Fanzine focus: ‘The Pulpster’

This posting we look at the fanzine, The Pulpster. Except that The Pulpster is not really a fanzine. It’s actually the program book given out at Pulpcon, and now PulpFest.

Each issue is packed with articles on the pulps, rounded out with artwork, and professionally printed. They stand up to any fanzine. Many articles are written by several of the major pulp researchers.

The major pulp convention was Pulpcon, which ran for years until Pulpcon 37 in 2008. For reasons I have no idea, the event was replaced by PulpFest in 2009. PulpFest is held in the summer in Columbus, Ohio (the prior Pulpcon moved around). Tony Davis was the long-time editor until William Lampkin (of ThePulp.Net) took over with The Pulpster #22.

I don’t have a complete set of The Pulpster, but will highlight the articles in the ones I have (or have been loaned for this article). Items common to all issues were write-ups of the guests of honor, and a notation of those who passed in the pulp community, sometimes including a more substantial tribute.

The first couple of issues were 5.5-inches by 8.5-inches, with issue #3 it went to 8.5-inches by 11-inches in size, with 30 to 50 pages each, with the most recent volumes being longer and having better paper and color covers thanks to ads.

#1 (Pulpcon 20, 1991) kicks off the series with a Frank Hamilton cover (who will go on to do many other covers for The Pulpster). Bob Sampson has an article on gangster pulps. Don Hutchison has an article on Canadian pulp author Thomas Kelley; Will Murray writes on the new Doc Savage novels; Al Tonik provides lists of pulp stories by Dwight Swain and Howard Browne. John Wooley looks at the pulp character Mr. Mystery from All-Thrill Detective Magazine. Nick Carr looks at the use of the hangman in some Western stories. A pretty good first issue, seeing as how many of the major pulp researchers of the time had articles.

#2 (Pulpcon 21, 1992) has another Frank Hamilton cover. Tom Johnson looks at Mr. Death (since reprinted by Altus Press). Don Hutchison deals with the SF pulps. Al Tonik looks at Frederick Pohl‘s pulp stories. Will Murray looks at the literary origins of Pat Savage. There is an article on pulps and copyright law. Nick Carr looks at the financial status of certain pulp heroes. Bob Sampson looks at the physical sizes of pulps. This year there was also a “Supplemental Pulpster” with a couple of additional articles.

#3 (Pulpcon 22, 1993) has a cover by Paul McCall, who would later do his own short-lived fanzine, Aces. Don Hutchison has an article on G-8. Will Murray looks at the other pseudonyms of Lester Dent, in an attempt to find previously unknown Dent stories. Tom Johnson looks at another Spider in the pulps, the villain of two stories by Frederick Painton. Another article looks at the influence of airships in the pulps. We get a brief history of the Pulpcons up until then.

#4 (Pulpcon 23, 1994). Don Hutchison takes a looks at The Shadow from personal experience. We have an article that looks at the first 25 years of the Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green State University. There is an interview with Robert Lesser, a collector of pulp art who put out a book on his collection that can still be obtained. Will Murray has a followup article from the last one, looking further into the H.O. Cash pseudonym used by Lester Dent. Another article looks at several interesting stories so far un-reprinted from Weird Tales. Nick Carr looks at one of the secondary characters from Captain Future. Tom Johnson looks at the short-lived Munsey pulp hero, the Scarlet Wizard.

#5 (Pulpcon 24, 1995). Link Hullar provides an article on Frank Hamilton, and there are also several pieces of his artwork in this issue. Don Hutchison has an article on the various jungle heroes and heroines. An different article looks at Beadle’s Dime Novels, which were popular during the Civil War. We also have a couple of short articles: one which looks at the women who worked with certain pulp heroes, and another at the main characters of the Green Lama series.

#6 (Pulpcon 25, 1996). This issue celebrates 100 years of the pulps. There is an article on the early years of the pulps, and some of the major magazines of the time. Tom Johnson gives us an article on Dan Fowler, G-Man. We have a brief article on pulp author Talmage Powell. Nick Carr has an article on Western character Flash Steele. Don Hutchison has an article on the publications put out by “Captain George” from his bookstore Memory Lane.

#7 (Pulpcon 26, 1997). Don’t have access to this one.

