Our front desk staff Sally Cullers, Maura Childers, Aaron Cullers, Jack Cullers, Samantha Cullers, and Sam Childers, as well as John Gunnison, Chris Kalb, Michael Neno, David Saunders, Mark Trost, Dan Zimmer, plus Jason and Sunni Brock, Brian Earl Brown, Rusty Burke, Stephen Haffner, Rick Hall, Morgan Holmes, Steve Lewis, Lohr McKinstry, Walker Martin, Laurie Powers, David Lee Smith, Steve Haynes of Cinevent, John Bruening of Ohio Magazine, Vineetha Thomas and Diane Share of Experience Columbus, and Meri Lynne Stumbo, Beth Sweet, and the rest of the staff at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention Center. A special thank you to Martin Grams for his eleventh-hour technical assistance in setting up the Thursday-night movie screening.

The Organizing Committee would also like to thank all of the folks who helped to create The Pulpster #19:

Tony Davis and Bill Lampkin, plus Wooda Carr, Mike Chomko, Peter Chomko, Dave Fox, Fracesco Francavilla, Don Hutchison, Rex Layton, John Locke, Neil Mechem, Kenney Mencher, William F. Nolan, Bruce Stirling, and the magazine’s sponsors–Bear Manor Media, Black Dog Books, Golden Age Comics, Granton City Press, Malice Domestic, Mike Chomko Books, Origins Game Fair, PageTurner Editions, The Pulp Factory,  Pulp Ts, and the Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention.

And many thanks to all of the presenters who informed and entertained everyone who attended our programming events:

John DeWalt, Martin Grams, John Gunnison, Stephen Haffner, Ed Hulse, Don Hutchison, Will Murray, Francis Nevins, our Guest of Honor, William F. Nolan, Laurie Powers, Tom Roberts, Anthony Tollin, David Walker, John Wooley, auction organizers Barry Traylor and Mike Chomko, plus Maura Childers, Sam Childers, Aaron Cullers, Jack Cullers, Sally Cullers, and Sam Cullers, and finally, to the nominators and Lamont Award and Munsey Award winners who helped to select the winner of this year’s winner, Mike Chomko.

Finally, thanks to all of the conventions, book shows, websites, magazines, newspapers, and other media outlets that helped to promote our show as well as the dealers, attending members and supporting members of PulpFest 2010. It was due to your encouragement and support that our convention was a great success. We hope to see you all back in  the summer of 2011 along with a good many newcomers for PulpFest 2011. 

Today was the first day of PulpFest, going on until Sunday at the Ramada Plaza in Columbus Ohio. It was a terrific day–a good turnout and a whole lotta really, REALLY nice pulps laying around. This is a place where you can see some of the rarest pulps, like Strange Suicides, on the same rack as Adventure, Popular and Dime Detective.

The day did not start out auspiciously for me. I set two alarms the night before for 6 AM. Or, at least I thought I had set two alarms. I woke up at ten minutes to eight. So for most of the day I had to deal with feeling rushed AND with jet lag.

But never mind. It’s been wonderful catching up with everyone, including our regulars Walker Martin (who has been so wonderful in dragging people over to my table so they’ll buy a copy of Pulp Writer) and Barry Traylor, Ed Hulse, Jack Irwin, Will Murray and so many others I am forgetting to mention.

Will Murray aka Kenneth Robeson

I would like to send out again my condolences to Scott Hartshorn, whose father passed away just a few days ago, while Scott was on his was to PulpFest. Only a few months earlier, his mother had passed. Scott is here, and it’s probably a good thing. All of his friends as well as all of the treasures in this room will keep him occupied.

We had a TV cameraman from the local news station show up and take photos; we’re hoping that it showed up on the local news tonight. Last year we had the same coverage and it brought a lot of people out to the convention.

