It’s not every year that Edgar Rice Burroughs turns 150 years old. But then it’s not every year that Edgar Wallace and Rafael Sabatini also mark their sesquicentennial.
Born on April 1, 1875, Edgar Wallace wrote more than 170 novels, 957 short stories, 18 stage plays, screenplays, historical non-fiction, ballads, and poetry. At least 160 films have been made from his work, including Hound of the Baskervilles and the RKO classic, King Kong. He was a soldier, war correspondent, crime reporter, newspaper editor, sports columnist, publisher, screenwriter, film director, producer, and — for a single election — a losing politician. He even made the cover of Time Magazine.
Incredibly prolific, it has been estimated that more than 50 million copies of Wallace’s books sold during his lifetime. By 1990, the head of the Edgar Wallace Society estimated that sales of the author’s work had exceeded 200 million. His books were translated into more than twenty languages.
Called the “King of Thrillers,” it was claimed that Edgar Wallace penned one of every four books being read in the United Kingdom during the twenties. His stories featured supervillains, secret passages, fortune-hunters, square-jawed heroes, spunky heroines, vigilantes, gangsters, anarchists, and more. It was pure pulp!
Practically bookending the month of April 1875, Rafael Sabatini was born on the 29th. A voracious reader as a child, Sabatini started writing while employed as a translator in the port of Liverpool. Although some of his fiction initially ran in a local newspaper, his first known appearance was “The Red Mask,” a short story in the December 1898 issue of The Ludgate. By the start of the twentieth century, his work regularly appeared in Ainslee’s, The London Magazine, Pearson’s, The Royal Magazine, and other periodicals. He concentrated on romance, adventure, and historical fiction because, as he said, “It was more fun to write them than read them.”
Sabatini’s first novel — The Lovers of Yvonne — appeared in 1902. By 1906, he was producing a novel a year along with short fiction and non-fiction. In 1921, Scaramouche — a historical romance set during the French Revolution — became an international bestseller. Captain Blood — published in 1922 — was even more successful. Within a few years, movies and plays adapting his work had made Rafael Sabatini wealthy.
During his lifetime, Rafael Sabatini published 34 novels, eight short story collections, six non-fiction books, numerous uncollected short stories, and several plays and screenplays. More than a dozen films were adapted from Sabatini’s work, including The Black Swan, Captain Blood, Scaramouche, and The Sea Hawk.
The youngest of our birthday boys — Edgar Rice Burroughs — came into the world on September 1, 1875. After trying his hand in the U.S. Cavalry, Burroughs worked a string of jobs and started several businesses, failing at everything. In July 1911, he began writing a novel — “Under the Moons of Mars.” He submitted it to the editors at Munsey and the rest is history. Beginning in the February 1912 issue of The All-Story, Burroughs’ novel — set on the planet Barsoom — would be serialized in six parts by the magazine. Tarzan of the Apes would appear later that same year, published complete in the October 1912 issue of The All-Story. Two years later, Burroughs’ novel would be a bestseller for A. C. McClurg.
Called “The Master of Adventure,” Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote about eighty novels during his lifetime, including the Mars, Venus, Pellucidar, Caspak, and Moon series. Tarzan, of course, is his most famous creation. One of the most successful fictional characters in history, Tarzan has appeared in films, comic strips, comic books, television, and video and computer games. Burroughs’ work has inspired writers, artists, filmmakers, scientists, and many more.
What made these three “Masters of Blood and Thunder” click? We’ll find out from August 7 – 10 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania.
We’ll also explore the “Great Pulp Villains” and the “Masters of Adventure, celebrate the 50th anniversary of George Pal’s Doc Savage movie, The Man of Bronze, and salute Grand Master of Science Fiction Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld series and more at PulpFest 2025.
And don’t forget that your PulpFest membership also includes ERBFest 2024, Farmercon XX, and the return of Doc Con! That’s four conventions for the price of one!
It’s all at PulpFest 2025! We hope you’ll join us. Below is our planned schedule.
PulpFest 2025 Schedule
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Dealers’ Room
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm — Dealers’ Room Set-Up (only dealers & helpers allowed entry only for set-up)
9:05 pm – 11:10 pm — Film Showing — Rafael Sabatini’s The Sea Hawk (1924)
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Dealers’ Room
8:00 am – 9:00 am — Dealers’ Room Set-Up (only dealers & helpers allowed entry)
9:00 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open for Early-Bird Shopping
Auction Preview
3:30 pm – 4:45 pm — Auction Preview (in Willow & Walnut Rooms)
Hotel Lounge
5:00 pm – 6:45 pm — Pizza at PulpFest (sponsored by PulpFest’s Generous Dealers)
Evening Programming
6:50 pm – 6:55 pm — Welcome to PulpFest — Remarks from Chairman Jack Cullers
6:55 pm – 7:40 pm — ERBFest — Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Ideal Male (Bernice Jones & Cathy Wilbanks)
7:45 pm – 8:30 pm — Edgar Wallace, Master of Blood and Thunder (Ed Hulse)
8:35 pm – 9:20 pm — Masters of Villainy (Tim King)
9:25 pm – 10:10 pm — ERBFest — Tarzan: Lord of the Merchandising Jungle (Jim Beard)
10:15 pm – 11:00 pm — Masters of Adventure (Ed Hulse, Tom Krabacher, and Kurt Shoemaker)
11:05 pm – 12:40 am — Film Showing — Edgar Wallace’s King Kong
Hotel Lounge
11:05 pm – ?? am — Doc Con — Bronze Bash — Socialize at Ember & Vine
Friday, August 8, 2025
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open to All PulpFest Members
9:30 am – 4:45 pm — Submit Your Auction Items to PulpFest (Dealers’ Room)
Art Show
11:30 am – 1:30 pm — ERBFest — Edgar Rice Burroughs, Master of Blood and Thunder (hosted by Henry G. Franke III in the Chestnut Room)
Afternoon Programming
12:30 pm – 1:25 pm — Personal Demons and the Creative Mind (John Bruening, Morgan Holmes, Craig McDonald, and Laurie Powers, with William Patrick Maynard)
1:30 pm – 2:25 pm — Flinch! Fest (John C. Bruening & Jim Beard)
2:30 pm – 3:25 pm — ERBFest — The Universe According to Edgar Rice Burroughs (Christopher Paul Carey, Cathy Wilbanks, etc.)
