by Kevin Olson
In the meantime Adam had gotten the Green Lama bug in a bad way and offered to write a full length Green Lama novel for us. There was no way we were ever going to pass on that and thus was born our second GL title, THE GREEN LAMA UNBOUND. That book went on to win awards for both Adam and book illustrator Mike Fyles. That it helped cement Adam’s rising star in the New Pulp world goes without saying.
But like all good creators, Adam wanted to do more. Lots more with this character. Lots more with this character than what he thought a small outfit like Airship 27 could offer, and so he began talking with a larger publisher about realizing his future Green Lama plans with them. They were receptive and that necessitated our parting ways not only with Adam, but his tales as well. Here at Airship 27 Productions, we allow our writers to maintain all rights to their work. So we had no qualms about Adam taking his novella and novel to another publisher; in fact we wished him then, and continue to do so now, all the luck in the world. As I pen these words, his first project for this other outfit has been released and we hope it does great for them.
Still, Adam’s pulling his stories had a negative effect in that it also took both Peter and Kevin’s great stories out of circulation. Something we felt was wrong and we set about finding a way to course-correct getting those stories back into print where they belong. In the end the solution was really simple: do another anthology. Only this time find two other writers to submit shorts and create a brand new Green Lama title offering up four stories, rather than three; the two reprints and two never before seen tales. I set out to recruit those new writers.
And I couldn’t have been happier when both Nick Ahlhelm and Robert Craig signed on to be a part of this project. Of course, if the book was going to be a new edition, then we wanted to dress it up in a brand new art package as well. To that end we recruited the super talented Neil Foster to provide us with 12 fantastic new interior illustrations, all of which are stunning. Neil is one of our favorite artists here at Airship 27. To do the cover, I went to a young Pilipino artist named Isaac L. Nacilla whose work I’d seen on-line. He blew me away with his dynamic energy and once he turned in the cover, it inspired our new title: GREEN LAMA—MYSTIC WARRIOR, Vol 1.
So there you have it. How we were able to combine something old and something new and hopefully offer you a title filled with great stories and marvelous artwork in the grand pulp tradition you’ve come to expect from Airship 27 Productions. Of course if this volume does well, you can fully expect to see more of our Mystic Warrior in the future.
As ever thanks for your support, we couldn’t do this without you.
Ron Fortier
3/25/2014
Fort Collins, CO.
(www.Airship27.com)
([email protected])