This summer’s PulpFest will begin almost 75 years to the day after the September 1937 Astounding Stories hit newsstands across the nation. That issue was the first to benefit from the input of John W. Campbell, a pioneering science-fiction writer hired to assist F. Orlin Tremaine, who had been at the magazine’s helm since Street & Smith purchased it from publisher William Clayton in 1933. With Tremaine’s guidance, Astounding had become the preeminent SF pulp, but its best days were yet to come. Just a few months after joining the magazine’s staff, Campbell assumed full editorial control of the monthly and promptly instituted policies that ushered in what later became known as the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

Within a few short years, John Campbell had assembled a stable of writers that included talented newcomers and reliable mainstays alike. His roster of contributors was unparalleled by any other magazine in the field, and the first six years of his tenure as editor saw the publication of such classic science-fiction stories as "Slan," "Who Goes There?", "Final Blackout," "Sixth Column," "Methuselah’s Children," "Beyond This Horizon," "Gather, Darkness!", three of E. E. Smith’s "Lensman" novels and the early installments of Isaac Asimov’s "Foundation" series.

PulpFest 2012 will honor this remarkably fecund period in Astounding’s long history with a unique presentation. Rather than entrust it to a single speaker or a panel of enthusiasts, our salute to Campbell and the magazine’s Golden Age will be conducted by Garyn G. Roberts, PhD., and Blood ‘n’ Thunder editor Ed Hulse. Both are well qualified to discuss Campbell’s influence and Astounding’s peak years: Roberts is a popular culture professor and the editor of The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2000), while Hulse has written extensively about Astounding’s Golden Age, most recently in The Blood ‘n’ Thunder Guide to Collecting Pulps (2007).

Roberts and Hulse will take a Siskel-and-Ebert approach to their conversation, citing their favorite Astounding authors and stories while debating the merits of individual yarns that appeared in the magazine during the years under review. Their discussion will be accompanied by a slideshow of Astounding covers from September 1937 to November 1943. We’re not aware of any pulp-convention presentation that has employed this format, and we think it’ll be something special.

One week later, the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention will take place in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, IL. Celebrating Edgar Rice Burroughs and the 100th anniversary of Tarzan of the Apes, the convention will run from April 27th through the 29th and be held at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center. The convention will host an extensive film program, including an exclusive showing of the recent Disney film, John Carter, at a nearby theater. Another highlight of the con will be the pulp-related art show, sponsored by Dan Zimmer’s Illustration Magazine. Along with PulpFest, the Windy is a must for the pulp fan. Click on the logo above for additional information about this superb pulp convention.  

North of the border and one week after Windy City, Toronto will host the 16th annual Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale. A one-day event, this small but pulp specific show will take place on Saturday, May 5th at the Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can learn more by writing to Girasol Collectables, 3501 Glen Erin Drive, Suite 1409, Mississauga, ON, Canada L5L 2E9 or by emailing info@girasolcollectables.com.

Cinevent 44 will take place May 25th - 28th at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, the former home of PulpFest. In addition to 170 tables of movie-related collectibles such as posters, lobby cards, stills, pressbooks, DVDs, and 16 mm films, Cinevent features an extensive schedule of classic sound and silent films and one of the country’s largest live auctions of vintage posters. Click on the logo below for a link to the convention’s website.

Sponsored by the Robert E. Howard Foundation with help from the members of REHupa, the Robert E. Howard United Press Association, and Project Pride, the annual Robert E. Howard Days will be held June 8th-9th in Cross Plains, TX. The ultimate gathering for fans of Howard, it will feature tours, panels, auctions, films, speeches, readings, rare collectibles, and great Howardian fellowship. Like PulpFest 2012, this year’s Howard Days will celebrate Conan’s eightieth birthday. Essayist Charles Hoffmann will be the guest of honor. Write to Bill Cavalier at 2cavaliers@sbcglobal.net with your questions or comments.

One of the first pulp and paperback shows ever established, the 41st Classicon will take place on Saturday, June 9th in Lansing, MI. It will feature 35 tables and thousands of collectible pulp magazines, digests, and paperbacks available for sale or trade as well as pin-ups, original artwork, and other pop culture material.

As always, these events are just a prelude to PulpFest 2012, the summertime destination for fans and collectors of vintage popular fiction and related materials. Why not register today?

If you’d like to place an advertisement in this year’s Pulpster, there’s still time to do so. However, the May 31st deadline for reserving advertising space is fast approaching. Our rates are very reasonable: color back cover–$160; inside color covers–$125; inside black and white covers or full page–$65; half-page–$40; quarter page–$25. Print specifications, payment information, and more can be found on the Program Book page of our website. To inquire about space availability, please write to Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com. The Pulpster has a circulation of 450-500 copies. All advertising is sold on a first come, first served basis, with payment expected immediately after reserving a space.

Another way to advertise at PulpFest is to donate material for our giveaway table. Over the years, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Book Source Magazine, Girasol Collectables, Engle Publishing, and other organizations have donated a variety of publications that were given away free to PulpFest attendees. Your donation will be acknowledged on our website and at the convention. If you’d like to offer something for our giveaway table, please contact Barry Traylor at barry@pulpfest.com.

First advertised in the January 1912 issue of The All-Story as "a surprisingly vivid Interplanetary romance," the original pulp version of Burroughs novel began with an editor’s note:

At the time of his demise, John Carter was a man of uncertain age and vast experience, honorable and abounding with true fellowship. He stood a good two inches over six feet, was broad of shoulder and narrow of hip, with the carriage of the trained fighting man. His features were regular and clear-cut, his eyes steel gray, reflecting a strong and loyal character. He was a Southerner of the highest type. He had enlisted at the outbreak of the War, fought through the four years and had been honorably discharged. Then for more than a decade he was gone from the sight of his fellows. When he returned he had changed, there was a kind of wistful longing and hopeless misery in his eyes, and he would sit for hours at night, staring up into the starlit heavens.

Thus was the reader of a century ago drawn into the mystery of Captain Jack. In the pages that followed that brief editor’s note and for the five issues thereafter, the readers of The All-Story were told a most wondrous tale, of four-armed Tharks and red-skinned Heliumites, of fantastic airships and many-legged thoats, of  vast dead seas and long-abandoned cities, and of a lost princess and the man from another world who won her heart, all created by a gifted storyteller named Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Now, one-hundred years later, a new audience will be introduced to Captain Jack. In less than a week’s time, Disney’s John Carter will debut in theaters everywhere and another generation will thrill to Burroughs’ imaginings. PulpFest 2012 will be honoring the wonderful creations of Edgar Rice Burroughs beginning on August 9th at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Register now for the summer’s great pulp con!

The cover art above is by Clinton Pettee for the April 1912 issue of The All-Story. The scan is from Galactic Central.

On our Programming page you’ll find our tentative schedule for the 2012 convention when we’ll be celebrating the centennial of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars and the 80th anniversary of Robert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria. You can read more about MIke Resnick, our award-winning guest of honor by turning to the GOH–Mike Resnick page. If you’d like to relive the first three PulpFests, you’ll find reviews, our blogs from previous years, and more. We even have a primer on pulp history!

All this can be found by clicking the buttons along the left side of our home page. And don’t forget, now’s the time to make your nominations for the 2012 Rusty Hevelin Service Award. Please send the name of the person that you’d like to nominate and a short paragraph describing your reasons for your nomination to Mike Chomko, 2217 W. Fairview St., Allentown, PA  18104-6542 or to mike@pulpfest.com. The deadline for nominations is April 30, 2012.

We look forward to seeing you over the weekend of August 9-12.

Adventure House/John Gunnison

John Gunnison will be offering his usual extensive stock of pulp magazines as well as the many pulp reprints and reference works he has published under the Adventure House banner. For more info, please visit John’s website at http://adventurehouse.com/.

Age of Aces/Bill Mann & the Kalb Brothers

Publishers of the best-selling The Spider vs. the Empire State, Bill Mann and Chris and David Kalb will have their line of aviation pulp reprints at PulpFest. From Captain Babyface to The Three Mosquitoes, look to Age of Aces for the best in air war fiction. For more information, please visit Ages of Aces online.

Airship 27/Ron Fortier & Rob Davis

Headed by Ron Fortier and Rob Davis, Airship 27 is a leading producer of new pulp fiction. Starring the classic heroes of yesteryear–from the Green Lama and Sherlock Holmes to Robin Hood and the Masked Rider–you’ll find plenty of thrills by visiting the Hangar 27 website.

Art Hackathorn

A specialist in detective and Western pulps, Art will also have some collectible hardcovers and paperbacks as well as movie and Western magazines. He’ll also be carrying some digests from the mystery and Western genres.

Barry Traylor

Although he won’t have a table at the convention, Barry is the "go-to" guy when it comes to the PulpFest auctions. If you have any questions concerning our auctions, please write to barry@pulpfest.com or visit the "Auctions" page under "Programming."

Battered Silicon/George Vanderburgh

George has published nearly 500 books, including a wide variety of detective fiction as well as his highly regarded Lost Treasures of the Pulps series. Along with Robert Weinberg, he’s the new editor of Arkham House Publications. His website is at www.batteredbox.com/.

BEB Books/Brian Earl Brown

The editor of the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society hails from Detroit. He’ll be selling his bargain-priced pulp reprints including twenty issues of Secret Agent X and works by Ray Cummings, Francis Stevens, and others. For more information on Brian’s fine line of reprints, please visit BEB Books.

Black Dog Books/Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts and his aide-de-camp, Gene Christie, will be peddling a wide variety of pulp reprints produced under the Black Dog Books banner. From hero pulps to weird menace to thrilling adventure yarns, Black Dog publishes them all. You’ll find more information at Black Dog Books.

Curious Bookshop/Ray Walsh

As usual, Ray will be offering a broad array of paper collectibles–pulps, paperbacks, original artwork, collectible hardcovers, vintage comic books, and more. He’ll be bringing it all from East Lansing, Michigan, home to the Curious Book Shop and Classicon.

Dark Star Books/Gary Diedriech

Located about an hour from Columbus in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Dark Star will be offering a wide range of pulps, particularly Argosy and science fiction. Illustrated hardcovers, collectible paperbacks and digests from a variety of genres will round out their offerings.

Dave Kurzman

Virginia’s Dave Kurzman is one of the country’s leading pulp dealers. He’s known for his large selection of Weird Tales, high-grade pulps, and rare, first-edition hardcovers from Arkham House, Fantasy Press, and other small presses. He trades on ebay as acidgothic.

David Saunders

The creator of the Munsey Award, David is an expert on pulp artists. He will be selling autographed copies of his numerous biographies of pulp artists, including his father, Norman Saunders. Brief biographies on all of his favorite pulp artists are available for free online at www.pulpartists.com.

Dearly Departed Books/Scott Edwards

Scott Edwards of Alliance, Ohio has been an antiquarian bookseller since 1978, specializing in science fiction, mystery, Western and adventure first editions, vintage paperbacks and pulps. He’ll have Argosy, Adventure, Western pulps and more at PulpFest. Visit the Dearly Departed website for more details.

Dennis Harford

A resident of Davenport, Iowa, Dennis has been selling at various pulp conventions for quite a few years. Pay a visit to his table during PulpFest 2010 and you’ll be surprised at what you find. Hopefully, it will be something you’ve been wanting for years.

