The following posts cover the planning and organization of PulpFest 2011, held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio, from July 28 – 31, 2011. However, we’ve left out posts about “housekeeping chores,” such as registering for the convention, solicitations for Pulpster advertising, and the like.
Mark Your Calendar for PulpFest 2011
Oct. 5, 2010 – PulpFest will return to the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio during the last weekend of July 2011. It will begin Friday, July 29, and run through Sunday, July 31. The hotel is located just off Exit 116 of I-71, about ten minutes north of downtown Columbus, Ohio.
Early registration and dealer set-up will take place on Thursday evening, July 28. The PulpFest 2011 organizing committee will also sponsor a party in the convention’s hospitality suite on Thursday evening, along with a movie program assembled by Blood ‘n’ Thunder editor Ed Hulse. The dealers’ room will open to all on Friday, July 29, at 9 AM. Start making your plans to attend summer’s pulp con, celebrating forty years in 2011!!!
Chris Kalb adapted this flyer from George Rozen’s cover art for the September 1932 issue of The Shadow Detective Monthly, illustrating Walter B. Gibson’s “Hidden Death.” An excerpt from Rozen’s cover art also serves as our featured image.
Upcoming Events
Oct. 24, 2010 – While you anxiously await the next PulpFest, why not attend a regional event in your own backyard?
Rich Harvey’s Pulp Adventurecon will take place Saturday, November 6, from 10 AM – 5 PM. This one-day show is a very enjoyable event, held once or twice a year at the Ramada Inn in Bordentown, New Jersey, just off Exit 7 of the Turnpike. Visit the convention’s website to learn more.
Ray Walsh will hold the 38th Classicon at the University Quality Inn in Lansing, Michigan, on November 13. It’s one of North America’s oldest pulp and paperback gatherings.
For those fans in the Southwest, Doc Con XIII will be held in Peoria, Arizona, from November 12 – 14. The programming will focus on the 70th birthday of the Doc Savage comic book and the 75th anniversary of Monk’s pet ape Chemistry’s first appearance in the pulps. Learn more about this Doccentric convention on Bill Lampkin’s Yellowed Perils blog.
On the second Saturday of each month, the Gotham Pulp Collectors Club holds its regular meeting at the Hudson Park Library in Manhattan. Visit their website or write to info@gothampulpcollectors.com for further details.
And don’t forget the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention will celebrate the 80th anniversary of Popular Publications from April 15 – 17, 2011. It will be here before you know it!
Happy Holidays from PulpFest
Dec. 13, 2010 – Here’s wishing all of you the happiest of holiday seasons. May good old St. Nick leave you copious quantities of your favorite pulp magazines to tide you over until the pulp con season begins with the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention starting on April 15, continuing with PulpFest 2011 at the end of July, and on through to next fall’s events.
Many thanks to Jerry Page for sending us this wonderful holiday cover. Interestingly, in 1930, Detective Story Magazine spawned a radio program that featured an announcer called “The Shadow.” Soon thereafter, people began visiting newsstands in search of “that Shadow magazine.” This led Street & Smith to create a single-character magazine known as The Shadow, a Detective Magazine. In 2011, PulpFest will celebrate the 80th anniversary of this classic magazine, the first hero pulp.
John A. Coughlin contributed the cover art for the December 24, 1927 issue of Detective Story Magazine.
Pulp Con Season Begins
April 3, 2011 – In less than two weeks, the Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention opens up the pulp con season with a celebration of the 80th anniversary of Popular Publications and Dime Detective Magazine. Highlights include a Popular Publications art show, sponsored by Illustration Magazine; an expanded dealers’ room with 140 tables of pulps and other popular culture materials; an extensive program of pulp-related films; and two great auctions.
The PulpFest organizing committee will be well represented at Windy City. Look for Barry Traylor, Ed Hulse, Jack Cullers, and Mike Chomko. All four will be attending this year’s Windy, running April 15 – 17.
