As part of its celebration of the 125th anniversary of the birth of H. P. Lovecraft, PulpFest 2015 will be paying tribute to WEIRD TALES, the rough-paper magazine where many of the author’s most influential works were published. The first periodical to be largely devoted to the fantasy genre, WEIRD TALES also introduced readers to the sword-and-sorcery genre through Robert E. Howard’s stories of Kull, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and Conan, and shared Clark Ashton Smith’s wonderfully evocative stories of Hyperboria, Averoigne, and Zothique. It gave us C. L. Moore’s “Schambleau” and Jirel stories, Henry S. Whitehead’s voodoo masterpiece, “Jumbee,” and many other classics of fantasy and horror.
Robert Weinberg has stated, “It was in WEIRD TALES . . . that traditions were broken . . . that unusual writing and poetry was featured . . . . It was a magazine where anything might find a home . . . . Most important, it was the policy and nature of the magazine that influenced the entire spectrum of fantasy and SF publishing.”
Even in today’s fast-moving society, WEIRD TALES is still inspiring authors, artists, and publishers. Join PulpFest on Saturday, August 15th, at 1:30 PM as we welcome a talented group of today’s fictioneers — the scribes and word-slingers who are creating the new pulp fiction — to discuss the writers and stories published by “The Unique Magazine,” the genres it helped to generate, and how WEIRD TALES has influenced contemporary writers. It’s called “The Heirs of WEIRD TALES” and promises to be the most fantastic “new pulp” panel we’ve ever assembled.
Ron Fortier, a professional writer for nearly three decades, will be moderating our “Heirs” panel. In 2007, Ron teamed up with illustrator Rob Davis to start Airship 27 Productions and build a home for new adventures featuring many of the pulp characters long remembered by our community. Ron’s own creation, the undead avenger known as Brother Bones, would certainly have been at home with Paul Ernst’s Doctor Satan in the pages of “The Unique Magazine.”
Joining Ron will be “new pulp” authors Jim Beard, a Toledoan whose Sgt. Janus, Spirit-Breaker could certainly have matched wits with Seabury Quinn’s occult detective, Jules de Grandin; Jeff Fournier, author of new and exotic tales of Sinbad; John Hegenberger, author of the Lovecraft-inspired short story, “Howard’s Toe,” and the forthcoming Stan Wade private eye series; Rick Lai, whose character, The Revenant, was trained by Erik, the enigmatic Phantom of the Opera; Michael Panush, author of the Stein and Candle Detective Agency series concerning a pair of private detectives specializing in the paranormal, the supernatural, and the just plain weird (who certainly could have taken on Edmond Hamilton’s “Vampire Master“); and Frank Schildiner, whose latest novel, THE QUEST OF FRANKENSTEIN, has Frankenstein’s monster meet H. P. Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Reanimator.
Given the make-up of this seven-writer panel presentation, expect a very fast-moving hour for your Saturday afternoon listening pleasure! Learn how you can register for “Summer’s Great Pulp Con” to be sure not to miss this powerhouse panel by clicking the red register button found on our home page at pulpcon.org. And be sure to book a room! They’re going fast. Visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PulpFest and click on the post pinned to the top of the page. You’ll be directed to a list of hotels to choose from. If you are not from the Columbus area and want to attend PulpFest 2015, please book your room now and not later. Rooms that are relatively close to the Hyatt Regency are rapidly disappearing. When booking through our Facebook link, please be sure to request the Matsuricon group rate.
(Readers first saw Paul Ernst’s Doctor Satan courtesy of WEIRD TALES premier cover artist Margaret Brundage. The character was introduced in the August 1935 issue. “Doctor Satan. A man who took pride in his fiendishness! A man who robbed and killed, and broke the laws of man and God, not for gain, because he already had more than any one person could spend, but solely for thrills! A being jaded with the standard pleasures of the world, and turning to monstrous, sadistic acts to justify his existence and give him the sense of power he craved!” It’s regrettable that he never faced off against Ron Fortier’s Brother Bones, whose “face, hidden forever behind an ivory white skull mask, is the entrance to madness for those unfortunate enough to behold it.”)
