A dozen BookTubers came to PulpFest 2026. They went home with heavy boxes and hours of footage, and they’ve spent the weeks since unpacking both on camera. Add the bloggers, the podcasters, and the photographers, and the con that ended Aug. 2 in Mars, Pa., is still going.
BookTubers at PulpFest 2026
One of the most encouraging developments at this year’s PulpFest was the growing number of BookTubers who made the trip to Mars. These YouTube creators share their enthusiasm for books — both old and new — with thousands of viewers. Increasingly, that enthusiasm includes vintage paperbacks, pulp reprints, and the original magazines themselves.
At least a dozen BookTubers attended, several for the first time — and there were probably more who never announced themselves. They toured the dealers’ room, hunted for books and magazines, met other collectors and readers, and, of course, recorded plenty of video along the way.
I previously posted on this growing corner of pulp fandom in “Pulps in a Postliterate World.”
Here’s some of what the BookTubers had to say about PulpFest 2026 — and what they carried home with them:
- Richard Rempel of Vintage SF provided some of the most extensive coverage of the convention. He starts with “Arriving at PulpFest 2026, the hotel, a session on Bob Abbett and Tor Doubles,” followed by “Friends, fun and books! Thursday at PulpFest 2026.” His coverage continues with “Free magazines? Friends, shopping and an interview about artist Bob Abbett with Henry G. Franke III” and concludes with “A cemetery, a livestream, an auction, cool books and cooler friends. Saturday at PulpFest 2026!” Richard later picked his favorite finds from the journey in “Top 10 PulpFest Road Trip Finds! 5000 km, 8 bookstores, 3 libraries and 1 convention. Books!!!!”
- Bryan Raines of Bad Taste Books concentrates on the treasures he brought home in “Pulpfest 2026 Book and Magazine Haul!”
- Nick Anderson of The Book Graveyard combines his thoughts on the convention, a tour of the dealers’ room, interviews, and nearly 40 minutes devoted to what he brought home in “PulpFest 2026! Tour and Haul.”
- Brandon Purvis of The Book Rapport returned to PulpFest as both a BookTuber and dealer. His “Frank and Dave Talk PulpFest 2026” is the oddest entry in this roundup, cutting footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey against Brandon and “Frank” discussing the convention. Brandon also turns up throughout the other BookTubers’ coverage and joined them for the “LIVE from Pulpfest 2026 Chaos-Stream!”
- Andreea of Infinite Text starts with her first visit to the convention in “Pulpfest 2026 Vlog.” There was apparently too much loot for one follow-up video, so she divided her haul between “Pulpfest Haul | Part 1 (The Pulps)” and “Pulpfest Book Haul | Part 2 (The Books).”
- Chris of Liminal Spaces documents the convention itself in “PulpFest 2026 – Incredible Pulps, Horror, Science Fiction, and a ton of Booktubers!” He followed that with some thoughts on the convention and the people he met in “It Was All About the Friends I Made Along the Way.” And PulpFest continued providing material for his channel, including “Insane Early Fantasy Book Haul! They’ve Got Everything at Pulpfest!”, “Insane Pulp Haul!”, “Rare Tanith Lee DAWs and More from Pulpfest!”, and “Books My Friends Gave Me at Pulpfest!”
- Rob of L-Space Archives began buying almost immediately, as you can see in “PulpFest – Day 1 Book and Pulp Magazine Haul.” He followed that with a broader look at the weekend — and the BookTubers he met there — in “Friends + Books = PulpFest.”
- Jake Swick of Pulp Mortem brought many of the BookTubers together Saturday for the appropriately titled “LIVE from Pulpfest 2026 Chaos-Stream!” The hour-long live broadcast features a rotating collection of BookTubers talking about the convention and showing off some of their finds. Back home, Jake continued unpacking those finds in “PulpFest 2026 Book Haul pt 2 LIVE!!!”
- Lee of The Retired Book Guy mixes convention footage with a look at the books and pulp magazines he purchased in “Pulpfest 2026 Recap and Book Haul.” It was also his first time participating in a joint BookTube livestream, joining 11 other BookTubers during the convention.
