PulpFest is not only lauded for its fine programming but also for its very substantial dealers’ room.
Beginning on Thursday, August 3, 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, genre fiction, B-movies and serials, collectible comic books, and much more.
What dealers are we expecting at PulpFest 2023? For the next four days, we’ll be profiling our dealers, telling you a little bit about each of them so you get to know them.
From 1982 – 85, Jennifer DiGiacomo was the editor and publisher of The Savage Society of Bronze, a Doc Savage fanzine. A resident of New York City, this will be Jennifer’s third consecutive year as a PulpFest dealer. Swing by her table in the dealers’ room to peruse a few odds and ends from her personal collection and items recently acquired from Link Hullar and Shelby Peck’s family. Jennifer will also be moderating our Saturday afternoon panel, “Doc Savage and His Offspring.” She’ll be joined by four writers whose work has been inspired by “The Man of Bronze.”
Founded in 1977 and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Dreamhaven Books has been selling at PulpFest for many years. Greg Ketter specializes in new and used science fiction, fantasy, horror, film and media books, comics, and graphic novels. An independent bookseller, Greg has been selling books and pulps for over forty years. We look forward to having Dreamhaven back in our dealers’ room for yet another go-round.
Let’s welcome back David Earle for his third PulpFest as a dealer. He’ll be selling pulps and related materials, collectible paperbacks, miscellaneous genre fiction, and some comic-related books at his dealer table. Originally from Cleveland, David has been collecting pulps since he was twelve, inspired by his friend, the late Sheldon Jaffery. He is the Chair of Art and Design at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida. David’s research concentrates on the history of American Magazines.
Christopher Paul Carey, Director of Publishing, and Cathy Mann Wilbanks, Vice President of Operations, will be representing Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. at PulpFest 2023. They’ll have all the latest publications from the Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe™ to the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library™ to everything in between. In addition to selling in our dealers’ room, Chris and Cathy will be hosting a panel on “100 Years of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.” on Thursday, August 3. Christopher will also be part of our Farmercon panel, “Doc Savage — The Man — and Myth — of Bronze,” and our celebration of the centennial of “The Moon Maid.”
Two of the organizers of the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Doug Ellis & Deb Fulton will have a wide selection of general fiction, science-fiction, adventure, and other pulps to offer. They’ll also have original art and other collectibles at this year’s PulpFest. Stop by their tables and you’re bound to find something that you can’t do without!
Please welcome Jim Emerson to his first PulpFest as a dealer. Jim is the author of Futures Past: A Visual History of Science Fiction. A multi-volume series in chronological order, it covers in great detail the entire history of the field of science fiction. Topics include books, films, magazines, tv shows, conventions, biographies, and even sf plays and word origins. Futures Past is quickly gaining notice in science fiction circles. It has received rave reviews in most of the top science fiction magazines as well as on sf review sites such as BlackGate.com. You can even download the first volume — complete and free — by clicking here.
Robin & Brendan Faulkner have been in the popular culture business since the 1960s. Located in Danbury, Connecticut, R & B Enterprises will be selling a wide selection of pulps, vintage magazines, classic movie and television DVDs, paperbacks, hardcovers, and related material at this year’s PulpFest. Please visit their website to learn more about what they have to offer.
Flinch! Books was founded in 2015 by two Ohio-based writers. Since their initial foray into the world of independent publishing — Something Strange is Going On!: New Tales From the Fletcher Hanks Universe — co-publishers Jim Beard and John C. Bruening have followed with more wide-ranging anthologies, as well as full-length novels showcasing their own creations — Beard’s Sgt. Janus and Bruening’s Midnight Guardian. Their latest offering is Blood on the Blade: Ten Tales of Slashing Swords and Sinister Sorcery, an anthology that has received consistently high praise from the sword-and-sorcery community since it was first published.
Martin Grams is an American pop culture historian who has written extensively on radio, television, and film. He’s the author of The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television, King Kong: The 1933 Radio Scripts, The Radio Adventures of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu, The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program, 1930-1954, and many other titles. In addition to his award-winning books, Martin will be selling a substantial selection of classic Blu-rays and DVDs. To learn more about his books, visit Martin’s website at martingrams.biz/. And don’t forget about the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, a phenomenal nostalgia convention founded by Martin and his wife in 2006.
Martin has also been hard at work making his dream come true: to own and operate a coffee shop. This non-profit venture will benefit disabled veterans as well as support community fundraising. So be sure to take a moment and browse the celebrity autographs, DVDs, and books on his vendor tables. Your support will help a worthy cause.
After several years away, PulpFest wants to welcome back Larry “Doc” Grubb to the convention. A collector since the 1960s, Doc will have many first-edition works and a variety of pulp magazines, all at great prices. Larry hails from Maryland.
