Programming for PulpFest 2019
PulpFest is the summertime destination for fans and collectors of popular culture both old and new. It seeks to honor the pulps by drawing attention to the many ways these throwaway magazines have inspired writers, artists, film directors, game designers, and other creators over the years.
Our 2019 convention will focus on the many ways pulp fiction and pulp art have inspired and continue to inspire creators. We’re calling this year’s theme “Children of the Pulps and Other Stories,” an examination of the pervasive influence of pulp magazines on contemporary pop culture. Our planned schedule appears below.
Of course, we’ll also have a spacious dealers’ room. It will feature tens of thousands of pulp magazines, vintage paperbacks, digests, genre books, original art, first edition hardcovers, series books, reference books, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, dime novels and story papers, Big Little Books, B-Movies, serials and related paper collectibles, old-time radio shows, and collectible comic books and newspaper adventure strips.
Please join PulpFest 2019 for our celebration of mystery, adventure, science fiction, and more. We’ll be back at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, just north of Pennsylvania’s “Steel City” in Mars, PA. Click the button below the PulpFest banner to “Book a Room.”
If you enjoy genre writers such as J. K. Rowling, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, John Scalzi, or Stephen King, you’ll love PulpFest!
PulpFest 2019 Schedule
Thursday, August 15
Dealers’ Room
3:00 PM – 10:00 PM — Dealers’ Room Set-Up
4:00 PM – 8:00 PM — Member Registration and Early-Bird Shopping
Evening Programming
8:15 – 9:00 PM — Bob Davis — Grandfather of Science Fiction (Gene Christie)
9:05 – 9:50 PM — A Century of Zorro — (Rich Harvey)
9:55 – 10:40 PM — Hollywood Pulp — From Pulp Page to the Silver Screen (Ed Hulse)
10:45 – 11:30 PM — Two Sought Adventure — Eighty Years of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser (Jason Aiken & Morgan Holmes)
11:40 – 1:00 AM — Fu Manchu Film Festival (William Patrick Maynard)
Friday, August 16
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
Author Readings — Today’s Fictioneers
11:00 – 12:20 AM — Raw Dog Screaming Press Rapid-Fire Read & Sweet Sixteen Celebration (Publisher Jennifer Barnes)
Readings by Mike Arnzen, Carrie Gessner, John Edward Lawson, Jason Jack Miller, and Stephanie Wytovich, plus coffee, tea, and sweets, compliments of the publisher
12:30 – 1:05 PM — Wayne Carey, author of Quatermain: The New Adventures
1:10 – 1:45 PM — Craig McDonald, author of The Hector Lassiter Series
1:50 – 2:25 PM — Joab Stieglitz, author of The Utgarda Series
2:30 – 3:05 PM — Christopher Paul Carey, The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs Series and The Khokarsa Series author, will be moderating our “Enter the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe” at this time
3:10 – 3:50 PM — William Patrick Maynard, authorized author of Fu Manchu
Afternoon Programming
1:30 – 2:30 PM — Author Signings — John Locke, Will Murray, and Chet Williamson will be available for signings at our main entrance
2:30 – 3:05 PM — Enter the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe (featuring Matt Betts, Win Scott Eckert, and Heidi Ruby Miller, with Christopher Paul Carey moderating)
2:30 – 4:30 PM — The Art of Edgar Rice Burroughs (sponsored by The Burroughs Bibliophiles)
4:00 – 4:40 PM — Fu Manchu Film Festival Encore (William Patrick Maynard)
Evening Programming
6:55 – 7:00 PM — Welcome to PulpFest (Convention Chairman Jack Cullers)
7:05 – 7:50 PM — ARGOSY, ADVENTURE and BLUE BOOK — The Men’s Adventure Pulps (Bob Deis & Wyatt Doyle)
7:55 – 8:40 PM — The Game’s Afoot: Sherlock Holmes and the Pulps (George Vanderburgh & Garyn Roberts)
8:45 – 9:30 PM — The Secret Life of Women Pulp Artists (David Saunders)
9:35 – 10:25 PM — Dashiell Hammett and the Detective Story (John Wooley with John Gunnison)
