The Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale, Canada’s premier pulp event held in the hallowed halls of the Toronto Public Library, has been postponed until 2021 due to the Coronavirus outbreak. A small show, but one that satisfies the hardcore collector and the pulp curious alike with twenty-five dealers’ tables crammed with vintage pulp, affordable reprints, collectible paperbacks, posters, and much more. So pulp fans, mark your calendar for 2021 because the Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale is already scheduled to return next year.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ontario has declared a state of emergency and all non-essential business has been closed. The organizers of the Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale hope you will plan on joining them next year to attend their one-day event. For additional information about next year’s con, please email Neil or Leigh Mechem at girasolcollectables@teksavvy.com. Tell ’em PulpFest sent you.
(This year’s poster for the now-cancelled Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale — designed by Neil and Leigh Mechem — featured Rafael M. DeSoto’s cover art for the October 1933 issue of BLACK BOOK DETECTIVE MAGAZINE. Originally published by Newsstand Publications of Chicago, the pulp’s first issue was dated June 1933. The magazine’s early issues seem to be very much along the lines of the first detective pulp, Street & Smith’s DETECTIVE STORY MAGAZINE.
For about six years, BLACK BOOK DETECTIVE plodded along, occasionally pushing the envelope by introducing weird menace fiction or a continuing character such as A. J. Raffles or Arthur B. Reeve’s Craig Kennedy. Then, in its July 1939 number, the magazine published a story entitled “Brand of the Black Bat.”
Written by Norman Daniels, “Brand of the Black Bat” introduced the “mysterious nemesis of crime” known as The Black Bat. Modeled after The Shadow and other popular pulp heroes, Daniels’ tale would be the start of a lengthy series that would run for over fifty issues.
Although we won’t be focusing on The Black Bat at PulpFest 2020, we will have plenty of other “B’s” for you. The convention will salute the centennial of author Ray Bradbury’s birth; the 100th anniversary of BLACK MASK — the pulp where the hardboiled detective story took root; and the 120th anniversary of the birth of WEIRD TALES artist Margaret Brundage. “Bradbury, BLACK MASK, and Brundage” have inspired and continue to inspire creators the world over.
And if three “B’s” aren’t enough for you, how about Burroughs, Brackett, Baum, a couple of “B” movies, plus our guest of honor, the “B”eautiful Eva Lynd.
Eva was a top model for artists Norm Eastman and Al Rossi, and a frequent collaborator with Doc Savage model Steve Holland.
PulpFest 2020 will have panels and presentations on all of these topics and a whole lot more. We hope you can join us from August 6 – 9 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, PA.
Currently, the PulpFest organizing committee is monitoring the situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and consulting with our host hotel. At the same time, we are continuing to work toward mounting PulpFest 2020 from August 6 – 9 in Mars, Pennsylvania at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh — Cranberry.
PulpFest will continue to assess developments. We will advise you about any changes to our plans through our website and social media pages. So please stay tuned to pulpfest.com.)
