Although PulpFest is well known for its excellent programming — and rightfully so . . . just click our red “schedule” button on our home page to see all of the great programming we have lined up for 2015 — it is also lauded for its very substantial dealers’ room. Beginning on Thursday, August 13th, the 15,800 square-foot Regency Ballroom will house collectible pulp magazines and digests, vintage paperbacks, first edition hardcovers and series books, original art, B-movies and serials, collectible comic books, and more. And remember: for those members staying at the Hyatt-Regency Columbus, you’ll be able to partake in free, early-bird shopping on Thursday evening from 6 to 10 PM. For those staying elsewhere, early-bird shopping privileges will cost $30 if paid for at the door. The cost is $25 if you pay in advance.
In addition to Thursday’s early-bird hours, the PulpFest dealers’ room will be open from 10 AM to 4:30 PM on August 14-15 and from 10 AM to 2 PM on Sunday, August 16th. Note that buying and selling opportunities on Sunday may be limited as dealers pack up for their trip home.
Who will be selling at PulpFest 2015? For the next five days, we’ll be profiling some of our dealers, telling you a little bit about each of them so you get to know them a little better. Away we go . . .
JOHN GUNNISON of ADVENTURE HOUSE will be offering his usual extensive stock of pulp magazines as well as HIGH ADVENTURE, G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES, and the many pulp replicas and collections he has published under the Adventure House banner. He’ll have copies of THRILLING DETECTIVE HEROES, the book on which our Thursday evening presentation, “Thrilling Heroes,” is partially based. To learn more about John and Adventure House, please visit www.adventurehouse.com/.
Straight from the tattered pages of Popular Publication’s air war pulps, AGE OF ACES BOOKS is proud to be able to bring you the best of these heroes. Publishers of the best-selling THE SPIDER VS. THE EMPIRE STATE, CHRIS AND DAVID KALB will have their line of pulp reprints at PulpFest. From Smoke Wade to Captain Philip Strange, look to Age of Aces for the best in pulp fiction. Learn more by visiting Ages of Aces online at www.ageofaces.net/.
RON FORTIER & ROB DAVIS are AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS. One of the leading producers of “new pulp fiction,” Airship 27 brings you the classic heroes of yesteryear. From The Black Bat and Sherlock Holmes to Ki-Gor and Secret Agent X, you’ll find plenty of thrills by visiting their Online Hangar by clicking right here. They’ll have copies of their latest books — SIX-GUN TERRORS and RAVENWOOD — at PulpFest 2015. And watch for Ron at our panel on “The Heirs of WEIRD TALES,” taking place on Saturday afternoon.
JIM & WALTER ALBERT are brothers from Arkansas and Pennsylvania respectively. They’ve been collecting for years and selling at PulpFest since the very beginning. Stop by their tables for an excellent selection of pulps, paperbacks, hardcovers, fanzines, and much more. You’re bound to find excellent values on some terrific items from Jim and Walter. You probably won’t leave empty handed.
Chicago’s MARK ALVARADO, a longtime collector of books and pulp magazines, will be exhibiting at PulpFest for the second time in the last two years. He’s hoping to dig out something super exciting to bring along to the con. If he finds something, you’ll be the first to know. Please stay tuned and welcome Mark back to “Summer’s Great Pulp Con!”
One of the last artists to labor for WEIRD TALES, “The Unique Magazine,” JON ARFSTROM will have a sampling of paintings and drawings, mostly from the 1970’s and later, that he will be selling at the convention. His table will be next to the DreamHaven Books display in the PulpFest 2015 dealers’ room. Largely self taught, Jon has spent decades working in the field of fantastic art. Click the red “register” button on our home page to be assured that you won’t miss this opportunity to meet one of the terrific artists who labored for the long-gone pulp market, Jon Arfstom, the last of the WEIRD TALES artists.
BATTERED SILICON DISPATCH BOX is a specialty publisher based in Ontario, Canada with GEORGE VANDERBURGH at the tiller. George has released over 600 books, including a wide variety of detective fiction and Sherlock Holmes scholarship, as well as his LOST TREASURES OF THE PULPS series that reprints many highly regarded pulp classics. You can learn more about George and his publishing efforts at www.batteredbox.com/.
JIM BEARD & DUANE SPURLOCK are two hard-working authors of “new pulp.” Both write in a range of genres. They will be offering a wide selection of their individual fiction work, including publications from Pro Se, Airship 27, White Rocket Books, and Fight Card. In addition, they will be debuting their first joint novel, AIRSHIP HUNTERS, at PulpFest 2015. Duane will also be reading from this exciting new work, published by Meteor House, on Saturday at 12:30 PM in the convention’s programming room on the second floor of the Hyatt Regency.
RICH HARVEY & AUDREY PARENTE of BOLD VENTURE PRESS will be on hand with their newest titles and their extensive backlist. They’ll be premiering John Wooley’s and Robert Leslie Bellem’s HOMICIDE HIGHBALL: THE LOST DAN TURNER MOVIE SCRIPT, Richard Lupoff’s DREAMER’S DOZEN, PULP JAZZ: THE CHARLES BOECKMAN STORY, and the latest issue of PULP ADVENTURES, with stories by Bellem, Lupoff, Stewart Sterling, and others, plus cover art by Norman Saunders. And don’t forget about their older books: Charles Boeckman’s STRICTLY POISON AND OTHER STORIES, featuring terrific cover art by Robert A. Maguire; the January 1934 issue of WORLD MAN-HUNTERS, a facsimile of the first issue of this rare magazine; and their sensational PLOT GENIE series, the books that give you hundreds of locales, characters, dramatic situations, and plot twists that you can use in your own novel!
The Fayatteville Comic Con has called GENE CARPENTER a legendary comic book dealer. As All American Comics, Gene has been setting up at comic book conventions for over forty years and is one of the nicest guys around. He has no website or facebook page, but does have an incredible selection of golden age, silver age, and high-grade pulp magazines. Gene comes to us from Maryland.
MIKE CATALANO, who also uses the pseudonym MIKE HUNCHBACK, will be presenting a look at the work of WEIRD TALES artist Lee Brown Coye on Saturday, August 15th, beginning at 2:30 PM. Mike will also be sharing a table with ROBYN CHAPMAN, who will be selling homemade pulp and comics-related ephemera — magnets, ashtrays, pins, and more. Mike will be bringing vintage ’60s magazines, genre paperbacks, 1970s Arkham House books, a few rare Coye Items, and several pages of original, unpublished Matt Fox artwork!
If you are a dealer or collector who would like to sell at PulpFest, please click the red “register” button on our home page or email convention chairperson Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com for further information about the convention. To book a room for this year’s convention, please visit pulpcon.org/2015/06/16872/.
(Our 2015 PulpFest advertising features artwork by Matt Fox — the cover to the November 1944 WEIRD TALES — while Chris Kalb, one of our nominees for the 2015 Munsey Award, designed the cover for Age of Aces’ PHILIP STRANGE: STRANGE OPERATORS.
Jon Arfstrom, the convention’s special guest, will talk briefly with art historian David Saunders on Friday evening, August 14th, beginning at 8:45 PM. Jon’s cover for the January 1952 issue of WEIRD TALES was his first cover for “The Unique Magazine.”
The first of Lee Brown Coyes’ WEIRD TALES covers appeared on the July 1945 number. He also produced many interior illustrations for the magazine, including a series of pen-and-ink drawings that the artist “called “Weirdisms.” His work continued to appear in WEIRD TALES until 1952.)
We’ll be profiling more of our 2015 PulpFest dealers in the days ahead. Please come back tomorrow.