Doug Ellis and Deb Fulton

Two of the founders of the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Doug and Deb will be offering a wide selection of general fiction, science-fiction and other pulps as well as original art and other collectibles. This year, Windy City will be celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Dwight Fuhro

The number-one buyer of top-notch Shadow pulps and collectibles in the world, Dwight will be selling or trading high-grade hero pulps at our convention. He’ll also be on the prowl for original Shadow cover paintings, a nice Shadow #1 and other rare Shadow collectibles. Please visit Dwight’s website for further information.

Girasol Collectables/Neil & Leigh Mechem

Girasol will be selling pulp magazines, their own line of quality pulp replicas, other pulp reprints, paperbacks, books about pulps and other related items. To browse their impressive assortment of offerings, please visit their well-designed website at Girasol Collectables.

Ed Hulse

In addition to his award-winning fanzine Blood ‘n’ Thunder, Ed will be displaying the indispensable Blood ‘n’ Thunder Guide to Collecting Pulps, The Best of Blood ‘n’ Thunder, and a selection of highly collectible pulps, paperbacks, hardcovers, and fanzines.

Haffner Press/Stephen Haffner

Stephen Haffner will be offering his handsomely illustrated hardbound volumes featuring the work of Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, and Jack Williamson. Visit haffnerpress.com to vote for the topic of Stephen’s annual PulpFest presentation.

Hooked on Books/Wayne and Deb Keil

Selling books since 1975, the Keils are familiar faces at book and paper conventions throughout the Midwest. Specializing in vintage mystery and science fiction, their inventory includes collectible paperbacks, digests, magazines, pulps, and some hardcovers. For further information, please visit Hooked on Books.

Jack Cullers

If you’re looking for pulps and out-of-print paperbacks, pulp reprints or hardbound fiction and non-fiction, find your way to Jack’s table. He always has a wide variety of such material. You just may come across something you’ve been questing after for years.

Jerry Schattenburg

This  knowledgeable and respected dealer and collector from the Kansas City area sells pulps from a wide range of genres. At PulpFest, he’ll also have offerings of science-fiction and fantasy first editions, original art, and more.

Jim and Walter Albert

These collector brothers from Arkansas and Pennsylvania will have pulps, paperbacks, hardcovers, and fanzines that will be pleasing to just about everyone who will be attending PulpFest 2010. 

John Hauser Pulps & Comics

From beautiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin, John will be bringing an assortment of science fiction pulps and digests, collectible hardcovers and paperbacks, as well as vintage comic books and perhaps some artwork–a little bit of everything. He deals on ebay as jmhcomics.

John McMahan

John hails from Oklahoma where he has long been active as a fan and dealer. At PulpFest 2010, John will be selling pulps, books, comics, original art, movie posters, and more. He trades on ebay as mybckpages.

Jon Wehler

This personable dealer and collector offers pulps, original art, and other paper collectibles. He’ll also have lots of vintage paperbacks from many different genres. Based in Ohio, he exhibits at a variety of book and paper shows throughout the Midwest.

Josh Petrie

New Jersey’s Josh Petrie always puts together a terrific display. At this year’s PulpFest, he’ll be offering pulps from all genres as well as science fiction paperbacks, pulp and radio premiums, vintage comic books, and pulp and comic fanzines.

Keith Dilbone

If you’re looking for vintage paperbacks, be sure to stop by Keith’s tables. He’ll be selling Ace, Bantam, Dell, Gold Medal, Pyramid, Signet and many other publishers, both keys and commons. He’ll also be looking for foreign science fiction, fantasy and horror paperbacks to buy or trade.

Main Street Music/David L. Schmidt

From Waterloo, IL, David and his daughter Zoe will be bringing pulps and digests, collectible paperbacks, original artwork, Arkham House books, vintage comics, and ephemera. Visit Main Street Music for more details.

Mark Halegua

In addition to selling a selection of pulp magazines, Mark offers CDs featuring thousands of pulp cover images through Pulps 1st, Mark is also the organizer of the Gotham Pulp Collectors Club, a group of pulp fans that meets monthly in New York City.

Mark Hickman

This Ohio dealer will have pulps, including a variety of science fiction magazines and hero pulps, as well as comics and original artwork from pulps, comics, digests, and paperbacks–a little bit of everything. 

Martin Grams, Jr.

A widely published old time radio and television expert, Martin carries a wide selection of classic DVDs, along with books and magazines. He’ll also have copies of his newest book for sale–The Green Hornet–as well as his award-winning study of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone.

Midway Books/Tom Stransky & Bob Jackson

Tom and Bob will be bringing their pulps, vintage paperbacks, collectible science fiction and fantasy hardcovers, Golden Age comic books, and original illustration art from St. Paul, Minnesota. For a preview of their stock, please pay a visit to the Midway Books website.

Mike Chomko

Mike is known as the "one-stop seller for your pulp reprint and reference needs." At PulpFest 2010, he’ll have his usual wide selection of such material. Please visit the Mike Chomko, Books website to download a copy of his latest catalog of pulp-related books.

Modern Age Books/Jeff Canja

A longtime mail-order bookseller from East Lansing, Michigan and the author of Popular Fiction Periodicals and Collectable Paperback Books, Jeff will be selling vintage paperbacks, pulps, adventure magazines, and related items from his table at PulpFest.

Nick Certo

A dealer since 1987, Nick always manages to unearth lots of rare and desirable items. A resident of New York, he brings choice selections of pulps and related items to the conventions at which he exhibits. Please visit his AbeBooks.com website.

Off-Trail Publications/John Locke

California’s John Locke will be bringing his offbeat sense of humor to PulpFest along with a wide variety of excellent and often rare pulp reprints that generally include extensive original research into pulp history, all published under the Off-Trail Publications imprint.

Paul Herman

This Connecticut-based dealer and collector exhibits regularly at pulp and paperback conventions. He offers a wide variety of material including pulps, paperbacks, vintage digests, and magazines and is particularly strong in the mystery and detective fields, turning up many scarce items in these genres.

Peter Chapman

A Virginia collector, Peter plans to offer a wide array of vintage material including pulps, old magazines, Golden Age comics, original art, and movie-related material. He’ll also be offering some of his space memorabilia such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers collectibles.

Phil Nelson

This personable dealer from Waverly, Ohio will be armed with a wide variety of pulps, from Argosy and Detective Fiction Weekly to Doc Savage and Amazing Stories. He’ll also have paperbacks, comics and other items. He’s a fan of North-West Stories and Top-Notch.

R & B Enterprises/Brendan Faulkner

Located in Danbury, Connecticut, R & B Enterprises has been in the popular culture business for over twenty years. They’ll have a wide selection of pulps, vintage magazines, movie and television classics, paperbacks, digests, and movie-related material.

Randy Vanderbeek

A pulp collector for nearly 40 years, Randy is from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He’ll be bringing hundreds of pulp magazines from all genres for sale or trade. The more he sells, the more he’ll be able to buy from the many fine dealers who will be attending PulpFest 2010.

Reel Art/Cory Glaberson

Chicago’s Cory Glaberson of Reel Art, the Midwest’s premier pop culture dealer, will be offering pulps, movie memorabilia, autographs, DVDs of movie and television classics, and pulp art prints. Please visit the Reel Art website for more details. 

Richard Clear

Winner of the Lamont Award and the author of Old Magazines: Identification and Value Guide and other texts, Richard will be offering a wide variety of pulps, slick magazines, hardcovers, paperbacks, and original artwork. He has been a book dealer for nearly forty years.

Rick Hall

Scouring flea markets and antique shows up and down the East Coast, Rick rescues pulps for the collections of his fellows in the pulp community. From Ace Detective to Zoom and everything in between, you may find a great deal amongst Rick’s "found" pulps. This raconteur hails from Connecticut.

Sanctum Books/Anthony Tollin

Tony will be selling all of his fine pulp reprints–The Avenger, Doc Savage, The Shadow, and The Whisperer–four of the great pulp heroes. He’ll also have artwork by George and Jerome Rozen and Bob Powell for sale. Please visit the Sanctum Books website.

Scott Hartshorn

This outgoing, Florida-based collector and dealer has wide-ranging interests, demonstrated by the selection of material he offers for sale. Pulps, vintage paperbacks, collectible hardcovers, original artwork—Scott has something to suit every taste.

Steven Spilger

Steven will be selling pulps, science fiction and fantasy hardcovers, comics, and several original works by Norman Saunders at PulpFest 2010. A new dealer at our convention, Steven will be traveling from South Bend, Indiana. We’ll be looking forward to welcoming him to PulpFest. 

Thomas Martin

Coming from western Ohio, Tom will be selling detective, hero, and science fiction pulps; an extensive selection of crime digests such as Guilty and Trapped; and a wide assortment of collectible paperbacks, pulp reprints, and pulp- and film-related hardcovers and magazines.

Tim’s Books/Tim Paxson

Tim Paxton of Grand Rapids, Michigan specializes in paperbacks and small press, first edition hardcovers, dealing mainly in high-grade science fiction, fantasy and horror as well as mysteries and pulp-related material. Check out the Tim’s Books website at AbeBooks.com.

Tom Skemp

Specializing in horror and science fiction, this will be Tom’s first trip to PulpFest as a dealer. A resident of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Tom will be selling collectible hardcovers and several hundred paperbacks as well as some limited and British editions.

Walker Martin

A prominent collector whose activity dates back to the early days of pulp fandom, Walker has owned practically everything at least once. A resident of New Jersey, he’ll be selling pulps, original artwork, and one-of-a-kind canceled checks from the files of Munsey and Popular Publications to the writers of the pulp era.

Wild Cat Books/Ron Hanna

The publisher of cutting-edge fiction in the tradition of the bloody pulps, Ron offers everything from science fiction and fantasy to hero pulp and jungle adventure under the Wild Cat Books imprint. He’ll also have pulps, paperbacks, comics, monster magazines, and more.

Yammering Magpie/Peter & Pam Marchionna

Classic film dealers from the Chicago area offering some of the best and rarest movies from the silent era, pre-code, film noir, Westerns, and cult movies. Visit their tables at PulpFest for a taste of classic cinema.

The nominee ballot was forwarded to the past winners of the Munsey and Lamont Awards who then selected the person to be honored. The 2010 Munsey Award was presented during Saturday evening’s programming on July 31st.

Congratulations to all the nominees for the 2010 Munsey.

Anthony Tollin

It was Tony Tollin who had the fortitude to convince Conde Nast to license authorized reprints of Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Avenger, and The Whisperer. Tony’s regularly issued Sanctum Books are some of the most popular reprints in the field today. Practically every month, we can enjoy a double dose of some of the pulp era’s greatest heroes, coupled with informative articles about the authors, the sources for the stories and the pop culture that they inspired. These books continue to serve as a major gateway for new people to enter the pulp-collecting hobby. Additionally, Tony was the co-author with Walter Gibson of The Shadow Scrapbook and helped to put together and introduce numerous recorded collections of pulp-related radio programs during his association with Radio Spirits. He was also involved with several comic book interpretations of the great pulp heroes.

Chris Kalb

A graphic and web designer by trade, Chris’ Internet work and many publishing ventures have helped to attract people who are being exposed to pulps for the first time. There isn’t anyone out there making better use of all the new technology while still preserving the “oldness” of pulps and popular culture. He has become the person to go to for publishers who want a retro-design for their books or website. His work for Age of Aces Books, the newly redesigned Blood ‘n’ Thunder, his own The Spider Returns, The 86th Floor, and G-8 and His Battle Aces websites and, of course, the PulpFest website are all proof of his devotion to the pulps and his mastery of melding the past with the present.