- T.H. Brandt of Secret Fire Books offers a look at the convention and the people who attended in “Adventures at Pulpfest 2026! (Best Weekend Ever).” Then comes the haul — lots of it — divided between “PulpFest 2026 Haul – Part 1 (Pulp Magazines)” and “PulpFest 2026 Haul – Part 2 (All the Books).”
- Samuel Oatley of Shady Sam’s Shelves provides a day-by-day account of his trip in “PulpFest 2026 Report.” He follows that with the feature-length “PulpFest 2026 Haul Video,” covering everything from Doc Savage and Edgar Rice Burroughs to Philip José Farmer, Sax Rohmer, comics, paperbacks, and pulps.
Judging from the size of some of those hauls, the dealers’ room did its job.
Blogs and posts
Others, beyond the BookTubers, have also posted reports on PulpFest 2026:
- Lewis Forro, posting as The Leader, always takes a creative approach to his convention coverage on his blog, The Leader’s Chronicles, and his report on his visit to PulpFest 2026 is no exception.
- Mike Glyer has posted about this year’s Munsey Award winner, Chris Kalb, on his award-winning File 770 blog. The Munsey has gone annually since 2007 to someone who has given a great deal to the pulp community, and is voted on by its previous winners.
- Age of Aces Books reports that PulpFest 2026 was its best convention yet, with record book sales and both of its new titles selling out. But the big news in “And the Winner is…” was co-founder and designer Chris Kalb receiving the 2026 Munsey Award.
- Super Stuff in the Bronze Age offers a report on the author’s 1,200-mile road trip to PulpFest 2026, the convention’s Amazing Stories centennial programming, and some of the treasures found in the dealers’ room.
- The Robert E. Howard Foundation reports that PulpFest 2026 attendees donated more than $300 toward repairs and preservation of the Robert E. Howard House in Cross Plains, Texas. The donations were collected at the convention by a Howard fan who goes by Glockensig, while Foundation members John Bullard and Jeff Shanks attended as fans.
- Michael R. Brown, who writes The Pulp Super-Fan for us, recounts his fourth visit to the convention in “Con Report: PulpFest 2026.”
- I’ve also posted “A Look Back at PulpFest 2026” here at Yellowed Perils, along with photographs from the convention.
- I posted photographs from PulpFest to ThePulp.Net’s Instagram feed during the convention.
- Other attendees posted photos to Instagram using #pulpfest2026. Follow the link to see pictures from PulpFest 2026, along with the inevitable few random images.
Other videos and audio
There was plenty of other video and audio coverage of PulpFest 2026:
- First-time attendee Gary Lovisi, longtime author, collector, and publisher of Gryphon Books and Paperback Parade, takes viewers on a “PulpFest 2026 – July 30-Aug. 2, Pittsburgh-Cranberry, PA” video tour of the dealers’ room. He follows that with “PulpFest 2026 Book Haul!!”
- Rock Savage of the Savage Film Group took a different approach, asking people at PulpFest 2026 a simple question: “What was the last book you read?”
- Nathanael Hummel and L.S. Goozdich of Veritas Entertainment recap their weekend in “Pulpfest 2026 Recap – Men’s Adventure Fiction Podcast E106.”
- New Texture’s Wyatt Doyle gathered several of the convention videos together in “Video Memories of PulpFest 2026,” including videos from The Book Graveyard, Rock Savage, Gary Lovisi, and The Retired Book Guy.
- On the PulpFest YouTube channel, you can watch “2026 Munsey Award Presented to Chris Kalb.”
- I recorded most of the presentations from PulpFest 2026, but I’m still editing them. Watch for them later this fall on ThePulp.Net’s Pulp Tales podcast.
If all this has you wanting to go yourself, ThePulp.Net keeps a running list of upcoming pulp events. Pick one and take your mobile phone (or a camera, if you’re old school).
If I’ve left you out — whether you’re on YouTube, blogging, or any other website — please let me know in the comments and I will get you added both here and in the post on the PulpFest website.
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