PulpFest is not only lauded for its fine programming but also for its large dealers’ room.
Beginning on Thursday, July 30, the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry will be home to thousands of collectible pulp magazines and digests, vintage paperbacks, first-edition hardcovers and series books, original art, genre fiction, B-movies and serials, collectible comic books, and much more.
What dealers are we expecting at PulpFest 2026? In our posts this week, we’re profiling our dealers, telling you a little bit about each of them.
PulpFest welcomes Rommin Adl of Pulpfantic2 and Greywolf’s Comics and Curves to this year’s dealers’ room. A longtime collector and top-rated eBay seller, Rommin has been buying and selling rare pulps, vintage magazines, and related collectibles since 2009. Originally drawn in by the thrilling pages of Weird Tales, especially the stories of Robert E. Howard and Margaret Brundage’s unforgettable cover art. Over the years, his interests have expanded to encompass virtually every pulp genre, from hero, detective, science fiction, and adventure pulps to scarce men’s adventure magazines and vintage girly publications of the 1920s and 1930s. A nationally ranked Masters swimmer and multiple national champion, Rommin is known for his appreciation of exceptional pulp cover art and elusive rarities. Visitors to his tables can expect a wide selection of pulps, men’s adventure magazines, and other vintage treasures.
John and Maureen Gunnison of Adventure House will be offering their usual extensive stock of pulp magazines, as well as pulp replicas and memorabilia that they have published under the Adventure House banner. John will also be one of our auctioneers during this year’s PulpFest auction on Saturday, August 1. To learn more about Adventure House and its regular auctions, please visit www.adventurehouse.com/.
Since 2007, Age of Aces Books has published high-quality, affordably-priced reprints of classic pulp aviation stories. Chris and David Kalb have scoured hundreds of issues of titles like Dare-Devil Aces, Battle Birds, Flying Aces, and other air pulps to present to a modern audience the most thrilling air stories featuring the most unforgettable forgotten heroes — The Black Falcon, Captain Philip Strange, The Three Mosquitoes, and others! You can learn more by visiting their website at ageofaces.net. Chris Kalb is one of our nominees for the 2026 Munsey Award.
Chicago’s Mark Alvarado, a longtime collector of books and pulp magazines, will once again be exhibiting at PulpFest. Although we don’t know yet what he’ll have at this year’s convention, he usually brings something that’s very exciting. He’ll be sharing a table with Steven Spilger. Please welcome Mark back to yet another summertime pulp con!
Please welcome author Leonard Apa to his first PulpFest. A member of the International Thriller Writers, Leonard’s short fiction has appeared in Caped: An Anthology of Superhero Tales, Deadman’s Tome Campfire Tales, Book One, the debut issue of Creepy Campfire Quarterly, and The Good Fight 5: The Good Fight. His debut novel, Introducing the Scarlet Scrapper, concerns a young boy who witnesses the murder of his parents and narrowly escapes his own death. He sets out to find the only man that can help him: The Scarlet Scrapper, a radio drama crimefighter voiced by a man dealing with demons of his own. Will he become the hero that the boy needs him to be? Find out when you visit Leonard’s table at this year’s PulpFest.
A familiar face at PulpFest, Jim Beard is co-publisher (with John Bruening) of Flinch! Books. He’s also the publisher of Becky Books, a small press that he founded in 2022. Becky Books publishes a mix of fiction and nonfiction books, including essay collections on Star Trek and Jack Kirby, the “King of Comics,” plus Shudder Stories and D. C. Jones and Adventure Command International. Visit the Becky Books Facebook page to learn more. Jim will have a busy PulpFest: he’ll be moderating our Saturday afternoon writers’ panel, “Working with Licensed Characters,” and discussing Buck Rogers merchandising on Thursday evening.
