We’re just sixty days away from the start of PulpFest 2024! On Thursday, August 1, be one of the hundreds of pop-culture fans arriving at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, just north of Pittsburgh in Mars, Pennsylvania. Click the button marked “registration” at the top of this page to learn how to join this summer’s annual get-together for popular fiction and art fans.
If you’re planning to register for PulpFest 2024, remember that you can also submit material to this year’s auction. As long as you let us know what you intend to submit before July 5 — along with photographs and descriptions of your submissions — it will be eligible for online bidding. Click here for more information, or write to Mike Chomko at mike@pulpfest.com. And click here for a look at our online bidding page. We already have over 100 lots listed.
Another fast-approaching deadline is for your nominations for the 2024 Munsey Award. We must receive your nominations by 11:59 pm on Friday, June 7.
To nominate a person or organization for either or both of these prestigious awards, please state your reasons in a few sentences. Send your nomination to PulpFest marketing and programming director Mike Chomko at mike@pulpfest.com. You can also reach Mike at 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542. For further guidelines about Munsey nominations, please click here.
The 2024 Munsey Award will be presented on Saturday, August 3, as part of our programming line-up at PulpFest 2024.
PulpFest 2024 will be celebrating “Spice, Spies, Shaw, and More” this August. We’ll have salutes to the ninetieth anniversary of Harry Donenfeld’s and Frank Armer’s “Spicy” pulps and Popular Publications’ Operator #5 and Red Finger, and A. A. Wyn’s Secret Agent X. We’ll also have look at Black Mask, honoring the 150th anniversary of the magazine’s legendary editor Joseph T. Shaw.
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!
As part of our latest celebration of that Master of Adventure, Edgar Rice Burroughs, we’ll be saluting 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 and more. ERBFest 2024 will co-hosted by Henry G Franke III — the editor of The Burroughs Bibliophiles, which publishes The Burroughs Bulletin journal and The Gridley Wave monthly newsletter.
Of special note is the 2024 Dum-Dum Banquet, scheduled for Saturday, August 3, starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Bravo! Italian Kitchen, located one-half mile from PulpFest’s host hotel. The banquet will be hosted by The Burroughs Bibliophiles and is independent of PulpFest 2024. You don’t need to be a member of The Bibliophiles to attend the banquet.
But that’s not all. PulpFest is very happy to welcome back FarmerCon, a gathering of the many fans of author Philip José Farmer.
Since 2011, PulpFest has hosted FarmerCon, a convention that began in Peoria, Illinois, the hometown of Philip José Farmer. Originally a gathering of Farmer fans figuratively, and literally, right outside Phil’s back door, FarmerCon offered presentations, dinners, and even picnics at the author’s house. After the passing of Phil and Bette Farmer in 2009, it was decided to take FarmerCon on the road to broaden its horizons. By holding the convention alongside PulpFest, Farmer fans get a variety of programming and a room full of pulp and book dealers to enjoy.
Our Farmer friends will be returning to PulpFest in 2024 for FarmerCon XIX, celebrating the life and times of Philip José Farmer, longtime pulp fan and Grand Master of Science Fiction.
The general public is welcome to attend all of our evening programming events.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll be posting here about our dealers, more about our great programming line-up, our Pulpster program book, the writers and artists who will be appearing at PulpFest, and much more. You can keep abreast of these updates by bookmarking our homepage or liking us on Facebook. You can also follow us on X/Twitter or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for the PulpFest e-letter — focusing on the “behind-the-scenes” planning for this summer’s convention — by clicking here. Just give us your name and email address and click the “submit” button. While you’re at it, you may as well subscribe to our YouTube channel and enjoy the great videos that Craig McDonald has been creating since last year.
PulpFest 2024 will be August 1 – 4 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. You can join the convention by clicking the registration button on the PulpFest website. If you want to sell at the convention, we’re sold out of wall tables. It’s only a matter of time before our island tables are sold out as well.
If you need lodging, you’ll also be able to book a room through our site or by calling 1-724-776-6900. Be sure to mention PulpFest or use the code CDT91J to receive the convention rate. By staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton, you’ll help to ensure the convention’s success. Given its popularity, we urge every member to book a hotel room for PulpFest 2024 as soon as possible. You must book your room by 11:59 PM on Tuesday, July 9, to receive the convention rate.
Last year, the hotel was entirely booked for PulpFest 2023. Please don’t wait until the last minute to make your room reservation.
If you’re looking for a roommate for your DoubleTree stay, please email convention chairman Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com. He may be able to put you in touch with someone.
Join us at PulpFest 2024 for “Spice, Spies, Shaw, and More.” You’ll have an amazing time!
So what’s your taste? Heroic warriors and omnipotent sorcerers? Mysteries that leave you breathless? Adventures inside the earth or beyond the farthest star? Finding true love when least expected? All have their roots in pulp fiction. PulpFest is the convention for fans of popular culture and genre fiction both old and new. It celebrates the many ways that pulp magazines have inspired creators over the years.
Our two PulpFest postcards were adapted by PulpFest advertising director William Lampkin. The lead image is adapted from H. C. Murphy’s cover for September 1929 issue of Black Mask, illustrating the initial segment of Dashiell Hammett’s serial, “The Maltese Falcon.” Our final image is adapted from H. J. Ward’s original cover art for the May 1935 issue of Spicy-Adventure Stories.
The Munsey Award was created in 2009 by award-winning artist and pulp art historian David Saunders. Dan Zimmer of The Illustrated Press and former publisher of Illustration Magazine produced a limited signed and numbered edition of the award. The Munsey is named after Frank A. Munsey, the publisher of the first pulp magazine.
The logo saluting the centennial of The Land That Time Forgot was created by Mike Wolfer for Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. It is copyright © 2024 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and a registered trademark ®. Mike is also writing a novel for ERB, Inc., entitled The Land That Time Forgot: Fortress Primeval.
The March 1946 issue of Popular Publications’ Adventure is important in the life of Philip José Farmer because it marked the publication of his first 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 American and Russian forces occupying the town argue over who can claim the high-ranking German they have captured. According to The Official Philip José Farmer Web Page, “The way they decide to settle their argument is hilarious, but the final outcome is even better.”
Griffith Foxley contributed the cover to the March 1946 Adventure. The artist painted at least one other cover for Adventure, the July 1940 number. He also painted covers for true crime magazines such as Master Detective and True Detective Mysteries and created interior art for Liberty. Foxley is 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. He seemed to primarily work for Dell’s paperback line.
The People That Time Forgot is one of the entertaining movies that will be part of our ERBFest film festival. Directed by Kevin Connor, it stars Patrick Wayne, Sarah Douglas, and Doug McClure. Pictured above is Maurice S. Carter’s movie poster for the 1977 film.
Our featured image is excerpted from Rafael DeSoto’s cover for the May 1935 issue of Spy Stories, published by A. A. Wyn’s Ace Magazines.
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.
Trademarks Tarzan®, Tarzan of the Apes®, Jane Porter®, La of Opar™, Opar™, John Carter®, Dejah Thoris®, Tara of Helium™, Barsoom®, Chessmen of Mars™, Pellucidar®, At the Earth’s Core™, David Innes™, Dian the Beautiful™, The Land That Time Forgot®, Edgar Rice Burroughs®, Master of Adventure™, and others owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Associated logos, characters, names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks or registered trademarks of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Used by Permission.
Visit our YouTube Channel and catch one of our terrific videos . . .
And be sure to subscribe!!!