Dan Zimmer

For nearly ten years, Dan has been working to promote greater awareness of pulp artists by producing and distributing Illustration Magazine. He has tirelessly contributed his time, expertise and his personal wealth to promote a more respectful awareness of the artistic accomplishments of pulp artists through the deluxe publication of the many biographical articles on pulp artists that have appeared in his magazine, distributed around the globe. He has done this despite the overwhelming fact that his creative vision is far beyond receiving any reasonable economic return for his efforts. Dan’s devotion to classic American illustrators is manifest in the elegant presentation of his magazine and has helped to turn the tide in our culture’s growing appreciation of pulp art. Additionally, he has supported the pulp community by drawing his readers’ attention to various pulp conventions, including the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Pulpcon, and PulpFest. Dan has also served as the sponsor of Windy City’s annual pulp art exhibit and created the limited edition print of David Saunder’s Munsey Award painting without cost to the PulpFest organizing committee.

Don Herron

For decades, Don has been a major force in research about the lives and works of Dashiell Hammett, Robert E. Howard, Charles Willeford, Philip K. Dick, Clark Ashton Smith, and other pulp writers, as well as promoting their works to wider audiences. In 1977, Don created the Dashiell Hammett Tour and has led it in San Francisco ever since. It is the longest-running literary tour in the world. His Hammett tour has been covered regularly by the media, and Don has appeared on radio and television in America, Great Britain, Japan, and Germany. Don has been a frequent contributor to The Cimmerian, one of the leading periodicals devoted to Robert E. Howard and his works, in addition to editing books about the author. Don has also been an important contributor to the Howard Days conferences in Texas and has earned several awards for his work on Howard. He has written or edited numerous pulp-related books including The Dark Barbarian: The Writings of Robert E. Howard (1984), the five-volume Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick (1991-1997), The Barbaric Triumph: A Critical Anthology on the Writings of Robert E. Howard (2004), The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook (2009), and others.

Garyn Roberts

Professor Roberts is the Chair of the Communications/English Discipline at Northwestern Michigan College. He is also an unabashed fan of the pulps. Garyn has written extensively about the pulps, both professionally and as a fan. He has edited or co-edited some of the best collections from the pulps including A Cent a Story: The Best from Ten Detective Aces, More Tales of the Defective Detective in the Pulps, The Compleat Adventures of the Moon Man, The Magical Mysteries of the Green Ghost and The Compleat Great Merlini. His insightful essays in these books and elsewhere have led to a greater understanding of the pulps both inside and outside of the pulp community. His collection, The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy, a college level textbook, is notable for the attention paid to the pulp magazines. Additionally, Garyn has helped other researchers with various pulp-related projects and is a regular attendee of pulp conventions.

Gene Christie

A researcher of fantasy, science fiction, mystery and adventure fiction for over twenty years, Gene has extensively studied and indexed the magazines of the pulp era, especially those published by the Frank A. Munsey Company. Never too busy or tired to help, Gene has volunteered his time, knowledge and editorial abilities, contributing to projects published by Adventure House, Off-Trail Publications, Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, and others. He annually volunteers at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, in addition to proofing their program book, and has been a long-time attendee at other pulp-related conventions. In conjunction with Black Dog Books, he has compiled and edited a number of rare and previously unreprinted works, including Cornell Woolrich’s The Good Die Young, George Allan England’s The Empire in the Air, Seabury Quinn’s Demons of the Night, Murray Leinster’s The Silver Menace, The Space Annihilator, and several forthcoming collections. He also serves as series editor for Black Dog Books’ multi-volume Talbot Mundy Library.

George Vanderburgh

Through his Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, George has published nearly 400 books, many of them directly related to the pulps. He was largely responsible for finally getting all of Fred Davis’ classic Moon Man stories back into print. And what about his Peter the Brazen series, his five volumes featuring the work of Seabury Quinn, The Compleat Adventures of the Park Avenue Hunt Club, his Green Ghost set, The Compleat Saga of John Solomon, and the just completed The Adventures of the Golden Amazon? He has also given us numerous collections of detective fiction, including volumes featuring the Thinking Machine, Dr. Thorndyke and Martin Hewitt. Looking at his website, his future plans include several books reprinting pulp authors who have been unjustly forgotten. Along with Robert Weinberg, George was recently named the co-editor of Arkham House Books. A regular attendee of pulp conventions, George has helped both longtime and new fans to collect the tales of some of the most fantastic heroes from the pulps.

Howard Wright

Howard has been publishing the Doc Savage fan magazine The Bronze Gazette for nearly twenty years. He created the Gazette when there was no real Internet and very little information readily available about Lester Dent’s “Man of Bronze.” His main reason for starting the publication was to gather information about Doc Savage, disseminate this news to the “Fans of Bronze,” and keep Doc fans going during the “lean” years when Doc was, for the most part, a mere memory. Through Howard’s efforts, interest in Doc was maintained and his return to the limelight assured.

John DeWalt

For years, John has selflessly aided researchers, sharing his collection and knowledge. He is a joy with whom to share his, and our, joy of pulps. He has quietly helped many people, sharing stories and his experience with no thought of anything in return. He is quiet about his generosity, never thinking to remark on it. His self-published Key to Other Doors: Some Lists from a Pulp Collector’s Notebook, is still an excellent source of information about pulp fanzines, pulp reprints, pulp conventions and the single-character pulps.

Laurie Powers

The granddaughter of pulp author Paul S. Powers, Laurie was introduced to the pulp community in 2007 through the publication of Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street, an autobiography and appreciation of her grandfather. Later that same year, she started Laurie’s Wild West, an Internet blog site that has become a favorite destination for those interested in the pulps. She has published articles on pulp memoirs, “Who Read the Pulps?,” collectors’ guides to the pulps, holiday pulp covers, and, most recently, a series of articles put together by various pulp fans entitled “My Favorite Pulps.” Although relatively new to the world of pulps, Laurie has shown tremendous support for the community by spreading the word about pulp fiction and publicizing the conventions that salute our wonderful hobby.

Mike Chomko (2010 winner)

Mike has been involved in the pulp hobby for over twenty years, writing his first article for Echoes in the late eighties. After Bob Sampson’s passing, Mike continued the indexing of both Echoes and The Pulp Collector. In 1995, he launched the pulp fanzine Purple Prose. Running for seventeen issues, Purple Prose published biographical sketches of early pulp readers such as Richard Minter, Nick Carr, and George Evans, a lengthy study of Fiction House’s Wings, a biography of pulp artist John Howitt, and much more. Perhaps the highlight of the run was the publication of “The Steeger Papers,” a draft pulp history penned by Popular Publications’ Harry Steeger and annotated by Mike. He has also volunteered at various pulp conventions over the years and is one of the leading distributors of pulp-related publications. With Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse, and Barry Traylor, Mike helped to organize the first PulpFest in 2009.

Mike Taylor

A Burroughs and science fiction fan and intermittent pulp collector since the 1950s, Mike has been puttering around with writing since the late seventies. He sold his first mystery short story in 1978 and wrote various pieces in that genre, including ghosting for the Mike Shayne series and for several pulp-related novelettes set in the 1930s. Mike returned to writing about the pulps in the late 1990s when he began reviewing a variety of pulp magazines for Camille Cazedessus’ Pulpdom. Over the last twelve years, he has described selections from nearly every pre-1930 general fiction pulp line published, including Argosy, All-Story, Cavalier, Popular, and other titles. His many articles have appeared in the fanzine Pulpdom, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in May 2010.

Ron Fortier

Ron, a professional writer for over twenty-five years, and illustrator Rob Davis started Airship 27 Productions to create a home for new, pulp-inspired fiction. Since 2007, Airship 27 has revived long moribund pulp characters such as the Green Lama, Jimmy Anthony, the Masked Rider, Secret Agent X, and Fortier’s own version of Ace Periodicals’ Captain Hazzard. Ron’s books have inspired contemporary writers and artists to turn out new adventures featuring many of the characters long remembered by the pulp community. They have also served as ports of entry for new people to become involved with the world of pulps. In 2009, Ron helped develop the Pulp Factory Awards, inaugurated to support, applaud, and encourage the creation of new pulp fiction and art. The first PFAs were awarded at the 2010 Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.

Ron Hanna

For much of the last decade Ron, through his Wild Cat Books operation, has been doing a fantastic job of maintaining interest in the great pulps, making them both available and affordable to old and new fans alike. Beginning with his fanzine Lost Sanctum, Ron has published material by both new and old writers and artists, all of them with a great love for the pulps. A few years ago, he took his love of pulps to the next level and began presenting brand new pulp fiction and art by some of today’s finest creators. Most recently, he has revived the classic science-fiction magazine, Startling Stories. Ron doesn’t get rich doing any of this. No, his efforts come from his heart and his genuine love for the pulps.

Stephen T. Miller

Steve has been helping to index the pulps for years. Along with Michael Cook, he compiled Garland Publishing’s Mystery, Detective, and Espionage Fiction: A Checklist of Fiction in U. S. Pulp Magazines, 1915-1974, an exceptionally useful resource for collectors of not only detective pulps, but also hero and some adventure magazines. With Bill Contento, Steve compiled Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazine Index (1890-2006), a guide to more than 900 different magazines, published on CD-ROM by Locus Press and updated periodically by the publisher. Over the years, Steve has also helped many different people with pulp-related research, sharing his knowledge as well as his collection with them.

William Contento

Probably best known for the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazine Index (1890-2006) that he compiled with Steve Miller, Bill has assembled other works that have become essential tools of reference. These include his Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Index to Crime and Mystery Anthologies (with Martin H. Greenberg), and The Supernatural Index (with Mike Ashley). In the last ten years, he has built up the online FictionMags Index into a research juggernaut. It currently lists the contents of over 44,000 issues of almost 3000 different magazine titles. Pulps are heavily represented, of course, but pulp writers turn up in other magazines, too, and the FictionMags Index allows them to be discovered. A huge endeavor, the FictionMags Index has been a tremendous boon to pulp-magazine research.

To learn more about PulpFest’s annual service award, please visit The Rusty page of our website.

Here’s the first post to ever appear on the PulpFest website. Dated November 6, 2008, it announced our plans for the 2009 convention. 

Announcing PulpFest 2009!

Pulpfest 2009, a new and improved version of the venerable convention catering to fans and collectors of vintage popular fiction, will be held from Friday, July 31st, through Sunday, August 2nd, at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Sellers of pulp magazines, all-fiction digests, dime novels, and other collectible books and periodicals are already lining up for exhibit space, and the convention will be advertised and promoted extensively to capture the attention of new hobbyists as well as veteran attendees. Preliminary flyers carrying basic information are being distributed at various collectibles shows this fall, beginning with Bouchercon, the annual gathering for collectors of mystery fiction. The Pulpfest 2009 committee has already contacted several publications to inquire about advertising the convention, and additional flyers will be designed and distributed throughout the year.

Additionally, the Pulpfest 2009 website is now operational and can be found at www.pulpfest.com. In the weeks and months to come, it will be updated regularly to provide new information on guests and programming as soon as it becomes available.