10:25 – 11:10 PM — The Key of Imagination: THE TWILIGHT ZONE and the Pulps (Nicholas Parisi)
11:15 – 12:45 AM — Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man (A film by Jason V. Brock)
Saturday, August 17
Dealers’ Room
10:00 AM – 4:45 PM — Dealers’ Room Open to All
Author Readings — Today’s Fictioneers
10:00 – 10:50 AM — Popular Fiction from Seton Hill (introduced by Heidi Ruby Miller)
Readings by Jeremiah Dylan Cook, E. C. Skowronski, and Sara Tantlinger
11:00 – 12:20 AM — Dog Star Books Rapid-Fire Read & Sweet Sixteen Celebration (Publisher John Edward Lawson)
Readings by Matt Betts, J. L. Gribble, Heidi Ruby Miller, K. W. Taylor, Albert Wendland, and K. Ceres Wright, plus coffee, tea, and sweets, compliments of the publisher
12:30 – 1:05 PM — Flinch Fest, featuring John Bruening, author of The Midnight Guardian Series
1:10 – 1:45 PM — Roger Alford, author of The Black Spectre Series
1:50 – 2:25 PM — Sara Light-Waller, author of ANCHOR and LANDSCAPE OF DARKNESS
2:30 – 3:05 PM — Win Scott Eckert, author of HUNT THE AVENGER and many other works
Afternoon Programming
1:30 – 2:30 PM — Author Signings — Win Scott Eckert, Nicholas Parisi, and John Wooley will be available for signings at our main entrance
2:30 – 4:30 PM — The Art of Edgar Rice Burroughs (sponsored by The Burroughs Bibliophiles)
3:15 – 4:30 PM — Contemporary Pulp: Writing Genre Fiction (featuring John Bruening, Christopher Paul Carey, Win Scott Eckert, Craig McDonald, and Will Murray, with William Patrick Maynard moderating)
4:15 – 4:45 PM — Auction Preview
Evening Programming
5:00 – 6:45 PM — PulpFest 2019 Group Meal
7:00 – 7:30 PM — PulpFest Annual Business Meeting (meet the convention organizers)
7:30 – 7:40 PM — Munsey Award Presentation (presented by William Lampkin)
7:45 – 8:25 PM — FarmerCon XIV: Farmer of the Pulps: A Harvest of Influences (featuring Jason Aiken, Christopher Paul Carey, Win Scott Eckert, and Garyn G. Roberts, with Paul Spiteri moderating)
8:30 – 9:30 PM — Born Writing: The Unparalleled Career of Arthur J. Burks (John Locke)
9:30 – 9:45 PM — Last Minute Auction Viewing
9:45 – 12:00 AM — Saturday Night Auction
12:00 – 1:00 AM — Fu Manchu Film Festival Encore (William Patrick Maynard)
Sunday, August 18
Dealers’ Room
9:00 AM – 2:00 PM — Dealers’ Room Open to All (many dealers will be packing up; buying opportunities may be limited)
To learn more about each presentations, click on the available links.
Click here to link to our 2019 mobile schedule.
Please note that the schedule above is subject to change.
(Every year, PulpFest celebrates mystery, adventure, science fiction, and other forms of genre fiction. The rough paper magazines played a major role in the development of fiction categories. Pulp publisher Street & Smith pioneered the specialized fiction magazine when it introduced DETECTIVE STORY MAGAZINE in late 1915. Eighteen years later, the same publisher introduced the first superhero: Lester Dent’s Doc Savage. The character debuted in the March 1933 issue of DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE, featuring cover art by Walter M. Baumhofer.
About five years later, Superman made his first appearance in the June 1938 issue of ACTION COMICS. Before long, the Man of Steel was joined by many other superheroes. This is just one example of the many ways pulp fiction and pulp art have influenced writers, artists, film directors, software developers, game designers, and other creators over the decades.
Watch for our post cards featuring Walter Baumhofer’s classic Doc Savage image at book stores, comic shops, collectible conventions, and other venues. With a Superman portrait painted by H. J. Ward on its flip side, our post card is a great collectible in itself. It was designed by PulpFest Advertising Director, William Lampkin.
And watch for more adventures of The Man of Bronze via The All-New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage. They’re written by PulpFest 2019 panelist, Will Murray.)
