It’s not every year that the world’s first continuing science fiction magazine turns 100 years old. And, although people have talked about ghosts forever, this year marks the centennial of physical culture guru Bernarr Macfadden’s Ghost Stories.
In The Pulpster #35, pop-culture historian and contemporary pulp writer Will Murray explores how Macfadden Publications turned a confession magazine into a monthly magazine of “Uncanny, Spooky, Creepy Tales,” and real-life ghost hunter, David Walker, wonders why Ghost Stories still haunts us after 100 years.
Archaeologist and pop-culture historian Jeffrey Shanks turns our attention to the Shaver Mystery, Amazing Stories, and its ties to the UFO phenomenon, while Tony Davis, the former editor of The Pulpster, talks with Lloyd Penney, the current editor of Hugo Gernsback’s groundbreaking science fiction magazine.
Thirty years before Gernsback and Macfadden launched their magazines, a fellow named Frank A. Munsey introduced the first pulp magazine to the world. The rest is history in my own look at the birth of the pulp magazine field.
But there’s more … Will Murray explores the brief pulp life of writer Vaughn Bryant; Tony Davis reconstructs the career of artist and illustrator Emmett Watson; award-winning author and journalist Craig McDonald wonders if Doc Savage’s adventures on The Fantastic Island inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel, Dr. No; John Bruening, co-founder of Flinch! Books and author of The Midnight Guardian series, follows Richard Matheson’s path from the pulps to film and television; Pulpster publisher Mike Chomko is on board with a biography of Franklin H. Martin, the pulp writer best known for his aviation fiction and the Malachi Gunn series found in Popular’s Detective Tales; and rounding things out is “Final Chapters,” where we say “good-bye” to those in pulpdom whom we’ve recently lost.
A longstanding tradition cherished by attendees of summer pulp cons, The Pulpster #35 will be released at PulpFest 2026. Every member of PulpFest — including supporting members — will receive a complimentary copy of The Pulpster. It will be available for order — along with assorted back issues — on the Pulpster website and through select booksellers, a month or so after the convention.
PulpFest 2026 begins on Thursday, July 30, and runs through Sunday, August 2 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. You can join the convention for a day or all four days by clicking the “register” button on our website. To learn more about our great programming, click the “2026 schedule” button.
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.
Our featured and lead images were adapted by William Lampkin from the July 1943 issue of Amazing Stories, with cover art by H. W. McCauley, illustrating Howard Browne’s story, “Carbon-Copy Killer,” and featuring the magazine’s editor Ray Palmer as the villain.
Dress in style while reading your copy of The Pulpster. Click the T-shirt link on our website and order one of these handsome garments, or pick one up at the convention. They’re available in a variety of sizes in black or royal blue with the PulpFest logo across the chest.
And since we mentioned Doc Con 2026, we want to remind you about our presentation on Howard Wright’s long-running fanzine, The Bronze Gazette. We hope you’ll join us on Saturday, August 1, as Howard joins Anthony Rais on our programming stage for a look at the founding and history of the magazine.
While you’re waiting for that event, check out Craig McDonald’s interview with Chuck Welch, the current publisher of The Bronze Gazette. You’ll find it on the PulpFest YouTube Channel.
And don’t forget to subscribe to both our Channel and The Bronze Gazette.
