2012 Munsey Nominees

There were eighteen nominating petitions for the 2012 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 2012 Munsey Award, along with the Rusty Hevelin Service Award, was presented during Saturday evening’s programming on August 11th, 2012.

Congratulations to all the nominees for the 2012 Munsey.

Camille Cazedessus

“Caz” has been publishing a fanzine devoted to pulp fiction for more than fifty years, first as Erb-dom and later as The Fantastic Collector and Pulpdom. All told, he has edited & published 220 issues, as well as several books. In its earliest incarnation, Caz’s magazine focused on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, presenting background information and bibliographic details about the author’s work as it appeared in magazines, books, comics, and movies. Erb-dom won a Hugo Award in 1966. In the late nineties, Caz rechristened his fanzine as Pulpdom, a publication devoted to “studying the authors that wrote for the pulps and reprinting the ‘fantastic adventure’ type stories from pulp magazines.” With the help of various writers and indexers including Gary Lovisi, Al Lybeck, Jerry Page and, most recently, Mike Taylor, Pulpdom has explored nearly every pre-1932 general fiction pulp ever published, including Argosy, All-Story, Blue Book, Cavalier, Popular, and other titles.

J. Randolph Cox

For more than 45 years, Randy has conducted research into pulp magazines and dime novels. He has also served as editor-publisher of Dime Novel Round-Up for over twenty years. His bibliography, Man of Magic & Mystery: A Guide to the Work of Walter B. Gibson, is an excellent resource for those seeking greater understanding of the work of the man who created The Shadow. With David S. Siegel, Randy authored Flashgun Casey: Crime Photographer, a booklength study of the character originally created for Black Mask by George Harmon Coxe. Other books he has authored include Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography and The Dime Novel Companion: A Source Book. Randy has donated his collection of comic books and newspaper strips fanzines, pulps, series books, story papers, and other materials to the University of Minnesota Libraries and is in the process of donating his extensive collection of Walter Gibson books and Shadow pulps and comics to the author’s alma mater, Colgate University.

Jack and Sally Cullers (winners Rusty Hevelin Service Award)

Jack has worked quietly and tirelessly for the pulp community for decades. A longtime volunteer for any number of pulp conventions, Jack has ferried guests of honor to and from airports and made sure they had a friendly face with whom to dine. He has stuffed and addressed envelopes, arranged for advertising, organized auctions, and done many other behind-the-scenes tasks, selflessly and without seeking accolades. Time and again, he has welcomed newcomers to the hobby, even inviting them to his home for dinner during their earliest pulp conventions. He has offered space at his dealer tables for down-on-their-luck pulpsters unable to attend conventions. As the chairman of the PulpFest committee, he has worked to assure that convention guests, dealers, presenters, and attendees are treated fairly and respectfully, helping everyone to feel welcome and comfortable at the convention. Of course, Jack could not have done all that he has done without the support of his wife, Sally, herself a longtime pulp con volunteer, often helping with registrations and auctions. His children and friends have also lent a hand. Come convention time, the “Cullers Clan” is hard at work, making sure things run as smoothly as possible.

Ron Hanna

For nearly two decades Ron, through his Wild Cat Books operation, has selflessly served the pulp community by maintaining interest in the great pulps. Beginning with his fanzine Lost Sanctum, Ron has published material by both new and old writers and artists, exhibiting his great love and respect for the pulps. Some of the books that he has published include Master of the Pulps: The Collected Essays of Nick Carr, The Handbook of Bronze: The Definitive Guide for the Doc Savage Collector, and The Captain Future Handbook. Long before anyone else, he took his love of pulp fiction to the next level and began presenting brand new pulp stories and artwork by some of today’s finest creators, helping to set the stage for the “New Pulp” movement. More recently, he has revived the classic science-fiction magazine, Startling Stories. Ron’s work to keep the spirit of the old pulps alive has cost him a great deal both personally and financially, but he keeps giving it everything he can. 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 exceptional resource for collectors of not only detective pulps, but also hero and some adventure magazines. With Phil Stephensen-Payne and William G. Contento, Steve recently revised this classic index, issued on CD-ROM by Locus Press as Crime, Mystery and Gangster Fiction Magazine Index, 1915-2010. Together with Bill Contento, Steve also 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 (winner 2012 Munsey Award)

In a few years, Matt’s Altus Press has published many rare pulp stories and non-fiction books dealing with the characters and history of the pulps. To date he has published all of Kendell Foster Crossen’s Green Lama stories, half of the adventures of Secret Agent X, and collections of lesser known characters such as Johnston McCulley’s The Man in Purple, Paul Ernst’s Seekay, and Lester Dent’s The Blond Adder. More recently, he has reprinted Les Savage’s Senorita Scorpion stories, Fred Nebel’s Tough Dick Donahue 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. Forthcoming is the thirtieth anniversary issue of Echoes, one of the best pulp history fanzines of all time. Together with Will Murray, Matt revived the Doc Savage series, publishing brand new stories after a twenty-year absence. The Altus Press website is also an excellent reference source featuring links to The Pulp Superhero Index and The Echoes Index. Such energy needs to be recognized and rewarded. Matt Moring and others like him are the future of the pulp collecting hobby.

Curt Phillips

Curt Phillips founded and continues to moderate the PulpMags newsgroup on Yahoo, a forum for lively and informative discussions for pulp fans for over a dozen years. This group has been bringing together old fans, new fans, fans who have never been to a pulp convention, and others, all of them sharing info about the hobby and the history of the pulps. Curt and the group have been great at promoting both the hobby and pulp conventions. During an era when the amateur press association format and postal correspondence have declined, Curt has fostered dialog and immediacy in conversing about pulps through the newsgroup. Other groups and Facebook have launched since PulpMags was born, but the latter maintains a well-rounded, come-one-come-all feel that invites discussion about everything from All-Story to Westerns to love and romance magazines and beyond. It seems like an online version of the PulpFest hospitality suite, where all pulp topics are welcome. Curt also founded and moderates the VintagePaperbacks newsgroup, served as the editor of the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society for a number of years, and has helped a wide variety of people with research projects and collecting.

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. She is currently working on a biography of pulp editor Daisy Bacon.

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 Don Diavolo, and The Compleat Great Merlini Saga. 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 where he often serves as a presenter and panelist.

George Vanderburgh

Through his Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, George has published over 600 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 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 served as the co-editor of Arkham House until the death of April Derleth. 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 many 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 William G. Contento, indexer and organizer of the online FictionMags Index; Martin Grams, author of The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program and other popular culture books and articles, as well as the organizer of the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention; Don Herron, a major researcher into the lives and works of various authors including Robert E. Howard and Philip K. Dick and the originator of San Francisco’s celebrated Dashiell Hammett Tour; Chris Kalb, art designer for a number of pulp reprint publishers, including Age of Aces Books and Murania Press, publisher of Blood ‘n’ Thunder as well as the designer of the PulpFest website; Phil Stephensen-Payne, a prolific bibliographer and pulp researcher based in the United Kingdom whose Galactic Central website contains an online checklist of pulp magazines that is attempting to include the cover to every pulp ever published; Mike Taylor, writer and researcher for Pulpdom; and Howard Wright, editor and publisher of The Bronze Gazette, the long-running Doc Savage fanzine. Again, congratulations to all of the nominees.