It’s called new pulp – stories by modern writers who recreate the style of fiction that appeared in the pulp magazines of yore. Back then, the authors who labored for the rough paper industry liked to call themselves scribes, word-slingers, penny-a-worders, and, perhaps the most favored term of all, fictioneers. Join PulpFest as we celebrate today’s fictioneers — the authors writing the new pulp fiction! On Friday and Saturday, we’ll feature authors reading from their works and answering a few questions from the audience.
Reading from their works on Friday, July 28*
Jim Beard became a published writer when he sold a story to DC Comics in 2002. Since that time he’s written official Star Wars and Ghostbusters comic stories and contributed articles and essays to several volumes of comic book history. His prose work includes co-editing and contributing a story to PLANET OF THE APES: TALES FROM THE FORBIDDEN ZONE; a story for X-FILES: SECRET AGENDAS; GOTHAM CITY 14 MILES, a book of essays on the 1966 Batman TV series; SGT. JANUS, SPIRIT-BREAKER, a collection of pulp ghost stories featuring an Edwardian occult detective; MONSTER EARTH, a shared-world giant monster anthology; and CAPTAIN ACTION: RIDDLE OF THE GLOWING MEN, the first pulp prose novel based on the classic 1960s action figure. Jim also currently provides regular content for Marvel.com, the official Marvel Comics website.
John Bruening has been writing professionally for more than 30 years, first as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor and later as a marketing copywriter. As far back as he can remember, he’s been a fan of comics, pulps, adventure fiction, vintage movies and serials, old-time radio and any other form of heroic storytelling. His 2016 debut novel, THE MIDNIGHT GUARDIAN: HOUR OF DARKNESS, has been called “a Republic serial set to prose” (Ron Fortier, Pulp Fiction Reviews) and “the creative construct of a first-rate storyteller” (William Patrick Maynard, Black Gate). His most recent published work is “The Warrior and the Stone,” a short story appearing in RESTLESS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF MUMMY HORROR, a 2017 release from Flinch Books, where he is a publishing partner with writer/editor/founder Jim Beard. John is currently working on the next adventure in the MIDNIGHT GUARDIAN saga, which is scheduled for release in late 2018. He lives in a suburb of Cleveland with his wife and two teenage children.
Peter McGarvey has been a magazine columnist, radio journalist, advertising copywriter, marketing and sales executive, and filmmaker. He grew up in small town Ontario but now lives in downtown Toronto. His first novel DARK SUNSET, his first novel, was called “a near-perfect fusion of character and setting. …a real page-turner …” (Don Hutchison, THE GREAT PULP HEROES). Peter’s subsequent novels HAIR TRIGGER and BLOODY SUNSET are “fast-paced, enjoyable crime novels that are better than many of the crime novels currently in print.” (Ray Walsh – Lansing State Journal). Peter’s latest novel DOUBLE TAP was hailed as “…bizarre, adrenaline charged entertainment.”in a starred review in The Lansing State Journal. His new book, DARK THE LIGHT, will be released in 2017.
Heidi Ruby Miller uses research for her stories as an excuse to roam the globe. Her books include the popular AMBASADORA series and the award-winning writing guide MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT. In between trips, Heidi teaches creative writing at Seton Hill University, where she graduated from their renowned Writing Popular Fiction Graduate Program the same month she appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. She is a member of The Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, Pennwriters, Littsburgh, PARSEC, and Science Fiction Poetry Association. Her latest novel, MAN OF WAR, is being released at PulpFest. It is a sequel to Farmer’s TWO HAWKS FROM EARTH. Follow Heidi’s adventures with her husband, Jason Jack Miller, on their travel and lifestyle channel Small Space, Big Life and at her author channel and her website.
Don Sakers was launched the same month as Sputnik One, so it was perhaps inevitable that he should become a science fiction writer. A Navy brat by birth, he spent his childhood in such far-off lands as Japan, Scotland, Hawaii, and California. In California, rather like a latter-day Mowgli, he was raised by dogs. As a writer and editor, he has explored the thoughts of sapient trees (THE LEAVES OF OCTOBER), brought ghosts to life (CARMEN MIRANDA’S GHOST IS HAUNTING SPACE STATION THREE, Baen 1989), and beaten the “Cold Equations” scenario (“The Cold Solution,” ANALOG for 7/91, voted best short story of the year.) He’s best known for his Scattered Worlds series. Since 2009 Don has been book reviewer for ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT, where he writes the “Reference Library” column in every issue. Don lives at Meerkat Meade in suburban Baltimore with his spouse, costumer Thomas Atkinson. Having recently retired from 42 years with the local public library, he is hard at work becoming a starving writer.
Reading from their works on Saturday, July 29*
Win Scott Eckert is the coauthor with Philip José Farmer of the Wold Newton novel THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE (Subterranean Press, 2009; Meteor House, 2014), about Patricia Wildman, the daughter of pulp hero Doc Wildman, the bronze champion of justice. Pat Wildman’s adventures continue in Eckert’s sequel, THE SCARLET JAGUAR (the 2014 New Pulp Award winner for best novella).
Eckert is the editor of and contributor to MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER’S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE (MonkeyBrain Books), a 2007 Locus Awards finalist. He has coedited three Green Hornet anthologies for Moonstone Books. His short fiction tales of Zorro, The Avenger, The Phantom, The Lone Ranger, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hareton Ironcastle, Captain Midnight, The Green Ghost, Sexton Blake, The Domino Lady, Doc Ardan, and Sherlock Holmes can be found in the pages of various character-themed anthologies from Moonstone Books, as well as anthologies such as THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER (Meteor House), TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN (Black Coat Press), and TALES OF THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE (Titan Books). Eckert’s critically acclaimed, encyclopedic CROSSOVERS: A SECRET CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD 1 & 2 was released by Black Coat Press in 2010.
A Honey West/T.H.E Cat crossover, A GIRL AND HER CAT (coauthored with Matthew Baugh, Moonstone Books), the first new Honey West novel in over forty years, came out in 2014. Forthcoming works include: the third Pat Wildman adventure; a new novel of one of the preeminent pulp heroes of the ’40s, The Avenger; and the unfinished fourth novel in Farmer’s Secrets of the Nine series, THE MONSTER ON HOLD, furthering the titanic saga of Doc Caliban’s ongoing battle against the dark manipulators who hold the secret to eternal life, the Nine.
Find him online at winscotteckert.com and @woldnewton.
Frank Schildiner is a martial arts instructor at Amorosi’s Mixed Martial Arts in New Jersey. He is the writer of the novels, THE QUEST OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE TRIUMPH OF FRANKENSTEIN and the forthcoming NAPOLEON’S VAMPIRE HUNTERS. Frank is a regular contributor to the fictional series TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN and has been published in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF THUNDER JIM WADE, SECRET AGENT X Volumes 3, 4, 5, and THE AVENGER: THE JUSTICE FILES. He resides in New Jersey with his wife Gail who is his top supporter.
* Exact times for the authors will be announced at PulpFest 2017
We look forward to seeing you at “Summer’s AMAZING Pulp Con” from July 27 through July 30 at the beautifulDoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry — just north of Pennsylvania’s “Steel City.”
Please join us as we celebrate pulp fiction and art both old and new 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!
(Throughout history, fictioneers have not been the only pulpsters. The pulp magazines of yore and the new pulp fiction of today have enjoyed the talents of many fine artists.)