On the West Coast, City Lights Booksellers and Publishers, in conjunction with the Cultural Services of the Consulate General of France and the Mechanics’ Institute Library, will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the arch-villain Fantomas. The creation of Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain, the “Lord of Terror” will be celebrated April 6 – 9 in San Francisco. Further information is available at Fantomas-By-The-Bay.
New York State will play host to a couple of ongoing pulp events in the months ahead. In upstate New York, Orange Pulp: The Pulp Magazine & Contemporary Culture, an exhibition showcasing Syracuse University’s world-class collection of pulp magazines and paintings, runs now through June 17 in the Bird Library and Schaffer Art Building. Please visit the Syracuse University Library website for further details. Also, the Gotham Pulp Collectors Club meets on the second Saturday of each month at the Hudson Park Library in Manhattan’s West Village.
The pulp con season continues in May when a new event, PulpArk, will debut in Batesville, Arkansas. PulpArk will focus on the writers, artists, and publishing companies working in the world of pulp today. Meet Ron Fortier of Airship 27, Joe Gentile of Moonstone Books, Tommy Hancock of Pro Se Press, and many other of the leading lights of “new pulp.” PulpArk will take place May 13 – 15.
May 14 in Toronto, Ontario, the 15th annual Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale will be held at the Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library from 10 AM to 5 PM. For further information on Canada’s premier pulp event, please visit the Girasol Collectables website.
Cinevent 43 will take place over Memorial Day weekend, May 27 – 30, at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, the home for PulpFest 2011. 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 sound and silent films and a two-day auction of Hollywood movie posters. Please visit the convention’s website for further details.
The 2011 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship or ECOF gathering will also be held over Memorial Day weekend, running May 26 – 29 in Minneapolis, MN. The convention will feature guest appearances by several authors and artists, a dealers’ room, picnics and banquets, and more. For further information, please write to Rudy Sigmund and tell him that PulpFest sent you.
Longtime Robert E. Howard publishers Damon Sasser and Dennis McHaney will be the guests of honor at this year’s Robert E. Howard Days, held annually in Cross Plains, Texas. This year’s Howard Days will take place June 10 – 11. You’ll find plenty of information about Howard Days and Robert E. Howard in general at the REHupa website.
Just a few days after Summer begins, Classicon 39 will take place at the University Quality Inn in Lansing, Michigan. 35 tables and thousands of collectible pulp magazines, digests, and paperbacks will be available for sale or trade, along with pin-ups, original artwork, and other pop culture material. Please visit the Curious Book Shop for further information.
Of course, all these events are just a prelude to PulpFest 2011, summer’s biggest and best pulp con. Why not register today?
The 2011 poster for the Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention was adapted from Norman Saunders cover art for the October 1950 issue of Dime Detective Magazine.
FarmerCon to Join PulpFest
May 26, 2011 – PulpFest 2011 is pleased to announce that FarmerCon VI will be held concurrently at our convention. An annual gathering for fans of Grand Master of Science Fiction Philip José Farmer, FarmerCon is rooted in Peoria, Illinois, the late author’s hometown.
It began soon after Phil won the Grand Master Award in 2001. To honor the event, the Peoria Public Library staged a Living Legend Reception for the author. Farmer enthusiast Michael Croteau spread the word through his website, The Official Philip José Farmer Home Page, bringing fans from across the country to Peoria.
In 2006, no longer able to travel to science fiction conventions as they had in the past, Farmer and his wife Bette decided it was time for the mountain to come to Mohammed. Thus, FarmerCon was originally conceived to be a gathering of fans in Peoria, figuratively and literally, right outside Phil’s back door. With programs, speeches, panels, dinners, and picnics at the author’s house, the convention quickly became a great success.
After Phil and Bette Farmer passed away in 2009, the organizers decided to take FarmerCon on the road, giving fans an opportunity to meet other Farmer devotees who couldn’t travel to Peoria. And by holding FarmerCon alongside events like PulpFest, Farmer fans will get a weekend full of programming (including several Farmer-related presentations on Friday, July 29) and a room full of pulp and book dealers to enjoy. It also keeps Philip José Farmer’s name in the public eye, reminding fans of his long and amazing body of work.
