This past Saturday was the second annual Pulp AdventureCon in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Jeff Shanks, Mike Hunter and I packed into a car on Friday morning and drove south from Tallahassee to Fort Lauderdale.
The seven-and-a-half-hour drive gave us plenty of time to talk, and for Jeff to respond to questions posted on a Kickstarter campaign. He’s working with Modiphius to produce a roleplaying game based on Robert E. Howard‘s Conan.
We avoided the South Florida rush hour this year (whew!), and checked into the hotel. After unloading the car, we headed back down to the lobby to await the arrival of other pulp fans.
A couple of hours later, we piled into cars, left the hotel, and headed to nearby Primanti Bros., a Pittsburgh-born pizza and sandwich restaurant. (Their specialty is “the sandwich,” a mountain of meat, provolone cheese, french fries, coleslaw, tomatoes on sliced Italian bread.) It was crowded, but after a short wait all 11 of us crammed into a long booth with an extra table and chairs pulled up. Our group included Jeff, Mike, Rich Harvey, Audrey Parente, Michael Brown (of The Pulp Super-Fan), Josh Entin, Scott Hartshorn, Michael Hudson,and John and Lori Martino. (John, an actor, appeared as Paulie Gatto in The Godfather, and had a table at Pulp AdventureCon selling his biography and signed photos).
Pulp AdventureCon got its official start at 10 a.m. Saturday and continued until 5 p.m.
Richard Meli‘s Heartwood Auctions brought a good selection of pulps and original artwork, including an original Frank R. Paul painting from the back cover of the April 1961 number of Amazing Stories. (Pulp dealer David Alexander‘s DTA Collectibles were unable to make it at the last minute.)
Other vendors also included: J. David Spurlock of Vanguard Productions; horror artist Allen K., selling prints of his work; Michael Hudson of Ravens Head Press and Sequential Pulp Comics; Joe Lovece, who writes revivals of dime novel adventures; Bold Venture Press, run by show organizers Rich and Audrey; Stuart Hopen; Jeff; Scott; and me.
It was great to see Daryl Herrick (who drove over from the Tampa Bay area) and Ray Skirsky (who flew in from San Diego) again this year; and to meet Shane Hannafey.
(If you stopped by ThePulp.Net‘s table hopefully I encouraged you to look up our Southern Pulpsters group on Facebook. If I didn’t, check out the group. It’s intent is to connect pulp fans in the Southeast. We’ve got almost 150 members, and would like to have you join if you live in the Southeast.)
Saturday evening gave us another excuse to have a group dinner and to talk pulps at a nearby Thai restaurant. This time out it was Jeff, Mike, Rich and his parents (who assisted with the con), Audrey, David and his fiancee, Richard, Michael Brown, Ray, and me. And as I’ve said in numerous posts here at Yellowed Perils, these get-togethers are an important part — or maybe the important part — of pulp conventions. They are what make the memories and the friendships.
With the con over, Jeff, Mike and I packed up Sunday morning, and headed north to Tallahassee.
Despite the best efforts of organizers Rich and Audrey, turnout for the show was smaller than last year. But they say Pulp AdventureCon will be back in Fort Lauderdale in 2017, which is a good thing. It may take a while to build momentum. I hope it will be as successful as the original edition of Pulp AdventureCon in New Jersey, which has run over 15 years.
See you there next year!
Thanks for the report on this convention. You mention that the attendance was even smaller than last year. What was the approximate number?
By my estimate, about 40 non-vendors attended. There were probably twice as many last year.