Are you thinking about attending PulpFest 2017? You’re probably wondering what to expect from this year’s convention. PulpFest is known for its great programming and the line-up that we’re planning for our 2017 convention is shaping up to be one of our best.
The focus of this year’s convention will be hardboiled dicks, dangerous dames, and a few psychos. We’ll be exploring DIME DETECTIVE MAGAZINE — one of the pulps where the hard-boiled detective story began to take shape — and Robert Leslie Bellem’s tough-guy detective, Dan Turner; Pat Savage, The Domino Lady, and other dangerous dames of the pulps, the hardboiled ladies who helped pave the way for such modern day gumshoes as Sue Grafton‘s Kinsey Millhone, Marcia Muller‘s Sharon McCone, and Sara Paretsky‘s V. I. Warshawski; and some of the mad scientists, crazed hunchbacks, and foul cultists who decimated American cities on a monthly basis in the rough-paper magazines. We’ll also be saluting the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Robert Bloch, the author of PSYCHO — later adapted to film by Alfred Hitchcock. Bloch got his start as a writing professional in the pulps.
To give you an idea about what you’ll encounter from July 27 through July 30 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry — just north of Pennsylvania’s “Steel City” — below is the proposed scheduled for PulpFest 2017. We hope to see you at the convention. You can join PulpFest by clicking the Register for 2017 button on our home page. And don’t forget to book a room at the DoubleTree. They’re going fast!
Preliminary Schedule for PulpFest 2017
Thursday, July 27
Dealers’ Room
4:00 PM – 11:00 PM — Dealers’ Room Set-Up
4:00 PM – 8:00 PM — Early Registration
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM — Dealers’ Room Open for Early-Bird Shopping (free with your stay at the Double-Tree)
Programming
9:10 – 9:40 PM — Robert Bloch’s PSYCHO: SANITARIUM — A Reading by Chet Williamson
9:40 – 10:05 PM — The Dangerous Dames of Kenneth Robeson: Pat Savage, Nellie Gray and Rosabel Newton (Chuck Welch)
10:05 – 10:15 PM— Scarlet Adventuress — The Domino Lady — A Reading by Ron Fortier
10:15 – 10:50 PM — Compliments of the Domino Lady (Michelle Nolan)
10:50 – 11:00 PM — Intermission
11:00 – 11:30 PM — Pulp-Pourri Theatre Presents “The Return of Mr. Fye”
Friday, July 28
Dealers’ Room
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM — Early Registration and Dealers’ Room Set-Up
10:00 AM – 4:45 PM — Dealers’ Room Open to All
Programming
12:45 – 4:30 PM — New Fictioneers Readings — (author readings by Jim Beard, John Bruening, Peter McGarvey, Heidi Ruby Miller, and Don Shakers)
6:55 – 7:00 PM — Welcome to PulpFest 2017 (Convention Chairman Jack Cullers)
7:00 – 7:20 PM — The Psychos of Philip José Farmer — The Nine (Win Scott Eckert, Frank Schildiner, and Art Sippo)
7:20 – 7:30 PM — The Psychos of Philip José Farmer — Win Scott Eckert Reads from THE MONSTER ON HOLD
7:30 – 7:50 PM — Philip José Farmer and Robert Bloch (Mike Croteau of Meteor House)
7:50 – 8:00 PM — Intermission
8:00 – 8:40 PM — 100 Years with the Author of Psycho: Robert Bloch (Garyn Roberts)
8:40 – 8:50 PM — Pulp-Pourri Theatre Presents Robert Leslie Bellem, a Dan Turner Reading
8:50 – 9:30 PM — Hardboiled and Dangerous: The Many Characters of Erle Stanley Gardner (Jeffrey Marks)
9:30 – 9:40 PM — Intermission
9:40 – 10:20 PM — Hardboiled Dicks: A Look at DIME DETECTIVE MAGAZINE (Matt Moring)
10:20 – 10:30 PM — Philip José Farmer’s Most Dangerous Dame — Win Scott Eckert Reads from THE SCARLET JAGUAR
10:30 – 10:55 PM — The Dangerous Dames of Maxwell Grant: Myra Reldon, Margo Lane, and Carrie Cashin (Will Murray)
11:00 – 11:30 PM — Pulp-Pourri Theatre Presents “Return to the Sabbath,” a WEIRD Audio Play by Robert Bloch
Saturday, July 29
Dealers’ Room
10:00 AM – 4:45 PM — Dealers’ Room Open to All
3:00 – 4:15 PM — Auction Viewing at the DoubleTree
Programming
12:30 – 2:00 PM — New Fictioneers Readings — (author readings by Win Scott Eckert and Frank Schildiner)
2:15 – 3:15 PM — Six Writers of New Pulp (moderator Ron Fortier and authors Fred Adams, Jr., John Bruening, Wayne Carey, Michael Maynard, and Charles Millhouse)
3:30 – 4:00 PM — Pulp-Pourri Theatre Presents “The Return of Mr. Fye”
5:00 – 6:50 PM — PulpFest 2017 Group Meal at Ember & Vine in the DoubleTree (Volunteer Coordinator Sally Cullers)
7:00 – 7:20 PM — PulpFest 2017 Business Meeting (meet the convention organizers)
7:20 – 7:30 PM — 2017 Munsey Award Presentation (presented by Laurie Powers)
7:30 – 8:10 PM — Guest of Honor Gloria Stoll Karn with David Saunders
8:10 – 8:20 PM — The Wild Adventures of Pat Savage by Will Murray — A Reading by Pulp-Pourri Theatre
8:20 – 8:50 PM — Hard-Boiled at 100: The Don Everhard Stories of Gordon Young (Tom Krabacher & Walker Martin)
8:50 – 9:10 PM — Intermission (Auction Viewing)
9:15 – 12:15 AM — Saturday Night at the Auction (John Gunnison and Joseph Saines, Auctioneers)
Sunday, July 30
Dealer’s Room
9:00 AM – 2:00 PM — Dealers’ Room Open to All (many dealers will be packing up; buying opportunities may be limited)
Please note that this schedule is subject to change.
All PulpFest members are welcome to attend our afternoon and evening programming. All programming events will be in the Hemlock and Hickory Rooms at the DoubleTree
For questions about our programming, please write to our programming director Mike Chomko at mike@pulpfest.com.
For questions about our New Fictioneers Readings, please write to our afternoon programming director Chuck Welch at chuck@pulpfest.com.
For questions about our dealers’ room, please write to our convention chairperson Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com.
(Designed by PulpFest’s artistic director, William Lampkin, our PulpFest 2017 post card features the work of artist John Newton Howitt. His painting was originally used as the cover for the April 15, 1934 number of Popular Publications’ DIME DETECTIVE MAGAZINE.)