I was on a panel Friday night about the Western pulps, along with Ed Hulse, William F. Nolan (the guest of honor and author of Logan’s Run) and Don Hutchison (who wrote The Great Pulp Heroes). This year is the 90th anniversary of Max Brand’s first appearance as a pulp writer in Western Story Magazine. So a lot of the discussion was about Brand. But I did get my two cents in about Pulp Writer and those lesser-known writers such as my grandfather, Paul Powers. It was a great time.

Before our panel, Bill Nolan spoke about his writing career and how Logan’s Run came about. A very entertaining speaker, Nolan has tons of knowledge about the pulps. He is now working on a biography of Frederick Faust, the man who was Max Brand.

So far I have been very good in my pulp buying. I’ve bought a Popular–the October 1904 issue that has the first "Chip of the Flying U" story by B.M. Bower, a female Western writer I am very interested in. I also picked up a wonderful Western Story, the October 12, 1929 issue that features a story by Cherry Wilson. I’m expecting that tomorrow I won’t be as disciplined because I will realize that time is running away with me. As for Sunday when the dealers start slashing prices, forget it. I might as well clean out my savings account now.

Things have been popping here at PulpFest. Yesterday was a terrific day on a lot of levels, no small thanks to all of the wonderful people here. The dealer room was packed for a good portion of Friday. Pulps were sold, (and bought), deals were made, friendships formed, and I managed to sell quite a few copies of Pulp Writer as well. Of course I had to turn right around and spend the money on pulps, which wasn’t my plan, but.."Oh, well." I bought more Populars (including three I won in the auction), a few Love Stories, and a amazing 1930 Wild West Weekly with a very unusual Kid Wolf cover. I have my sights set on a Sea Stories this morning.

Last night was the announcement of the Munsey Award, which went to Mike Chomko, who is most deserving of the award and was a popular choice judging from the reception of the room. I was very happy to see Mike win. After the awards announcement, a panel consisting of Bill Nolan, Ed Hulse, Walker Martin, and John Wooley spoke on the 90th anniversary of Black Mask magazine, birthplace of the hard-boiled detective story and launching pad for some of the finest crime fiction of the 20th century. Nolan spoke of the very early years, Ed on the hard-core years of the late 1920s and the early 1930s, Walker on the early 1940s and John spoke of the later years. It was a fascinating panel and the turnout was excellent. I would say at least 100 people attended.

Following the panel was the auction, with an astounding 142 lots up for bid. Items ranged from Walter Gibson’s (The Shadow) typewriter, to lots of pulps, to massive collections of science fiction paperbacks, to a Shadow thermos.

I spent both Friday and Saturday catching up with everyone and meeting new people. Karen Cunningham Davis, Frederick C. Davis’ granddaughter showed up for a while and it was great to see her again. We’re tossing around the idea of having a panel in the future for "pulp writer grandchildren" or some such thing. I met many others friends that I’ve "known" for years on the Internet like Morgan Holmes, Ron Hanna (pictured) of Wild Cat Books, Will Murray, Anthony Tollin, Ron Fortier from Airship 27, Matt Moring from Altus Press, Tom Roberts from Black Dog Books, and on and on.

I never really recovered from jet lag which was worse on this trip than when I went to England. Go figure. I have been trying to figure out why, and the only reason I can come up with is because I arrived late at night and I was tired to begin with. For those of you who I didn’t get around to seeing, or if I didn’t stick around to talk much, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to snub anyone–I was just unbelievably tired. As it was, I forgot to say good-bye to about 80% of the people I knew.

It was heartening to see a lot of new people there. Some were walk-ins, and some had come in from as far as both coasts. I met a lovely couple, Ann and Craig George, who came all the way from Denver. Ann and Craig have started up a new online book store, George’s Curious Books, and say they have a web site coming soon. As soon as it’s up I’ll pass along the link.

