DNRU Con Report

J. Randolph Cox, editor and publisher of Dime Novel Round-Up, offered the following summary of PulpFest 2009 in the August 2009 issue (Whole No. 718) of his journal dedicated to the study of dime and nickel novels, story papers, series books and pulp magazines. The article is © 2009 J. Randolph Cox and used with permission. Accompanying photographs are © 2009 Brian Earl Brown and Lohr McKinstry and used with permission.

Convention Report: PulpFest 2009

All hail the new beginning! PulpFest 2009 replaced the traditional Pulpcon this year and by all accounts was a great success. There were more than 350 in attendance (many of them walk-ins for the day) and the word that flashed around the dealer’s room to describe the atmosphere was "energy." At any time during the three days there were dozens of collectors at the tables examining the wares of the dealers.

PulpFest 2009 was held from July 31 to August 2 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio, a ten-minute drive from downtown (although arriving in the midst of the late afternoon rush hour traffic as your editor did, it seemed to take longer than that all the while hoping that he was in the correct lane of traffic for making the proper exit).

From there it was a quick trip to the Ramada parking lot and registration at the front desk. Once settled in the room, the next step was looking for the usual gang of comrades in pulp adventure with whom your editor has become accustomed to hang out at this annual event. From there it was only a car ride away to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then back to pick up our registration packets. (Over the next few days there were many similar visits to restaurants and a few to nearby bookstores as well).

One of the reasons this convention may have been so well attended was the proliferation and variety of material for sale in the dealers’ room. Not only pulp magazines, the original raw material for the pulp generation of readers, but the books in which some of the stories were preserved and the related material that reflected an interest in high adventure. There was more than one dealer who sold DVDs of rare movies and movie serials and TV shows. Something for everyone.

The busy and energetic dealers’ room on Saturday

As has been noted in past columns, this is a golden age of reprints, from volumes collecting the orignal magazine stories (arranged by author or by series character or genre) to facsimiles of magazine issues themselves. Only a handful of publishers of these reprints had tables themselves, but their publications could be obtained from many different dealers.

The pulp conventions have never had a rigid program with an emphasis on panel discussions or presentations by authors or collectors, preferring to allow collectors more time to browse in the dealers’ room. PulpFest gave everyone a choice by making some events (generally readings from recently published fiction in the pulp tradition) available even while the dealers’ room was open. These ranged from G. Warlock Vance and Mike Glagola reading from The Missing Narrative of Neptune, described in the program as "a hardboiled novella from the weird-detective genre of mystery fiction" and from a forthcoming novel, The Bad Man, to Ron Fortier reading a chapter from his latest Captain Hazzard novel, Cavemen of New York, and S. Clayton Rhodes reading his novelette, "To Bite the Worm," from the revived Startling Stories. Your editor was able to attend William Patrick Maynard’s reading from The Terror of Fu Manchu, his newly published novel. Maynard is the second writer since 1959 (the first was Cay Van Ash) to be authorized by the Sax Rohmer estate to continue the famous thrillers.

On Friday, the official welcome from those responsible for PulpFest was followed by a panel discussion of "Pulp Collecting 2009: State of the Hobby," the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Operator #5 stories by Frederick C. Davis, and the early work of science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton. Late that first evening, Anthony Tollin and Will Murray discussed the new series from Sanctum Books reprinting The Avenger novels. An hour devoted to H. P. Lovecraft was appropriately scheduled for 11:00 p. m. in which Ian Lohr of Howling Wolf Lost Pulp Classics ably explored the life and legacy of Lovecraft and his influence on weird fiction and the way his stories have been interpreted (and misinterpreted) in the media.

Fred Davis/Operator #5 Panel (from left)–Garyn Roberts, Nick Carr, moderator Don Hutchison, Karen Cunningham (Davis’ granddaughter) and Rick Davis (Davis’ son)

Saturday evening began with a lively and informative business meeting where the founders of PulpFest took praise as well as suggestions for improving future conventions. Eric Johnson, Associate Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at Ohio State University, presented an overview of OSU’s pulp and popular culture materials (including the Cartoon Research Library). The guest of honor was Otto Penzler who answered questions about his long career as publisher, editor, bookseller and collector. The evening was concluded by an auction of magazines, books and original art. The bidding was lively and thousands of dollars changed hands.

PulpFest concluded on Sunday with the Munsey Award Breakfast at which Bill Thom received the first Munsey Award for his work in keeping us all alert to new publications and activity in the pulp world at his Coming Attractions website.

PulpFest 2010 has already been scheduled for July 30 to August 1, in Columbus, Ohio.