For more than fifty years, PulpFest has celebrated mystery, adventure, science fiction, and much more. In the pulp magazines of the early twentieth century — which gave PulpFest its name — the hardboiled detective, science fiction, and sword and sorcery genres developed and flourished. They gave us Buck Rogers, Conan the Barbarian, Cthulhu, Doc Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, John Carter of Mars, Sam Spade, The Shadow, Solomon Kane, Tarzan, Zorro, and many other pop culture icons.
PulpFest 2023 will celebrate the 90th anniversaries of Doc Savage, Robert E. Howard’s Conan, and that “Master of Men,” The Spider.
The convention will also pay tribute to the centennials of Weird Tales and Sport Story Magazine and feature appearances by award-winning artists Mark Schultz and Mark Wheatley, as well as authors and editors John Betancourt, Gary Phillips, and Darrell Schweitzer, as well as pulp historian and author Will Murray.
PulpFest 2023 will also be saluting the centennials of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and the author’s “Moon Trilogy,” as well as the 150th anniversary of artist J. Allen St. John’s birth. Henry G. Franke III — the editor of The Burroughs Bulletin — will be hosting an art show too. It’s all part of the second annual celebration of the Master of Adventure, ERBFest 2023, to be held in conjunction with PulpFest 2023.
To top things off, the fans of Philip José Farmer will be back at PulpFest in 2023 for FarmerCon XVIII.
Since 2011, PulpFest has hosted FarmerCon, a convention celebrating the life and times of the longtime pulp fan and Grand Master of Science Fiction, born January 26, 1918. By holding the convention alongside PulpFest, Farmer fans get a variety of programming and a room full of pulp and book dealers to enjoy. And don’t forget the after-hours socializing that the fans of Philip José Farmer are known to enjoy. These gatherings are always vibrant, entertaining, and informative.
Start making your plans now to head for Mars, Pennsylvania from August 3 – 6 for PulpFest 2023, ERBFest 2023, and FarmerCon XVIII. That’s three conventions for the price of one, only at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. You can become a member of all three conventions by clicking the Registration button on the PulpFest website.
And don’t forget to book a room at the DoubleTree. Included in the special convention rate of $129 plus tax per night are two complimentary hot breakfasts per room during your stay, free Wi-Fi, and free parking. To thank you for your support, PulpFest will provide free early-bird shopping when you book a room at the convention’s host hotel.
Although Frank R. Paul’s cover painting for the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories was meant to illustrate the first segment of “The Skylark of Space,” a serialized novel by E. E. “Doc” Smith and Lee Garby, it has often been mistaken as a depiction of Anthony “Buck” Rogers. Also appearing in the August 1928 Amazing Stories was the first of Philip Francis Nowlan’s Buck Rogers stories, “Armageddon—2419 A.D.”
The first of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Moon stories — “The Moon Maid” — was originally serialized by Munsey’s Argosy All-Story Weekly beginning with the May 5, 1923 number, featuring cover art by P. J. Monahan. According to science fiction author and critic P. Schuyler Miller, “The Moon Maid” was considered by readers to be Burroughs’ “best book and best science fiction.”
The March 1946 Adventure is important in the life of Philip José Farmer because it marked the publication of his first professional sale as a writer. His novella, “O’Brien and Obrenov,” concerns the occupation of a German town at the end of World War II. The issue’s cover art is by Griffith Foxley, best remembered for his paperback book cover paintings, including the Dell first edition of Fredric Brown’s Madball, Ernest Hemingway’s Across the River and Through the Trees, and the Donald Lam and Bertha Cool mystery, Top of the Heap. The artist also painted covers for true crime magazines such as Master Detective and True Detective Mysteries and created interior art for Liberty.
Leslie Silberberg is a writer and popular culture enthusiast who began posting on our website in 2022. She enjoys the science fiction pulps, particularly the work of such leading female writers as Leigh Brackett, Claire Winger Harris, Zenna Henderson, Judith Merril, C. L. Moore, Margaret St. Clair, Wilmar H. Shiras, Francis Stevens, and Leslie F. Stone. Many thanks to Ms. Silberberg for her contributions to pulpfest.com.