Another nice surprise was Arlene Hilfer, a professor from Hiram College in Ohio. Arlene says that she has already taught one class in pulp fiction at Hiram, and will be teaching another one this fall on…drum roll….The Spider vs. The Empire State, published by Age of Aces Books. I am going to try to talk Arlene into doing an interview for the blog.

I want to give a special shout out to Barry Traylor, Jack Cullers, Mike Chomko, and Ed Hulse, directors of the convention. They did a fantastic job and I know that the great turnout can be directly attributed to these men’s efforts in putting on a professional and very well-run convention.

REHupa

The weekend of July 30-August 1st was the time for Pulpfest 2010. Rising from the ashes of the old Pulpcon, Pulpfest is picking up speed. If you ever thought of getting into reading pulp magazines, this is the place to go. Held in Columbus, Ohio, which makes for easy driving for me, it is an excuse for a three-day weekend, 2/3 of the way into the summer.

There you will finds dealers of pulp magazines, paperbacks, and pulp reprints which includes both books and pulp replicas.

Membership was just a few people shy of 400 this year. Guest William F. Nolan, author of Logan’s Run among others, proved to be a great raconteur. I was able to ask him about the claim that he rewrote some Frederick Faust/Max Brand stories for several collections back in the 80s. He denied he did, stating he wrote a framing sequence for one novella at the request of Faust’s family for copyright purposes. He told me there is a Faust biography by him on the way. Also a new treatment of Logan’s Run.

Saturday, there was a Robert E. Howard Foundation luncheon at the Pig Iron Grill. Those pictured below include myself, Jason Landers, Jim Barron, Ed Chaczyk, Eric Johnson, Scott Hartshorn, Rusty Burke, Don Herron, and John D. Squires. Don Herron told tales of E. Hoffman Price while John Squires reminisced about Karl Edward Wagner.

This is a golden age for pulp reprints. John Gunnison’s Adventure House continues to bring forth a steady number of affordable replicas. Black Dog Books has sprinted, and I mean sprinted, ahead to become the leader of pulp reprint authors collections and anthologies. Paradox should give serious thought to allowing Black Dog to do some Robert E. Howard books. I can remember when Tom Roberts was producing cool chapbooks. Now he is producing cool trade paperbacks. I just started reading The Best of Adventure, Volume 1: 1910-1912, edited by Doug Ellis, and am enjoying it mightily.

Haffner Press continues to be the benchmark for small press hardbacks. Steve Haffner just unveiled Detour to Otherness, a great big honkin collection of Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore stories.

Ed Hulse’s magazine Blood and Thunder is a great publication. The production values keep going up with each issue. It might be the best looking pulp-oriented magazine today though I am awaiting the triumphant return of Pulp Vault.

So next year, block off the last weekend of July and make plans to head to Columbus. Remember, all serious Robert E. Howard fans wear Hawaiian shirts at events such as these.

Longtime art, book, and pulp collector Walker Martin has been attending pulp conventions for many years, including the very first Pulpcon in 197

I’m just back from one of the most enjoyable four days in my life as a collector. It’s true. I only got four hours of sleep each night and I ate and drank beer to excess, but I hung out with the greatest group of collectors and happily wallowed in a sea of pulps, books, vintage paperbacks, and original pulp art paintings.

Since I was going to leave for the convention on Thursday, I started to pack up on Wednesday the pulps that I was going to sell at my table. As I sorted through the hundreds of issues I came to the horrifying realization that I simply could not bear to part with any of them. So I put them back on the shelves and decided to just sell canceled checks from the Popular Publications and Munsey files and a box of DVDs. As usual the checks sold well.

The last few years I’ve driven out to the pulp conventions with Steve Kennedy, a NYC art dealer who is a not an early riser. Thursday morning at 5 AM, I began the usual ordeal of getting Steve out of bed and into the car so that we could be on the road by 6:00.

Nine hours and 500 miles later we arrived in Columbus, Ohio at the Ramada. Though it was only 3 PM, pulp collectors were already showing up and several rang my room to see when we could get together. Within a few hours, several of us were chowing down the hotel restaurant food.