Dealers interested in helping promote Pulpfest 2009 can download and print out either of two flyers already available on the website in PDF form. These can be distributed at collectibles shows and sent with mail-order shipments. 

Following an extensive search for the best available venue, the Pulpfest 2009 committee chose the Ramada Plaza for its spacious accommodations, numerous amenities, ease of access, and competitive pricing. The committee has negotiated a guest-room rate of $84 plus tax per night, significantly less than that offered by other pulp conventions.

The Convention Center’s main room boasts more than 10,000 square feet of space and will accommodate up to 80 eight-foot tables. A separate room on the same floor will be set up theater-style for our evening programming. A con suite will be open for after-hours conversation and conviviality. 

Located just off Exit 116 of Interstate 71, the Ramada Plaza is only 20 minutes from Columbus International Airport and 10 minutes from downtown Columbus, making our convention site easily accessible to attendees whether they’re driving or flying. 

The Ramada offers complementary transportation via shuttle to and from the airport, downtown Columbus, and various other locations (including restaurants) within a five-mile radius of the hotel.

The newly renovated hotel additionally offers all the usual amenities. High-speed wireless Internet access is now available in the main lobby, convention center, and guest rooms. Guests can avail themselves of a whirlpool, an exercise room, and both indoor and outdoor pools, as well as a full-service business center. Parking is free for hotel guests and single-day convention attendees.

The Ramada’s spacious restaurant, Justin’s Place, serves traditional American cuisine and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week. The hotel’s cozy lounge, Bowties, is open until two a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Ramada Plaza is an extremely popular venue for conventions of our type and size. For 15 years now it has hosted Cinevent, an annual confab of vintage-film fans and collectors of movie memorabilia. Hotel management is both committed to and experienced in providing the courteous, comprehensive service that produces satisfied conventioneers.

Pricing schedules for dealer tables and registrations will be forthcoming shortly. Information on guests and programming will be posted on the Pulpfest 2009 website as soon as it is confirmed.

Less than two weeks (11/21/08) after our initial post to the PulpFest website, the convention was in business, accepting registrations from pulp dealers located throughout North America. A year later, PulpFest 2010 still maintains the same rates and rules. Why toy with success? 

Dealer Registration Open

We just uploaded a Dealers Registration Form (PDF format), so registration for PulpFest 2009 is officially OPEN!

Dealer tables rates are as follows: island tables will cost $70; wall tables will cost $80. Both rates include a ten-dollar surcharge that will be used for promotional activities. Wall tables will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

There will be no height restrictions on island tables. Bookcases will be allowed on these tables as long as they can stand safely. A common sense approach is urged in designing your displays. If you have any special needs-electrical outlets, requests to be positioned near certain dealers, and so on-let us know in the space below.

Please send your check or money order to David J. Cullers, 1272 Cheatham Way, Bellbrook, OH 45305. Jack will also accept non-credit card payments made through Paypal at his email address below. If you have any questions, write to Jack at his mail address. He can also be reached via email at jack@pulpfest.com.

And remember, you can always find the most current registration info on our Registration page.

On November 21, 2008, the PulpFest Organizing Committee expressed its thanks to web designer Chris Kalb. At that time, the PulpFest website was operational, but still very much under construction. Thanks to Chris’ beautiful design, the PulpFest website is easy to work with and has been sited as an example of a well-constructed and organized Internet site by a variety of web design organizations.

Chris Kalb’s Best Site Yet?

We think it goes without saying that PulpFest, the summer’s leading pulp convention, is greatly indebted to Chris Kalb for putting together such a wonderful website. So thank you so much for your tremendous work from Barry, Ed, Jack, and Mike.

By early December, the PulpFest website was humming. It continues to evolve and remains a "joy to work with" to this very day. And don’t forget, you can still sign up for the PulpFest email list by using the very simple method as described below. The following post was dated December 5, 2008.

PulpFest.com Fully Operational!

If you’re here, you know that the PulpFest 2009 website is now up and running! And it’s certainly a joy to behold!

For any and all information concerning Summer’s premiere event for collectors of vintage pulp magazines and related material, simply bookmark this page or commit the address www.pulpfest.com to memory. In addition to all the basic information, you’ll find a downloadable registration form, links to sites managed by our host hotel and local Columbus institutions, a list of dealers (which is already substantial, even with the convention more than seven months away), capsule bios and contact info for PulpFest committee members, and other items of interest including links to our dealers, pulp-related publishers and other great sites.

The PulpFest website boasts an eye-catching design and is easy to navigate. Simply click the buttons along the left side of each page and you’re in business. The site will be updated regularly over the weeks and months to come—not only with additional facts about the show, but also with fun stuff that every pulp fan will enjoy. And if you’d like to make a comment, just click on the word "comment" wherever it may be and start typing.

You can also sign up for the PulpFest 2009 email list by entering your name and email address in the box on our home page. Click the "join" button and watch for your confirmation email to finalize your subscription.

Visit early and often for all the news about what promises to be 2009’s most noteworthy gathering of people who read, research and collect pulp magazines and other forms of vintage American popular fiction.

With the holiday season behind us, it was time for the PulpFest committee to get back to work. On January 17, 2009, Ed Hulse posted a message about people’s travel plans for the Summer months. 2009 turned out to be a great year for travelers, with air fares at historic lows. It’s never to early to make your plans for PulpFest.

Make Your PulpFest Plans Early!

With 2008 receding into memory and the holiday season finally over, the PulpFest committee is back at work, planning and promoting this summer’s top convention for fans and collectors of pulp magazines and other forms of vintage popular fiction.

We’ll be updating this site regularly between now and the end of July, when PulpFest finally gets underway. Make sure you check back every few weeks for information on our programming, updates to our steadily growing list of dealers, and additional tidbits relating not only to the convention but also to our hobby in general.

We realize that, for some of you, it probably seems way too early to start planning a summer excursion. If so, you might want to reconsider: our host hotel, the Ramada Plaza, has already received numerous room reservations from PulpFest attendees—and we expect that number to increase sharply in the weeks and months ahead. Mind you, we’ve had the Ramada set aside a block of rooms that should be more than adequate for our needs. But then, we didn’t expect our people to start reserving rooms before Christmas, as a few of you did.

Our advice is this: if you’re thinking about attending PulpFest—or even if you’re only thinking about thinking about attending PulpFest—reserve your room at the Ramada Plaza some time in the next month or so. Remember, if financial conditions or an emergency of some kind ultimately prevent you from joining us, you can cancel your reservation up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival without incurring any charge. But if you wait to the last minute to make your reservation, you risk getting shut out. Like we said, that’s probably not going to happen, because the Ramada hosts bigger conventions than ours. But why take the chance when it doesn’t cost you anything but the price of a phone call to make your reservation? Just remember to make sure you mention PulpFest to get our special rate.

At this time we’d also encourage you to check into airfares. Many if not most airlines won’t let you book flights more than six months out, and as of this writing PulpFest is still slightly more than six months in the future. But we’ve noticed that airfares have come down in recent weeks and may well drop further as demand continues to soften. Why not lock in your fare this winter, rather than wait until the peak months of spring or summer, when demand goes up and prices begin to rebound? You’ve still got a couple months, but it might be a good idea to make some inquiries and perhaps monitor ticket prices regularly from the various airline websites. Besides, there’s no way of knowing how long oil prices will remain depressed.

We chose PulpFest’s host city with air travel in mind. Columbus is a “hub” for many domestic airlines and can easily be reached from anywhere in the country. To take one example: Southwest Airlines, which is noted for its highly competitive pricing and good customer service, offers regular flights to Columbus from more than 50 major metropolitan areas. It offers non-stop flights to Columbus from Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington DC, Nashville, Orlando, St. Louis, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, among other cities. Chances are you’ll be able to get a pretty good deal from Southwest if you don’t wait too long to book your flight. And given the economy’s current state, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see some major price wars between the airlines over the coming weeks and months.

While you’re thinking about lodging and travel options, we’ll be hard at work coming up with convention programming and arranging for advertising. As promised, we plan on promoting PulpFest as aggressively as time and money allows, not only appealing to the known community of pulp fans but also reaching out to collector constituencies with related interests. We remain firmly committed to bringing new people into the hobby.

We’ll close by reiterating that PulpFest is your convention. We’re interested in your suggestions and will give them careful consideration. We’ve gotten many great ideas already and want to thank those of you who’ve written us. Your input has been very helpful.

Don’t forget to check back in a few weeks for more PulpFest news!

We not only live in a golden age of pulp reprints, we also live in a golden age of electronics. We can even send money to another person or organization with a few clicks of our mice and keyboards. On January 17, 2009 we posted the news that PulpFest could accept payments made through Paypal, an Internet site that allows its members to send money to each other.

PulpFest Now Accepts Paypal!

We’re now accepting PayPal payments for PulpFest table rentals and registrations. It couldn’t be easier; you’ll find all the information on our Registration page. You’re just a couple mouse-clicks away from paying your PulpFest charges. Of course, you’ll still have to fill out the registration forms, but we’re making it easier to pay without the hassle of writing out and sending checks or money orders via snail-mail. Visit our Paypal page and sign up today!

Every notable convention needs an award. For many years, the pulp community had offered a service award named The Lamont. Feeling that name was too tied to a single aspect of the pulp industry–the hero pulps–PulpFest decided to create a more encompassing award. Teaming with talented artist David Saunders, the PulpFest committee came up with an award that covered all of the pulps–the Munsey Award, named for the man who created the pulp magazine. The new award was announced on the last day of January 2009.

Remember, anyone can nominate just about anyone who is involved in the world of pulps for the Munsey Award. Please visit Munsey page for our nominating guidelines.  

The Munsey Award Arrives!

David Saunders, the son of the legendary pulp artist Norman Saunders, has created a sensational, limited-edition print, one copy of which will be annually offered as the Munsey Award at PulpFest, beginning in 2009. David’s work is a refreshing homage to classic pulp art that honors the entire pulp community and their common love of the purple prose of the bloody pulps. We are sure that Norman Saunders would be proud of his son’s wonderful painting. Dan Zimmer of the Illustrated Press has produced a deluxe, limited edition of thirty-six numbered and signed prints. The PulpFest Committee is indebted to both David and Dan for their generous support of our convention.

A New York artist whose work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum and at other museums and in public buildings throughout the United States and other countries, David Saunders has taught art at Yale, Oberlin and many other colleges worldwide, including schools in Paris, London and Tokyo. An expert on pulp art, he has been a guest speaker on the subject, including The Pulp Art Show held at the Brooklyn Museum in 2003, and has served as the guest of honor at various pulp conventions. David has written biographical articles on pulp artists J. W. Scott, Frederick Blakeslee, Rudolph Belarski, Rafael DeSoto, Ernest Chiriacka, Allen Anderson, and his father. He is also the author of Norman Saunders, a biography and appreciation of the great pulp artist that was released in January 2009 by the Illustrated Press.

The Munsey Award is named after Frank A. Munsey, the man who published the first all-fiction pulp magazine. It will be presented annually to a deserving person who has given of himself or herself for the betterment of the pulp community, be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps, publishing or through other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy.

