For me, Saturday was dealers’ room day. I spent time combing through boxes and stacks of pulps for items on my short want-list, as well as magazines that looked interesting.
I was only able to tick off one item on my pulps want-list, but that wasn’t a bad thing. I had the opportunity to pick up a number of reprints and collections.
Of course, now as I’m writing up my Saturday report, I’m remembering several pulps and other items that I came across and intended to go back to after I’d made a circuit of the dealers’ room. I guess I should have been writing down my new finds so I would remember to actually go back and buy them.
Oh, well, maybe next time for those.
But as I’ve written about pulp shows, it’s really all about fellow pulp fans.
On just Saturday, I had time to talk to a number of fans, including Brian Earl Brown, John De Walt, Ed Hulse, Sai Shankar, Michelle Nolan, Duane Spurlock, and others; have lunch with Lohr McKinstry; have dinner with Chris and David Kalb, Scott and Patrick Cranford, Bill Mann, and Bill Thinnes; then end the evening in Bill Mann’s con room with Duane, Chris, David, both Bills, Scott, Patrick, Tom Krabacher, David Saunders, Walker Martin, Chuck Welch, Chet Williamson, Morgan Holmes, Don Herron, and Nick Certo. And that’s not mentioning the short conversations that occurred around the con (both Saturday and the other days).
After dinner, the evening’s activities kicked off with the annual PulpFest meeting, where the committee — Jack and Sally Cullers, Barry Traylor, Mike Chomko, and Chuck Welch — review this year’s con, talk about plans for next year, and elicit comments and complaints about this year’s event. Immediately following that was the announcement of the 2015 winner of the Munsey Award: Stephen T. Miller.
The commemorative PulpFest cakes were served, then the topic turned to editing of Weird Tales featuring a panel including Garyn Roberts, Morgan Holmes, Don Herron, Will Murray, and Tom Krabacher. After that, David Saunders profiled pulp artist Rudolph Belarski.
Rounding out the evening’s official events was the auction.
As this entry is being posted, the doors to the PulpFest dealers’ room will be opening for the last time this year. And I will be already on the road home.
I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. And if you weren’t able to attend PulpFest 2015, then I hope you’ll be able to come next year (or at least get to one of the other pulp gatherings).
Once I get home and get the recordings edited, I will post audio from the evening panels. I will also put together a roundup of PulpFest reports. So please keep an eye out for those.
If you have any comments about PulpFest, please add them in the comments below. I’d like to hear them.
Thanks for your detailed report William. I sent mine in to Mystery File and it should be posted soon. Bill Mann’s room saved me the trouble of drinking beer with the non-collectors who were swarming around the big bar on the second floor. Thanks Bill!