{"id":23257,"date":"2026-07-24T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/?p=23257"},"modified":"2026-07-19T16:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:39:18","slug":"the-pulpster-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/2026\/07\/24\/the-pulpster-35\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Pulpster’ #35"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, it’s nearing the end of July 2026, and coming up, we have this year’s PulpFest<\/a> along with a new issue of The Pulpster<\/a><\/em>, the convention book, now up to #35. This year, it runs 72 pages, many in color. And this will be my fourth time attending the event.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The focus this time is on three anniversaries: the 100th anniversary of Ghost Stories<\/a><\/em>, the 100th anniversary of Amazing Stories<\/a><\/em>, and the 130th anniversary of the pulps, with the publication of the first all-fiction number of The Argosy<\/a><\/em>. And this year’s PulpFest<\/a> also includes Doc Con<\/a>, FarmerCon XXI<\/a>, and, for the first time, The Shadow Con<\/a>. That should be cool.<\/p>\n

For those not aware, Ghost Stories<\/em> was published by Bernarr Macfadden<\/a><\/strong>, who mainly focused on “physical culture” magazines. But Ghost Stories<\/em> was a true-confessions magazine about, well, ghost stories. This was a genre that Macfadden created when he launched True Story Magazine<\/em> in 1919. We get two articles looking at this magazine. The first is from pulp researcher Will Murray<\/a><\/strong>, who tells us how this confessions magazine turned into a pulp. The other is by David Walker<\/strong>, who delves deeper into the stories that ran in it and how they compared to works in other pulps of the time.<\/p>\n

While the pulps had included science-fiction stories, it was with the launch of Amazing Stories<\/em> by Hugo Gernsback<\/a><\/strong> that we finally got a magazine devoted to science fiction. But one of its most controversial episodes was the introduction by editor Raymond A. Palmer<\/a><\/strong> of the “Shaver Mystery<\/a>,” bizarre stories pitched as being true accounts of strange and sinister underground inhabitants called deros.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Shanks<\/a><\/strong> examines the whole thing that still has people talking about it today. He tells how Richard Shaver<\/a><\/strong>‘s letters to Palmer turned into a series of stories and a whole phenomenon created by Palmer that might be the foundation of the UFO craze. This is a pretty good introduction to it all. And Tony Davis<\/a><\/strong> has an interview with Lloyd Penney<\/a><\/strong>, the current editor-in-chief of Amazing Stories<\/em>, which is still being published. They discuss several topics, including where the magazine is going.<\/p>\n

William Lampkin<\/a><\/strong> looks at the birth of the pulps, examining how Frank A. Munsey<\/a><\/strong> converted his magazine The Golden Argosy<\/em> into the pulp-paper magazine The Argosy<\/a><\/em>. This was a success for Munsey and launched the pulp magazine field, soon replacing the story papers and dime novels.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the issue are several more articles, most on pulp authors. Will Murray tells of looking into the career of Vaughn Bryant<\/a><\/strong>, after reading a letter from him in Writer’s Digest<\/a><\/em>. It appears he only wrote two stories for the pulps, mainly being a journalist. He’s probably not the only one whose pulp career turned out that way. Tony Davis looks at the career of artist Emmett Watson<\/a><\/strong> (1893-1955), who went from the slicks to the pulps and back again. The article is based on an interview with his grandson. He did both covers and interior work. Illustration<\/a><\/em> magazine did an article on him in No. 91.<\/p>\n

John C. Bruening<\/a><\/strong> looks at Richard Matheson<\/a><\/strong>‘s career from pulp author to film and television writer. Matheson is known for such works as I Am Legend<\/em>, The Last Man on Earth<\/em>, The Incredible Shrinking Man<\/em>, and more. You may be surprised at all that he did. Michael Chomko<\/a><\/strong> tells us about Franklin Martin<\/a><\/strong>, a war hero who became a pulp author, though his pulp career only lasted from about 1931 to 1941. Craig McDonald<\/a><\/strong> examines the possible connections between Ian Fleming<\/a><\/strong>‘s Dr. No<\/em> and Lester Dent<\/a><\/strong>‘s Doc Savage<\/a><\/strong> adventure \u201cThe Fantastic Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

As always, we get the “Final Chapters,” which notes the passing of several pulp-related people, including Ted White<\/a><\/strong>, author and editor, and past Guest of Honor at PulpFest<\/a>, and Patrick Lucien Price<\/a><\/strong>, a former editor of Amazing Stories<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Again, editor William Lampkin<\/a> and publisher Michael Chomko have put together another great issue. I always look forward to getting these each year. Even if you aren’t able to attend PulpFest<\/a>, The Pulpster<\/a><\/em> is worth obtaining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, it’s nearing the end of July 2026, and coming up, we have this year’s PulpFest along with a new issue of The Pulpster, the convention book, now up to #35. This year, it runs 72 pages, many in color. And this will be my fourth time attending the event. The focus this time is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":23354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_has_post_settings":{"highlight_sharing":"default","image_sharing":"default","headline_sharing":"default"},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Pulp Super-Fan takes a look at 'The Pulpster' #35 from PulpFest 2026.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[139,56,39,1,38],"tags":[426,443,2566,1505,2375,110,2563,2374,2272,2682,2079,1443,2683,2380,1984,95,2680,599,2685,262,1925,1213,1956,2664,2684,260,2679,603,2681,327,602],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-23257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conventions","category-fanzines","category-non-fiction","category-pulps","category-references","tag-amazing-stories","tag-argosy","tag-bernarr-macfadden","tag-craig-mcdonald","tag-doc-con","tag-doc-savage","tag-emmett-watson","tag-farmercon","tag-frank-a-munsey","tag-franklin-martin","tag-ghost-stories","tag-hugo-gernsback","tag-ian-fleming","tag-jeffrey-shanks","tag-john-c-bruening","tag-lester-dent","tag-lloyd-penney","tag-michael-chomko","tag-patrick-lucien-price","tag-pulpfest","tag-ray-palmer","tag-richard-matheson","tag-richard-s-shaver","tag-richard-shaver","tag-ted-white","tag-the-pulpster","tag-the-shadow-con","tag-tony-davis","tag-vaughn-bryant","tag-will-murray","tag-william-lampkin"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/files\/2026\/06\/The-Pulpster-35-cover-featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3eLo8-637","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23257"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23506,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23257\/revisions\/23506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23257"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=23257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}