EDitorial Comments

PulpFest 2013 Plans Are Underway

The PulpFest committee is delighted to announce that our 2013 convention will once again be held at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Next year the confab will take place from Thursday, July 25th, through Sunday, July 28th. It will boast the same combination of product and programming that has made PulpFest the must-attend annual event for fans, scholars, and collectors of pulp fiction.

Two very important anniversary commemorations will figure prominently in PulpFest’s 2013 programming. First and foremost, we are celebrating the Hero Pulp revolution that began 80 years ago, in 1933, with the debuts of such popular figures as Doc Savage, The Spider, Nick Carter, Pete Rice, The Lone Eagle, The Phantom Detective, and G-8 and His Battle Aces. The success of Street & Smith’s Shadow pulp, launched two years earlier, spurred this revival of single-character magazines, which had been a phenomenon of the dime-novel era. The Hero Pulps revitalized an industry laid low by the Great Depression, and they dominated the rough-paper field for the rest of the decade. They remain the most avidly collected and frequently reprinted periodicals in the hobby.

Secondarily, we acknowledge the centennial of Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu, who made his American bow in a February 1913 issue of Collier’s Magazine. The initial cycle of short stories was published between hard covers later that year as The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. The first and greatest of “Yellow Peril” villains, Rohmer’s Devil Doctor was widely imitated in all forms of American popular culture; rough-paper knockoffs included the mysterious Wu Fang and Dr. Yen Sin, both featured in short-lived pulps issued by Popular Publications in the mid Thirties. And there were many others.

With so many possibilities for panels and presentations, the PulpFest committee once again plans to offer a full night of programming on Thursday, before the convention’s “official” opening on Friday, so attendees are urged to make early arrival a part of their PulpFest travel plans.

The Hyatt Regency has asked for a modest increase in guest-room rates, which will be $112 per night as opposed to the $109 we paid this year.  However, to reward loyal attendees who support the convention by staying at the host hotel, PulpFest will offer a ten-dollar rebate redeemable at the Registration desk. This will cover the three-dollar nightly increase incurred by Hyatt guests.

We are also happy to once again offer a third table free of charge to exhibitors who rent two tables in our Hucksters room. That’s three tables for the price of two, or six for the price of four. The massive size of the Regency Ballroom enables us to provide this extra exhibit space to loyal PulpFest dealers, for whose continued support we are most grateful.

Although the 2013 convention is still ten months away, you can rest assured that the committee is already hard at work on planning and promotion. Ideas for panels and presentations have already been proposed and, as always, we remain open to programming suggestions and volunteer presenters. Most importantly, though, we wanted to let you know that our venue is confirmed. So start saving for the next PulpFest right away and check back periodically for updates.