Please welcome FarmerCon VI to PulpFest 2011. We hope they’ll be back again and again.
William Lampkin designed the FarmerCon logo.
2011 Munsey Award Nominees
May 30, 2011 – The PulpFest Organizing Committee is pleased to announce that the nomination process for the 2011 Munsey Award has been a tremendous success. Pulp fans nominated 25 people for this year’s award. The final nominee list has been pared down to the eleven individuals who received the most nominations during the last year.
The following nominees will be forwarded to a committee made up of all the living Lamont and Munsey Award winners who will select the person to receive the 2011 Munsey Award: William Contento, Win Scott Eckert, Stephen Haffner, Steve Miller, Matt Moring, Laurie Powers, Garyn Roberts, Phil Stephensen-Payne, Anthony Tollin, George Vanderburgh, and Dan Zimmer. You’ll find further details about each nominee on the 2011 nominees page of our website.
The recipient of the 2011 Munsey Award, a limited-edition print designed by artist and pulp enthusiast David Saunders, will be announced on July 30 as part of the Saturday evening programming schedule, open to all PulpFest 2011 registrants.
The Pulpster Off to the Printer
June 26, 2011 – Tony Davis celebrates the twentieth anniversary of The Pulpster with yet another great issue of his award-winning magazine. The official program guide for PulpFest 2011, the new issue is 44 pages long and features a full-color cover.
Like this year’s PulpFest, The Pulpster #20 celebrates the 80th anniversary of The Shadow Magazine with a front cover reproduction of the February 1, 1941 Shadow cover by superlative pulp artist Graves Gladney, and its lead article, “The Shadows of 1931,” a look at the first five adventures of the character responsible for the birth of the hero pulp written by last year’s Munsey Award winner, Mike Chomko.
This year’s Pulpster also features several “firsts.” George Vanderburgh of Arkham House offers a previously unpublished story by English ghost story writer H. Russell Wakefield, along with excerpts from two manuscripts edited by H. P. Lovecraft. In “Return of the Man of Bronze,” Will Murray contributes an exclusive excerpt from his new Doc Savage adventure, The Desert Demons. The last “first” is the four-page supplement at the end of the issue provided by the good folks of FarmerCon, this year’s “guest convention” at PulpFest.
But there’s more: Don Hutchison recalls the visit of Spider illustrator John Fleming Gould to Pulpcon 19; Pulpster designer Bill Lampkin reviews William R. Cox’s stories about amateur detective Malachi Manatee from Dime Detective; Monte Herridge writes about H. Bedford-Jones’ Riley Dillon; Rex Layton unearths more information on L. Ron Hubbard, just in time for the hundredth anniversary of the author’s birth. And Captain Midnight writer David Walker offers his views on new pulp fiction in “What? New Pulps? How Dare They!”
Except for “Sunday Only” attendees, all members – including supporting members – of PulpFest 2011 will receive a complimentary copy of The Pulpster #20.
William Lampkin adapted Graves Gladney’s cover for the February 1, 1941 issue of The Shadow for The Pulpster #20.
From July 27 – 30, 2011, several posts covered the trip to PulpFest 2011 and what awaited you day by day. Afterward, the following report appeared.
And the Winner Is …
July 31, 2011 – On Saturday, July 30, Anthony Tollin was named the winner of the 2011 Munsey Award. Nominated by members of the general pulp community, Tony was selected by a panel of judges consisting of all the living Lamont and Munsey Award winners. The award is a fine art print of a painting by David Saunders, published by Dan Zimmer of The Illustrated Press.
It is very appropriate that in the year that we celebrate the 80th anniversary of The Shadow pulp magazine, Anthony should be the recipient of the Munsey. As of this month, he had reprinted over one hundred adventures of The Shadow, the character created by Walter B. Gibson for the Street & Smith pulp chain.