George Hagenauer returned to PulpFest as a dealer in 2022, sharing a booth with artist and illustrator Don Simpson. This year, he’s manning his own PulpFest dealer’s table. George has written the occasional trading card sets and comics; been a columnist for the Comics Buyer’s Guide; and done the occasional article related to pulps and art. He co-wrote with Max Allan Collins The History of Mystery and Taschen’s award-winning Men’s Adventure Magazines. For 40 years, George also helped with the historical background for Collins’ historical mysteries. He also put together an exhibit telling the history of the American mystery genre through original art and was part of the team that started and ran the Chicago Comicon for its first incarnation. At the urging of his family George is doing his estate sale while still alive and will be bringing original art and anything else of interest to PulpFest 2023. Send him suggestions for what to bring via his Comicartfans Gallery.
Scouring flea markets and antique shows up and down the East Coast, Rick Hall rescues pulps from the bottoms of musty old boxes for the collections of his fellows in the pulp community. Focusing primarily on pulp magazines, Rick adds fanzines and general magazines with “good authors” to the mix. You may find just what you’ve been looking for among Rick’s “found” treasures. Helping man Rick’s table in 2023 will be PulpFest regular Curt Phillips.
Richard Meli, Amanda Peebles, and Shannon Kreiger will be representing Heartwood Books & Art at this year’s PulpFest. Heartwood is a member of the ABAA with more than twenty-five years of experience in buying and selling vintage pulps, first editions, magazines, paperbacks, and other collectibles. Heartwood has more than 100,000 items available for sale, including the Robert Weinberg collection of rare pulps, digests, paperbacks, and related ephemera, the Napa Valley collection of men’s adventure magazines, the Barry Levin collection, world-class Edgar Rice Burroughs material, and one-of-a-kind Weird Tales, Clark Ashton-Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft gems.
The sponsor of our 2023 welcome banner, Heritage Auctions is one of the leading dealers and appraisers of collectibles in the world. Rick Akers, consignment director for comics, comic art, and pulp magazines, will be manning the Heritage booth right outside our 2023 dealers’ room entrance for half a day on Saturday, August 5. Stop by and talk with Rick about Heritage and the services that they offer. And don’t forget about the company’s “Pulp Magazine Showcase Auctions,” featuring The Jack and Joanie Kump Pulp Collection. Their war and aviation pulp auction will take place on August 24.
Paul Herman is a dealer and collector based in Connecticut who exhibits at many pulp and paperback conventions. He offers a wide variety of materials including pulps, paperbacks, and vintage digests. He is very strong in the mystery and detective fields, turning up many scarce items. You can also find Fiction House pulps among his regular stock. Be sure to drop by Paul’s tables for a top-notch deal on some of the best collectibles around.
Doug Sims — who owns Heroes and Games, a comic book and collectible games store located at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio — will again be returning as a PulpFest 2023 dealer. According to Doug, PulpFest is “Always one of my favorite cons to attend!” He will have copies of our favorite pulp heroes in the paperback and softcover formats, Golden, Silver, and Bronze age comics, pulp-related games, and much more.
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 wander through our dealers’ room, click the Registration button at the top of this page to join PulpFest. And don’t forget to book a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh — Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. Click our link. You can also reserve a room by calling 800.222.8733 or 724.776.6900. Be sure to mention PulpFest to get the special convention rate. Currently, there are only a few rooms left at the convention rate. Click here for other options.
We’ll be profiling more of our PulpFest 2023 dealers through Friday, July 14. Please visit our site on Wednesday for our next segment.
Our featured image is excerpted from James Bama’s iconic cover art for the Bantam Book edition of Doc Savage #1 — The Man of Bronze. It was first published in 1964.
Like Frank Frazetta and his Conan paintings, it was Bama’s striking cover artwork for the Bantam editions that initially sold the series to the readers of the late twentieth century. However, it was Lester Dent’s stories that kept them clamoring for more.
Our lead image was adapted by PulpFest advertising director William Lampkin from Walter M. Baumhofer’s front cover art for the March 1933 issue of Doc Savage Magazine.
While the readers of the Bantam paperbacks featuring “The Fantastic Adventures of Doc Savage” had James Bama’s version of the character in his torn shirt, the earlier readers of Doc Savage Magazine had a different outlook on the character. Pictured above is Walter Baumhofer’s version of the good doctor in a shirt and tie, from the cover of the July 1935 issue of the Street & Smith hero-pulp magazine.
We’ll be celebrating the 90th anniversary of Doc Savage and other great pulp heroes at PulpFest 2023. We hope you’ll join us for “Chilling Sports and Pulp Heroes” at this summer’s convention.
The PulpFest welcome banner was adapted by William Lampkin from Margaret Brundage’s cover art for the October 1933 issue of Weird Tales. Our banner was sponsored by Heritage Auctions.