Please welcome Brian Bohnett back to another PulpFest. He will be bringing a new collection to market at this year’s PulpFest. He’ll have six tables near the back corner of our dealers’ room. Author of Them Was the Days: Edgar Rice Burroughs and the History of the Michigan Military Academy, Tarzan Big Little Books, and The Remarkable Enid Markey: First Lady of the Tarzan Films, Brian has researched and collected memorabilia from the old Michigan Military Academy (MMA) for over a decade. An active member of the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society, he is currently writing a bibliography of Charles King (a former staff member of the MMA); a written and illustrated history of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ formative years (including the Brown School, Harvard School for Boys, Phillips Academy, and the MMA); and a biography of silent film actresses, Evelyn Greeley and Vivian Reed. Visit Mad Kings Publishing to learn more about Brian and his work.
Steve Ericson and Books from the Crypt have been very supportive of PulpFest over the years. A family-owned business that has been selling collectible science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery pulps, digests, paperbacks, and first editions for over 25 years, Books from the Crypt will have many items at PulpFest 2026 that are not available through their website. We want to thank Steve and Books from the Crypt for helping to promote PulpFest over the years, distributing thousands of our postcards at conventions and via their mail-order business.
PulpFest 2026 is glad to have Michael Brenner of Brenner’s Collectable Books back at our convention. Michael specializes in science fiction and mystery books, signed first editions, vintage paperbacks, books into film, and more. He has been buying, selling, and passionately collecting books for over thirty years and is a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA.
The Burroughs Bibliophiles is a nonprofit literary society devoted to studying and promoting interest in the works, creations, and life of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The group will be represented at this year’s PulpFest by Henry G Franke III, the editor of The Burroughs Bulletin and The Gridley Wave. To learn more about The Burroughs Bibliophiles, visit burroughsbibliophiles.com/ or email the organization at BurroughsBibliophiles@gmail.
Wayne Carey is the author of the Johnny Falco adventures from Bold Venture Press: Death Waits in Shanghai, Death Comes to Hong Kong, and the newest installment, The Gold Buddha. These mysteries, set in China during the 1930’s, bring back the thrill of the old pulps. Wayne has also continued H. Rider Haggard’s famous character with Allan Quatermain and the Beast Men and Allan Quatermain and the Lightning Bird (Airship 27 Productions). A versatile author, he has written thrillers (Falco and Company and Executive Gambit, Airship 27), a supernatural (Company of Shadows, Airship 27), and several science fiction novels (Erin, Speaker of the Mihn’d, Bold Venture Press, Zombie Island, Pro Se Productions, El’aris and Yokai, both from Airship 27). You’ll find Wayne’s table in our foyer.
A dealer since 1976, Nick Certo always manages to unearth many rare and desirable items. A resident of Newburgh, New York, he brings choice selections of pulps and related items — including original artwork — to the conventions where he exhibits. Be sure to stop by his table. In the meantime, please visit the Nicholas J. Certo website at AbeBooks.com.
Our 2010 Munsey Award winner, Mike Chomko, will be representing Stark House Press and Steeger Books at PulpFest 2026. He’ll have various titles from the Stark House catalog and the latest offerings from Steeger Books. He’ll also have a selection of other books and periodicals, including back issues of The Pulpster. To learn more about the many books that he carries, please visit the Mike Chomko Books website and download a copy of his latest catalog. Mike is also the marketing and programming director for PulpFest. We hope you’ll join Mike and David Walker on Friday, July 31, for their presentation, “Ghost Stories: Truth or Fiction?”
Although he has been attending PulpFest and Pulpcon for years, this is Scott Cranford’s second PulpFest as a dealer. A resident of Tennessee, Scott created the first Doc Savage website in 1994 after fruitlessly searching the web for information on Doc Savage. The owner of Walter M. Baumhofer’s iconic painting of The Man of Bronze, we’re anxious to see what Scott will be offering at this year’s PulpFest and Doc Con 2026. You can be assured that it won’t be Baumhofer’s Doc Savage painting. Scott’s table will be in our foyer, as part of the Doc Con contingent at this year’s PulpFest.
PulpFest Chairman Jack Cullers is the person to see if you’re looking for pulps, digests, and out-of-print paperbacks, collectible fanzines, pulp reprints, and hardbound fiction and non-fiction. Find your way to Jack’s table, and you’ll be treated to a wide variety of materials at very reasonable prices. You may just come across something you’ve been hunting for years. Jack and his wife Sally were the winners of our Rusty Award in 2012. You’ll find Jack in the foyer, near our registration tables.
