If there’s one thing our media does well, it’s tell us how wrong everything is in our world. This week is a good one to remember to give thanks for all that is right in our lives. It could be our health, our home, our family, our pets, our friends, our hobbies, or our jobs. We all have something in our lives that help us make it through the hard times and the drudgery. These are things for which we should be grateful.
The pulp community has much to be grateful for in particular: dealers and reprint specialty publishers who preserve the treasures of the past; an involved community who meet up at pulp cons across North America several times each year; staying connected online, giving us a thriving network of friends and second families to share our passions and joys.
THE POPULAR MAGAZINE was the prototype pulp magazine bringing Boys’ Own Adventure tales by H. Rider Haggard, H. G. Wells, Rafael Sabatini, Sax Rohmer, John Buchan, Zane Grey, Arthur B. Reeves, Edgar Wallace, and countless others to readers from 1903 to 1931. This seminal Street & Smith publication featured artwork by the likes of N. C. Wyeth and Leslie Thrasher.
Pulp made a very big world accessible to readers who had no internet and a limited ability to travel. Our world shrunk as together we explored new civilizations, discovered new cultures, and transformed our lives in the process. 103 years ago this week, Leslie Thrasher’s cover for THE POPULAR MAGAZINE illustrated just how far our world had come in only half a century since the abolition of slavery.
Another century and another millennium have come and gone since then. Let’s all be thankful for all that is right in the world and look forward to celebrating our shared interests and passions from Thursday, August 15 to Sunday, August 18 when PulpFest 2019 celebrates our shared heritage as “Children of the Pulps.”
You can book your room directly through our website. Book early and don’t miss the chance to stay at the beautiful DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. Just click the link that reads “Book a Room” below the PulpFest banner. You’ll be redirected to a secure site where you can place your reservation.
(The legendary Leslie Thrasher (1889-1936) was synonymous with THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, but his amazing artwork also graced the covers of RED BOOK, COLLIER’S, LIBERTY, and THE POPULAR MAGAZINE, included the November 20, 1915 number. A veteran of The Great War, he studied under the esteemed Howard Pyle and was a friend and colleague of Norman Rockwell. He suffered respiratory ailments for years following exposure to poison gas during the First World War. Complications from smoke inhalation during a house fire prematurely ended his life at age 47.)
