2011 Munsey Nominees

There were twenty-five nominating petitions for the 2011 Munsey Award that met the criteria for the award. In the interest of manageability, the final ballot was pared down to include those individuals who had received the most nominations. Many thanks from the PulpFest organizing committee to all who participated in the nominating process.

The nominee ballot was forwarded to the past winners of the Munsey and Lamont Awards who then selected the person to be honored. The 2011 Munsey Award was presented during Saturday evening’s programming on July 30th.

Congratulations to all the nominees for the 2011 Munsey.

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.

Win Scott Eckert

Win is first a writer, mostly of pulp tales. In the last several years he has published stories about Sherlock Holmes, Lance Star, The Green Hornet, The Avenger, Captain Midnight, The Phantom,  Zorro, and Doc Ardan and other French pulp characters. His novel, co-authored with Philip José Farmer, The Evil in Pemberley House, is seeped in pulp traditions. He is also an editor, with Myths for the Modern Age and The Green Hornet Chronicles under his belt so far. Finally, he is a researcher and a historian, particularly in the area of Farmer’s “Wold Newton.” His two-volume, 900+ page magnum opus, Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World, ties together hundreds of characters from the pulps, paperbacks, literature, television, and movies. He has also written extensive nonfiction, dealing with all manner of genres. Additionally, his daily blog regularly features pulp and paperback covers as its “pic o’ the day.” He is an ambassador for the world of pulp, often correcting misconceptions that exist about pulps and pulp scholarship.

Stephen Haffner

The “Big Poobah” of Haffner Press, Stephen has been returning the work of several highly regarded pulp fiction writers into print for a dozen years. Specializing in science fiction and fantasy, Stephen has brought back the early work of Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, and especially, Jack Williamson in a series of beautifully designed hardcovers. Ed Gorman wrote the following about Haffner Press books: “They’re among the best made and most handsomely illustrated of all the collectibles I’ve ever seen. These are masterpieces in every way.” Additionally, Stephen has been involved in furthering interest in the pulps among both academia and the general public. He has been associated with the annual Williamson Lectureship at Eastern New Mexico University for many years and in 2009 was a co-sponsor with theKinsman Historical Society of the first Edmond Hamilton Day in the late author’s hometown of Kinsman, Ohio. Stephen has also been a frequent presenter at various pulp conventions.

Stephen T. Miller

Steve has been indexing the pulps for years. With Michael Cook, he compiled 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.

Matt Moring

Though Matt is only in his late thirties, he has published more than fifty books dealing with the pulps. He runs Altus Press and in just a few, short years, has published many rare pulp stories as well as non-fiction books dealing with the characters and history of the pulps. To date he has published all of Robert J. Hogan’s Secret Six stories, nearly half of the adventures of Secret Agent X, and collections of lesser known characters such as Johnston McCulley’s The Man in Purple and  Lester Dent’s The Blond Adder. His schedule for 2011 includes books reprinting Les Savage’s Senorita Scorpion stories, Fred Nebel’s Jack Cardigan private eye adventures, and many others. His Dime Detective Companion is a superb reference to one of the leading detective magazines of the pulp era while The Revised Complete Chronology of Bronze, written by Rick Lai, dissects the adventures of Doc Savage. The Altus Press website is also an excellent reference source featuring links to The Pulp Superhero Index, The Echoes Index, the Pulp Series Character Reprint Index, and more. Such energy needs to be recognized and rewarded

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 “Who Read the Pulps?,” female pulp writers, a series of articles put together by various pulp fans entitled “My Favorite Pulps,” and more. 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.

Garyn Roberts

Professor Roberts teaches for 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, working to increase our knowledge of the field.

Phil Stephensen-Payne

Phil is a prolific bibliographer and pulp researcher based in the United Kingdom. For many years, he has been compiling extremely useful “working bibliographies,” (often in collaboration with the late Gordon Benson, Jr.) of speculative fiction writers, many of whom got their start writing for the pulps. These bibliographies, numbering about sixty, are some of the best reference resources available today in the area of science fiction and fantasy. Additionally, his Galactic Central website contains an online checklist of pulp magazines that is attempting to include the cover to every pulp ever published. Phil is also a significant contributor to the FictionMags Index and co-author (with Stephen T. Miller and William G. Contento) of the forthcoming Crime, Mystery and Gangster Fiction Magazine Index.

Anthony Tollin (2011 winner)

It was Tony Tollin who had the fortitude to convince Conde Nast to authorize reprints of Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Avenger, and The Whisperer. Tony’s regularly issued Sanctum Books are the most popular reprints in the field today. Every month, we can enjoy a double dose of some of the pulp era’s greatest heroes, coupled with informative articles about the authors and artists, 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.

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.

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.

Other Nominees

Also nominated were Gene Christie of Black Dog Books, John DeWalt, author of Keys to Other Doors, Mark Ellis, author of Cryptozoica, Ron Fortier of Airship 27, Adam Lance Garcia, author of Green Lama–Unbound, Rich Harvey of Bold Venture Press, Ron Hanna of Wild Cat Books, Don Herron, creator of San Francisco’s Dashiell Hammett tour and Rpbert E. Howard scholar, web designer and PulpFest‘s own Chris Kalb, Curt Phillips of PulpMags, Dave Reeder of PulpScans, Wayne Reinagel, author of Pulp Heroes–Khan Dynasty, Mike Taylor, writer and researcher for Pulpdom, and Howard Wright, editor and publisher of The Bronze Gazette. Again, congratulations to all of the nominees.

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