The PulpFest organizing committee is pleased to announce that thirteen individuals have been nominated by their peers for the 2025 Munsey Award.
This annual award is named after Frank A. Munsey, the man who published the first pulp magazine. It recognizes an individual or organization that has bettered the pulp community, be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps or through publishing or other efforts to preserve and foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy. Congratulations to all the nominees for this prestigious award presented annually at PulpFest.
The nominees listed below — who received multiple nominations — will be forwarded to a committee consisting of all the living Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Award winners who will select the recipient of this year’s Munsey Award.
As the publisher of Wildside Press, John Betancourt has made available hundreds of stories from pulp magazines, digests, and early paperbacks available in print and ebook form, particularly in his Megapack format. John was an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and later helped to revive Weird Tales. The magazine went on to garner a World Fantasy Award in 1992 and a Hugo Award in 2009. In 2015, Betancourt helped the revived Weirdbook get off the ground. Originally published by W. Paul Ganley — for which he won a World Fantasy Award in 1992 — Weirdbook continues to appear on a fairly regular basis from Betancourt and Wildside Press. He also serves as the publisher of Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and the infrequently issued Adventure Tales, which presents classic tales from the pulp magazines. In 2021, John revived Startling Stories, the classic science fiction pulp originally published by Ned Pines’ Standard Magazines. John is also a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery fiction. He was a panelist at PulpFest 2023.
The longtime official editor of the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society — or PEAPS — Brian Earl Brown resides in Detroit, Michigan. Brian served as the editor and treasurer of PEAPS for well over thirty years. He recently stepped down from the post. Very active in science fiction fandom from the 1970s onward, Brian also served as the O. E. of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association — or, REHUPA — and MiSHAP, also known as the Michigan Society of (Hapless) Amateur Publishers. He was also a member of the Wayne Third Foundation — for which he edited some issues of the club’s fanzine — and was also a member of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, the oldest fan apa in the world, distributing members’ fanzines for nearly a century. FAPA was founded in 1937 and is still ongoing. From 1982 through early 1995, Brian published Sticky Quarters, a well-regarded fanzine. He was also the publisher of Beb Books, producing inexpensive, limited-run chapbooks reprinting classic pulp stories, including many classic scientific romances from the general fiction pulps. Brian has also written reviews and articles for Blood ’n’ Thunder, Echoes, Fantasy Crossroads, and other fanzines and, according to Fancyclopedia 3, “was at one time possibly the single most active letterhack in the lettercols of various Marvel Comics titles.”
John DeWalt has selflessly aided researchers, sharing his collection and knowledge of popular culture. He has quietly helped many people, sharing stories and his experience with no thought of anything in return. He is quiet about his generosity, never thinking to remark on it. A kind and generous soul, John is always willing to share his time, hospitality, and effort. His self-published Key to Other Doors: Some Lists from a Pulp Collector’s Notebook, is still an excellent source of information about pulp fanzines, pulp reprints, pulp conventions, and the single-character pulps. John has been a member of the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society since 1998. His contribution to the APA, El Dorado, reflects John’s golden vision of the pulps that bring us all so much joy.
Henry G Franke III is the editor of The Burroughs Bulletin, the journal of The Burroughs Bibliophiles, the nonprofit literary society devoted to the life and works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He also edits The Gridley Wave newsletter for the organization and during the pandemic, began organizing a monthly Zoom meeting for the Bibliophiles. He is also a member of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Amateur Press Association. Henry has presented several times at PulpFest and has organized art shows for the convention. He has also contributed to The Pulpster. In 2021, Henry — along with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and the PulpFest organizing committee, organized the first ERBFest, a summertime convention for Burroughs fans. He was a contributing editor and penned the introductions for IDW Publishing’s Library of American Comics archival series reprinting Russ Manning’s Tarzan newspaper comic strips. The first volume of the series won the 2014 Eisner Award for Best Archival Collection – Strips. Henry also wrote introductions for IDW’s Library of American Comics reprint of the 1929 daily Tarzan strips by Hal Foster and Rex Maxon, and for Tarzan and the Adventurers, the fifth volume in Titan Books’ “Complete Burne Hogarth Comic Strip Library.” Additionally, he contributed the foreword to Tarzan the Untamed, the seventh volume in the “Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library,” published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., and is currently writing the afterwords for the Authorized Library books. Specializing in art inspired by Burroughs’ stories, Franke is currently working on an illustrated biography of Russ Manning. At this year’s PulpFest, Henry will be hosting ERBFest and co-hosting the 2024 Dum-Dum Banquet.