If you have someone in mind that you feel worthy to receive the first Munsey Award, please let us know. Send the person’s name and a brief paragraph describing why you feel that person should be honored to Mike Chomko, 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542 or to mike@pulpfest.com. PulpFest 2009 committee members are not eligible for this year’s award. The deadline for nominations is April 30, 2009. The recipient of the Munsey Award will be selected by a panel of judges consisting of recognized experts in the field of pulp literature. The award will be presented on Sunday, August 2 at a special breakfast at the Ramada Plaza in Columbus, Ohio. Tom Roberts, the 2008 winner of the Lamont Award, will be the presenter of the first Munsey Award.

What’s a convention without a Guest of Honor? In selecting its first Guest of Honor, PulpFest chose a notable publishing professional and a wonderful raconteur with a strong connection to the world of pulp fiction. PulpFest 2009 announced its Guest of Honor on February 14, 2009.

PulpFest’s 2009 Guest of Honor

We’re delighted to announce that Edgar Award-winning writer, editor, and publisher Otto Penzler has accepted our invitation to be the Guest of Honor at this year’s PulpFest.  Otto, whose recent anthology The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps has done more to renew interest in Golden Age pulp fiction than any mainstream publication in recent history, is a perfect GoH for a show like ours in that he is also a world-class collector of crime fiction, many of whose most notable authors—including Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and John D. MacDonald—toiled in the pulp vineyards before achieving mainstream success with major publishers.

Otto, who will be with us for the entire convention, can be expected to regale PulpFest attendees with stories of his adventures in the publishing business and as a lifelong collector. He’ll also be giving us a preview of his much-anticipated Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories, an upcoming anthology collecting rare yarns from the prestigious pulp magazine that was home to Hammett, Chandler, and other giants of hard-boiled detective fiction.

Still the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop, a New York City landmark that celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, Otto Penzler published The Armchair Detective, an Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years. He was the founder of The Mysterious Press, now an imprint at Grand Central Publishing, and also launched the publishing firms of Otto Penzler Books and The Armchair Detective Library. He currently has imprints at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the United States and Quercus in the U.K. In 1977, he won an Edgar Award for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection. The Mystery Writers of America gave him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994 for his exceptional contributions to the publishing field. He was also honored with MWA’s highest non-writing award, the Raven, in 2003.

Otto first endeared himself to pulp-fiction fans in the late 1970s by publishing a two-volume collection of short stories featuring Norgil, a magician-detective created by Walter B. Gibson, who also wrote more than 280 novel-length adventures of pulpdom’s legendary crime fighter, The Shadow. In 1984, Otto reprinted two of that character’s best-remembered adventures in The Shadow and the Golden Master. Subsequently his Mysterious Press issued trade-paperback anthologies of classic pulp detective stories by Carroll John Daly, Erle Stanley Gardner, Frederick Nebel, Norbert Davis, and others. First You Dream, Then You Die, a deluxe hardcover biography of veteran pulp scribe Cornell Woolrich published by The Mysterious Press in 1988, earned an Edgar for author Francis M. Nevins and became a standard reference work.

A witty raconteur with an encyclopedic knowledge of mystery fiction, Otto has done a lot for the pulp-collecting community and will make a terrific GoH.  We guarantee that you’ll enjoy meeting him.  So don’t wait—download a PulpFest registration form and send it in today!

Keep watching this page for further updates. PulpFest is taking shape fast!

PulpFest is certainly not the only pulp convention out there in the world. There are a fair number of shows scattered throughout North America, among them the recently held Pulp Adventurecon in Bordentown, NJ. One of the biggest and best of the pulp-related convention, The Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention is held in the springtime. Which is why, on April 19, 2009, PulpFest posted the announcement that follows.

Pulps Are in the Air!

Spring is in the air and so is the convention season. The Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention starts the ball rolling during the first weekend of May. Three members of the PulpFest Organizing Committee will be on hand–Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse and Mike Chomko. Please stop by our tables to learn more about what has become the talk of the pulp community–PulpFest 2009!

One short week after the Chicago convention, the pulp community heads to Toronto. Although none of PulpFest’s guiding hands will be in attendance, the 13th Annual Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale is sure to be a blast. For more information, please write to Girasol Collectables.

The month of May closes with the Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship gathering in California.

With the arrival of June comes the Spring edition of Classicon. This Michigan convention offers a wide variety of collectibles from pulps and paperbacks to calendars and pin-up magazines. For more information, write to the Curious Book Shop.

Cross Plains, Texas celebrates Robert E. Howard Days on June 12-13. This year, the festival will be saluting the poetry of the popular pulp author.

Although PulpFest 2009 has been generating a lot of positive buzz in the collectibles community, it has not been resting on its laurels. In addition to offering advertising flyers at pulp-related events such as Windy City and Classicon, we’ll be promoting our show at science-fiction and fantasy conventions such as Ravencon, Marcon and Farmercon. Mystery fans will see our hardboiled side at shows like Malice Domestic and Deadly Ink. The Shadow will greet the comics crowd at Steel City Con, Motor City Comic Con and other conventions. And book and paper collectors will get a taste of pulp at the Greater Boston Book and Ephemera Fair, Ann Arbor Antiquarian Book Fair and Chicago’s Printers Row Lit Fest as will movie fans who attend Cinevent.

We’ll also be running print advertisements in The Paper and Advertising Collector’s Marketplace (our first print ad appears in their May issue), Firsts, Alter Ego, Book Source Magazine, Illustration and other publications.

The PulpFest 2009 Organizing Committee is working very hard to get the word out about our convention. Please do your part by sending in your registration for what is shaping up to be the pulp event of 2009!

The last day of each April is the deadline for members of the pulp community to nominate their fellows for the Munsey Award. So on the 18th of May 2009, the following message was posted to the PulpFest website. You can read more about the nominees by visiting the 2009 Munsey Nominees page.

2009 Munsey Award Nominees

The PulpFest Organizing Committee is proud to announce that art designer and illustrator Chris Kalb, researcher and indexer Steve Miller, researcher and editor Garyn Roberts, Coming Attractions’ Bill Thom, Anthony Tollin, publisher of Doc Savage and The Shadow, Battered Silicon Dispath Box publisher George Vanderburgh, and Dan Zimmer, editor and publisher of Illustration Magazine are the candidates for the 2009 Munsey Award. Additional details concerning each nominee can be found in the Munsey Award section of the PulpFest website.

The seven nominees were selected by the general pulp community over a period of several months. PulpFest Organizing Committee members as well as winners of the Lamont Award--a service award that had been presented by Pulpcon–were not eligible for the 2009 Munsey Award. The nominees’ names have been forwarded to a committee made up of the 25 living Lamont Award winners who will decide upon this year’s award winner.

The recipient of the 2009 Munsey Award, a limited edition print designed by artist and pulp enthusiast David Saunders, will be revealed at a special breakfast open to all PulpFest 2009 registrants. It will be held on Sunday, August 2 from 8-10 AM at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. Additional details concerning this event are forthcoming.

On May 28, 2009, the first PulpFest was fast approaching. It was time to begin our programming announcements. We started things off with a bang, announcing a presentation by Ohio State’s "Professor of Pulp." Columbus is the home to OSU, one of the nation’s leading universities.

Ohio State at PulpFest

With just nine weeks left before convention time, PulpFest 2009 is finalizing its programming schedule. In the days and weeks ahead, we’ll be announcing our day and evening features. Stay tuned by subscribing to our email list located along the right side of our homepage.

Let’s begin our programming announcements with a look at our “Professor of Pulp” presentation. These days, American universities are actively pursuing and preserving artifacts of our nation’s popular culture. In recent years Ohio State University, located right in Columbus, has been very aggressive in beefing up its holdings of vintage pop-culture treasures, including collections of pulp magazines and manuscripts. It’s our hope that attendees of future PulpFests will be able to visit OSU’s new library for special viewings. To that end Eric Johnson, Associate Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts and an Assistant Professor at the University, has prepared a brief overview describing OSU’s pulp and pop-culture materials. He’s prepared to discuss the process of assembling and preserving such collections, and he’ll take questions from PulpFest attendees.

Eric’s presentation on Ohio State’s popular culture holdings will be held Saturday, Aug. 1 at 7:30 PM, immediately after the close of the PulpFest business meeting.

Please visit the PulpFest programming page for more details on our schedule.

One day after beginning our programming announcements, PulpFest was pleased to announce that a variety of publishers would be offering free items to our attendees. When July rolled around, members of PulpFest were overjoyed by our table covered with books and periodicals all donated by organizations such as those listed below.

Donations to PulpFest

We would like to thank the following organizations for their generous contributions to PulpFest:
 
Random House Publishing has contributed several hundred advance reading copies of books being prepared for marketing.
 
Small Beer Press has donated ten cartons of books to be made available to attendees of PulpFest.
 
Galaxy Press has sent several hundred copies of The Golden Gazette for our freebie table.
 
Engle Publishing will be sending copies of The Paper & Advertising Collectors’ Marketplace for distribution to PulpFest attendees.

Book Source Magazine will also be sending copies of their publication for distribution at PulpFest.

Two Columbus bookstores have demonstrated their support for PulpFest by displaying our flyers and answering convention-related questions.  We wish to thank Acorn Bookshop and Karen Wickliff Books for their help in promoting our show, and we invite PulpFest attendees to visit them while in town.  We will have maps and directions to these stores available at the convention.

With the convention fast approaching, PulpFest announced on the first of June 2009 that the Ramada Plaza was offering a special deal via their Internet booking site. More than likely, similar deals will be offered by the hotel in 2010 and beyond. And remember, whether you book by phone or online, be sure to mention PulpFest. By doing so, you’ll help our convention to grow and prosper.

Hotel Reservations

With PulpFest less than two months away, it’s time to place your reservation. The preferred way is to call the Ramada Plaza at 614-846-0300 to book your room. Please be sure to mention PulpFest to get the special convention rate of $79 per night. In order to receive the convention rate, you must get your reservation in by July 18.

You can also book a room online. Just click our link to the Ramada Plaza at the top or along the right side of our homepage or even the one right here in this post. For a limited time, if you book online and prepay your hotel bill, the Ramada Plaza is offering 20% off their regular $84 per night room rate for a three-night stay or 15% off their regular room rate for a two-night stay. However, if you take advantage of the prepay rate, you cannot cancel your reservation or get a refund.

If you book your room online, please note in the comments box of the reservation form that you will be attending PulpFest. By doing so, you will help to ensure the success of PulpFest 2009.

Whether you book by phone or online, please be sure to do so by July 18 and to mention PulpFest. Thanks.

One of the top publishers in the world of pulp reprints is Sanctum Books, publishers of two of the best-loved characters from the world of pulps–Doc Savage and The Shadow. PulpFest 2009 made a major score when it landed a presentation by the two men responsible for acquiring the rights to republish the adventures of these two great heroes from the pulps. This announcement was originally posted on June 6, 2009.

The Avenger: Then and Now

Late in the summer of 1939, Street & Smith released the first issue of The Avenger, a new single-character pulp featuring book-length novels written by Paul Ernst under the Kenneth Robeson house name. Richard Henry Benson, the frozen-faced crime fighter who headed Justice, Incorporated, never quite enjoyed the success of fellow Street & Smith pulp heroes Doc Savage and The Shadow, but his 24 novel-length adventures were fondly remembered. In the 1970s, the Avenger was introduced to a new generation via a paperback series published by Warner.

