With the next PulpFest over 10 months away, what’s a pop culture fan to do? How about attending a convention?
This September, as part of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 150th birthday celebration, the late author’s cavalry service will be memorialized with a monument at the restored Southern Pacific train depot in Willcox, Arizona. This was where Burroughs came as a young man, on his way to Fort Grant to begin his life as a cavalryman.
According to the team at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.:
Many believe that Burroughs’ initial stay in Arizona influenced his first serial, “Under the Moons of Mars,” which begins with the first chapter titled “On the Arizona Hills.” The John Carter Martian stories would go on to influence generations of science fiction and fantasy books and movies, and would inspire many young people to become scientists, engineers, and astronauts. He would later author the books The War Chief and Apache Devil, both set in Arizona during the Apache Wars of the 1860s – 1880s.
Thanks to the Sulphur Springs Valley Historical Society and the Apache Devils chapter of The Burroughs Bibliophiles, the monument dedication at the Willcox train depot will be part of the 2025 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering.
Taking place from September 25 to 28, 2025, this year’s ECOF will take place at the Elks Lodge #2131 in Willcox, and will include discussion panels, a “huckster” room, Guest of Honor and speaker Jeffrey J. Mariotte (author of Tarzan and the Forest of Stone and the forthcoming Beyond Thirty: A World Reborn), Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., guest speakers, a Saturday night banquet, a Tarzan movie screening, and other surprises. The monument dedication, on September 27, will include guest speakers and the participation of local Buffalo Soldier reenactors.
Click here for a registration form to the 2025 ECOF. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Willcox is offering a special daily room rate of $119 plus taxes for the nights of September 25 – 27 for attendees. The group name is “ECOF.” You can make reservations at this rate by calling the hotel at (520) 384-3333; rooms are limited.
If you would like more information about the 2025 ECOF event, please call Frank Puncer at 520-281-1818 or email him at fwpuncer@gmail.com.
This fall’s Monster Bash returns from October 10 – 12 at the Pittsburgh Marriott North, 100 Cranberry Woods Drive, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, just a few miles from the PulpFest host hotel. To book a room for the convention, call 724-772-3700 and be sure to ask for the special Monster Bash rate. You can also book a room here. But hurry, the convention’s special room rate is only good through September 24, 2025.
The International Classic Monster Movie Conference and Film Festival will feature Kathryn Leigh Scott and Sharon Smyth, two well-known actresses who appeared in the celebrated horror drama, Dark Shadows. Also appearing will be John Russo, the co-writer of the cult classic, Night of the Living Dead, actor and television writer Gary Clarke, actress Barbara Wilson, and others, including the legendary Ohio TV horror host, Son of Ghoul.
Monster Bash celebrates the classic horror and science fiction films of the silent era through the 1980s. It’s a film festival; a place to meet the people in the movies, behind the movies, and fellow fans of the movies; and a monster memorabilia shopping gala.
Featuring over 100 vendor tables of collectibles, monster magazines, original movie posters, Blu-Rays, DVDs, VHS, model kits, action figures, comic books, vintage toys, and more, there will also be an extensive film festival, guest talks and interviews, a live musical performance, game shows, taco night, monster-sized sheet cakes, and other events.
Visit the Monster Bash website or call 724-238-4317 for further information. To purchase a membership pass to the three-day convention, click here.
Events like the 2025 ECOF and Monster Bash just might keep you satisfied until the next PulpFest. So stay informed.
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Our featured image is excerpted from a Belgian poster for the 1957 American International film, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, starring Michael Landon in the title role. The artist is not known.
According to pulp art expert, David Saunders, illustrator Paul Stahr worked extensively as a pulp cover artist for Argosy Magazine from 1924 until 1934. Our lead image is the artist’s cover for the May 19, 1928 issue of Argosy All-Story Weekly, illustrating the opening segment of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ six-part serial, “The Apache Devil.”
Our final image is a poster for the Fall 2025 Monster Bash film festival.
Derek Starr is a writer and popular culture enthusiast who began contributing to our website in 2022. He particularly enjoys the Fiction House pulps. One of his favorites is Planet Stories, the publisher’s legendary science fiction pulp. He’s also a fan of their air pulps and Action Stories. He also has a soft spot for historical fiction.
