PulpFest 2021 will be here in 60 days! On Thursday, August 19, be one of the hundreds of pop-culture fans who will be arriving at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, just north of Pittsburgh in the town of Mars, Pennsylvania. Please click the Registration button at the top of this page to learn how to join this summer’s annual get-together for fans of popular fiction and art.
PulpFest is known for its superb programming. The presentations that we have planned for this year’s convention will be great! PulpFest 2021 will be focusing on “Love in the Shadows,” celebrating the centennial of LOVE STORY MAGAZINE — the first romance pulp — and the 90th anniversary of THE SHADOW — the magazine that became a pop culture phenomenon through radio, movies, comic books, and more. Along with Tarzan, Zorro, Conan, and Cthulhu, The Shadow is one of the best-known characters of the pulps.
One of the highlights of our 2021 convention will be a panel on Shadow creator Walter B. Gibson. Moderated by Ed Hulse — the author of THE ART OF PULP FICTION — the panel will feature writer Will Murray, artist Jim Steranko, and publisher Anthony Tollin. All three panelists knew Gibson and the other writers who worked for THE SHADOW MAGAZINE.
PulpFest will also salute WEIRD TALES artist Margaret Brundage as well as artists Earle K. Bergey and Enoch Bolles, cover girl Eva Lynd, and the great women editors of the pulps.
But that’s not all. PulpFest 2021 is very proud to announce that it will be the site for ERBFest 2021, a gathering for fans of writer Edgar Rice Burroughs — creator of Tarzan, John Carter, Pellucidar, and many other fantastic worlds and characters. Thanks to the efforts of Henry G. Franke III, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., and the PulpFest organizing committee, there will be a summer convention for Burroughs fans.
The general public is welcome to attend our evening programming events.
All this, plus an expansive dealers’ room packed with pulp magazines and related materials, vintage paperbacks, digests, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, contemporary genre fiction, first-edition hardcovers, series books, dime novels, original art, Big Little Books, Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age comic books, old-time-radio shows, gaming materials, film serials, B-movies and related collectibles, and more!
In the weeks ahead, we’ll be posting here about our dealers, our great programming line-up, our PULPSTER program book, the writers who will be appearing at PulpFest, and much more. You can keep abreast of all these updates by bookmarking our homepage or liking us on Facebook. You can also follow us on Twitter or through Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for the PulpFest E-letter — focusing on the “behind-the-scenes” planning for this summer’s convention — by clicking here. Just give us your name and email address and click the “submit” button.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time for you to register for PulpFest 2021! While you’re at it, you can reserve a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. Just click the “Book a Room” link at the top of our website or call 1-800-222-8733. Be sure to mention PulpFest in order to receive the convention rate. By staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton, you’ll help to ensure the convention’s success. Given its popularity, we urge every member to book a hotel room for PulpFest 2021 as soon as possible. The earlier you place your room reservation for this year’s PulpFest, the greater chance you will have of landing a room at this beautiful hotel.
Although the DoubleTree by Hilton is the ideal place to stay during the convention, we want everyone to be able to make it to “Summer’s AMAZING Pulp Con” at the “pop culture center of the universe.” Rest assured, you’ll have a FANTASTIC time! We look forward to seeing you at the DoubleTree from August 19 – 22 for PulpFest 2021.
So what’s your taste? Heroic warriors and omnipotent wizards? Mysteries that leave you breathless? Awe-inspiring adventures inside the earth or beyond the farthest star? Finding true love when you least expect it? They all have their roots in the pulps.
THE SHADOW MAGAZINE debuted in early 1931 and soon thereafter inspired an explosion of “hero pulps.” Later came the superheroes of comic books, TV, and movies. Our PulpFest 2021 postcard — adapted by William Lampkin of ThePulp.Net — is based on THE SHADOW MAGAZINE for November 1, 1936, featuring cover art by George Rozen.
The Summer 2021 edition of PulpFest will celebrate the anniversaries of two trend-setting rough-paper magazines. Both LOVE STORY and THE SHADOW MAGAZINE played significant roles in the evolution of American popular culture and genre fiction. As did Eva Lynd, our machine-gunning cover girl pictured above. Adapted from NEW MAN for December 1968 — with cover art by Norm Eastman — the artwork is courtesy of The Rich Oberg Collection.
