Tonight, we thought we would share a short essay by Walker Martin, based on something he recently posted on Yahoo’s Pulpmags newsgroup. Walker, who writes about pulp collecting for Steve Lewis’ Mystery*File blog, has been a reader and collector for over sixty years. In 1997, he received the Lamont Award at Pulpcon 26 in Bowling Green, Ohio. We’re proud to have him as one of our own and can think of no one better to answer the question, “Why PulpFest?” Take it away, Walker…
Were you at the 2014 Comic-Con in San Diego? Still tired out from that recently concluded media extravaganza?
Will you be attending Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention with Andy Porter, Curt Phillips, and other science-fiction fans?
I guess I better give my 10 cents, though it has been over half a century since you could buy a fiction magazine for a dime. I hope Andy and Curt have fun in England, but I’ll be heading for PulpFest on August 7th. This is a joyful trip I’ve made every year (with a couple of exceptions) since 1972.
During the seventies, eighties, and nineties, it was called Pulpcon and every year I would see fellow pulp collectors, most of them gone now, damn it. Magazine collectors, many of you may still remember. Great guys like Rusty Hevelin, Jack Deveny, Richard Minter, Bob Sampson, Bob Weinberg (he’s still with us), Sheldon Jaffery, Harry Noble, Darrell Richardson, Frank Robinson, Mike Avallone, and such amazing guests like pulp artists Norman Saunders, Walter Baumhofer, Rafael Desoto, and so many more.
I used to attend many of the SF conventions before they started stressing costumes and bookless dealer’s rooms with only a few pulps. I’m talking about the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. I remember when Philcon and Lunacon were worth attending if you collected books and magazines. I also went to several Worldcons, including events held in New York City, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Boston.
But then the dealer’s rooms changed, and I couldn’t find old magazines except for a couple here and there. Fortunately, Pulpcon, PulpFest, and Windy City came along and enabled me to add thousands of pulps to my collection.
If you are a big SF fan or writer, then I guess the Worldcon is the place to be. But if you are a fiction magazine or book collector, there is no doubt: you have to attend PulpFest from August 7 – 10 in Columbus, Ohio. You’ll find all the details at pulpcon.com.
I’ve never met a magazine or book collector who regretted attending PulpFest. I hope to see some of you there!
—Walker Martin
Bill Lampkin adapted our featured image from Edd Cartier’s cover art for the December 1939 issue of Street & Smith’s Unknown, illustrating L. Sprague de Camp’s alternative history “Lest Darkness Fall.”
Bill Lampkin adapted our lead image from Grave Gladney’s cover for Astounding Science Fiction for July 1939.
