PulpFest 2026 will celebrate the centennials of Amazing Stories and Ghost Stories, plus a great deal more at this year’s convention. Hugo Gernsback’s groundbreaking science-fiction pulp and Bernarr Macfadden’s purportedly “true” magazine concerning the spirit world both debuted one hundred years ago.
The artist most often associated with Amazing Stories is the Austrian-born draftsman and artist Frank R. Paul. Considered the “grandfather of science-fiction art,” Frank Paul was a mainstay for Gernsback throughout his career as a publisher. Having illustrated the majority of the stories in Hugo Gernsback’s Science and Invention since 1918, it was quite natural that Paul would illustrate most of the stories and paint all of the covers for the Gernsback Amazing Stories.
Although Paul is probably the artist most closely associated with Amazing Stories, there have been many other talented artists who have worked for the magazine over the last century: Dan Adkins, Tom Barber, George Barr, Lloyd Birmingham, Vaughn Bodé, “Johnny” Brück, Don Davis, Vincent Di Fate, Bob Eggleton, Dean Ellis, Larry Elmore, Ed Emshwiller, Stephen Fabian, Frank Kelly Freas, Robert Fuqua, Jack Gaughan, Tim Hildebrandt, Mike Hinge, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Robert Gibson Jones, Arnold Kohn, Eric Lofgren, Harold McCauley, David Mattingly, Leo Morey, Rowena Morrill, Gray Morrow, Albert A. Nuetzell, John Pederson, Barye Phillips, Walter Popp, J. Allen St. John, Alex Schomburg, A. Sigmond, Malcolm Smith, Leo Summers, Larry Todd, Ed Valigursky, Hans Wessolowski, Michael Whelan, and others all contributed to the magazine to various degrees.
We hope you’ll join PulpFest on Friday, July 31, at 8:40 pm as we welcome pulp art historian David Saunders to our programming stage for “Amazing Artists,” a look at some of the many talented artists who contributed to Amazing Stories over the last century.
David Saunders is, quite probably, the foremost scholar of American pulp artists. His free public website, Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists, has over 300 biographical profiles of these creators of popular culture. Additionally, he has written biographical profiles of artists for Illustration Magazine and several coffee-table art books on pulp artists.
An award-winning artist himself, David is the son of one of the most prolific pulp cover artists, Norman Saunders, who painted 867 pulp covers for almost every title and publisher. David is the winner of PulpFest’s 2016 Lamont Award, named after one of The Shadow’s alter egos by the long-running Pulpcon.
PulpFest 2026 begins on July 30 and runs through August 2 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. In addition to honoring the centennials of Amazing Stories and Ghost Stories, we’ll also be celebrating the sesquicentennial of writer Jack London’s birth, the centennial of the birth of artist Robert Kennedy Abbett, and more at this year’s convention.
The general public is welcome to attend our programming free of charge. To learn more about our presentations, please click the 2026 Schedule link found on our website.
For those who also want to enjoy our dealers’ room, you can join PulpFest by clicking the register link found on our website. And don’t forget to book a room at the DoubleTree. They’re going fast!
Remember, in addition to your membership in PulpFest 2026, you’ll also be a member of Doc Con 2026, FarmerCon XXI, and The Shadow Con 2026. That’s four conventions for one price! You can’t beat that deal.
If you’re interested in selling at PulpFest, all of our wall and foyer tables have been reserved. A few island tables are remaining for $110 per table. Please click the “register” link on our website to learn how to join the convention as a dealer.
Learn more about on of the amazing artists who worked for Amazing Stories by visiting our YouTube Channel for Craig McDonald’s The “Amazing” Art of Alex Schomburg.
And don’t forget to subscribe for more great videos from Craig McDonald.
Our featured image was excerpted from Leo Morey’s front cover for the August 1932 issue of Amazing Stories, illustrating Edwin K. Sloat’s “Beyond the Planetoids.” Although Frank R. Paul is most associated with Amazing Stories, Leo Morey actually painted about twice as many covers for the pulp magazine. According to the artist, his August 1932 cover was his favorite among the nearly 80 covers that he painted for Amazing Stories.
Our lead image was adapted by William Lampkin from Alex Schomburg’s cover art for the February 1964 issue of Amazing Stories. Interestingly, although Schomburg’s first cover for Amazing appeared on the October 1960 number, the artist began working for Hugo Gernsback in 1925, before Amazing Stories even hit the stands. Schomburg was still contributing covers to the magazine in 1985, during George Scithers’ time as the magazine’s editor.
Our final image is Rowena Morrill’s front cover for the November 1981 issue of Amazing Stories. Credited as one of the first female artists to significantly impact paperback cover illustration, Morrill was one of very few women to contribute cover art to the magazine. It was her only cover for Amazing.
