the public eye and we've had several inquiries on how folks can pick up a copy.  Easy enough, just go to our Link page and click on to the Redbud Studio link there. Scroll down the book covers till you come to the one pictured about and click on it directly.  For those of you wanting a direct route, simply go to (www.IndyPlanet.com), that's where it is on sale.  We hope you give it a shot.  We've even had several enthusiastic fans who have already read the book tells us it would make a fantastic film.  We couldn't agree more.  Always nice to have dreams.

And finally, speaking of movies, the one the Air Chief is most excited about coming out this summer is the Captain America movie based on the Marvel comic book hero created by the late Jack Kirby.  We learned today that the first official trailer for that movie will be shown during the Super Bowl this coming Sunday.  So even if you aren't a major football fan, like yours truly, you may want to sit it out to catch this particular first look at what promises to be a great action movie.

That's it for another week, Loyal Airmen.  Thanks always for stopping by. Every now and then one of you will drop us a line, as happened a few days ago.  Please, don't ever hesitate to do so.  We love hearing from you. Oh, and that reminds us, one of our most Loyal Airman, John Bodnar is having knee surgery soon and we want to wish him all the best.  You are in our prayers John for a quick and speedy recovery.

Till next week, Ron – Over & Out.