Long out of print, the Avenger’s amazing exploits are now back on the rack, courtesy of Sanctum Books. Celebrating the 70th birthday of The Avenger, Anthony Tollin and  Will Murray, the pulp experts handling the Sanctum line, will discuss the character and try to explain his still-potent appeal. Expect them to also discuss Sanctum’s other new series reprinting Street & Smith’s Whisperer yarns.

Join PulpFest’s celebration of the Avenger on Friday, July 31.

Haffner Press has for the last ten years been reprinting some of most entertaining science fiction from the world of the pulps. Its nearly completed series of The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson have set a very high standard among pulp reprints. On June 16, 2009, PulpFest announced that publisher Stephen Haffner would be presenting a very special talk on one of the first and foremost creators of science fiction, Edmond Hamilton.

Crashing Suns: Edmond Hamilton

Best known to many fans as the creator of Captain Future, Edmond Hamilton was actually one of the first full-time writers of science fiction for the pulps. He pioneered and popularized many themes that later became staples of modern SF. This summer Haffner Press launches its ambitious reprint series, The Collected Edmond Hamilton. Editor and publisher Stephen Haffner has offered to host, exclusively for PulpFest, a presentation that will feature commentary on this popular author’s early work for such avidly collected pulps as Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, Astounding Stories and Wonder Stories. Haffner’s talk will also include several vintage, previously unexhibited photographs of Hamilton and his contemporaries.

Join Stephen Haffner on Friday, July 31 at 9 PM for Crashing Suns: The Early Hamilton.

One of PulpFest’s hallmarks was and continues to be its desire to seek out and try new ideas. This was amply demonstrated by its decision to present "The New Fictioneers," contemporary authors whose fiction is inspired by a love of the pulps. This ambitious new program was announced on June 20, 2009. By the way, many thanks to John Locke for his help delving into the origins of the term, "fictioneer."

Meet the New Fictioneers!

They were called scribes, word slingers, hacks and penny-a-worders. But perhaps the most favored term, especially among the men and women who labored for the bloody pulps, was fictioneer—a fiction writer, especially a prolific creator of commercial or pulp fiction.

Join PulpFest as we celebrate today’s fictioneers—the authors writing the new pulp fiction. Listen to Ron Fortier, Bill Maynard, Shelby Rhodes and G. Warlock Vance as they read excerpts from The Terror of Fu Manchu, The Missing Narrative of Neptune and other exciting pulp yarns. They’ll also be available for questions, critiques and good, old-fashioned schmoozing.

PulpFest’s New Fictioneers readings will take place on Friday, 7/31 and Saturday, 8/1. Please visit our programming page for further details.

In case you’re wondering about the term “fictioneer,” most dictionaries place its origin during the early twenties. However, it was relatively commonplace in magazines between 1910 and 1920 and has been spotted in works dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. H. Bedford-Jones used it in a series of articles called “The Graduate Fictioneer,” originally published by Author & Journalist in the early thirties. In 1932, a group of Wisconsin writers got together and called themselves “The Milwaukee Fictioneers.” At various times, Robert Bloch, Fredric Brown, August Derleth, Ralph Milne Farley, Lawrence Keating, Ray Palmer and Stanley Weinbaum were members of this group. In the late 30s, Popular Publications started Fictioneers, Inc., a pulp line that paid its authors half the going market rate of a penny a word. E. Hoffmann Price, soldier-of-fortune and prolific pulp author, used the term in his memoirs from the pulp years, Book of the Dead—Friends of Yesteryear: Fictioneers & Others (Arkham House, 2001). Probably the most recent use of the word was in John Locke’s non-fiction anthology Pulp Fictioneers: Adventures in the Storytelling Business (Adventure House, 2004).

In 2008, the hero pulp (which helped serve as the impetus for the first Pulpcon) turned 75 years old. The Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention celebrated the event during its festivities that year. Unfortunately, there was no PulpFest in 2008. But way back in 1934, the "Hero Pulp Explosion" continued with the introduction of such character pulps as Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer and Secret Agent X. So why not continue the celebration of this great event in the world of pulps with a look at another great hero pulp, Popular Publication’s Secret Service Operator #5. The following announcement was posted on June 28, 2009.

I Spy! - Fred Davis and Operator #5

PulpFest continues the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the "Hero Pulp Explosion" that began last year. In 1934, the great pulp houses followed the introduction of Doc Savage, G-8 and His Battle Aces, The Phantom Detective, The Spider and other single-character pulps with a half-dozen new titles. Street & Smith and Ace got the ball rolling with the debuts of Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer and Secret Agent X. Ranger and Popular followed in April with The Masked Rider and Operator #5. Bringing up the rear were two Popular titles, Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds and The Secret Six, both of them relatively short-lived pulps. Of these six new heroes, perhaps the most fondly remembered is Popular’s Jimmy Christopher, "America’s Secret Service Ace" who is best known as Operator #5.

Don Hutchison, author of The Great Pulp Heroes, will lead a panel discussion exploring the adventures of Christopher and his supporting cast, and of the author who penned the first twenty adventures of the pulp series, Frederick C. Davis. Joining Don will be Garyn G. Roberts, Chair of the Communications/English Discipline at Northwestern Michigan College, author of a short biography of Davis, and co-editor of The Compleat Adventures of the Moon Man (another Fred Davis creation); Rick Davis and Karen Cunningham, the son and granddaughter of Frederick C. Davis; and Wooda "Nick" Carr, pulp scholar, Davis correspondent and lifelong devotee of Operator #5,  having read it fresh off the newsstand while growing up in North Dakota during the Great Depression.

I Spy - Fred Davis and Operator #5 will take place at 8 PM on Friday, July 31. For more information on Davis and Operator #5, read on…

So where did the wild and wooly adventures of Jimmy Christopher, the "James Bond" of the Great Depression, come from? In an interview published in Xenophile in 1977, Popular Publications president Harry Steeger stated: "I was very anxious at that time to say something about the depression and the political elements of the world and, by this time, the trend of story-telling had begun to assume a broader canvas. In other words, instead of talking about individuals, we began talking about nations and armies, etc. Operator #5 was planned deliberately to exert more influence in this direction than The Spider.

Fredrick C. Davis recalled the basic concept of the Operator #5 novels: "It was that Operator 5 must save the United States from total destruction in every story, every month" (quoted in Ron Goulart’s Cheap Thrills, 1972). "When I was called in to start the series, they already had a cover illustration–the White House being blown up. I did the first Operator 5 around this picture. The characters in detail, the ideas, the plots and the gimmicks were all my inventions" (ibid.).

Although the idea behind the series was imagined by Steeger and his lead editor, Rogers Terrill, it was Davis who filled out Jimmy and his cohorts–boy sidekick Tim Donovan; news reporter and love interest Diane Elliot; his father John Christopher, Agent Q-6; Jimmy’s twin sister, Nan Christopher; and Z-7, the grim-faced chief of intelligence.

After Davis departed from the series in late 1935, the writing chores were assumed by Emile Tepperman, a prolific pulp author about whom little is known. He would soon march Christopher and his colleagues through a series of adventures that has become known as "the pulp version of War and Peace." Tepperman’s "Purple Invasion" began with the June 1936 number and would continue through the next thirteen issues of the magazine.

Author Wayne Rogers would complete the 48-issue run of Operator #5, penning the "Yellow Vulture" series for the Popular publication. The final issue of the pulp, which told the story of "The Army from Underground," was dated November 1939. Like all of its predecessors, the author credit was given to Curtis Steele, a Popular Publications house name.

While the rest of the nation was celebrating Independence Day, PulpFest’s Ed Hulse was occupied with putting together a panel of pulp experts to discuss the current state of pulp collecting. On July 8, 2009, PulpFest announced some of the topics that would be explored during this wide-ranging panel discussion.

Pulp Collecting 2009

Ed Hulse, the editor of Blood ‘n’ Thunder, is busy assembling a panel of pulp collectors and dealers who will weigh in on the current state of the hobby. What’s happening with pulp prices? Is demand exceeding supply? What are the hot titles? How has the surge in reprints affected the marketplace? Which magazines will future collectors be chasing? These and other questions will be addressed in this fast-paced discussion that will be held on Friday, July 31, beginning at 7:05 PM.

Even conventions have chores. On July 9, 2009, PulpFest 2009 offered this short post to tidy up some loose ends including the announcement of more free stuff from two more generous publishers.

Housekeeping Chores

Due to popular demand, the PulpFest Organizing Committee has decided that children age 15 and under, who are accompanied by a parent, will be admitted free to the convention. However, they must still be registered to gain admittance.

The deadline for advance registrations is Saturday, July 18. Registrations received after that day will be charged the at-the-door fee of $35 for a three-day membership or $15 per day for daily memberships. Payments made through Paypal will not be accepted after July 18.

The hotel’s special room rate of $79 per night plus tax also runs through Saturday, July 18. If you want to take advantage of this or other offers by the hotel, be sure to make your reservation as soon as possible. For further details, visit the Ramada Plaza page under "The Details." Be sure to mention PulpFest when placing your reservation whether by phone or online.

If you are planning to attend the Munsey Award Breakfast on Sunday, Aug. 2, please notify Jack Cullers as soon as possible. The breakfast will begin at 8 AM and cost $10-15 per person, tip included. We need to notify the hotel about how many people plan to attend. A high-quality print of the painting that David Saunders has created to serve as the Munsey Award will be on display throughout the convention. For further details, please visit the Munsey Award page of our website.

John Gunnison of Adventure House has generously offered PulpFest a copy of The Thrill Book Complete, Vol. One to serve as a door prize for the Munsey Award Breakfast. One lucky attendee to the award ceremony will go home with a copy of this volume, a $70 value. PulpFest or Adventure House staff members are not eligible for the prize.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, the award-winning magazine that is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary in 2009, has donated several hundred back issues to hand out to our members come showtime. Back numbers of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine will also be on hand. Dell Magazines has donated over five hundred Queens to PulpFest.

Finally, Jack Cullers will serve as the master of ceremonies during our evening programming.

Nearly three weeks before the big event, the PulpFest organizing committee was overjoyed to announce that every dealer table in the huckster area had been spoken for. Many thanks to all of the dealers who decided to throw their support behind the efforts of those who worked to organize this exciting, new convention. You can read about our dealers by visiting the PulpFest 2009 Dealers page.

It’s a Sellout!

As of July 11, all 100 dealer tables slated for PulpFest 2009 had been reserved. For those dealers still interested in island tables, we will now be creating a waiting list in case of last-minute cancellations. If you would like to be added to this waiting list, please contact Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com. You will not be required to pay for a table until you arrive at the convention. However, you must purchase a full, three-day membership to be added to our waiting list. They are available for $30 through Saturday, July 18. All three-day memberships purchased after July 18 will cost $35. The deadline to be added to our dealer waiting list is Saturday, July 18.

Please see our registration page for further information about registering as a dealer and/or member. We’ll see you in 3 weeks for what promises to be a great summer weekend for pulp fans.

On the 14th of July, PulpFest 2009 made its final programming announcement. For those people who hated to see a convention’s nightly programming come to an end, PulpFest decided to offer a presentation that would run until midnight. What better topic to explore than the work and legacy of the great H. P. Lovecraft, whose stories for Weird Tales and other pulps have inspired scores of authors since they were first published.

Lovecraft for the Night Owls

For those who like to burn the midnight oil, Ian Lohr, editor of Howling Wolf’s Lost Pulp Classics series, will explore the life and legacy of H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft and His Circle: Yog-Sothery and Its Influence on Writing and the Universe will take place on Friday, July 31, beginning at 11 PM.  

