“The concept is so what pulp is all about,” claims Airship 27 Productions Managing Editor, Ron Fortier, “that when I first read the concept I was euphoric. We couldn’t publish it fast enough. Later Fred sent me his very first novel, a mystery entitled, ‘Dead Man’s Melody,’ and we happily put that out.” What Fortier didn’t realize at the time was both books were intended to be the first entries in an on-going series.
By the time Adams had submitted “Six-Gun Terrors,” a story about two Texas cowboys who encounter supernatural monsters, the writer’s master goal had become obvious. “He wanted to produce as many on-going series as he was capable of writing,” Fortier explains.
Following on the heels of those first three series debuts, Adams then offered up C.O. Jones, a World War II veteran who, during the war years, belonged to an elite squad that dealt primarily with magical threats to the Allies. After several C.O. Jones novels, came “The Eye of Quang Chi,” a mystery set in San Francisco during the turn of the century and starring the co-joined Chinese-American Smith Brothers.
Adams latest pulp series features Ike Mars, a 1950s private eye who was struck twice by lightning. The result of these near-death events left his face malleable enough that he can mold his features to look like other people for a short time. “Shades of the Avenger,” thought Fortier, when editing the first Ike Mars manuscript.
It became clear to Fortier and Airship 27 Art Director, Rob Davis, that Adams prodigious volume of great pulp stories should be showcased in a way as to draw attention to all these various series. The answer to that challenge was to produce a “sampler” collection and they put the idea to Adams. He was only too happy to participate and thus, the new “Fred Adams Jr. – Pulp Writer” features six brand new pulp thrillers culled from his current six on-going Airship 27 series.
“We had a blast putting this book together,” Fortier sums up. “Rob did all the interior illustrations and the cover. It is our hope the book will show fans of his work some of the other series they may have missed, as well as make him lots of new readers.”
The astounding epilogue, according to Fortier, is that Adams is currently creating a seventh series. “Fred Adams Jr. is a pulp writing machine!” Read with stirring excitement by Paul Curtis.
Hitwolf - Extraction
A C.I.A. agent is being held prisoner on the small island of San Colombo, and Slate’s werewolf team is sent in to rescue him.
Six-Gun Terrors - Spines
Escaping bank robbers flee into the badlands only to discover a deadly horror awaits.
C.O. Jones - Shiners
A bloody feud between two Moonshining clans threatens to erupt unless Jones can find a pair of vengeance seeking killers.
Ike Mars - Sole Heir
When a man inherits his uncle’s fortune, his cousins would prefer he die before collecting a penny.
The Smith Bros - Bronze Dogs
A bronze statue weighing a ton disappears in the hold of steamer while at sea. A puzzle the Smith Brothers can’t ignore.
Sam Dunne - Rescue Mission
Sam helps an old friend rescue his former lover from the clutches of the mob.