I’ve heard several complaints about the hotel food and the lack of restaurants within walking distance. Frankly, I don’t care if the food or restaurants are good, bad, or indifferent. I’m there for the books, pulps, and artwork.

Most mornings I ate breakfast in the hotel with such crazy collectors and longtime friends as Scott Hartshorne, Nick Certo, Dave Scroggs, Ed Hulse, and Digges La Touche. The one breakfast that we ate at the Waffle House, I made the interesting discovery that Lollipops, The Gentlemen’s Club was next door. Some of us were going to visit to see if any of the girls were pulp collectors, but there was a Shriners convention also at the hotel and these guys were real party animals without the distraction of books and pulps. Maybe next year…

The hotel was a real bargain and despite the lack of nearby restaurants, I’ve never seen room rates so low for a hotel which also provided a large dealer’s room, hospitality suite, and meeting rooms. In fact the lack of restaurants is not really a problem at all because the hotel has a nice 15 person shuttle van that will take you and pick you up from any place in town.

The hospitality room was excellent, full of beer, soda, and snacks. Also full of knowledgeable collectors talking about pulps into the early morning hours. I would like to thank the great guys who are responsible for stocking the beer. I’m very thirsty after a long day of breathing in pulp chips and talking about the joys of collecting to just about anyone who would stand still.

The dealer’s room this year was far larger than last year’s room with a lot of space between dealers. The attendance was even better that last year’s 350, reaching at least the 390 mark. This attendance of almost four hundred is more than any that the old Pulpcons ever had.

I would place this year’s show as one of the very best I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been to almost all since the first one in 1972. I rank the 2010 PulpFest with the first Pulpcon in 1972 and the 1981 Cherry Hill event, where I scored over ten pulp cover paintings for an average price of $200 to $400 each.

So many great collectors were there that I cannot mention them all. But I will mention two who have excellent blogs and websites that often mention pulps and paperbacks–Laurie Powers of Laurie’s Wild West and Steve Lewis of Mystery*File. Besides the PulpMags Yahoo group, these are the only two websites I make a point of visiting every day.

The evening panels were the best I’ve ever attended, though the Windy City Adventure panel was also outstanding. Friday night we had a panel on the pulp Western with guest of honor William F. Nolan, Mike Nevins, Don Hutchinson, Laurie Powers, and Ed Hulse. This type of panel never happened at Pulpcon because of the emphasis on such subjects as the hero pulps. Westerns were once extremely popular and outsold only by the love pulps. So we need more discussions concerning the Western pulps.

Also on Friday we heard William Nolan’s speech, Stephen Haffner on Leigh Brackett, and Tony Tollin on his favorite subject, The Shadow. During the day, I couldn’t drag myself away from the joys of the dealer’s room, but I’ve been told that Mike Nevins gave an interesting talk concerning his new book, Cornucopia of Crime.

I managed to get an advance copy signed by Mike and can report it is a major publication, collecting many of his essays on mystery authors that he has written over the years.

As good as Friday was, Saturday was even better, with the business meeting, Munsey Award presentation, Black Mask panel, and the auction.

The Munsey Award was properly awarded to Mike Chomko, but I didn’t hear presenter Tom Roberts mention why Mike was getting the award. Not only has he been one of the members of the PulpFest committee (the others are Jack Cullers, Barry Traylor, and Ed Hulse), but he used to publish one of the very best of the pulp fanzines, Purple Prose.

It was a major disappointment when Mike had to suspend the magazine due to his nursing studies. I tried to talk him out of it to no avail. Hopefully he will find the time to revive this great magazine. In addition he is a major dealer of pulp-related books, selling just about every pulp reprint that’s available. We haven’t had such a dealer since the great old days of Robert Weinberg Books. Congratulations Mike.