#8 (Pulpcon 27, 1998). We start off with a Frank Hamilton interpretation of a Walter Baumhoffer Doc Savage cover. We get an article about what was going on in the real world that led to the inspiration of Dan Fowler. Will Murray has an article on trying to identify authors of the Phantom Detective. Nick Carr has an article on some of the notable bad guys of the pulps. There is a nice overview article on the French super-criminal, Fantomas; and Tom Johnson has an overview article on the lesser known Red Finger, since reprinted by Altus Press.

#9 (Pulpcon 28, 1999) again starts off with another Frank Hamilton interpretation of a Baumhoffer cover, this time a Pete Rice cover, which is also the subject of an article. An article of The Shadow’s New York points out some of the locations used in this series. Next is a nice article on autogyros in the pulps. H. Bedford-Jones‘s adventure fantasies is the subject of another article. Tom Johnson has a short article on his long-running Echoes fanzine.

#10 (Pulpcon 29, 2000). This time have a cover by Neil Mechem with The Shadow and Doc Savage. We get a reprint of an article by pulpster Arther J. Burks from the Writer’s Digest of 1939. Don Hutchison looks at Dime Detective; Will Murray collects several short bios by pulp writers written in the late 1930s; Tony Davis looks at foreign pulps; and Tom Johnson looks at G-X, the Phantom Fed. We have an article that takes a look at L. Ron Hubbard‘s most successful pseudonyms. Movie Action Magazine is the subject of another article. And we get another reprint, this time an article by Mort Weisinger on the use of pseudonyms from 1935. And Nick Carr looks at several western characters.

#11 (Pulpcon 30, 2001). We have a cover that reprints a Frank Leyendecker pulp cover. Will Murray takes a deeper look at the publication history of Bill Barnes, and we get hints of what might have been with this character. Nick Carr this time looks at the horses used by several western characters. Tom Johnson hunts down the last Black Bat story. Another non-fiction reprint, this time from John W. Campbell Jr. on writing. Pulp editor John Nanovic is interviewed by Al Tonik. Tony Davis looks at Canadian pulps. We get a history of Pulpcons #23-29.

#12 (Pulpcon 31, 2002) returns with yet another Frank Hamilton interpretation of a pulp cover, this time of a Shadow cover. There is an article looking at the “Plot Genie,” a work from the pulp era that helped budding authors in writing fiction. Tom Johnson has a short article on another fanzine, this time Bronze Shadows. Pirate stores in dime novels and pulps is the subject of another article. The rise and fall of the air pulps is the subject of another. Don Hutchison looks at the Rio Kid. Nick Carr provides an article taken from letters by Harry Steeger, owner of Popular Publications. A “work in progress” article from Will Murray looks at western pulps.

#14 (Pulpcon 33, 2004). Frank Hamilton provides another pulp cover, again based on The Shadow. Unlike prior issues, this one has mainly reprints from the pulps themselves. We have an article from 1951 on the decline of the pulps. Nick Carr has an article on the romance pulps. A collection of book reviews from 1938-40 makes up another article. A letter from pulp author Arthur J. Burks from 1929 is another. Yet another reprints the listing of pulp magazines from The Writer’s Handbook of 1945, which lets authors know of the markets for their works.

Mini Edition (2005). Not sure why a Pulpster wasn’t done for Pulpcon 34, but this mini-edition was put out and covers the history of the Lamont Award that is given out at Pulpcon to honor those who have supported the history of pulps and Pulpcon.

#15 (Pulpcon 35, 2006) doesn’t have a cover by Hamilton (he does provide the back cover, highlighting Tarzan). This time it’s by Neil Mechem. Before Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard was a pulp writer, and we get a reprint of an article he wrote back then on the ads in pulp magazines. Al Tonik has a short article on James McKinney and Ki-Gor, a long-running Tarzan clone. A reprint of an uncredited article on the history of pulp magazine prices from 1946-73 comes from Nils Hardin‘s Xenophile fanzine.

#16 (Pulpcon 36, 2007). Hamilton is back with another Shadow pulp cover interpretation. There is an article on Street & Smith pulp editor Babette Rosmond. William Lampkin has an article on Norvell Page‘s (better known as the author of The Spider) stories of Prester John. We get a retrospective article on author Nelson Bond, along with tributes for Jack Deveny, Darrell C. Richardson, and Harry Noble.