Chris Kalb is known in pulp circles for his hero pulp websites, like The 86th Floor and The Spider Returns, ventures that have helped to attract people who are new to the pulps. There isn’t anyone out there making better use of all the new technology while still preserving the “oldness” of pulps and popular culture. He has become the person to go to for publishers who want a retro-design for their books or website, including Ed Hulse’s Murania Press. He is also the lead designer for Age of Aces Books, a pulp reprint house that specializes in air war fiction. In 2010, Age of Aces received two National Indie Excellence Awards for Chris’s work on the bestselling The Spider vs. The Empire State. Chris was the designer of PulpFest‘s original website and for many years, put together the convention’s print advertisements. Additionally, he has been one of the leading members of New York’s Gotham Pulp Collectors Club, welcoming new members into a group of humorous, knowledgable, and engaging personalities. A freelance designer and illustrator, he was formerly the Art Director of Sci Fi Magazine. Chris has been a PulpFest presenter and panelist several times, including last year’s salute to The Spider.
Steve Lewis has been a collector of pulps, digest magazines, paperbacks, and hardcovers for over 60 years. Around 1970, he started publishing Mystery*File, a fanzine that covered not only detective and mystery fiction, but all types of genre fiction such as science fiction, westerns, and adventure fiction. Similar magazines usually last only a few years, but Mystery*File has lasted over 50 years and is still published as an online blog at Mysteryfile.com. Steve writes many of the reviews of fiction and film and also encourages readers of the blog to submit reviews and comments. For instance, around 15 years ago Steve noticed Walker Martin’s series on the PulpMags discussion group titled “The Loneliness of the Pulp Collector.” He encouraged Walker to write his online series “Pulp Collecting: A Memoir.” This also led to a series titled “Adventures in Collecting” and many book and pulp reviews. Both Steve and Walker felt there was not enough discussion about Pulpcon, PulpFest, and Windy City. This started a series of annual convention reports that Steve has been publishing for many years. In addition to Mystery*File, Steve has also written reviews and articles for Echoes, Paperback Parade, and Science Fiction Review.
William Patrick Maynard was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. An avid reader of vintage thriller fiction and a keen student of film and comic art, he has been writing fiction since childhood. Since 2009, he has been authorized by the Sax Rohmer literary estate to continue the Fu Manchu series. The Terror of Fu Manchu was released in 2009 and The Destiny of Fu Manchu in 2011. In addition to his novels, Bill also writes mystery and science fiction short fiction and screenplays. His recent fiction has appeared in George Mann’s Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes, Flinch Books’ Occupied Pulp, Bold Venture’s Zorro: The Daring Escapades, and other anthologies. Bill has also authored nearly 300 pop culture articles and has contributed DVD commentaries for classic films of the last century. Bill has published articles in Blood and Thunder, The Cimmerian, The Pulpster, and Windy City Pulp Stories, among others. He has also penned a substantial number of pulp fiction columns for The Black Gate website. He was co-guest of honor — with Will Murray — at PulpFest 2013. In late 2018, Bill joined the PulpFest marketing department as a writer. Since then, he has contributed significantly to our website and our convention. Until recently, Bill served as PulpFest’s assistant director of marketing and the director of the convention’s afternoon programming.
The author of The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes, The Pulps: A Yearly Guide, The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana, The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger: The 4,000-Year History of the Superhero, Pulp Magazine Holdings Directory: Library Collections in North America and Europe, and other popular culture books, including Dunwich Dies at Dawn! — a combination of H.P. Lovecraft and Tom Clancy, with a big helping of Philip Jose Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe added in just for fun — Jess Nevins a reference librarian at a community college outside of Houston, Texas. Most of what he writes can be described as genre reference books — encyclopedias of superheroes, detectives, the heroes of pulp fiction — or guides to one particular genre of fiction. He maintains an online edition of The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes which is an online edition of the e-book and the four-volume print edition published in 2017. It attempts to provide a comprehensive view of the characters of popular culture from across media and around the world, spanning the years from 1902 to 1945. He also maintains other online popular culture encyclopedias that can be found here.
An award-winning reporter who retired after 20 years at The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Audrey Parente is the author of the biographies of pulp writers Hugh B. Cave, Judson Pentecost Philips, and Theodore Roscoe. She also co-edited Timely Confidential: When the Golden Age of Comics Was Young, the autobiography of Golden Age comic book artist Allen Bellman. The single mother of two musician sons, Audrey continues her writing career in South Florida, now as an author and editor for Bold Venture Press. She currently edits Pulp Adventures, a quarterly journal of pulp fiction and pop culture history for Bold Venture. Her fiction novel, Pulp Noir, is about hobby collectors of old paper magazines, and one grizzled hoarder in particular who stumbles into a passionate romance through the hobby. With our 2021 Munsey Award winner, Rich Harvey, Audrey has also helped organize Pulp Adventurecon, particularly the southern edition of the annual convention for collectors of pulp magazines and other paper collectibles.
