There’s just one week left until the start of PulpFest 2023. The summertime destination for fans and collectors of popular fiction — both old and new — PulpFest seeks to honor the pulps by drawing attention to the many ways these throwaway magazines have inspired writers, artists, film directors, game designers, and other creators over the years.
PulpFest 2023 will begin on Thursday, August 3. The dealers’ room will be open to registered sellers to set up their displays from 10 am to 4:45 pm. We’ll also be allowing dealers who arrive early on Wednesday, August 2, to set up during the evening hours, if possible.
Early registration for all convention attendees will take place from 11 am to 4:45 pm outside the dealers’ room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania.
Early-bird shopping will also be from 11 am to 4:45 pm on August 3 for PulpFest members who will be staying at the DoubleTree or for those who elect to purchase an early-bird membership.
Our full slate of programming for Thursday evening will get underway at 7 pm. The general public is welcome to attend our evening programming. Click our schedule button to learn more about our great programming.
Regretfully, Sara Light-Waller will not be able to attend this year’s PulpFest. Her presentation, “Inside Weird Tales,” will be postponed for a future convention. We’ve added another auction preview session to fill the gap in our schedule.
If you have not yet booked a room for your stay, please call 1-800-222-8733 or 724-776-6900 to reach the DoubleTree. Although the convention rate is no longer available, there may be some vacancies at the hotel. Other options include the Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, or Home2 Suites. They’re all just a few miles away from our host hotel. Click here to learn more.
If anyone is looking for a room, we may be able to put you in touch with someone in need of a roommate. Click our “contact” button at the top of the site and send us a message.
Conveniently located at the intersection of three major roadways, the DoubleTree boasts a world-class restaurant in an open-air setting. There are many other restaurants nearby — some within walking distance — suitable for a variety of tastes. The more adventurous can discover plenty of dining, shopping, and nightlife just a short drive away in downtown Pittsburgh. The DoubleTree also offers a 24-hour fitness center, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and a sauna.
You’ll find a map to the hotel and the surrounding area on the PulpFest website or click here.
Thanks so much to everyone who has reserved a room at our host hotel. By staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, you’ve helped to ensure the convention’s success.
Our advance registrations end on Sunday, July 30, at 10 pm eastern time. So what are you waiting for? Click here to register for the convention.
For those not able to attend PulpFest 2023, we will be accepting online auction bids through 11 pm Eastern Time on Friday, July 28.
If you are exhibiting any symptoms associated with COVID-19, please stay at home. You should not attend PulpFest. Isolate and avoid contact with others, rest, and drink fluids. Call your healthcare provider if your symptoms worsen.
Although we can’t force anyone, we hope that everyone who plans to attend PulpFest 2023 will be vaccinated against COVID-19. We have many older members who attend PulpFest. Please keep them in mind. Remember, we’re all in this together.
For your convenience, you’ll find below the complete schedule for the entire convention. You can also click here to link to our 2023 mobile schedule. To learn more about a particular programming event, click on its title link.
We look forward to seeing you next week at PulpFest 2023.
PulpFest 2023 Schedule
To learn more, click the links in the titles
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Dealers’ Room
7:00 pm – 9:30 pm — Dealers’ Room Set-Up (dealers & helpers are only allowed entry)
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Dealers’ Room
10:00 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Set-Up
11:00 am – 4:45 pm — Member Registration & Early-Bird Shopping
Auction Preview
3:30 pm – 4:40 pm — Auction Preview (in auction set-up rooms)
Hotel Lounge
5:00 pm – 6:45 pm — Pizza at PulpFest (Sponsored by Select Dealers of PulpFest 2023)
Evening Programming
7:00 pm – 7:10 pm — Welcome to PulpFest — Remarks from Chairman Jack Cullers
7:15 pm – 8:00 pm — ERBFest — 100 Years of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. (Christopher Paul Carey & Cathy Mann Wilbanks with Chris Adams, Win Scott Eckert, and Will Murray)
8:05 pm – 8:50 pm — 100 Years of Weird Tales — Sword and Sorcery in “The Unique Magazine” (Morgan Holmes)
8:55 pm – 9:40 pm — 90 Years of Pulp Heroes — The Spider, Master of Men! (Chris Kalb, Will Murray, & Gary Phillips)
9:45 pm – 10:30 pm — 90 Years of Pulp Heroes — Conan the Multimedia Barbarian (Jim Beard)
10:35 pm – 11:20 pm — 100 Years of Weird Tales — Weird Tales on Radio (Karl Schadow)
Friday, August 4, 2023
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 9:30 am — Early Registration and Dealers’ Room Set-Up
9:30 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open to All PulpFest Members
