Not only is PulpFest lauded for its excellent programming, it is also known for its very substantial dealers’ room.
Beginning on Thursday, July 27, the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry will be home to thousands of collectible pulp magazines and digests, vintage paperbacks, first edition hardcovers and series books, original art, B-movies and serials, collectible comic books, and more.
Who are we expecting at PulpFest 2017? For the next three days, we’ll be profiling some of our dealers, telling you a little bit about each of them to help you know them . . .
Scouring flea markets and antique shows up and down the East Coast, RICK HALL rescues pulps for the collections of his fellows in the pulp community. Focusing primarily on pulps, Rick adds fanzines and general magazines with “good authors” to the mix. You may find just what you’ve been looking for among Rick’s “found” treasures.
Welcome back SCOTT HARTSHORN. This outgoing, Florida-based collector and dealer will be offering a selection of ADVENTURE pulps, books by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, mystery and detective paperbacks, and science-fiction, fantasy, and pulp art. Scott is also planning to have a few collectible surprises as he returns to PulpFest as a dealer for another go-round.
JOHN HAUSER grew up in the Pacific Northwest. As a young lad he enjoyed the Chicago Comic Con so much, he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over the years, John has bought and brought to market two pedigree collections of comics: The Green River and The Curator collections. He has also sold on consignment many fine collections. With the passing of Ron Killian of Milwaukee’s The Turning Page, John will be presenting Killian’s massive collection of pulps and books. Ron Killian owned one of Milwaukee’s earliest direct-sales comics shops and launched the first comic shows in the city. John’s appearance at PulpFest 2017 will provide an opportunity for the public to buy part of Ron’s lifetime collection.
RICHARD MELI and EMMA SLOAN of HEARTWOOD BOOKS have more than twenty-five years experience in vintage pulps, first editions, magazines, paperbacks, and other collectibles. Heartwood Auctions has more than 100,000 items available for sale, including the Robert Weinberg collection of rare pulps, digests, paperbacks and related ephemera, the Napa Valley collection of men’s adventure magazines, world-class Edgar Rice Burroughs material, and one-of-a-kind WEIRD TALES, Clark Ashton-Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft gems.
PAUL HERMAN is a Connecticut dealer and collector who exhibits at many pulp and paperback conventions. He offers a wide variety of material including pulps, paperbacks, and vintage digests. He is very strong in the mystery and detective fields, turning up many scarce items. Be sure to drop by Paul’s tables for a top-notch deal.
Even though we left his hometown behind, DOUG SIMMS — who also runs HEROES AND GAMES, a comic book and collectible games store located on the first level of the Greater Columbus Convention Center — will be returning as a PulpFest dealer at our 2017 convention. Doug — who will be assisted by MIKE CARBONARO — will have long runs of all our favorite pulp heroes in the paperback format, Golden, Silver and Bronze age comics, pulp-related games, and more.
MARK HICKMAN, an Ohio dealer, will be offering a variety of science-fiction magazines and hero pulps, as well as comic books and original artwork from the pulps, comics, digests, and paperbacks — a little bit of everything. Mark will also be selling copies of THE COLLECTED PULP ERA, a two-volume set reprinting the complete run of his father Lynn Hickman’s classic fanzine. Both volumes are very highly recommended.
JOHN W. KNOTT, JR. has been a bookseller for over 25 years. He specializes in fine first editions of popular literature, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, supernatural and horror, and mystery and detective fiction. He also offers pulp magazines, ephemera — such as manuscripts and letters — as well as signed books, limited editions, award winners, and books in all areas of popular fiction. At PulpFest 2017, John will primarily be offering pulps and first editions. Please visit his website at www.jwkbooks.com.
Virginia’s DAVE KURZMAN returns to PulpFest following an absence of a few years. One of the leading dealers of pulps in the United States, Dave will at loads of WEIRD TALES and PLANET STORIES at this year’s convention.
A professional artist from Pittsburgh, ED LANCASTER will have original, pulp-related paintings and sketches for sale. He also does paintings and cover recreations to order. If you have an idea you’d like to bring to life, he’d be happy to discuss it. Please visit www.edlancaster.com/ to preview his work.
From Buffalo, New York, BILL MANN returns as a dealer to PulpFest. One of the founders and a former editor at Age of Aces Books, he will be selling a variety of aviation pulps and books. Stop by his table and be surprised.
On Saturday, July 29, LAURIE MANN will be selling vintage paperbacks at PulpFest 2017. This will be the first time that she will be exhibiting at our convention. Laurie will be selling her father’s paperback collection. He collected mysteries and pulp magazines, beginning in 1945. An almost complete run of the original paperback editions of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books will be available. Please give Laurie a big PulpFest welcome.
Collecting since the early days of pulp fandom, legend has it that WALKER MARTIN has owned practically every pulp at least once! A resident of New Jersey, he’ll be selling a variety of pulp magazines, DVD’S, original artwork, and one-of-a-kind canceled checks from the files of Munsey and Popular Publications. Walker contributes a regular column on pulp collecting to Steve Lewis’ Mystery*File blog.
If you are a dealer or collector who would like to sell at PulpFest, please click the “Register for 2017” button just below the banner at the top of our home page. You can also email convention chairperson Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com for further information about selling at the convention.
If you still need to book a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry — just north of Pennsylvania’s “Steel City,” please call 1-800-222-8733. Be sure to mention PulpFest in order to receive any convention special deals that may still be available.
We’ll be profiling more of our PulpFest 2017 dealers in the days ahead. Please visit the site tomorrow.
(Another theme of PulpFest 2017 will be a celebration of the “dangerous dames” of the pulps. Female pulp characters such as Cleve Adams’s Violet McDade and Nevada Alvarado, Walter Gibson’s Myra Reldon and Margo Lane, C. L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry, Norvell Page’s Nita Van Sloan, Theodore Tinsley’s Carrie Cashin, and others depicted women in roles often reserved for men. These tough gals helped to remove women from the drawing rooms of Agatha Christie as well as the love and western romance pulps. They paved 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.
Fiction House was noted for what is termed “good girl art.” You saw an example of on Tuesday with the Allen Anderson PLANET STORIES cover from March 1952. What is particularly impressive about Fiction House covers is the number of “dangerous dames” — such as Allen Anderson’s masked marauder on the March 1950 LARIAT STORY MAGAZINE. Not only was the company fond of depicting beautiful women on its covers, it was also fond of showing female characters in roles often reserved for men on the covers of the competition.
You’ll find thousands of pulp magazines like this DIME DETECTIVE for February 1947 with cover art by Robert Stanley — featuring another “dangerous dame,” but of the “gun moll” variety — in the PulpFest dealers’ room. There are very few conventions where you can find pulps in similar quantities and in such a wide variety of titles and conditions. That’s why PulpFest annually draws hundreds of fans and collectors of vintage popular fiction and related materials to its annual gathering.
Not only will we be celebrating the “dangerous dames” of the pulps and the “hardboiled dicks” of DIME DETECTIVE and other magazines, we’ll also be saluting “a few psychos.” Perhaps the best known fictional “psycho” of them all is Norman Bates, created by Robert Bloch. Starting his writing career in WEIRD TALES, Bloch published nearly seventy stories in “The Unique Magazine,” including “The Cheaters” in the November 1947 issue. It featured cover art by Matt Fox. The artist painted eleven covers for WEIRD TALES and also contributed interior illustrations to the magazine.)
