JULY 1991 - J.D. and Tony return home from a triumphant Origins having hosted several successful and enjoyable Air Sup. and Air Strike tourneys. Issues 13 and 14 are mailed and a definite timetable for catching up on the journal is established. There is much rejoicing.
AUGUST 1991 - J.D. receives a polite call from Frank Chadwick of GDW telling him the Air Sup. line of games will be dropped. Gunslingers is dead! And the other titles will become extinct once the warehouse empties out. Its the big pink slip. There is wailing and gnashing of teeth.
SEPTEMBER 1991 - J.D. moves into permanent housing in Ann Arbor. Life stabilizes momentarily allowing him to catch up on Air Power material, and the articles and data cards for issues 15 and 16 are completed and submitted to Tony for editing. A flood of checks asking for more subscriptions arrives and Clash Of Arms games approaches J.D. about doing Gunslingers and picking up the Air Sup. line of games. A deal is struck! Air Sup. lives, things begin to look good. There is much rejoicing.
OCTOBER 1991- Tony completes the layouts for 15 and 16 but then informs J.D. that he can no longer edit Air Power due to excessive job and real world commitments. J.D. asks Tony to hang on until 17 and 18 are done. Tony agrees, intending to initiate a smooth transition of power. Issues 15 and 16 go to the printers. J.D. goes to Japan with the Air Guard for two weeks. Upon his return he begins a full time effort on reworking Gunslingers into The Speed of Heat for Clash of Arms. Issues 15 and 16 are misplaced by the printers and the job is lost resulting in a three week delay. There is some weeping and gnashing of teeth and the warm fuzzies are missing.
NOVEMBER 1991 - Tony recovers the lost material, finds a new printer who also does the mailing, and resubmits 15 and 16 around the end of the month. J.D. divides time between The Speed Of Heat! and laying out issues 17 and 18 which he does 90 percent of under Tony's helpful tutelege. 17 and 18 are then forwarded to Tony for completion. It looks like it may still be possible to catch up by the end of the year. A lone warm fuzzy is seen skulking around in Tony's office, everyone relaxes.
DECEMBER 1991 - The printer is overwhelmed with holiday stuff and shunts the Air Power job to the back burner until after Christmas ... and doesn't tell us. Tony gets tasked to do several important contract proposals at his workplace on sudden notice and must hold off completing 17 and 18 until January as well. Bloodstains are found. That last warm fuzzy is missing. There is much consternation ... some weeping.
JANUARY 1992- A major push results in Tony finding time to finish laying out 17 and 18 but silhouettes for the issue 18 data cards take three weeks to get done. A call to the printers reveals the delay in 15 and 16 but the job, including mailing, is promised by week one of January. NOT! Subscriber mail shifts from supportive to inquisitive. The mutilated body of the warm fuzzy is discovered in Tony's closet. Columbo is on the case. There is much weeping, wailing, and some teeth gnashing.
FEBRUARY 1992 - Tony forwards 17 and 18 and most of the records for Air Power to J.D. The transfer of power is initiated though there is still much to be done. J.D. begins work on issue 19 and starts to assemble his team of helpers. The Speed of Heat is completed and submitted to Clash Of Arms for production. A call by Tony at mid-month reveals that issues 15 and 16 were indeed printed but were not mailed. The mailing house required prepayment. We had not prepaid as we were expecting a bill from the printer. The confusion is cleared up, we pay, the printer mails. Hitler orders the 6th army to stand fast at Stalingrad. Napoleon goes to Waterloo. A suspect in the warm fuzzy murder is identified.
MARCH 1992 - Subscriber mail turns hostile. Tony forwards all mail and records for Air Power, the transfer is completed. At mid-March concern develops that no subscribers are receiving issues 15 and 16. A check with the printers indicates the issues were mailed. Another missing warm fuzzy is discovered murdered, and then a third. It looks like the work of a possible serial killer (Tony?). Then the clincher! Tony is not it but fingers the Post Office. Columbo investigates! AHAA! A whole pile of dead warm fuzzies are found. The Postal Inspector, leader if the dreaded postal defenses, long time arch enemy of Air Power has confiscated the entire shipment of issues 15 and 16 for violations of a little-known second class mailing code which states that all mailed items in a single shipping must be identical. It seems we had given some subscribers both issues 15 and 16 and some only issue 15 (naturally, considering that those envelopes were for subscribers whose subscription ended on 15).
The P.O. wouldn't back down. Tony descends on the printer for explanations. Both the printer and we should have known better, it turns out. All the same, its a fiasco! Big time screw up and all parties share the blame. The printer agrees to refund half the money. The issues are lost. Fortunately, Tony still had them on disk and forwards same to J.D. The new Air Power, under J.D., is forced to regroup. There is wailing and gnashing of teeth, but for some reason, the stock market is up 24 points.
APRIL 1992 - The time of this writing. It's a new dawn. Issues 15,16,17 and 18, under new management, have gone to the new printers. Time will tell if the new team can handle it. The subscribers are hopeful! There is some rejoicing again.
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© Copyright 1992 by J.D. Webster
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