So what’s this PulpFest that has so many people talking? With more than 4,200 followers on Facebook, 1,900 on Instagram, almost 1,500 on Twitter, and more than 300 subscribers to our brand-new YouTube channel, it certainly has been generating a lot of excitement on social media.
PulpFest is named for pulp magazines — fiction periodicals named after the wood-pulp paper on which they were printed. Frank A. Munsey pioneered the format in 1896 with The Argosy. Stories like Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Tarzan and the Apes” and Max Brand’s “Destry Rides Again” really got things moving.
The pulps began to flourish following the introduction of specialized magazines such as Detective Story and Western Story Magazine. Publishing legends Black Mask, Weird Tales, and Amazing Stories debuted during the 1920s. The early thirties introduced the hero pulps, while science fiction exploded as the world went to war in 1939.
By 1955, the pulps had largely disappeared. Although displaced by paperback books, comics, radio, television, movies, and more, the rough-paper periodicals had a profound effect on popular culture across the globe. They inspired everything from Star Wars and Jurassic Park to Batman and Spider-Man. The fiction and art of the pulps reverberated through films, comics, paperbacks, television, and even anime and role-playing games.
PulpFest 2023 will celebrate the centennials of Weird Tales, Sport Story Magazine, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., as well as the 90th anniversaries of The Spider, Robert E. Howard’s Conan, and Doc Savage. And don’t forget about the other terrific conventions that will be held in conjunction with next year’s PulpFest — ERBFest 2023 and FarmerCon XVIII. That’s three conventions for the price of one!
Beginning May 17, we’ll start previewing all of the great programming planned for PulpFest 2023 in our posts here at pulpfest.com.
But our programming is only the beginning! The PulpFest 2023 dealers’ room will feature tens of thousands of pulp magazines, vintage paperbacks, digests, genre books, original art, first edition hardcovers, series books, reference books, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, Big Little Books, B-Movies, cliffhangers, and their related paper collectibles, old-time radio shows, and collectible comic books and newspaper adventure strips. We’ll also be hosting author, artist, and publisher events during the convention.
Expect all this and more at PulpFest 2023. We hope you’ll join us from August 3 –6 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. You can become a member of the convention by clicking the Registration button on our website. If you need lodging, you can also book a room on our site. And don’t forget to subscribe to our e-letter for early updates on our plans. Click here to subscribe.
Published by the Frank A. Munsey Company, the October 1912 issue of The All-Story featured Edgar Rice Burroughs’ celebrated novel “Tarzan of the Apes,” published in its entirety. Clinton Pettee painted the front cover art for the magazine.
Burroughs’ Tarzan is perhaps the most famous character to emerge from the pulps. Others include Zorro, Conan the Barbarian, Dr. Kildare, The Shadow (whose visage, as painted by George Rozen, is our featured image), Buck Rogers, Sam Spade, Doc Savage, and Cthulhu. Their stories have inspired countless creators the world over!