Today recognized as a master of supernatural fiction, during his lifetime Lovecraft was an impoverished writer who subsisted on canned pork and beans while spinning what would become some of the most widely respected tales to emerge from the pulp market. In such stories as "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Colour Out of Space," and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," Lovecraft combined the elements of Gothic horror with the emerging field of science fiction to create some of the most unique fiction of his day or any day.

In his voluminous correspondence, Lovecraft encouraged other writers to develop further the ideas he was exploring in his own fiction. Soon, Frank Belknap Long, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard and others were refining their colleague’s "Yog-Sothery," now better known as the Cthulhu Mythos.

Lovecraft’s influence is felt even today in the fiction of Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King and others as well as in other areas of popular culture such as film, comic books, role-playing games, Scandinavian heavy metal music and a wide array of contemporary mythologies.

So join Ian as the witching hour approaches for an evening of cosmic horror, pop culture and philosophy.

Thanks to the efforts of Mark Trost, in the days leading up to PulpFest 2009, the convention found its way into newspapers, magazines, and other mass media. On July 26, 2009 less than a week before the start of the convention, PulpFest was very pleased to announce the publication of articles about the pulps and our convention in two Midwestern newspapers. The Columbus Dispatch piece was later picked up by Business Week, a national business news magazine.

PulpFest in the News

News of PulpFest 2009 found its way today into two Midwestern newspapers. Our convention was featured on the front page of the arts section of The Columbus Dispatch and in the local news section of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. The show starts this Friday, July 31, at 11 AM. 

July 26, 2009 and PulpFest’s debut was right around the corner. As is normal in the world of conventions, there were many last minute tasks to discuss. And just as they did in 2009, the PulpFest organizing committee is urging dealers to arrive on Thursday in order to set up their displays for the 2010 convention. In fact, they’re hoping everyone will show up by Thursday evening . They’ll be offering a July 29th film showing as well as a "Welcome to the Summer’s Great Pulp Con" party to those who arrive on the day before the convention’s official opening on July 30, 2010.

PulpFest 2009 Begins this Friday!

Although PulpFest 2009 officially gets under way on Friday, July 31, the convention’s organizing committee is urging dealers to arrive on Thursday to set up their displays. The dealers’ room will be open from 7 PM to 12 AM for set-up. It will also be open for set-up on Friday morning from 8 to 11.

The general membership is also welcome to arrive on Thursday. Early registration will take place beginning at 7 PM in the hospitality suite. The Ramada Plaza will post the location of the suite at the main entrance to the hotel. All members, dealers included, will be able to pick up their registration packets at this time. If desired, dealers can unload their merchandise prior to registering for the convention. For those of you who have not yet registered for PulpFest, Thursday evening will be an ideal time to do so. Three-day memberships will be available for $35. Early-bird memberships will be available for $55. You can also register for single-day memberships at the rate of $15 per day.

The PulpFest organizing committee is looking for volunteers to serve as hospitality suite hosts on Friday and Saturday evenings. If you are willing, please write to ed@pulpfest.com. We’re also looking for sponsors to purchase refreshments for the suite. If you’re a publisher, dealer, organized fan group or simply someone who would like to help, please drop us a line. 

The Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention Center is located just off Exit 116 of I-71, about ten minutes north of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Heading north on I-71, get off at Exit 116, the Morse Road exit. Turn left onto Morse Road. Follow Morse until you get to Sinclair Road. Turn right onto Sinclair Road. The hotel is at 4900 Sinclair Road. Heading south on I-71, get off at Exit 116, the Sinclair Road exit. Turn right onto Sinclair Road and follow to the Ramada Plaza Hotel. For those who would like a map to get to the hotel, click here.

According to reports from last-minute registrants, the Ramada Plaza is still offering the special convention rate of $79 per night to those PulpFest attendees who place a reservation via telephone. To make a reservation, please call the hotel at 614-846-0300. Be sure to mention PulpFest to get the special convention rate. You can also register online at ramadaplazacolumbus.com and receive a similar deal if you pay in advance. When placing your reservation online, please note in the comments box of the reservation form that you will be attending PulpFest.

The convention will officially open on Friday, July 31 at 11 PM. Early-bird registrants will be allowed into the dealers’ room beginning at 9 AM. If you’d like to upgrade your prepaid membership to gain early access to the dealers’ room, you will be able to do so by paying an additional $25. The doors will open to everyone, beginning at 11 AM. The dealers’ room will be open until 5 PM on Friday evening. It will be open from 10 AM to 5 PM on both Saturday and Sunday.

There will be a full schedule of programming on Friday and Saturday evenings from 7 PM until midnight. There will also be a few presentations during the daytime hours. Please visit our programming page for further details.

All PulpFest attendees will be able to submit material for inclusion in the Saturday Night Auction. At this time, it is believed that each attendee will be able to submit up to five auction lots. For additional information, please visit our Saturday Night Auction page.

The first annual Munsey Award will be presented at a special breakfast on Sunday, Aug. 2, beginning at 8 AM. You will be able to sign up for the breakfast during our Thursday night registration or anytime during the afternoon hours on Friday or Saturday. The cost of the breakfast will be $15 per person. Included in this price will be a chance to win a copy of The Thrill Book Complete, Vol. One, a $70 value from Adventure House.

PulpFest 2009 will have a ton of freebies available for all attendees. There will be a variety of materials at the entrance to the dealers’ room. These will be accessible beginning Friday morning. So bring along a BIG bag!

For those attendees who would like to ship their purchases to their homes, PulpFest 2009 has arranged for a local UPS store to be open on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The store will be open until 3 PM on Saturday and from 1 - 3 PM on Sunday. Transportation can be arranged through the hotel’s shuttle service. A local FedEx office, located about two miles from the hotel, will also be open for shipping your purchases.

The entire PulpFest 2009 organizing committee–Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse and Barry Traylor–is looking forward to seeing you all in just a few short days. Have a safe trip to Columbus.

July 31, 2009! It’s Showtime!!!

PulpFest 2009 Gets Underway!

Following dealer set-up on Thursday evening and early Friday morning, PulpFest 2009 officially got underway at 11 AM this morning. As always, the show began with the typical feeding frenzy as book and pulp collectors scoured the room searching for this or that long elusive volume. The convention’s programming schedule will get underway at 3:30 this afternoon when G. Warlock Vance and Michael Glagola get things rolling with the first of four "New Fictioneers" sessions. There will be a lot more programming during the evening hours including presentations on pulp collecting, Operator #5, Edmond Hamilton, The Avenger, and H. P. Lovecraft.

There’s still plenty of time to join in on the fun. The dealers’ room will be open until 5 PM on Friday and from 10 AM until 5 PM on Saturday and Sunday. The evening programming schedules for Friday and Saturday nights will run from 7 PM until 12 AM. Admission to the show is $15 per day or $35 for all three days, allowing entry to all convention activities. The general public is very much welcome to attend.

To whet your appetite for the summer’s one and only national pulp convention, below is a sneak peek at the Munsey Award that will be presented at a special breakfast to be held at the Ramada Plaza in Columbus, Ohio from 8 AM to 10 AM, Sunday, August 2…. 

On August 2, 2009, PulpFest 2009 was history. By everyone’s estimation, the convention was a tremendous success. With a paid attendance of 351, the convention was nearly double the announced attendance of similar summer pulp cons in recent history. One of the many highlights of the convention was the announcement of the 2009 winner of the Munsey Award, Bill Thom, the creator and designer of the Coming Attractions website.

Bill Thom Wins the 2009 Munsey Award

Bill Thom, the designer of the Coming Attractions website, was named the recipient of the 2009 Munsey Award at this year’s PulpFest. Nominated by members of the general pulp community, Bill was selected by a panel of judges consisting of the 25 living Lamont Award winners.

Bill’s website is where just about every pulp fan with computer access goes to learn about the latest news and book releases in the world of pulps and pulp reprints. He also maintains the Pulp Series Character Reprint Index that can be accessed through the Altus Press website as well as the Robert E. Howard bibliography available through the Howard Works website. He has also been a tremendous help for researchers over the years through his knowledge and collection.

Congratulations to Bill for winning the first Munsey Award. The honor is very well-deserved.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2010 Munsey Award. If you have someone in mind that you feel worthy to receive the Munsey Award, please let us know. Send the person’s name and a brief paragraph describing why you feel that person should be honored to Mike Chomko, 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542 or to mike@pulpfest.com. Previous winners of the Lamont Award or the Munsey Award are not eligible for the award. The deadline for nominations is April 30, 2010.

On August 3, 2009, planning and organizing is already underway for the 2010 convention. Clear your calendar for the weekend of July 30 - August 1, 2010 and join us at PulpFest 2010.

PulpFest 2009 is a Hit!

Thanks to all of our dealers and attendees who made PulpFest 2009 a great success. Please visit YouTube for a short video of this year’s PulpFest. Registrations totaled 351 and the future looks very bright for "The Summer’s Leading Pulp Convention."

Planning is already underway for PulpFest 2010. It will again be held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention Center, just off of Interstate 71, about ten minutes north of downtown Columbus. We’ll have an expanded dealers’ room, one or more lively auctions and a variety of the wonderful programming that entertained this year’s attendees.

So start making your plans for the weekend of July 30 - August 1, 2010 and join the convention that everyone is talking about–PulpFest!

Any convention is the work of many people and PulpFest 2009 is appreciative to all who helped make our first pulp con a great success.

Thanks a Million!

PulpFest 2011 Convention Report

For the third year in a row, PulpFest proved to be a worthy successor to the annual and semi-annual Pulpcon that was such a staple of the collecting world for more than thirty years. “If you think this is good, you should have been at Pulpcon 1! It was unbelievable!” Such a statement could be heard from more than one old-timer among the attendees this year. But that was then, this was now. PulpFest 2011 was held for three days, July 29th to 31st at the usual place, the Ramada Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio. As was the case in the previous two years, it was a rousing success.

For those who arrived early, there was an opportunity for the dealers to set up and a chance for early registration. Since the theme of the convention was “Celebrating 80 Years of The Shadow” (the first issue of the magazine was on the stands in 1931), there was an evening showing of three rare Shadow shorts: “A Burglar to the Rescue,” “House of Mystery,” and “The Circus Show-Up.” These were three stories adapted for the screen from Detective Story Magazine and introduced by The Shadow when he was the host of The Detective Story Hour on radio and not the character he became later in the pulps.

Following the three shorts there was a rare showing of The Black Watch, John Ford’s 1929 adaptation of Talbot Mundy’s classic King of the Khyber Rifles. This time it was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Talbot Mundy’s first appearance in print. Your reporter was on hand for the shorts and then stayed for the feature. He intended only to watch the first ten minutes or so of the latter, but became so caught up in the story and the performances of Victor McLaglen as Donald King and Myrna Loy as Yasmini that he stayed until the end somewhere in the wee hours of the night. Your reporter hastens to say that while the film was not very faithful to the original (for one thing, King’s first name in the book was Athelstan), he still found it entertaining.

