Archive for December, 2011

It is with heavy heart that we bid adieu to James "Rusty" Hevelin. This pillar of the pulp community passed away on Tuesday, December 27th. Active in science fiction fandom since the 1930s, Rusty was for many years the guiding light behind Pulpcon, the convention that helped to keep the memory of the pulps alive through the closing decades of the twentieth century and on into the 21st.This task has since been entrusted to PulpFest.

A veteran of the Second World War, when he served as a Marine in the South Pacific, Rusty was a member of science fiction’s First Fandom and well known as a huckster, collector, and toastmaster. In 1986, he received the Lamont Award for his longtime service to the pulp community as well as science fiction’s Big Heart Award. He was presented with the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award for excellence in science fiction collecting in 2003.

PulpFest was extremely fortunate to have Rusty attend the 2011 convention when he helped the pulp community celebrate its fortieth annual summer pulp con. At next year’s convention, we will be honoring him with a special tribute during our evening programming.

Here’s wishing everyone the happiest of holiday seasons. Hopefully, this "Santa of the Gas Bags" has a copy of your favorite pulp magazine in one of his sacks to help tide you over ’til April 29th when the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes.

After you’ve finished celebrating the winter holidays, please stop back at the PulpFest website for some exciting news about next Summer’s Great Pulp Convention. Better still, sign up for our email updates by filling in the little gray box titled "E-Mail List" right here on our home page.

Many thanks to Jerry Page for sending us this great holiday cover from the December 7, 1928 issue of Street & Smith’s The Popular Magazine .