Anthony worked to convince Condé Nast to authorize reprints of The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Avenger, and The Whisperer. Tony’s regularly issued Sanctum Books are the most popular pulp reprints of our day. Every month, we get to enjoy some of the pulp’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 co-authored The Shadow Scrapbook with Walter B. Gibson, and assembled and introduced numerous recorded collections of pulp-related radio programs issued by Radio Spirits. He also worked on several comic book interpretations of the great pulp heroes. Tony became a lifelong fan of The Shadow as a child, when his father told him about “the invisible crimefighter who taunted his enemies from the darkness.”
Many Thanks
August 5, 2011 – The PulpFest Organizing Committee would like to thank the following people and organizations whose invaluable assistance helped to make PulpFest 2011 a tremendous success. We could not do it without you!
Our all-volunteer staff, Maura Childers, Sam Childers, Aaron Cullers, Jack Cullers, Sally Cullers, and Samantha Cullers; our panelists, presenters, and auctioneers, Nicky Brown Wheeler-Nicholson, Randy Cox, Bill Craig, Michael Croteau, Karen Davis Cunningham, Win Scott Eckert, Ron Fortier, Greg Gick, Martin Grams, John Gunnison, Stephen Haffner, Ed Hulse, Rick Lai, Will Murray, Laurie Powers, Wayne Reinagel, Garyn Roberts, Joe Saine, David Saunders, Dr. Art Sippo, Duane Spurlock, and Anthony Tollin; our hospitality suite sponsors, Rusty Burke and the Robert E. Howard Foundation and Michael Croteau, Win Scott Eckert, and Meteor House Press, and the co-sponsor of our Shadow short subject presentation, Sanctum Books; our behind-the-scenes help, Mike Chomko, Chris Kalb, Lohr McKinstry, Michael Neno, Rick and Renee Thomas (who baked the great PulpFest cakes), Barry Traylor, Mark Trost, and Dan Zimmer; and Meri Lynne Stumbo, Beth Sweet, and the rest of the staff at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention Center.
The Organizing Committee would also like to thank the people who helped to create The Pulpster #20: Tony Davis and Bill Lampkin, plus Peter Chomko, Monte Herridge, Don Hutchison, Rex Layton, John Locke, David Rajchel, George Vanderburgh, David Walker, and the magazine’s sponsors – Black Dog Books, Haffner Press, Paul Malmont (who also donated our door prizes), Origins Game Fair, The Pulp Factory, and Recoverings.
Many thanks as well to the nominators and Lamont Award and Munsey Award winners who helped select this year’s winner, Anthony Tollin. Congratulations to our winner and all of the nominees for this year’s award.
Finally, thanks to all of the conventions, book and paper fairs, 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 2011. Your encouragement and support made our convention a great success. We hope to see you all back in the summer of 2012, along with a good many newcomers, for PulpFest 2012. Details will be forthcoming in the months ahead.
Please subscribe to our PulpFest email list through the small gray box found along the right side of our home page.
Biggest PulpFest Yet
Sept. 18, 2011 – The PulpFest organizing committee would like to thank all of our members for making PulpFest 2011 our most successful convention to date. For the first time, a summer pulp con topped four hundred people in attendance. PulpFest is very proud of that accomplishment.
Thanks as well to all those who have taken the time to review PulpFest 2011 both online and off. This includes Nicky Brown Wheeler-Nicholson writing on the website devoted to her grandfather, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson; Randy Cox in Dime Novel Round-Up; Ron Fortier of Airship 27 on All Pulp; Walker Martin on Mystery*File; Laurie Powers on Laurie’s Wild West; and Duane Spurlock writing on his PulpRack blog. You can also read about PulpFest from the viewpoint of first-time attendees by visiting the Collectors Society Message Boards and She Never Slept.com, where Sean Lewis, a FarmerCon attendee, has reported on his PulpFest experience. Michael Neno has also posted a photographic diary of PulpFest on his Eventized blog under PulpFest Day One and More PulpFest 2011 Pics. Ric Croxton has also posted a multi-part PulpFest Special on his podcast, The Book Cave. Still others have shared photographs and memories of PulpFest on various newsgroups, blogs, and so on.
PulpFest 2012 is still many months away, but there are plenty of other conventions to attend. You’ll be able to read about them here in the coming weeks. So please keep visiting our website.
