For more than fifty years, PulpFest has celebrated mystery, adventure, science fiction, and much more. In the pulp magazines of the early twentieth century — which gave PulpFest its name — the hardboiled detective, science fiction, and sword and sorcery genres developed and flourished. They gave us Buck Rogers, Conan the Barbarian, Cthulhu, Doc Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, John Carter of Mars, Sam Spade, The Shadow, Solomon Kane, Tarzan, Zorro, and many other pop culture icons.
And in a way, the pulps also gave us Grand Master of Science Fiction Philip José Farmer.
Few people think of Farmer as a pulp writer, but he was a child of the pulps and launched his career in the pulps. Born January 26, 1918 in North Terre Haute, Indiana, Phil Farmer grew up in Peoria, Illinois. He spent much of his childhood reading everything he could find in the local library and drug store. From the classics by Baum, Carroll, Cervantes, Chesterton, Cooper, Defoe, Dickens, Dumas, Homer, London, Shaw, Stevenson, Swift, Thackeray, Twain, Verne, Wells, and others, to popular fiction by Burroughs, Doyle, and Haggard, and on through such pulps as Air Wonder Stories, Argosy, Blue Book, Doc Savage, Science Wonder Stories, The Shadow, Weird Tales, and more, Farmer read it all.
His wide reading prepared Philip José Farmer for his career as a writer. The budding writer sold his first story to Adventure. “O’Brien and Obrenov” appeared in the March 1946 issue of the Popular Publications pulp magazine.
Six years later, Farmer’s first science fiction story, “The Lovers,” was published in the August 1952 issue of Startling Stories. Famous for breaking the taboo on sex in science fiction, the story launched his science fiction career and won Farmer the 1952 Hugo Award as the “Most Promising New Talent.”
At PulpFest 2026, we’ll not only salute the centennials of Amazing Stories and Ghost Stories, we’ll also welcome back the fans of Philip José Farmer to PulpFest to help them celebrate FarmerCon XXI!
Since 2011, PulpFest has hosted FarmerCon, a convention celebrating the life and times of the longtime pulp fan and Grand Master of Science Fiction, born over 100 years ago.
By holding the convention alongside PulpFest, Farmer fans get a variety of programming and a room full of pulp and book dealers to enjoy. Of course, the premier publisher of Farmer and related works, Meteor House, will have a prominent spot in our dealers’ room. They’ll have copies of Farmer’s Hadon of Ancient Opar and more. See below for additional details.
And don’t forget the after-hours socializing that the fans of Philip José Farmer are known to enjoy. These gatherings are always vibrant, entertaining, and informative.
Our FarmerCon XXI panel is scheduled for Friday, July 31, at 2:30 pm. Our panelists will be discussing the Grand Master of Science Fiction’s early work for the pulps and digest. We’ll have more on that at a later date. Our FarmerCon XXI panel will be followed at 11:10 pm by “Fraternize at FarmerCon” in the Ember & Vine lounge at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. All are welcome to join the “Friends of Phil” during their gatherings in our host hotel’s restaurant and lounge.
But FarmerCon XXI is just the beginning! They had so much fun at last year’s PulpFest that the “Fans of Bronze” are returning for another celebration of Lester Dent’s “Champion of Justice” at Doc Con 2026. We’ll have more on Doc Con in just a few weeks.
If that’s not enough for you, we’ll also be joined by a brand new convention saluting Walter B. Gibson’s “Master of Darkness.” We hope you’ll join us for The Shadow Con 2026 at this summer’s PulpFest! Watch for our Shadow Con post in March.
Your membership in PulpFest also makes you a member of this year’s Doc Con, FarmerCon, and Shadow Con. That’s 4 conventions for one price! You can’t beat that, especially if you’re a Doc, Farmer, Shadow, and pulp enthusiast!
Make your plans now to head to the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania, from July 30 to August 2. You’ll have an Amazing time! In the meantime, please be sure to follow our FarmerCon Facebook page by clicking here.
Today is the 108th anniversary of Philip José Farmer’s birth. Science fiction and fantasy publisher Meteor House is honoring the occasion with the first standalone hardcover edition of one of Farmer’s seminal titles, Hadon of Ancient Opar. It will be available in both a trade paperback and a signed hardcover limited edition, featuring cover art by Bob Eggleton. Click here to learn more or to order your copy.
Our featured image is excerpted from Griffith Foxley’s cover for the March 1946 number of Adventure, featuring Philip José Farmer’s first professional sale, “O’Brien and Obrenov.” The story concerns the occupation of a German town at the end of World War II. The American and Russian forces occupying the town argue over who can claim the high-ranking German they have captured. According to The Official Philip José Farmer Web Page, “The way they decide to settle their argument is hilarious, but the final outcome is even better.”
Our lead image was adapted by William Lampkin from Alex Schomburg’s cover art for the September 1961 issue of Amazing Stories, featuring Philip José Farmer’s “Tongues of the Moon.” Schomburg, who is best known for creating more than 500 covers for comic books, painted twenty covers for Amazing Stories, with all but two of them contributed between 1960 and 1965.
The first science fiction story to deal with sexual relations between humans and aliens, “The Lovers” won Philip José Farmer a 1952 Hugo Award as “Most Promising New Writer.” Considered groundbreaking, it instantly gave Farmer a name worth watching. The story was first published in the August 1952 number of Standard Magazines’ Startling Stories, with cover art by Earle K. Bergey.
