Greetings Loyal Airmen, as you'll recall, last week we announced the release of our then newest pulp title, JAGGER -TIME SERVED by first time novelist, Jared L.Cantin.  We also ended that section of the flight log with saying there was a rather unique story behind that book and how we came to publish it.  And we promised to relate it, so here goes.  My father was one of six boys, his youngest brother was Paul.  When Paul was about 9 yrs old, World War II broke out and he saw four of his older brothers go off to fight, while the fifth, already married with a family, worked at the local Navy shipyard as a welder.  So there was Paul, for almost four years, the anchor that kept my grandparents going while the war raged.  With God's blessings, my father, and his brothers all came home.  They all married and soon started their own families.  Ye Old Chief was born in 1946, one of those post-war babies.  My Uncle Paul would have been 12 or 13 at this time.  This is a good place to tell you that Paul was a gifted artist and as a child, he spent many hours sketching away with pencil and pad.  My Grandfather Fortier was so proud of his pictures, he tacked them to the basement walls where he kept his workshop.  After I was born, my parents moved into the other half of the duplex where my grandparents, and Uncle Paul, resided.  By the time I was six, Paul was off into the navy himself.   After he was gone, I totally remember going down to my grandfather's workshop evenings after dinner to simply watch him do his wood working and that was when I discovered the beautiful pictures on his wall.  It was my first introduction to real art.  When he finished his service obligations, Paul married Madelaine, my lovely Aunt Maddy.  They had four kids, three daughters and a son.  One of those daughters, Melanie, grew up and married a Roger Cantin.  They had several children including a son, Jared.

Last Fall, Valerie and I decided to take a ride to Melanie's home, as she and Roger maintain an apple orchard and we wanted to buy some fresh apples.  Much to my delight, who do we find sitting in the open garage bay but Uncle Paul, who became all excited when he recognized me getting out of the car.  Over the years, Uncle Paul had become aware of my writing career and now wanted to show me a manuscript his grandson had just finished.  He sent my cousin, Melanie, hurrying back into the house to fetch that manuscript. By the time she had returned with it, up from the orchard came Roger and this young man, introduced to me as his son, Jared Cantin, the author of the manuscript now in my hands.  I took it home, read it and realized it was something special and decided Airship 27 Prod. would produce it for publication.  Jared couldn't have been happier.  Then as Christmas rolled along, I learned from him that Uncle Paul had been diagnosed with prostrate cancer and was having a tough go of it.  He is in treatment and it is helping him, but the process is draining and leaves him weak and tired.  Learning of his condition, I contacted everyone on the team; my partner/artist, Rob Davis, our proof reader, John Bruening, cover colorist Shane Evans and of course, our publisher, Michael Poll of Cornerstone Book Publishers.  I explained the situation and asked all of them to go the extra mile in helping get this one book done quick, so that Jared and I could have the satisfaction of presenting the first copy to his grandfather, my Uncle Paul.

    THE AIR CHIEF  – HIS UNCLE PAUL FORTIER  &  HIS GRANDSON JARED L.CANTIN

Last Saturday morning the mail delivered that first copy and I immediately called Jared.  He and his wife, and mother Melanie, joined Val and Ye Old Air Chief for a quick ride to Uncle Paul's home where we presented him with the very first copy of  JAGGER – TIME SERVED.   It was one of the happiest moment's of my life and as you can see by the photo above, Jared and his grandfather were also very, very pleased.    When I first started Airship 27 Prod., I never guessed it would one day allow me to do something nice for a man I've known and loved all my life.  I told you it was a good story.  And Ye Old Air Chief would like to now publicly thank the best book production team in the world, Rob, John, Shane and Mike.  Thank you all for making this happen.  Our family owes you guys big time.

And lest you think we at Airship 27 Prod. are about to rest on our laurels, forget it.  Hot on the heels of that last release comes our newest classic pulp anthology starring one of the greatest old time heroes, JIM ANTHONY – SUPER DETECTIVE.  As the pulpsters use to proclaim, “He's half-Irish, half-Comanche and All American!”  Originally created as a second-string Doc Savage, Jim Anthony had a short lived crime fighting career in his own magazine.  We at Airship 27 Prod. are truly excited about bringing him back in three brand new adventures for today's action hungry audience.  Writers Andrew Salmon, Erwin K.Roberts and B.C.Bell have whipped up three fast paced, thrill-a-minute tales that will have you turning pages faster than you can say…Jim Anthony!!  The book features eleven interior illustrations by Pedro Cruz and a gorgeous cover painting (see above) by the super talented Chad Hardin.  To pick up a copy of this new release, simply click on our dirigible logo to the the left of this log-entry.  Trust me, Loyal Airmen, this is one book you will love cover to cover.

And that's it for another week.  Valerie is in Colorado for the next few weeks visiting our son Alan and his family.  She and I will meet up in Chicago in two more weeks, as I'll be there to attend this year's Windy City Pulp & Paper show, and then fly home together.  On other fronts, our Red Sox got off to an horrendous start this past week on their road trip west and are now back at Fenway to start a home stand.  Here's hoping things change quickly from the lost column to the win side.

Have a great week, Ron, over and out!