PulpFest 2016 will begin this afternoon at 4 PM, as our dealers begin to erect their displays for “Summer’s AMAZING Pulp Con!” All members — dealers included — will be able to register for the convention from 4 to 8 PM, right outside our dealers’ room in Battelle South, located across from the Regency Ballroom’s foyer in the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Everyone can pick up their registration packets at this time. To help things move smoothly, please bring along a completed registration form. You can download a copy by clicking here or the link found on our registration page.
There will be free early-bird shopping in the dealers’ room from 6 to 9 PM for loyal attendees who help to defray the convention’s costs by staying three nights at our host hotel. The cost is $30 for those who stay elsewhere. Our full programming slate for the evening will begin shortly after 9 PM with a look at The Skipper and The Whisperer, two pulp superheroes that debuted eighty years back in 1936. Our presenter will be Will Murray, author of “The All-New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage and Tarzan” and a noted expert on the pulps and pulp history.
PulpFest will also be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of science fiction author H. G. Wells with a presentation by Garyn G. Roberts, winner of the 2013 Munsey Award. Professor Roberts has written extensively about the pulps, both professionally and as a fan. His work, THE PRENTICE HALL ANTHOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, a college level textbook, is notable for the attention paid to the pulp magazines.
You can find additional details about these and all of our presentations by clicking the 2016 Schedule Button found at the top of our home page. Each event on the schedule is linked to a post that provides further information on that event. Just click on the event’s title.
When our programming is over, PulpFest members are welcome to socialize together in the Hyatt Regency’s Big Bar on 2. Buy a round for your table and talk about the magazines we love and collect. “What’s your favorite Doc Savage adventure? How many people died in ‘Death Reign of the Vampire King?’ Did Joan Randall have a thing for Gragg the Robot? Remember when Conan bit off that vulture’s head in ‘A Witch Shall Be Born?’ How the hell do you say Cthulhu? And what about Tsathoggua? Do you pronounce that with a lisp? Why does the Phantom Detective wear a top hat? Who the hell is Pinky Jenkins?” These are just some of the mysteries you might clear up with your pals — old and new — at PulpFest 2016.
If you are not from the Columbus area and have yet to book your room for this year’s PulpFest, you can try calling 1-888-421-1442 to reach the Hyatt Regency. Perhaps there has been a cancellation. Alternately, you can search for a room at tripadvisor or a similar website to find a hotel near the convention. Other sites include www.columbusconventions.com/thearea.php, courtesy of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, and the Experience Columbus lodging page at http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/stay.
For those of you who have not yet registered for PulpFest 2016, Thursday evening will be an ideal time to do so. Four-day memberships will be available for $40. There will be no single-day memberships available for Thursday only. Children who are fifteen and younger and accompanied by a parent, will be admitted free of charge. Please visit our registration page for further details. Members will also be able to register for the convention on Friday morning, beginning at 9 PM, and at any time during regular dealers’ room hours. Single day memberships will be available for $20 for Friday or Saturday and $10 for Sunday.
From 4 PM to 11 PM on Thursday, the dealers’ room will be open for exhibitors to set up their displays. At this point, we urge all of our dealers to take full advantage of our generous load-in and set-up period. Since our dealers’ room will be located in the Greater Columbus Convention Center, unloading and loading for those selling at the convention will be at the center’s loading dock.
To reach the convention center’s loading dock, go north on High Street until you come to Warren Street. Turn right on Warren and follow it to Summit Street. Summit becomes 3rd Street. Stay on this street and pass the exit to I-670. As soon as you pass the exit, you will see a sign that reads, “Right lane ends.” At this sign there is a ramp that goes off to the right. Take this ramp and it curls around to the docks. The convention plans to have people there to help dealers unload. After unloading, follow the ramp away from the dock and it takes you to the Chestnut Street garage area.
Remember that we’ll also be offering early-bird shopping in the dealers’ room from 6 to 9 PM on Thursday evening, an extra three hours of selling opportunities to people who are ready to buy!
Although the focus of PulpFest is pulp magazines and related materials, digests, vintage paperbacks, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, first-edition hardcovers, series books, dime novels, original art, Big Little Books, B-movies, serials and related paper collectibles, old-time-radio shows, and Golden and Silver Age as well as pulp-related comic books and games are also allowed.
(The first issue of THE SKIPPER went on sale with a December 1936 cover date. The magazine’s lead character, Captain John Fury — the Skipper — was a variant of Doc Savage. The series was written by Laurence Donovan, under the house name Wallace Brooker. Front cover art — including the second issue, dated January 1937 — was by Lawrence Donner Toney, During the 1930s and 1940s, Toney painted covers for CLUES, COMPLETE STORIES, WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE, WILD WEST WEEKLY, and other pulps, all published by Street & Smith.
The fiction of Herbert George Wells played a prominent role in the early years of AMAZING STORIES. Along with Ray Cummings, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jules Verne, Wells is mentioned in the advertising copy for the first issue of the new science fiction magazine. The ad ran in the April 1926 issue of RADIO NEWS.
During his three years as editor and publisher of the first science-fiction magazine, Hugo Gernsback turned to Wells’ fictional output for nearly thirty stories, reprinting such classics as “The First Men in the Moon,” “The Time Machine,” and “The War of the Worlds” in his flagship title and its companions.
Both H. G. Wells and The Skipper — along with The Whisperer — will be profiled during PulpFest’s opening night programming, scheduled to begin at 9:10 PM this evening. We hope to see you in Columbus for “Summer’s AMAZING Pulp Con!)