On Friday morning PulpFest officially began with the traditional wheeling and dealing in the dealers’ room. Your reporter met with Walter Albert and his brother, Jim, at their table and we caught up with life since our last encounter two years previous. The formal part of the afternoon program consisted of readings by “The New Fictioneers,” contemporary authors of pulp fiction. Duane Spurlock read from his “Shalimar Bang and the Bad Luck Baedeker” and “Space Detective at Hell Gate.” He was followed by Wayne Reinagel reading from his novels Khan Dynasty and Viktoriana. The third Fictioneer was Win Scott Eckert, who read from The Justice Inc. Files and The Evil in Pemberley House. In the interest of full disclosure your reporter has to admit that he joined his friends for lunch instead of staying for the readings.

We were on hand during the evening for most of the programming. Jack Cullers offered the official welcome and was quickly followed by Martin Grams with a fascinating slide show about The Shadow radio program. David Saunders celebrated the 100th birthdays of artists Emery Clarke, Robert Harris, and Milton Luros with slides of them and their works. The piece de resistance was the panel “Granddaughters of the Pulps,” with Karen Cunningham (her grandfather was Frederick C. Davis), Laurie Powers (granddaughter of Paul S. Powers), and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown (granddaughter of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson). Each was a descendant of a pulp writer. Each spoke of her memories of her grandfather, the discoveries they had made while researching their lives and reading their stories, and what they subsequently learned about themselves.

Nicky Brown & David Saunders

This was followed by Stephen Haffner’s illustrated talk about Catherine Lucille Moore, one of the first female writers of science fiction and fantasy. 2011 is the centennial of her birth. The final Friday night panel was “The Shadow and the Wold Newton,” a celebration of Philip José Farmer, with presentations by Michael Croteau, Win Scott Eckert, Rick Lai, and Art Sippo. Due to some technical difficulties during the previous presentation, this panel began very late (after 11:00 PM) and your reporter was unable to stay up to watch.

Michael Croteau, Rick Lai, Win Scott Eckert, and Art Sippo, FarmerCon VI Panel

On Saturday, the dealers’ room was open once again and a panel featuring contemporary pulp fiction writers was offered. Authors Bill Craig, Win Scott Eckert, Greg Gick, Wayne Reinagel, Art Sippo, and Duane Spurlock participated in a panel about stories inspired by the old pulp writers. Later in the afternoon, Bill Craig read from his new Hardluck Hannigan novel, The Golden Scorpion. Your reporter and his friends went to lunch and visited bookstores. Among the continued traditions was a visit to an ice cream parlor. As a result we missed the PulpFest 2011 business meeting and the 2011 “Munsey Award Presentation” which went to Anthony Tollin for his work in producing the Sanctum Books editions of The Shadow and Doc Savage.

Anthony Tollin accepts the 2011 Munsey Award.

Garyn Roberts made a lively presentation on “Steampunk in the Days of Dime Novels and the Pulp Magazines,” which was enhanced by some wonderful covers of Frank Reade and his steam man. Garyn ended, appropriately enough, with the Great Marvel stories and Tom Swift.

The final panel of the convention was devoted to Walter B. Gibson and three people who had known Gibson took the platform– Anthony Tollin, Will Murray, and your reporter. We answered questions about our experiences with the man who wrote nearly 300 Shadow novels over eighteen years.

Anthony Tollin, Ed Hulse, Randy Cox, and Will Murray discuss Walter B. Gibson, author of nearly 300 Shadow novels

The final event was the annual auction which made up in enthusiasm what it may have lacked in really rare and expensive items.

No official tally of the number in attendance seemed to be announced, but the number had to be in the hundreds. A tentative number might be set at between 430 and 435. The number on your PulpFest badge should have been some indication, but since your reporter’s was in the 400’s and he thought he had registered early, it was not a good indicator. As usual, there were many walk-ins on Saturday who came for the pulps and not the programming. While there were many real pulps (and a few dealers who specialized in them), the trend still appears to be toward quality reprint collections and print-on-demand publications. Girasol Collectables was there with their facsimiles of the original magazines, especially The Spider, but there were other companies represented as well. Adventure House is producing frequent facsimiles of The Phantom Detective that are hard to tell from the real thing except that the paper doesn’t flake off in your hands as you turn the pages. They also have produced single issues of titles like Thrilling Detective.

Display of Adventure House pulp replicas

On Sunday our group had breakfast together, packed up, said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways. Your reporter did not add much to his collection this year, but he did find a 1938 issue of Argosy and an edition of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers that he had never seen before. In addition, he acquired copies of the books under review later in this issue of Dime Novel Round-Up.

J. Randolph Cox

Dime Novel Round-Up appears six times each year. A one-year subscription costs $20 and is available through Amazon.com or by sending a check or money order to J. Randolph Cox, Dime Novel Round-Up, P. O. Box 226, Dundas, MN 55019.
 

PulpFest 2011 Convention Report

(Aug. 2, 2011) Over the past forty years, I guess I’ve attended forty pulp conventions and I’ve always traveled by car either alone or with another collector. This is the first year that five of us rented a van and it was quite an experience. Between the five collectors there must of been at least 200 years of collecting books, pulps, digests, and vintage paperbacks. Three of us even collect original pulp cover paintings, not to mention slicks and other old magazines such as literary magazines, men’s adventure magazines, etc.

We kept each other amused by recalling strange book adventures and bizarre topics like "The Craziest Pulp Collector I Have Known." Needless to say, some of the people in the van qualify for this title! I might as well mention the names of these demented souls who spend their lives dreaming of pulps and books. In addition to myself, the collectors cooped up in this van were Nick Certo, Steve Kennedy, Digges La Touche, and last and not least, Ed Hulse (pictured), who was our driver.

Somehow, this overloaded van arrived safely a little over eight hours later. Even more surprising was the fact that we had not killed each other and were still on speaking terms. After checking into the Ramada Plaza, we all headed for the dealer’s room to set up our tables.

It was the same large room as last year and held over 100 tables. Because the large unloading doors were open to the 95 degree heat, there appeared to be very little air conditioning in effect.

We were not amused to find out at dinner that the restaurant was also very warm. Not only that, but they were out of certain items on the menu, including hamburger at one meal. When I ordered beer, practically every brand I tried to get was not available. Frankly, the restaurant did not seem set up to handle a convention weekend.

Next day when the dealer’s room opened officially, it was obvious that this was another rousing success due to the hard work of the PulpFest committee: Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse, and Barry Traylor. Jack Cullers also seemed to have an army of support from his family and friends.

I really must say these people deserve the thanks of pulp collectors for putting on such an excellent show. The attendance was the highest yet of any Pulpcon or PulpFest, over 425 attendees, which is a nice 10% increase over last year’s figure.

At my table, I sold far more than I thought I would, selling DVDs, cancelled checks from the files of Popular Publications and Munsey, and 39 duplicate Manhunt’s.

The biggest sale I noticed involved a 1929 Black Mask with white paper, in fine condition. The seller asked me what I thought it was worth and I said over $500, perhaps closer to a $1000. The first collector I told ran over and paid $900 for the issue. The unusual thing is that the reason the magazine sold was not because of the fine condition or because it was a 1929 Black Mask with a Hammett story. It sold because the collector was a rabid collector of Erle Stanley Gardner.

Another big sale I witnessed was the Ace Double original cover painting for Mrs. Homicide by Norman Saunders. Written by Day Keene, this short novel was paired with Bill Stuart’s Dead Ahead when it was published by Ace Books back in 1953. After much haggling, the painting sold for over $8,000. 

Several pulp reprints made their debut including Ed Hulse’s new issue of Blood n Thunder; Savages by Gordon Young; and The Best of Blood n Thunder. I bought all three publications and Ed said he sold just about all the copies that he had brought to the convention.

Laurie Powers also had good sales of her new book, a collection of Paul Power’s stories, titled Riding the Pulp Trail. Tom Roberts of Black Dog Books also had several new books for sale, including Pulp Vault 14, the best single issue of a pulp fanzine ever published.

Matt Moring of Altus Press has an ambitious reprint schedule, including collections of Fred Nebel’s Tough Dick Donahue, Kennedy and McBride, and Cardigan. These are major publications and well worth buying because the original Black Mask and Dime Detective pulps are so expensive.

The 20th issue of The Pulpster also made its debut and looked like one of the best issues yet. The editor is Tony Davis and he featured ten articles, including an unpublished story by H. Russell Wakefield. There were articles on William Cox and H. Bedford Jones and Don Hutchison’s memories of John Fleming Gould. He appeared at Pulpcon 19 in Wayne, New Jersey and I remember his visit vividly. I was high bidder on one of his sketches showing G-8′s Herr Doktor Krueger. Additionally, John Locke contributed an interesting piece on “Hunting Pulpsters In Graveyards”

I heard later that Locke and John Wooley visited the gravesite of D. L. Champion, who wrote the crazy Inspector Allhoff series for Dime Detective and the Rex Sackler stories for Black Mask. The grave is evidently near the convention hotel and I would have liked to visit it. Unfortunately, I get very emotional about pulp writers and probably would have made a fool of myself, not to mention getting arrested for trying to sell the remains at PulpFest.

One of the big surprises of the convention was the visit of former Pulpcon chairman and organizer, Rusty Hevelin. In the early years, Rusty single handedly kept Pulpcon going and deserves our thanks for his efforts, without which there might not be a convention all these years later.

He received a round of applause as he entered the dealers’ room and because he is in his late 80′s, I figured he would visit for just a short time and then leave. However, he evidently enjoyed himself and stayed all three days. He even attended the evening programming with his friend, Gay Haldeman. Welcome back Rusty.

Another collector I was glad to see was Gordon Huber, the only person to actually attend every Pulpcon and Pulpfest since the first one in 1972. Unfortunately there were several collectors who could not attend this year, including such long time attendees as Al Tonik, Steve Lewis, and Dave Kurzman.

The evening programming was some of the best I’ve ever seen. Some of the highlights were the three “Shadow” shorts from 1931-1932; the speech given by David Saunders on three pulp artists; the grandaughters of the pulps panel featuring Laurie Powers, Karen Cunningham, and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson; Stephen Haffner’s talk on C. L. Moore; Garyn Roberts discussion of steampunk in the pulps and dime novels: and the panel on Walter Gibson and The Shadow.

Granddaughters Panel–Karen Davis Cunningham, Ed Hulse, Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown, and Laurie Powers

The auction was disappointing to me, but I imagine some collectors found some good items. Tony Tollin won the Munsey Award for his extensive work reprinting the pulp novels featuring The Shadow, Doc Savage, and other Street & Smith characters.

The daytime programming consisted of readings and panels featuring contemporary authors discussing the new pulp fiction. The Pulpster also had an article about this recent movement. I have to admit I like the old pulp fiction from the original magazines. But evidently, there are some fans of this new pulp fiction.

Finally, I would like to thank the people responsible for stocking the hospitality suite with beer, soda, and snacks. I also noticed a couple pizzas floating around and whoever ordered them let me have a piece. Each year, I notice Rusty Burke in the room and he is one of the collectors responsible for the beer and locking up the room. Thank you Rusty.

Rusty Burke with the late Glenn Lord on the occasion of Glenn’s 80th birthday in November 2011.

I hope to see even more collectors in attendance next year because it is so important to support this convention.

After all, book and pulp collectors are my favorite people…

Walker Martin

Mystery*File is a blog published by Steve Lewis, a reader and collector of mystery fiction. It is devoted to mystery and detective fiction—the books, the films, the authors, and those who read, watch, collect and make annotated lists of them.