Ray Walsh of the Curious Book Shop has been selling a broad array of paper collectibles – pulps, paperbacks, original artwork, collectible hardcovers, vintage comic books, and more — for over fifty years. Out of East Lansing, Michigan, Ray has been selling at PulpFest and Pulpcon before it, for decades. We appreciate his long support. One of the founders and organizers of the Michigan Antiquarian Book & Paper Show, the Midwest’s largest book and paper show, Ray won our Rusty Award in 2025.
Please welcome Christopher Dale to his first PulpFest as a dealer. A popup bookseller based in Minneapolis, Christopher specializes in vintage mass-market paperbacks across genres that surprise, alarm, and confuse. Visit his SillyWackyZany Books website at https://sillywackyzanybooks.com/ to learn more about this first-time PulpFest dealer, and watch for his island table in our dealers’ room.
Dearly Departed Books of Alliance, Ohio is a brick & mortar shop open by chance or appointment. It primarily sells via the Internet. Established in 1978 by Scott and Linda Edwards, this loyal PulpFest dealer offers a large stock of mystery, science fiction, horror, fantasy, vintage paperbacks, first editions, pulp magazines, and related ephemera. This year, they’ll be selling pulps, paperbacks, hardbound first editions, and more.
If you’re interested in selling at PulpFest, our dealers’ room is full. If you would like to be added to our waiting list, please write to Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com.
If you want to visit our dealers’ room, you have to be a member of PulpFest 2026. To join the convention, click the register button on our website. Your PulpFest membership also includes memberships in Doc Con 2026, FarmerCon XXI, and The Shadow Con 2026, celebrating its first year. That’s four conventions for one price!
If you’re from outside the area, don’t forget to book a room. Due to cancellations, our host hotel, the beautiful DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry may have a few rooms left at the convention rate. Try clicking here to make your reservation.
You may also be able to reserve a room at our host hotel by calling 1-724-776-6900 or 855-610-8733. To receive the special convention rate of $149 plus tax per night, you must mention that you are a PulpFest attendee or use the code CDT90C. To get the convention rate, you must book your room by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, July 7.
You can click here for nearby hotels if all of the rooms at the DoubleTree are no longer available.
If you’re looking for a roommate, write to Jack Cullers at his email address above.
We’ll be profiling more of our PulpFest 2026 dealers through Friday, July 10. Please visit our site on Tuesday, July 7, for our next set of dealer profiles.
Our featured image is a newsstand in Nashville’s Union Station, circa 1935-36. We’ll be running photographs of vintage newsstands and magazine racks all week. Special thanks to ThePulp.Net for sharing their collection of pulp photos from the early 20th century with us.
Our lead image was adapted by William Lampkin from the June 1927 issue of Ghost Stories, published by Bernarr Macfadden. The cover artist is not known. We’ll be celebrating the centennial of Ghost Stories at this year’s PulpFest.
This year marks the centennial of paperback cover artist Robert Kennedy Abbett’s birth. Our second image was adapted by William Lampkin from Abbett’s cover art for the 1969 edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Thuvia, Maid of Mars, published by Ballantine Books. Henry G Franke III, the editor of The Burroughs Bulletin and The Gridley Wave, will be hosting an art show saluting the artist’s work. Henry will also be discussing the life and work of Abbett, with award-winning artist Mark Wheatley on Wednesday evening, July 30.
Our final image is Doc Savage Magazine for March 1933, with cover art by Walter M. Baumhofer, illustrating Lester Dent’s first Doc Savage novel, “The Man of Bronze.” We hope you’ll join us July 30 to August 2 at Doc Con 2026, part of this year’s PulpFest.
Detective fiction fan Pete Collins joined our staff in September 2024. That month, he contributed an overview of Detective Fiction Weekly to salute the magazine’s centennial. He also wrote our profile on Edgar Wallace in March 2025. We look forward to Pete’s continuing contributions to our website.
