“Our tangible world is only an atom in a fabric vast and ominous, and that
unknown demesnes press on and permeate the sphere of the known at every point . . .”
If you’re at PulpFest 2015 on Friday evening, August 14th, you’ll probably be in our programming area, listening to author Chet Williamson, the convention’s guest of honor, explaining how “the old gentleman” of Providence influenced him in his writing. Later, Jon Arfstrom, perhaps the last living artist who contributed covers to the original run of WEIRD TALES, will talk about his career. Closing out the evening will be a pair of panels — a FarmerCon presentation examining “The Weird Tales of Philip José Farmer” and PulpFest‘s main panel of the evening, “The Call of Cthulhu: The Development of Lovecraft’s Mythos.” The evening ends with a showing of THE CALL OF CTHULHU. It will be followed by COOL AIR, a short film made for ROD SERLING’S NIGHT GALLERY and based on the Lovecraft work of the same title. It originally aired in 1971.
On Saturday, our celebration of the 125th anniversary of the birth of H. P. Lovecraft continues at PulpFest 2015. We’ll be turning our attention to WEIRD TALES, the pulp magazine where the bulk of the horror master’s work was originally published.
During our afternoon programming, 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.
Back around the beginning of May, Feral House, a small press with a taste for the outrageous, approached PulpFest with an offer that was very difficult to refuse. Author and collector Mike Hunchback had put together a definitive survey of the later work of illustrator Lee Brown Coye and was interested in presenting a slide show of the artist’s work at this year’s PulpFest. Given that our convention was celebrating the 125th anniversary of the birth of author H. P. Lovecraft, we jumped at the chance to have Mike be part of our 2015 conference. After all, Coye, like Lovecraft, was very strongly associated with “The Unique Magazine, “ WEIRD TALES. Join Mike Hunchback at 2:30 PM for “Pulp Macabre — The Art of Lee Brown Coye” in the PulpFest programming room on the second floor of the Hyatt Regency Columbus.
Our afternoon programming concludes with “Weird Prose and Poetry from Scott H. Urban,” readings of poems and fiction, both old and new. Scott promises to leave the bubbling chaos at home; however, he cannot guarantee that there will not be writhing tentacles and the ensuing loss of sanity.
PulpFest‘s WEIRD TALES programming continues at 7:55 PM with “Weird Editing at ‘The Unique Magazine,’” a panel presentation featuring Lovecraftian and pulp scholars discussing the editorial policies of WEIRD TALES, concentrating particularly on the era of its best-known editor, Farnsworth Wright.
Closing out the evening at 11:30 PM, will be an authorized showing of THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS, a film produced by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. It will be paired with PROFESSOR PEABODY’S LAST LECTURE, an episode from ROD SERLING’S NIGHT GALLERY that originally aired in 1971.
And don’t forget PulpFest now has a gaming track. This year, it will be centered around CALL OF CTHULHU and other games inspired by the work of H. P. Lovecraft.
There’s still time to join the celebration! There may even be some rooms available at nearby hotels. Please visit pulpcon.org/2015/06/16872/ and you’ll find a link to a list of hotels to choose from. The Hyatt Regency where the convention is taking place is totally booked. So what are you waiting for? Book a room and register now for “Summer’s Great Pulp Con.”
(The quotation that begins our post is from “The Descendant,” written by H. P. Lovecraft. It is a story fragment believed to have been written in 1927. It was first published in 1938 in the journal LEAVES, following Lovecraft’s death.
The photograph above, dated 1915 and taken by an unknown photographer, is from Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository.)