Auction Preview
3:30 PM – 4:45 PM — Auction Preview (in Willow & Walnut Rooms)
Evening Programming
6:55 pm – 7:40 pm — Masters of Men’s Adventure Magazines (Bob Deis & Wyatt Doyle)
7:45 pm – 8:30 pm — FarmerCon XX — Riverworld (to be announced)
8:35 pm – 9:20 pm — ERBFest — The Masters of Tarzan Illustration (Mark Wheatley & Ronn Sutton)
9:25 pm – 10:10 pm — Rafael Sabatini, Master of Blood and Thunder (Morgan Holmes)
10:15 pm – 11:00 pm — Doc Con — Doc Savage and the Bantam Revival: A Conversation with Will Murray (with Jen DiGiacomo)
11:05 pm – 12:40 am — Doc Con Film Showing — Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)
Hotel Lounge
11:05 pm – ?? am — Fraternize at FarmerCon — Socialize at Ember & Vine
Saturday, August 9, 2025
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open to All PulpFest Members
9:00 am – 1:00 pm — Submit Your Auction Items to PulpFest (Dealers’ Room)
Art Show
11:30 am – 1:30 pm — ERBFest — Edgar Rice Burroughs, Master of Blood and Thunder (hosted by Henry G. Franke III in the Chestnut Room)
Afternoon Programming
12:30 pm – 1:25 pm — Doc Con — Steve Holland: The Torn Shirt Sessions (Michael Stradford)
1:30 pm – 2:25 pm — Doc Con — Fifty Years of George Pal’s The Man of Bronze (Jen DiGiacomo and Chris Kalb)
2:30 pm – 4:15 pm — Doc Con Film Showing — Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze — The Fan Cut
Auction Preview
3:30 PM – 4:45 PM — Auction Preview (in Willow & Walnut Rooms)
Evening Programming
6:55 pm – 7:15 pm — Looking Toward PulpFest 2025 (all members are welcome)
7:15 pm – 7:30 pm — 2025 Munsey Award Presentation
7:30 pm – 7:35 pm — Raffle Drawing (tentative)
7:40 pm – 8:25 pm — ERBFest — Ray Bradbury, Burroughs’ Disciple (Garyn Roberts)
8:30 pm – 8:50 pm — Last-Minute Auction Preview (in Willow & Walnut Rooms)
9:00 pm – 11:30 pm — PulpFest 2024 Auction
11:35 pm – ?? am — ERBFest — Barsoomian Bull-Session — Socialize at Ember & Vine
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 1:00 pm — Our Dealers Pack Up — All Are Welcome to Browse
Schedule is Subject to Change
Our featured image is excerpted from Peter Stevens’ cover for the January 1950 issue of Adventure, published by Popular Publications. The son of Lawrence Sterne Stevens, both father and son were freelance artists for the pulp magazine industry.
Our lead image is All Star Detective Stories for October 1929, with cover by Delos Palmer. Published by William Clayton, it debuted in 1928 as a general fiction magazine called Three Star Magazine, and later, Three Star Stories. As All Star Detective Stories, it ran for 26 issues, ending with its June 1932 number.
C. W. Ashley painted the sea scene for the cover of the November 1913 number of Adventure. The issue featured Rafael Sabatini’s first story for the magazine, “The Word of Borgia.” The story has been reprinted several times, including in The Best of Adventure, Volume 2: 1913-1914, edited by Doug Ellis and published by Black Dog Books in 2012. In addition to his cover art, Ashley also wrote a series called “The Sailor and His Knots” for Street & Smith’s Sea Stories Magazine in 1925.
You’ve seen Clinton Pettee’s cover for the October 1912 issue of The All-Story before. It illustrates Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel, “Tarzan of the Apes,” printed complete in the issue.
Released in 1924 by First National Pictures, Frank Lloyd’s The Sea Hawk was a silent film adapted by J. G. Hawks from the 1915 Rafael Sabatini novel of the same name. It’s the story of an English nobleman sold into slavery who escapes and becomes a pirate captain. In 1940, Warner Bros. released a film of the same title — starring Errol Flynn — which was a completely different story based on the exploits of Sir Francis Drake. The poster artist is not known.
Released in 1933 by RKO Pictures, King Kong was produced and directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, with special effects by Willis O’Brien. One of the highest-grossing movies of the 1930s, it was based on the ideas of Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The latter wrote the first draft of the screenplay. The poster artist is not known.
Released in 1975 by Warner Bros., George Pal’s Doc Savage — The Man of Bronze starred Ron Ely in the title role. Directed by Michael Anderson, it was meant to be the first of several Doc Savage motion pictures. The poster artist is Roger Kastel.
Ray Bradbury often said that Edgar Rice Burroughs was, “probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world. . . . By giving romance and adventure to a whole generation of boys, Burroughs caused them to go out and decide to become special.” One boy — Ray Bradbury — was inspired to create his own version of Mars, beginning with the story, “The Million Year Picnic,” first published in the Summer 1946 issue of Planet Stories, with cover art by Chester Martin.
