Our afternoon programming schedule at PulpFest 2025 gets underway on Friday, August 8, at 12:30 pm.
After a full day of early-bird shopping on Thursday – reserved for full PulpFest 2025 members staying at the DoubleTree or those staying elsewhere who elect to pay extra to shop early at the convention – we figured some members might want a break from all that buying, selling, or trading.
One of our most popular afternoon presentations from past conventions was a 2022 discussion between authors Craig McDonald and William Patrick Maynard concerning the writers Ernest Hemingway and Dashiell Hammett. Since then, we’ve fielded multiple requests for a follow-up to “Influence or Coincidence? Hemingway’s Fiction and Hammett’s Hardboiled Pulp.”
We hope you’ll join PulpFest 2025 as we welcome to our afternoon programming stage authors John Bruening, Morgan Holmes, Craig McDonald, Will Murray, and Laurie Powers, with William Patrick Maynard moderating, as they discuss how various pulp-era creators drew on their anxieties, experiences, and weaknesses to fuel and add to their work. Please join us for a look at “Personal Demons and the Creative Mind.”
John C. Bruening is the co-founder of Flinch! Books, publisher of Bruening’s critically acclaimed Depression-era pulp hero series The Midnight Guardian. John’s series includes Hour of Darkness, Annihilation Machine, and, most recently, God and Sinners. John has also co-edited Flinch! Books’ anthologies Blood on the Blade, The Lemon Herberts: World Tour, Occupied: Pulp, Six-Gun Legends, and other titles. A 40-year writing professional with a background in journalism and marketing, Bruening found his niche in evoking the pulp classics of yesteryear. He will be discussing Raymond Chandler.
The former official editor of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association, Morgan Holmes was nominated for a Hugo Award as best fan writer in 2016. He has been published in Blood ‘n’ Thunder, The Cimmerian, The Dark Man, REH: Two-Gun Raconteur, The Robert E. Howard Companion, and other publications. His work has also appeared at Black Gate, The Cimmerian, and other websites. Dr. Holmes — who is a podiatrist — has presented at PulpFest before, most recently in 2024 when he explored “Bob Howard & the Spicy-Adventurers.” He will be discussing Robert E. Howard.
The author of the Edgar-nominated Hector Lassiter historical crime series, Craig McDonald is an award-winning novelist, journalist, and editor. The twelve volumes in his Lassiter series chronicle the exploits of a fictional Black Mask author and his encounters with such notable figures as Lester Dent, Ian Fleming, Ernest Hemingway, and Orson Welles. In addition to his Edgar nomination, Craig was also a finalist for the Anthony, Gumshoe, and Crimespree Magazine Award for best first novel. He earned national awards for his profiles of crime novelists James Crumley, Elmore Leonard, James Sallis, and Daniel Woodrell.
More recently, Craig debuted a new series of literary thrillers in which classic pulp magazine heroes literally come to life. A haunting mix of history and meta-fiction centered on the very act of literary creation, The Blood Ogre introduces Zana O’Savin, the award-winning author’s version of Doc Savage’s cousin Pat. He has since added two more volumes to the series: The Mothman Menace and The Death Killers. Craig serves as PulpFest’s assistant director of marketing. His primary responsibility is the PulpFest YouTube Channel. He will be discussing William Lindsay Gresham.
Will Murray has written extensively about Lester Dent’s Doc Savage, as well as countless other pulp and pop culture topics. The literary agent for the Lester Dent properties, he has written over twenty adventures of Doc Savage (with two featuring The Shadow), a solo adventure featuring Pat Savage, four novels about the Popular Publications hero, The Spider, as well as new adventures of Cthulhu, King Kong, Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan. His non-fiction books include The Dark Avenger, Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow, Wordslingers: An Epitaph for the Western, and Writings in Bronze. You can find Will’s books at adventuresinbronze.com. He will be discussing Lester Dent.
Laurie Powers is the granddaughter of pulp author Paul S. Powers. She was introduced to the pulp community in 2007 through the publication of Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street, her grandfather’s memoir of writing for the pulps. She has also edited several collections of her grandfather’s work in various genres, some featuring previously unpublished stories. Laurie is the author of Queen of the Pulps: The Reign of Daisy Bacon and Love Story Magazine, published by McFarland Books. She also contributed the chapter, “Love on the Newsstands,” to IDW Publishing’s The Art of the Pulps. A resident of Virginia, Laurie was honored in 2016 with the Munsey Award. She will be discussing Daisy Bacon.
Our moderator, William Patrick Maynard is the licensed continuation author for the Sax Rohmer Literary Estate. His short fiction has been published in anthologies by Airship 27, Bold Venture Press, Black Coat Press, Flinch Books, MX Books, Riviere Blanche, and Titan Books. He has authored nearly 300 articles for numerous magazines and websites. He has contributed Blu-ray commentary tracks and produced bonus features for MGM, Shout Factory, Kino Lorber, and The Serial Squadron. Bill is on the editorial board of The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box and is a former member of the PulpFest Organizing Committee.
The general public is welcome to attend our afternoon programming events free of charge. To learn more about our programming, please click the 2025 Schedule button at the top of this page.
For those who also want to enjoy our dealers’ room, you can join PulpFest by clicking the register button at the top of this page. And don’t forget to book a room. The DoubleTree is essentially sold out, but you can click here for nearby hotels. If you’re looking for a roommate, write to Jack Cullers at his email address below.
Remember, in addition to your membership in PulpFest 2025, you’ll also be a member of Doc Con XXI, ERBFest 2025, and Farmercon XX. That’s four conventions for one price! You can’t beat that deal.
If you’re interested in selling at PulpFest, our dealers’ room is full. However, we are considering adding tables in the pre-function hallway outside of the dealers’ room. These tables will cost $125 each and will be guarded by security overnight. If you are interested, please write to Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com to be added to our waiting list.
Our featured image is excerpted from Walter M. Baumhofer’s cover for the May 1933 issue of Doc Savage Magazine, illustrating Lester Dent’s “Quest of the Spider.” Baumhofer also painted the cover for the April 1934 number of the pulp which closes our post. The artist painted the cover art for the first 42 issues of Street & Smith’s Doc Savage Magazine.
Walter Swenson created eleven Doc Savage covers from January 1947 through September 1948. The May/June 1947 number that leads our post is a good example of his cover art. Swenson also did at least four covers for Shadow Mystery, the Street & Smith hero digest, during 1947 – 48. His interior illustrations can also be found in some issues of John W. Campbell’s Astounding Science Fiction from around the same time period. Little more is known about the artist.
Visit our YouTube Channel for Craig McDonald’s “Pulp Talk” on author William Lindsay Gresham.
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