The Black Mask panel ranks as one of the very best panels, right up there with the great Adventure panel at the 2010 Windy City. During an hour, Bill Nolan, Ed Hulse, John Wooley, and I managed to discuss every major period of the magazine and many of the writers and editors

Bill Nolan talked about the Joe Shaw years of 1926-1936 when the very best in hard-boiled fiction was published; Ed Hulse covered an overview of the magazine and discussed the Fanny Ellsworth years of 1937-1940; I talked about the Ken White years in the forties and John Wooley discussed the post-war period.

We also covered just about every major writer such as Hammett, Chandler, Carroll John Daly, Horace McCoy, Fred Nebel, Raoul Whitfield, Erle Stanley Gardner, Paul Cain, Merle Constiner, D. L. Champion, Robert Reeves, Dale Clark, John Butler, Norbert Davis, and others.

Perhaps many readers of this report will recognize such famous names as Hammett, Chandler, Gardner, but most of these other writers have been unjustly forgotten and may rank right up there with our favorite SF, Western, mystery and adventure writers. I say “may” because we did have some critical things to say about Carroll John Daly and Horace McCoy.

Bill Nolan, Ed Hulse, Walker Martin, and John Wooley on Black Mask.

The auction was very well attended and 142 lots went up for bids. Collectors managed to obtain such pulps as The Shadow, Golden Book, Frontier Stories, Western Story, Argosy, Popular, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Adventure, Nick Carter, Pete Rice, Fantastic Adventures, Air War, Startling Stories, Captain Zero, Super-Detective, Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Story, Flynn’s, Double Detective, Thrilling Adventures, Dime Mystery, G-8, Detective Tales, and many others.

The most interesting item was Walter Gibson’s typewriter, or at least one of them, with a letter of authenticity.

I obtained my usual pile of wants and interesting objects. I’m working on a complete set of Western Story, and I’m somewhere around the 1200 issue mark; so it’s getting very difficult to find the early issues I still need, but I found one from 1922.

I showed the issue to Laurie Powers and other collectors, and they must have thought I was crazy to be so happy about one issue of Western Story, but that’s the excitement you feel as you near the completion of a lifelong project.

Another find that impressed everyone was a 1940′s issue of Love Book. Normally you would think such a find to be of very little interest, but over 30 years ago I obtained a love pulp cover painting showing a pretty girl typist smiling.

I’ve hunted decades for the magazine to go with the painting and had just about given up, thinking that I’d never locate the issue among the thousands of love pulps that were published. But at this convention, while digging through rows of love pulps, I found not only the issue, but a second one as well.

I proudly showed it to my pulp collecting pals who over the years had become bored with my constant whining about finding the love magazine to go with the painting. They will now be pleased to hear that I will now shut up about the subject.

I also obtained an original cover painting from Detective Fiction Weekly and an interesting piece of artwork showing the "Yellow Peril" dangers of World War II.

John Locke’s Off-Trail Publications just put out an excellent two-volume collection of Ghost Story fiction. It also contains a history of the magazine and original research on the writers. This is a must buy because the original magazines are so rare.

I bought several of Tom Roberts Black Dog Books reprints. I especially am looking forward to reading the first volume of The Best of Adventure, edited by Doug Ellis. Also three of the first four of the Talbot Mundy Library are out.

We are living in the Golden Age of pulp reprints and I saw plenty of tables packed with reprints by Altus Press, Age of Aces, Girasol Collectables, Haffner Press, and others.

The new issue of Blood n Thunder made its debut and it’s a stunner, perhaps the best issue yet, 100 pages long, containing a long article by Tom Krabacher about Gordon Young, an unjustly forgotten writer. The issue is a celebration of Adventure‘s 100th birthday and also contains pieces by Ed Hulse on the Lady Fulvia series, a serial based on a W.C. Tuttle novel, and an article by Adventure editor Arthur Sullivant Hoffman on writing for the pulps.

