PulpFest is not only lauded for its programming but also for its very substantial dealers’ room.
Beginning on Thursday, August 4, the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry will be home to thousands of collectible pulp magazines and digests, vintage paperbacks, first edition hardcovers and series books, original art, B-movies and serials, collectible comic books, and much more.
What dealers are we expecting at PulpFest 50? Today, we’ll be profiling the last of our dealers, telling you a little bit about each of them so you get to know them.
Tom Skemp is a longtime collector from Latrobe, Pennsylvania who will be bringing some unusual material that will be fresh to Pulpfest. He’ll be selling Sunday & daily comic sections and books recently culled from his extensive paperback collection. Check out his table for some thrills and great finds.
Steven Spilger from South Bend, Indiana has been collecting and selling both Silver and Golden Age comics, pulps, books, fanzines, and more for over thirty years. More recently, he’s added illustrative art to the mix. He calls his business, Mr. Polyester Books & Comics. The name came from his college friends, who watched him wear the same polyester leisure suit for all of his college yearbook photos. Steven has been a regular PulpFest dealer and supporter for many years. He’ll be sharing a table with Mark Alvarado.
Matt Moring of Steeger Books will be sharing a table with Walker Martin. Winner of the Munsey Award in 2012, Matt will have the latest releases from Steeger Books, one of the leading publishers of pulp reprints in the world.
Virginia’s Joab Stieglitz is an avid tabletop role-playing game player and game master of the horror, espionage, fantasy, and science fiction genres. He will be selling copies of his highly regarded Utgarda series at this year’s PulpFest. Joab’s books will appeal to pulp fans, H. P. Lovecraft readers, gamers, and horror movie fans in equal measure. While you’re waiting for PulpFest 50 to begin, check out Joab’s blog at Rantings of a Wandering Mind ~ The Writing Blog of Joab Stieglitz.
A regular dealer at the Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention, please welcome Terry O’Neill of Terry’s Comics to his first PulpFest. A comic book dealer as well as a comic book collector, Terry’s specialty is vintage comic books, including Gold, Silver, and Bronze Age comics. He also sells original art, pulps, vintage hardcover books, paperbacks, and fanzines. Terry exhibits at many shows and is always in the market to buy collections. You can check out Terry’s extensive catalog at terryscomics.com.
Bill Thade will be one of the dealers joining Todd McDevitt at this year’s PulpFest. Please welcome Bill to the convention.
Tim Paxton of Grand Rapids, Michigan specializes in paperbacks and small-press, first-edition hardcovers, dealing mainly in high-grade science fiction, fantasy, and horror as well as mysteries and pulp-related material. Tim has been selling at PulpFest for many years. Check out the Tim’s Books website at AbeBooks.com.
Our 2011 Munsey Award winner, Anthony Tollin, will be selling some of his Sanctum Books pulp reprints – The Avenger, The Black Bat, Doc Savage, Nick Carter, The Phantom Detective, The Shadow, The Skipper, The Spider, and The Whisperer – nine of the greatest pulp heroes in one of the best formats imaginable. He’ll also have his special multi-packs featuring art prints, preliminary pulp cover art by Jerome and George Rozen, original Shadow and comic strip art, and other unique items.
Please extend a hearty welcome to Virginia’s Bill Trible, selling at his first PulpFest in many years. Bill will be bringing a selection of adventure, detective, and western pulps, paperbacks, true crime books, and mystery novels. He’s also very strong in American history books, particularly from the 1930s, the era of the pulp heroes.
Hailing from Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sheila Vanderbeek has been a pulp collector for over fifty years. She’ll be bringing pulp magazines from all genres for sale or trade. Of course, the more she sells, the more she’ll be able to buy from the many fine dealers who will be attending PulpFest 50. Sheila is one of our nominees for the 2022 Munsey Award.
Todd Warren is a pulp, book, and art collector from Fort Washington, PA. He’ll be offering vintage pulps — especially Weird Tales — Arkham House books and other hardcovers, paperbacks, and original pulp and comic-related art. He’ll be joined by his brother, Ross.
Jon Wehler is a very personable dealer and collector who offers pulps, original art, and other paper collectibles. He’ll also have lots of vintage paperbacks from many different genres at PulpFest 50. Based in Ohio, he exhibits at many book and paper shows throughout the Midwest and often lends a hand at PulpFest. Did we mention that he’s a nice guy?
Christopher Maffei of Well-Stacked Books comes to PulpFest 50 out of Parkville, Maryland. A member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, Chris will be bringing vintage paperbacks, first-edition hardcovers and series books, art books, graphic novels and comics, and more to this year’s PulpFest.
Inducted into The Overstreet Hall of Fame in July 2017, Mark Wheatley is a longtime Edgar Rice Burroughs fan and admirer of the work of Philip José Farmer. He’s painted covers for Norvell W. Page’s The Spider: Satan’s Murder Machines and Amazon Nights by Arthur O. Friel. In collaboration with G. D. Falksen, Mark created the book Doctor Cthulittle. He also illustrated Songs of Giants: Poetry of Pulp, a collection of the very best horror, dark fantasy, and heroic sword and sorcery poetry written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, and H. P. Lovecraft. More recently, he’s contributed cover art to Meteor House, the Robert E. Howard Foundation, and First Fandom Experience. Mark and his wife Carol will have copies of his Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Visions of Adventure portfolio and more available for sale at PulpFest 50.
Mark will be discussing pulp art with Sara Light-Waller on the PulpFest programming stage on Saturday afternoon, August 6. Read our “PulpFest Profile” to learn more about Mark Wheatley.
If you would like to register as a dealer at this year’s PulpFest, we’ve run out of tables. Please contact Jack Cullers to be added to our waiting list. You can reach him at jack@pulpfest.com.
To enjoy our dealers’ room, join PulpFest 50 by clicking the Registration button at the top of this page. And don’t forget to book a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh — Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. They’re going fast!
You can reserve a room by calling 800.222.8733 or 724.776.6900.
Be sure to visit pulpfest.com on Monday, July 25, for a look at some of the new books that will be premiering at PulpFest 50.
Our PulpFest 50 advertisement was adapted by William Lampkin from Wings for Summer 1949, featuring cover art by Norman Saunders. Published by Fiction House, we’ll be saluting the publisher’s centennial at PulpFest 50. Fiction House also published Jumbo Comics for August 1941, featuring cover art by Dan Zolnerowich (as Zolne Rowich). We’ll have a presentation on Fiction House Comics at PulpFest 50. It’s scheduled for Friday evening, August 5.
Gloria Stoll Karn — who was our guest of honor at PulpFest 2017 — painted the cover art for Dime Mystery Magazine for November 1943, published by Popular Publications. Gloria also painted the September 1946 number, our featured image. We’ll be saluting the 90th anniversary of the publisher’s “Dime” pulps at PulpFest 50.
A resident of Pittsburgh, Gloria Stoll-Karn will be 99 years old in November of this year.
