PulpFest 2021 and ERBFest 2021 will begin today at noon, as our dealers begin to erect their displays for this year’s pulp con! The dealers’ room will be open for exhibitors to set up until 5 PM. At this point, we urge all of our dealers to take advantage of our generous load-in and set-up time.
Access to the dealers’ room for unloading will be through the ballroom back entrance and the nearby banquet dock. Click here for a map showing the loading area of the hotel and here for a map of the DoubleTree’s Grand Ballroom.
If you need additional help getting to the hotel and/or the loading area, please call or text Jack Cullers at 937.671.1574.
There is ample free parking surrounding our host hotel, the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. The hotel 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 website or click here for a link to a large map of the area.
All members — dealers included — will be able to register for the convention from 1 to 5 PM. Registration will take place at the entrance to our dealers’ room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. Everyone can pick up their registration packets at this time. 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.
A full weekend membership to PulpFest 2021 will cost $40 at the door for those who have not registered in advance. Daily memberships for Friday or Saturday will also be available for $20 per day.
There will be free early-bird shopping today in the dealers’ room from 1 to 5 PM for loyal attendees who help to defray the convention’s costs by staying at our host hotel. The cost is $70 for those who stay elsewhere. This price includes a full weekend membership to PulpFest 2021.
Although the focus of PulpFest is pulp magazines and related materials, digests, vintage paperbacks, contemporary genre fiction and pulp reprints, 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 comic books, as well as pulp-related comic books and games, are also allowed.
Following our early-bird shopping, pizza will be served in the Ember & Vine lounge of the DoubleTree. Thanks to the generosity of our dealers, PulpFest will celebrate the convention’s return with pizza at 5 PM today. All PulpFest attendees are invited to have a slice or two.
Our full evening programming slate will begin at 7:15 PM. We hope you can join us for a presentation by Henry G. Franke III on “The Amazing, Thrilling, and Fantastic Edgar Rice Burroughs. It’s the first segment in our programming for ERBFest 2021,” this summer’s convention for the fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs and his work.
ERBFest is part of PulpFest. There is no extra cost to attend our ERBFest activities.
Later in the evening, PulpFest 2021 will mark the centennial of Street & Smith’s LOVE STORY MAGAZINE, the bestselling pulp magazine of all time. Our Thursday evening LOVE STORY salute features pop culture historian Michelle Nolan exploring “Love on the Racks.”
THE SHADOW, A DETECTIVE MAGAZINE — the first pulp primarily devoted to a single character — debuted ninety years ago in early 1931. A throwaway idea intended to establish a trademark on the mysterious narrator of THE DETECTIVE STORY HOUR radio show, the idea was handed over to a 33-year-old ghostwriter and newspaper reporter. Thanks to the talent and imagination of Walter B. Gibson, The Shadow became an instant hit. The character’s appeal inspired Doc Savage, The Spider, Batman, and other pop culture heroes.
We’ll salute the occasion of the 90th anniversary of THE SHADOW MAGAZINE with a presentation by David Saunders on the artists who worked for THE SHADOW MAGAZINE, and “The Shadow — Multimedia Hero,” presented by writer Jim Beard.
Our Thursday evening programming will conclude with the first segment of our Shadow film festival. Tonight we’ll be showing the Detective Stories short feature, A BURGLAR TO THE RESCUE, and THE SHADOW STRIKES, starring Rod La Rocque.
You can find additional details about all of our programming by clicking the button found at the top of our website. Or click here to link to our 2021 mobile schedule. 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. The general public is welcome to attend our evening programming, free of charge.
If you are not from the Pittsburgh area and have yet to book your room for PulpFest 2021, you can try calling 1-800-222-8733 to reach our host hotel. Perhaps there is a vacancy.
According to the DoubleTree’s website, masks are optional for guests and DoubleTree Team Members who are fully vaccinated. The hotel follows Hilton’s brand standard and asks those who are not vaccinated to please wear a mask indoors and practice social distancing.
With the delta variant taking off around the United States, the CDC recommends that everyone, vaccinated or not, should wear masks in indoor public settings in areas with “substantial” or “high” virus transmission. Currently, the counties of Allegheny and Butler — where the DoubleTree is located — are in these categories.
To keep up to date with Pennsylvania’s coronavirus numbers, click here.
If you are exhibiting any symptoms associated with COVID-19, please stay at home. You should not attend PulpFest or ERBFest. Isolate and avoid contact with others, rest, and drink fluids. If your symptoms worsen, call your health care provider.
Tonight at 10 PM, join PulpFest 2021 for “The Shadow — Multimedia Hero,” a presentation exploring The Shadow’s imposing presence in American popular culture. Pictured here is Michael William Kaluta’s cover art for the twelfth and final issue of DC Comics’ THE SHADOW. Published from 1973 – 1975, the series is considered by many to be the best of all comic books featuring The Shadow.
The work of Edgar Rice Burroughs has inspired artists such as Joseph Chenoweth, Virgil Finlay, Laurence Herndon, Frank Hoban, P. J. Monahan, Stockton Mulford, Frank R. Paul, Clinton Pettee, Paul Stahr, Modest Stein, Herbert Morton Stoops, and N. C. Wyeth. Our post features work by one of the best Burroughs artists, J. Allen St. John. He painted the cover art for the June 1941 issue of AMAZING STORIES, published by Ziff-Davis.
You’ll find our complete schedule for Thursday, August 19, below. You can also access our schedule via your mobile phone or tablet, by visiting http://pulpcon.org/schedule/.
PulpFest 2021 Schedule
Thursday, August 19
Dealers’ Room
12:00 – 5:00 PM — Dealers’ Room Set-Up
1:00 – 5:00 PM — Member Registration & Early-Bird Shopping for PulpFest Members Staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry
Hotel Lounge
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM — Pizza at PulpFest (Sponsored by Our Generous PulpFest Dealers)
Evening Programming
7:10 – 7:15 PM — Welcome to PulpFest (Chairman Jack Cullers)
7:15 – 8:05 PM — ERBFest 2021 — The Amazing, Thrilling, and Fantastic Edgar Rice Burroughs (Henry G. Franke III)
8:10 – 9:00 PM — Shadow Artists — Inside and Out (David Saunders)
9:05 – 9:55 PM — Love on the Racks (Michelle Nolan)
10:00 – 10:50 PM — The Shadow — Multimedia Hero (Jim Beard)
11:15 PM – 1:00 AM — The Shadow on the Silver Screen I — The Shadow Detective Stories Short Feature A BURGLAR TO THE RESCUE and THE SHADOW STRIKES starring Rod La Rocque
Please note that the schedule above is subject to change. To learn more about each presentation, click on the link that is embedded in each title.