9:30 am – 4:30 pm — Submit Your Auction Items to PulpFest (open to all members)
Afternoon Programming
2:00 pm – 2:55 pm — FarmerCon XVIII — Doc Savage — The Man — and Myth — of Bronze (Christopher Paul Carey and Win Scott Eckert)
3:00 pm – 3:55 pm — ERBFest — It’s a Jungle Out There (Henry G. Franke III and Ed Hulse)
Art Show
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm – ERBFest — Inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs (hosted by Henry G. Franke III)
Auction Preview
3:30 pm – 4:40 pm — Auction Preview (in auction set-up rooms)
Evening Programming
7:00 pm – 7:10 pm — What About Next Year? (Jack Cullers and Mike Chomko)
7:15 pm — 8:00 pm — 100 Years of Weird Tales — Those Weird Men’s Adventure Magazines (Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle)
8:05 pm – 8:50 pm — 90 Years of Pulp Heroes — Illustrating Conan for the Commercial Market (Mark Schultz and Mark Wheatley, with Don Simpson)
8:55 pm – 9:40 pm — ERBFest — J. Allen St. John — Master of Fantasy Art (David Saunders)
9:45 pm – 10:30 pm — 100 Years of Weird Tales — Weird Editors (John Betancourt and Darrell Schweitzer, with Tony Davis)
10:35 pm – 11:20 pm — The Centennial of the Sports Pulp — The Sports Stories of Rod Serling (Nicholas Parisi)
11:30 pm – ?? — ERBFest — Barsoomian Bull-Session — Socialize at Ember & Vine
Saturday, August 5, 2023
Dealers’ Room
9:30 am – 4:45 pm — Dealers’ Room Open to All PulpFest Members
9:30 am – 1:30 pm — Submit Your Auction Items to PulpFest 2023 (open to all members)
Afternoon Programming
2:00 pm – 2:55 pm — ERBFest — 100 Years of The Moon Maid (Christopher Paul Carey, Henry G. Franke III, and Garyn Roberts)
3:00 pm – 3:55 pm — 90 Years of Pulp Heroes — Doc Savage and His Offspring (Win Scott Eckert, Craig McDonald, Will Murray, and Gary Phillips, with Jennifer DiGiacomo)
Art Show
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm – ERBFest — Inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs (hosted by Henry G. Franke III)
Auction Preview
3:30 pm – 4:40 pm — Auction Preview (in auction set-up rooms)
Evening Programming
7:00 pm – 7:45 pm — The Centennial of the Sports Pulp — Sport Story Magazine and Its Pulp Offspring (Michelle Nolan)
7:50 pm – 8:00 pm — 2023 Munsey Award Presentation — Presented by Walker Martin
8:05 pm – 8:45 pm — Auction Preview (in auction set-up rooms)
8:50 pm – 8:55 pm— Raffle Drawing — ERB Books’ At the Earth’s Core
9:00 pm – 11:30 pm — PulpFest 2023 Auction
11:30 pm – ?? — Fraternize at FarmerCon — Socialize at Ember & Vine
Sunday, August 6, 2023
Dealers’ Room
9:00 am – 1:30 pm — Dealers’ Room Open to All PulpFest Members (packing up)
Please note that the schedule above is subject to change.
Access our PulpFest 2023 Mobile Schedule at pulpfest.com/schedule/
A freelance artist, Walter M. Baumhofer painted over forty covers for Doc Savage Magazine, the Street & Smith hero pulp, including the June 1934 number. The “King of the Pulp Artists” also contributed twenty covers to Street & Smith’s Pete Rice Magazine — a western hero pulp that debuted with its November 1933 issue — the cover art for the first issue of Popular Publications’ The Spider, and covers and interior illustrations for many other pulp magazines. In addition to his pulp work, Baumhofer was a leading contributor to the slick magazines as well as the men’s adventure magazines of the 1950s.
Our PulpFest 2023 printed postcard has been adapted by PulpFest advertising director William Lampkin from The Phantom Detective for January 1934, with cover by Rafael M. DeSoto, and Thrilling Sports for Winter 1947, with cover by Rudolph Belarski. Additional artwork is by Mark Wheatley.
Frank R. Paul, the “grandfather of science-fiction art,” painted the cover for the program book of the 13th World Science Fiction Convention — Clevention — held on September 2 – 5, 1955 at the Manger Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. The paperbound convention book was the first ever to feature a color cover. Although the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry is not quite as futuristic as Paul’s illustration, our host hotel was completely renovated in 2016.
The first and only issue of Medical Horrors was published in late 1931 with a cover date of January 1932. Sold by Harold Hersey’s Green Band Publishing Corp. it ran for a single issue. A mix of fiction and non-fiction, it featured such articles and stories as “The Million Dollar Baby Farm,” “Chloroformed” and “Doctor A. W. Waite: Satan’s Personal Representative.” What gave Hersey the idea that a magazine entitled Medical Horrors could be successful in a field that partially relied on drugstores for distribution is beyond our ken. He was, however, a publisher who often thought outside the box.
Our Spider image was adapted by PulpFest advertising director William Lampkin from Rafael DeSoto’s cover painting for the October 1941 issue of The Spider.
Our men’s adventure image was adapted by PulpFest advertising director William Lampkin from Clarence Doore’s cover art for the November 1955 issue of True Weird.
Our Weird Tales image was adapted by PulpFest advertising director William Lampkin from Lee Brown Coye’s “Weirdisms“ for March 1949, an illustrated article about wizards.