While some nominees are like Doc Savage — out front and known to most — others are like The Shadow — hidden from view for most of the time, yet still there and appearing when needed. A pulp collector since a teenager, Sheila Vanderbeek began attending pulp conventions in 1975. She has attended nearly all of the major pulp conventions since her first. She helped with all the radio recreations that were performed at Pulpcon. A member of the Battered Silicon Press pulp advisory committee, Sheila has helped with many books for the publisher. In addition to recommending authors and series, she has supplied all or most of the stories included in Battered Silicon’s Great Merlini, John Solomon, Needle Mike, Park Ave Hunt Club, Satan Hall, and Suicide Squad collections, as well as others. She has also provided copies of stories to Steeger Books and other pulp-related publishers. Owning one of the largest and wide-ranging pulp collections in existence, Sheila also provided content information to Leonard Robbins for his groundbreaking pulp magazine indices. She has also helped with countless other research projects in the pulp field. Sheila has been a member of the Pulp Era Amateur Press Society since 1997.
Although some may believe he is old enough to have purchased pulps off the newsstand, Chuck Welch is a mere whippersnapper. As one of the original Internet Fans of Bronze, Chuck started attending Pulpcon in the late 1990s. After meeting his future wife at one of those conventions, Chuck took some time off to start a family. At the behest of Bill Mann, he returned to attend PulpFest. As was his wont, Chuck immediately started volunteering and making suggestions to the organizing committee. Having enough of his puppy-dog eyes, he was asked to join the team. Chuck served as the convention’s technology director, helping to update the convention’s website. When the Internet began to take off, Chuck began Flearun, a Doc Savage group now at Facebook. He is also the creator of the Hidalgo Trading Company — perhaps the closest anyone has come to presenting an online Doc fanzine — and the current editor of the Doc Savage fan magazine The Bronze Gazette. He actively supports both the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention and PulpFest through his online activities.
For twenty-five years, Howard Wright was the editor and publisher of the Doc Savage fan magazine, The Bronze Gazette. He created his magazine when there was no real Internet and very little information readily available about Lester Dent’s “Man of Bronze.” His main reason for starting the publication was to gather information about Doc Savage, disseminate this news to the “Fans of Bronze,” and keep Doc fans going during the “lean” years when Doc was, for the most part, a mere memory. Through Howard’s sustained efforts, interest in Doc was maintained and his return to the limelight assured. His final issue of the Gazette was published at the beginning of 2016. The magazine is being continued by Terry Allen, Kez Wilson, and Chuck Welch, creator of the Hidalgo Trading Company and a former member of the PulpFest organizing committee. It takes three people to duplicate Howard’s superb work on the Gazette. Howard continues to write for The Bronze Gazette.
Dan Zimmer has been working to promote greater awareness of pulp artists by producing and distributing Illustration Magazine since 2001. He published over eighty issues of the magazine. Dan has tirelessly contributed his time, expertise, and personal wealth to promote a more respectful awareness of the artistic accomplishments of pulp artists through the deluxe publication of the many biographical articles on such artists that have appeared in his magazine. He has done this despite the overwhelming fact that his creative vision is far beyond receiving any reasonable economic return for his efforts. His devotion to classic American illustrators is manifest in the elegant presentation of his magazine and has helped to turn the tide in our culture’s growing appreciation of pulp art. Dan has also published illustrated biographies of pulp artists Walter Baumhofer, Rafael DeSoto, Tom Lovell, Norman Saunders, and H. J. Ward through his book-publishing arm, The Illustrated Press. Additionally, he has supported the pulp community by drawing his readers’ attention to various pulp conventions, including the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Pulpcon, and PulpFest. He’s also helped them by sharing scans of original pulp art for advertising the convention and illustrating publications. Dan has also served as the sponsor of Windy City’s annual pulp art exhibit and created the limited edition print of David Saunder’s Munsey Award painting without cost to the PulpFest organizing committee.
Longtime collector and the founder of Heartwood Books and Art, Richard Meli, and Justin T. O’Conor Sloane, the Editor-in-Chief of the reborn Worlds of IF and Galaxy Science Fiction magazines, each received a single nomination.
The great-great-grandson of the post-Gernsback editor of Amazing Stories, T. O’Conor Sloane, Justin T. O’Conor Sloane is also the president of Starship Sloane and an author.
A ballot listing our nominees and their nominating petitions will be forwarded to all of the living Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Award winners. These individuals will elect the winner of the 2025 Munsey Award.
The recipient of the 2025 Munsey Award will be announced on Saturday, August 9, as part of our evening programming, open to all members of PulpFest 2025 as well as the general public.
A limited edition of thirty-six numbered and signed prints, designed by artist and pulp enthusiast David Saunders, serves as the Munsey Award. The print was produced by Dan Zimmer of The Illustrated Press and the former publisher of Illustration Magazine.
Our second image was adapted by William Lampkin from J. Allen St. John’s cover for the March 1941 issue of Amazing Stories, illustrating Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “The City of Mummies.”
Jess Nevins’ Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes features a cover by J. W. Scott. It was originally used as the cover for the March 1940 number of Future Fiction, published by Double-Action Magazines, Inc., also known as Columbia Publications.
Our final image is Illustration #26, published by Dan Zimmer’s The Illustrated Press. It features cover art by Graves Gladney that originally served as the cover art for the May 15, 1941 issue of The Shadow, published by Street & Smith.
