So what’s this PulpFest that has so many people talking? With more than 4,500 followers on Facebook, over 2,000 on Instagram, 1,600 on Twitter/X, and more than 600 subscribers to our YouTube channel, it certainly has generated 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 after 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 2024 will celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of Harry Donenfeld’s and Frank Armer’s “Spicy” pulps and Popular Publications’ Operator #5 and A. A. Wyn’s Secret Agent X. We’ll also have a salute to Black Mask, honoring the 150th anniversary of the magazine’s legendary editor Joseph T. Shaw. Add onto that a nod to the centennial of the first book edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land That Time Forgot and the fiftieth anniversary of the movie of the same title. Plus more.
And don’t forget about the other terrific conventions that will be held in conjunction with next year’s PulpFest — ERBFest 2024 and FarmerCon XIX. That’s three conventions for the price of one!
Beginning May 10, we’ll start previewing all of the great programming planned for PulpFest 2024 in our posts here at pulpfest.com.
But our programming is only the beginning! The PulpFest 2024 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 2024. We hope you’ll join us from August 1 –4 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.
Our featured image is The Shadow Magazine for August 1, 1933 with cover art by George Rozen. Debuting in 1931, the tremendous success of this Street & Smith pulp led to an explosion of hero pulps beginning in 1933.
Our lead image is the first issue of The Black Mask — dated April 1920 — featured front cover art by William Grotz. A commercial artist who was active during the early twentieth century, Grotz contributed cover art to a variety of magazines including Action Stories, Film Fun, Judge, Liberty, Needlecraft Magazine, and Western Story Magazine.
If you hope to sell at the 2024 PulpFest, be advised to register as soon as possible. We’re already sold out of wall tables.
To learn more about PulpFest, visit our YouTube Channel . . .
And while you’re there, please be sure to subscribe.