There is also a long section titled, “The Campfire: Summer 2010 Edition.” Reading this section will point you toward some of the best fiction published in Adventure. It’s sort of a “My Favorite Issue” discussion by such collectors as Doug Ellis, Tom Krabacher, Dave Scroggs, Brian Taves, Ralph Grasso, Digges La Touche, Ed Hulse, and myself.

Many years ago Doug Ellis published one of the great magazines about the pulps, Pulp Vault. I had hoped that the new issue would finally be available at PulpFest but Doug gave me the sad news that it was delayed.

When this issue is finally published, it will be the greatest issue of a magazine about the pulps ever published. It will be over 200 pages with an unpublished Virgil Finlay cover and full of interesting articles such as Mike Ashley’s article on Blue Book, over 15,000 words long. Readers and collectors, this will be an issue worth the wait!

I know I’ve left a lot out and perhaps other attendees can contribute comments or correct any mistakes. I would like to thank the committee members for all their hard work on this convention. I’m referring to Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers and his family, Barry Traylor, and Ed Hulse.

Also thanks to Chris Kalb for his work, John Gunnison for his voice in the auction room, Tony Davis and others involved with The Pulpster, and the collectors who stocked the hospitality suite.

Fellow readers and collectors, this is not a convention to be missed. Start making plans for next year because we have to support this event with our attendance. If it wasn’t for these people, by now we would mourning the death of the summer convention, because the old Pulpcon was on its last legs.

Mike Nevins, Bill Nolan, Don Hutchison, Laurie Powers, and Ed Hulse discussing the evolution of the pulp Western at PulpFest 2010.

If you’d like to learn more about the history of PulpFest, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the organizing committee members. You’ll find their email addresses scattered throughout this website and at the bottom of the FAQ Page.

The reporting began on Friday, July 30, when Laurie Powers began a three-part post to her Internet blog, Laurie’s Wild West. A highly regarded writer, Laurie is also the granddaughter of Paul Powers, one of the original pulpsters and the author of many stories originally published by Wild West Weekly. Laurie’s report was soon followed by longtime pulp fan and conventioneer Walker Martin when he logged onto the Yahoo news group Pulpmags, and offered his view of PulpFest 2010. Both reports can be found on Laurie’s blog. Walker’s is also available on Steve Lewis’ Mystery*File.

For those who enjoy the work of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, Morgan Holmes has posted a convention report at the REHupa website, the blog for the members of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association. For a look at PulpFest 2010 from a Howardian perspective, please visit the association’s site.

Mike Nevins, Bill Nolan, Don Hutchison, Laurie Powers, and Ed Hulse discussing the pulp Western at PulpFest 2010.

And for those of you who would like a more visual presentation, there are plenty of pictures available from this year’s convention. Adirondack reporter Lohr McKinstry has about a dozen photos posted on Flickr, Yahoo’s public photography archive. And Brian Earl Brown, the official editor of the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society and publisher of  BEB Books, has over forty pictures elsewhere on Flickr. Finally, if you belong to Pulpmags, the Yahoo news group devoted to discussing the history of pulp magazines, David Lee Smith has posted twenty more photos from this year’s con.

Planning is already underway for PulpFest 2011 which will be even bigger and better than this year’s event. See you next summer!

Rusty Burke, Walker Martin, Laurie Powers, and John Gunnison of Adventure House enjoying themselves at PulpFest 2010!

Mike has been involved in the pulp hobby for over twenty years, writing his first article for Echoes in the late eighties. In 1995, he launched the pulp fanzine Purple Prose that ran for seventeen issues and published many highly regarded articles about the pulps, including “The Steeger Papers,” the start of a pulp history penned by Popular Publications’ Harry Steeger. He has volunteered at many 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 is one of the organizers of the annual PulpFest .

In receiving his award, Mike thanked his family and all of the people who have helped and mentored him through his years within the pulp community, in particular Jack Cullers, Barry Traylor, and fellow Munsey nominee John DeWalt.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2011 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, 2011.