#17 (Pulpcon 37, 2008) has another Hamilton pulp cover interpretation, this based on a Hersey crime pulp. We get an article from 1938 that looks at how other media saw the pulp newstands of the day. Another reprint from the days of the pulps is a 1934 article on how to write for the romance pulps. The story of L. Ron Hubbard wrestling a Kodiak bear in 1940 Alaska is the subject of another article. Two Lester Dent bios are the subjects of a review. Another article looks at an unusual work from pulp author Robert Leslie Bellem (co-writer of Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective): comicbook/record combos aimed at kids. William Lampkin provides a scholarly article on the decline of Street & Smith’s pulps that lead to their cancellation.

As noted, this issue was the last published for Pulpcon.

#18 (PulpFest, 2009) has artwork from Edd Cartier on the cover, who also gets a retrospective article. We get an article on the pulp series Old Calamity, about a deputy prison warden in the first of a series of such articles by Monte Herridge. Next up is an article on Arkham House founder August Derleth. Ray Palmer and the “Shaver Mystery” is the subject of another. William Lampkin has an article on pulp author Lawrence Donovan, who wrote some Doc Savage, The Skipper, and The Whisperer novels. Nick Carr has an article that reprints the letters from several old pulpsters. We get an article on the sadly defunct Popular Press at Bowling Green State University, which published and reprinted several pulp works in the 1980s and ’90s when no one else was.

#19 (PulpFest, 2010), for the first time, has a color cover, a reprint of a pulp cover by H.C. Murphy Jr. Don Hutchison has an article on pulp author David Goodis, who wrote for Fighting Aces. Another article looks at pulp author Paul Ernst, best known for The Avenger. William Lampkin has an article on a what might have been: a 1978 Doc Savage TV movie. Nick Carr answers 10 pulp questions he’s be asked. Western author Max Brand‘s first year working for Western Story Magazine is the subject of another. Another looks at Carroll John Daly‘s work and why he was eclipsed by Dashiell Hammett.

#20 (PulpFest, 2011) has a reprint of a Shadow cover, tied to the 80th anniversary of this character. We have an article that looks at The Shadow from the first four stories. Will Murray provides a preview of the first of the second wave of new Doc novels, “The Desert Demons.” A short article on New Pulp is next. William Lampkin has an article on “defective detective” Malachi Manatee of Florida. H.P. Lovecraft‘s edited works are highlighted. H. Bedford-Jones’ gentleman-thief Riley Dillon is the subject of another. Don Hutchison provides an article on interior artist John Fleming Gould.

#21 (PulpFest, 2012). In honor of Edgar Rice Burrough’s 100 years in the pulps, a John Carter cover by J. Allen St. John is reprinted on the cover and is the subject of an article. There is an article on Jim Reading, Flying Detective, and another on Conan. We get a peek into the Arkham House Archives in another article. And the first time, we get fiction in a Lucifer Jones story by Mike Resnick.

#22 (PulpFest, 2013) focused on the 80th year of hero pulps, and we get a reprint of the popular Baumhofer Doc cover from “Quest of Qui.” We get an article looking at hero pulps that emerged in 1933 after The Shadow, along with another by Will Murray on that year. William Preston provides a great article on his Old Man series of stories. Will Murray has another on his recent Doc novel, “Skull Island.” We look at the short lived Johnston McCulley pulp hero Rollicking Rogue, who presaged a theme in subsequent pulp heroes. William Patrick Maynard, author of the new Fu Manchu novels, explains how they came about. And this is counterposed by an article on the Yellow Peril theme in some pulps. Another looks at Street & Smith editor Daisy Bacon, who was the final editor of The Shadow and Doc Savage. We get an article on another pulp detective, Richard B. Sale‘s crime reporter Daffy Dill. And we get another look into the Arkham House Archive.

#23 (PulpFest, 2014) focuses on the 75th anniversary of the blossoming of science fiction’s Golden Age, when fantastic fiction “grew up,” as well as the shudder pulps of 1934. The cover is a reprint of an Edd Cartier cover from Unknown. Michael Chomko has an article on the Golden Age of pulp SF. We get a look at Ray Bradbury‘s fanzine Futuria Fantasia. Don Hutchison has an article on the horror/shudder pulps, and we get an article on zombie stories in the pulps. There is an article looking at the start of Fritz Leiber‘s career with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Some of the recent issues are still available. Check out the PulpFest website for information. If you come across any I’m missing, send them my way.