There’s still time to get in on the action. The PulpFest dealers’ room will be open today from 10 AM until 4:45 PM. Located in the Grand Ballroom of the DoubleTree, our dealers’ room will feature exhibitors selling and trading 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. That’s why PulpFest is known as the “pop culture center of the universe!”
Single day memberships will be available for $20 for Saturday and $10 for Sunday. Children who are fifteen and younger and accompanied by a parent, will be admitted free of charge. The general public is welcome to attend. There is ample free parking surrounding our host hotel, the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry.
You will be able to register for the convention at any time during regular dealers’ room hours. To help things move smoothly, please bring along a completed registration form. You can download a copy by clicking here or through the link found on our registration page. Paper forms will also be available at the door.
If you’re a member of Confluence — Pittsburgh’s long-running science fiction, fantasy and horror conference — and you’d like to attend PulpFest, just show your Confluence badge at our registration desk and you’ll get $10 off the price of our daily admission. PulpFest members who visit Confluence will receive the same discount. The two conventions are taking place over the same weekend!
Our afternoon programming will begin at 12:30 PM with our Farmer Jam. All members of FarmerCon 100 and PulpFest 2018 are welcome to read from their favorite Philip José Farmer work or reminisce about the author and his work. Afterward, our New Fictioneers readings will continue. There will be five authors reading from their works and fielding questions and comments until 4:30 PM.
The gallery showing of original art by acclaimed comic book artist, book illustrator, and graphic designer Mark Wheatley will open at 1 PM, as will the FarmerCon 100 showing of Memories of Phil, a video tribute to the late author.
From 5 to 6:30 PM, join your friends — old and new — at ember & vine in the heart of the DoubleTree Cranberry for our popular Saturday Night Dinner. It’s an opportunity to socialize after a hearty day of collecting in the PulpFest dealers’ room, prior to taking in the convention’s exceptional evening programming.
Saturday evening’s events will include the PulpFest 2018 business meeting, starting at 7 PM. Please try to attend as we will be discussing the future of PulpFest. The meeting will be followed by the 2018 Munsey Award presentation. David Saunders — winner of a special “retro” Lamont Award in 2016 — will reveal the name of this year’s recipient. The Munsey is a fine art print created by David and published by Dan Zimmer of The Illustrated Press.
Following the Munsey presentation, our Guest of Honor — award-winning author Joe R. Lansdale — will be interviewed by former journalist Tony Davis, a reader and collector of the work of our honored guest since the 1980s. Tony has been a pulp fan for even longer, starting with science fiction bedsheets as a teenager. Presentations on the art of the war pulps and Philip José Farmer’s World War I writings round out the evening’s programming. Afterward, PulpFest will host the second of two, large estate auctions.
Click here for a look at the preliminary catalog for our Saturday Night Auction.
All members of PulpFest 2018 can submit items to our auctions. If you’d like to submit something, you’ll find instructions in your registration packet. Your lots must be submitted by 1 PM on the day of the auction. If you have questions concerning the PulpFest auctions, please talk to programming and marketing director Mike Chomko at his dealer tables.
You can find additional details about all of our programming by clicking the 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. Watch for the “panels” banner to find our programming area at the convention.
PulpFest members are also welcome to socialize together in our hospitality suite at the DoubleTree. Saturday’s sponsor of our con suite is AbeBooks.com, the online marketplace for books. So the snacks and suds will be on them. You’ll have to bring the pulps and a good sense of humor. AbeBooks is not only passionate about books, but also has a “passion for pulps!” Be sure to watch for their banners at the PulpFest 2018 entrance and outside our convention suite.
If you are not from the Pittsburgh area and have yet to book your room for this year’s PulpFest, you can try calling 1-800-222-8733 to reach our host hotel. Perhaps there is an opening. Please be sure to mention PulpFest in order to receive any special convention deals that may still be available.
The DoubleTree is very conveniently located at the intersection of three major roadways in Cranberry Township. It’s just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate-79. The address is 910 Sheraton Drive, Mars, Pennsylvania. We have a map on our home page or click here for a link to a large map of the area.
PulpFest 2018 will continue tomorrow. Our dealers’ room will be open to all members from 9 AM to 2 PM as our exhibitors pack up. If you are coming just for the day, please be aware that buying and selling opportunities may be limited. Admission to the convention for Sunday, July 29, will be $10, the cost of our annual program book, THE PULPSTER.
Please join us at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry — just north of Pennsylvania’s “Steel City” — for “Summer’s AMAZING Pulp Con!” You’ll have a FANTASTIC time!
(This year, PulpFest will honor the centennial of the armistice that ended the First World War by focusing on the so-called “war pulps” of the early twentieth century and the depiction of war in popular culture.
One of the most popular and widely known authors to emerge from the pulps was Edgar Rice Burroughs. When World War I broke out in 1914, Burroughs was 39 years old. Burroughs shared his feelings and thoughts about The Great War in such works as “Tarzan and the Valley of Luna.” It was originally serialized in the March 20 through April 17 issues of Munsey’s ALL-STORY WEEKLY. The initial segment of the story featured front cover art by P. J. Monahan.
We hope to see you at the DoubleTree for “Summer’s Great Pulp Con! Our complete schedule for Saturday, July 28, is below. If you’d like to access our schedule via your mobile phone or tablet, go to http://pulpcon.org/schedule/.)
PULPFEST 2018 SCHEDULE
Saturday, July 28
Dealers’ Room
10:00 AM – 4:45 PM — Dealers’ Room Open to All
Afternoon Programming
1:00 – 4:00 PM — Mark Wheatley Presents The Art of SWORDS AGAINST THE MOON MEN
1:00 – 4:00 PM — FarmerCon 100: Memories of Phil (shown on the hour)
Readings
12:30 – 1:45 PM — FarmerCon 100: Farmer Jam (all members of FarmerCon 100 and PulpFest 2018 are welcome to read from their favorite Philip José Farmer work or reminisce about the author and his work)
1:55 – 2:50 PM — Flinch Books Fest (featuring New Fictioneers John Bruening & Jim Beard)
2:55 – 3:50 PM — FarmerCon 100: Reading Duet (featuring New Fictioneers Win Scott Eckert & Frank Schildiner)
3:55 – 4:30 PM — THE BLACK SPECTRE (a reading by Roger Alford)
Auction Preview
3:30 – 4:30 PM — Saturday Night Auction Preview
Evening Programming
5:00 – 6:45 PM — PulpFest Saturday Night Dinner
7:00 – 7:20 PM — PulpFest Annual Business Meeting (meet the convention organizers)
7:20 – 7:30 PM — Munsey Award Presentation (presented by David Saunders)
7:35 – 8:20 PM — Our Guest of Honor — Joe R. Lansdale (interviewed by Tony Davis)
8:25 – 9:05 PM — Life and Death on the Front Lines: The Art of the War Pulps (David Saunders)
9:10 – 9:50 PM — FarmerCon 100: The Dark Heart of Loki: Philip José Farmer Revisits 1918 (Paul Spiteri with Christopher Paul Carey & Win Scott Eckert)
9:50 – 10:05 PM — Last Minute Auction Viewing
10:05 – 12:00 AM — Saturday Night Auction
