The PulpFest 2014 dealers’ room opened this morning at 9, but I didn’t straggle in until 10.
Saturday was a long, full day. Like Sunday, the dealers’ room opened at 9. I got down just before that. After handing out a contributor copy or two to The Pulpster, I got down to business.
I didn’t come to PulpFest with a want-list, like I did in 2006. I knew I needed a few issues of various pulp fanzines to complete runs, and I’d decided to search for pulps with auto-racing stories (something I hadn’t seen many of).
After a lunch break with Lohr McKinstry downstairs in the food court, I started browsing through the stacks and long boxes of pulp magazines. My search turned up four sports pulps with auto-racing stories, but none of the missing fanzines that I needed.
Part of the fun looking for the pulps was talking with the dealers. Not many had ever been asked about auto-racing pulps (unsurprisingly), so it started good conversations.
I opted not to join the con-sponsored dinner, and joined Bill Mann, Chris and David Kalb, David Saunders, and Scott and Patrick Cranford at their regular dinner spot across the street.
We had plenty of time to eat, talk and get back for the start of evening programming.
The PulpFest 2014 business meeting kicked things off. The PulpFest committee — Jack and Sally Cullers, Barry Traylor, Ed Hulse, Mike Chomko, and Chuck Welch — discussed this year’s event and plans for the next couple of years. They addressed a few questions and issues brought up by attendees. In general, response about this year’s convention was very positive.
The big event of the evening was the announcement of the Munsey Award. This year’s winner was J. Randolph Cox, longtime pulp collector and expert. He authored “Man of Magic & Mystery: A Guide to the Work of Walter B. Gibson”; the study of “Flashgun Casey: Crime Photographer” with David S. Siegel; and “Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography.” He also authored “The Dime Novel Companion” and edited Dime Novel Roundup for over 20 years.
The Rusty Hevelin Service Award, begun in 2012, has been given only once. But this year, it went to Barry Traylor for his contributions to the pulp collecting community. One of Barry’s thankless chores is pulling the annual auctions together for PulpFest (and, previously, for Pulpcon), which he has been doing for over 25 years.
Next up, Walker Martin, Tom Krabacher and Garyn Roberts discussed “Unknown: The Best in Fantasy Fiction.” Their panel was followed by a slideshow presentation of “The Mystery and Mastery of John Newton Howitt” by pulp artist expert David Saunders.
I forgot to mention cake. The annual PulpFest cake gave everyone a bit of sugar boost to help them make it through the evening.
Beginning a bit late was the annual auction. There were some great deals, such as the first item: a fine copy of the first issue of the western pulp Pete Rice, which sold for only $90.
Rounding out the scheduled events were the concluding chapters of the “Buck Rogers” serial.
While the schedule ended about 12:30, socializing continued well into the night.
I need to wrap it up, check out and make one more swing around the dealers’ room before hitting the road.
I’ll have more to report in a few days. Hopefully others will, too.
Bill, it was great meeting you at Pulpfest and you looked like you were having a lot of fun. I know I did. Thanks for your reports and photos. I’ve just submitted my personal report on the convention to MYSTERY FILE and hopefully it will posted within a couple days. I consider this year’s PulpFest to be the best of the six PulpFests.
Bill, excellent photos and you’re providing a real service with the podcasts of the panels. I can’t wait for the one of the Unknown discussion. Good seeing you at Pulpfest. The whole event went by too fast.
I just listened to the UNKNOWN panel and I must say it is very clear. In fact, I now want to reread my UNKNOWN SET! What a great magazine and it’s a shame that it didn’t continue as a digest like ASTOUNDING. That was the plan but an additional order to decrease the paper finally killed the magazine.
Thanks, Lohr. Great seeing you, too. You’re right. The weekend flew by too quickly.
I listened to the Unknown panel again last night, Walker, and it made me want to collect a whole set, too! I did pick up a couple of nice issues (the pair with Norvell Page’s Prester John stories, which I’ve read before in paperback) to go with a few I already own. So it’s a start.