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 9 AM to 5 PM on Saturday. Sunday will be a bit shorter, from 10 am to 3 PM. The evening programming schedules for Friday and Saturday nights will run from 7 PM until 12 AM. Tomorrow’s programming will include afternoon presentations by Doc Savage author Will Murray and another by popular culture expert Martin Grams. The evening programming will include an auction, a panel on the classic detective pulp, Black Mask Magazine, and presentation of the 2010 Munsey Award.

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.

PulpFest 2010

To all of you who will be attending PulpFest, we look forward to seeing you. Please have a safe journey to Columbus.

Barry Traylor, Ed Hulse, Jack Cullers, and Mike Chomko

Although PulpFest 2010 officially gets under way on Friday, July 30, the convention’s organizing committee is urging dealers to arrive on Thursday to set up their displays. The dealers’ room will be open from 6 PM to 12 AM on July 29 for set-up. It will also be open for set-up on Friday morning for one hour during early bird admission. The dealers’ room will be open to everyone beginning at 9 AM on Friday.

During Thursday set-up, dealers will be asked to arrange their displays and, upon completion, cover them up and then depart the room. No selling will be permitted during Thursday evening’s set-up.

The general membership is also welcome to arrive on Thursday. Early registration will take place beginning at 7 PM at a location to be determined. All members, dealers included, will be able to pick up their registration packets at this time. 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 $60. Early-bird memberships will not be available after Thursday.

For those members arriving on Thursday, July 29, refreshments will be provided courtesy of the PulpFest organizing committee. Film historian Ed Hulse has also put together a short film program to help celebrate the convention’s themes–the 90th anniversaries of the debut of Black Mask Magazine and the first appearance of Max Brand in Western Story Magazine.

Single-day memberships will be available at the door for Friday or Saturday at the rate of $15 per day. Sunday only memberships will cost $5. Full three-day memberships will also be available at the door for $35. Children who are accompanied by a parent and are fifteen years of age or younger will be admitted free of charge.

The hotel’s special room rate of $79 per night plus tax will continue through the start of the convention. However, rooms are going quickly. 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." You can also make a reservation by calling the hotel at 614-846-0300. Be sure to mention PulpFest to get the special convention rate whether placing your reservation by phone or online.

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.

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 jack@pulpfest.com. Haffner Press will be sponsoring the con suite on Friday  when it will be temporarily renamed "The Otherness Suite." The Robert E. Howard Foundation will sponsor the con suite on Saturday.

The convention will officially open on Friday, July 30 at 9 AM. Early-bird registrants will be allowed into the dealers’ room beginning at 8 AM. The doors will open to everyone, beginning at 9 AM. The dealers’ room will be open until 5 PM on Friday evening. It will be open from 9 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and from 10 AM to 3 PM on Sunday.

There will be a full schedule of programming on Friday and Saturday evenings from 7 PM until about midnight. There will also be several 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. For additional information, please visit our Auctions page or contact Barry Traylor via email.

The second annual Munsey Breakfast will take place on Sunday, August 1, beginning at 9 AM. This will be an informal meal in the hotel’s restaurant to celebrate this year’s Munsey Award winner and your PulpFest experience. All convention attendees are welcome to attend.

PulpFest 2010 will have many freebies available for all attendees. There will be a variety of materials at the entrance to the dealers’ room. These will be accessible on Saturday morning. So bring along a BIG bag!

For those attendees who would like to ship their purchases to their homes, PulpFest 2010 has arranged for a local UPS provider to be available at the hotel on Sunday, August 1. A local FedEx office, located about two miles from the hotel, will also be open for shipping your purchases. Transportation can be arranged through the hotel’s shuttle service. Further information is available on our FAQ  page.

The entire PulpFest 2010 organizing committee–Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse and Barry Traylor–is looking forward to seeing you all in just a few days. Have a safe trip to Columbus.