I just got back from Windy City. I went by Amtrak this year. Going from Trenton, NJ to Chicago only took an agonizing 28 hours with some delays and microwave food that I had trouble eating. Not to mention the claustophobia that kicked in when I closed the door to my sleeping car room.

   I traveled with long time pulp collector Digges La Touche and we spent the long train ride mainly reading. The last time I went to Windy City I drove for two days, but I can’t do that anymore since my eyesight is deteriorating. I’m a danger on the road for long trips or night time driving.

   I checked with Doug Ellis, and he said there were over 400 registered for the weekend and 128 tables. I spent all day each day in the dealer’s room roaming around looking through each table for pulps and artwork.

   I usually skipped lunch because I couldn’t tear myself away. However I did have breakfast and dinner each day with such great and out-of-control collectors like Nick Certo, Scott Hartshorn (Mr. Hollywood), Digges La Touche (The Human ATM Machine), Ed Hulse (the latest issue of his Blood n Thunder magazine debuted at this con and is over 100 pages!), Dave Scroggs (Pulp Librarian), Dave Kurzman, Kevin Cook, Steve Kennedy (pulp art dealer), and others too numerous to list. All these characters may not be well known to readers of this blog, but they all have enormous pulp collections.

   Bob Weinberg was there with his wife, and he has some great projects coming up. He and George Vanderburg of Battered Silicon Press are the new editors of Arkham House. I think this is great because Arkham has been a ghost of its former self the last few years. Others in attendance were Rodney Schroder, Paul Herman, Tony Tollin, Tom Roberts, Doug Ellis (thanks to you and John Gunnison for a great Convention), Rob Preston, Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, John Locke, and others.

   I spent some time talking to Frank Robinson, who looks great, and he told me several stories about his experience on the Milk movie set. He evidently got a good salary for his 17 days on the set and will be in the DVD extras. Frank warned me before one auction, “Watch out for the paper.” At first I didn’t know what he meant but as the auction progressed, I realized some the great-looking pulps looked excellent on the outside but had browning paper inside.

   Speaking of the auction, both were well attended and packed with rabid bidders. The Friday auction was mainly material from the Frank Hamilton estate, such as artwork, Shadow and Doc Savage pulps.

   The Saturday auction was of more interest, with a complete run of Weird Tales being auctioned piece by piece, 1930-1954. All were from Ray Walsh’s collection. He had the 1920’s issues at his tables. Also auctioned were many issues of The Spider, Munsey correspondence and checks, and various pieces of artwork.

   The art exhibit was stunning, packed with work by Ward and Hubert Rogers. After seeing a room full of Rogers art, I upgraded my opinion of his work. The program book was edited by Tom Roberts and at 138 pages deserves to be in all our libraries. There were several articles on Hubert Rogers, Ward, and the Spicy pulps.

   What did I actually buy? Well I went with a few thousand dollars and came back with a couple hundred. I found some pulp wants like Dime Mystery, Western Story, Far West, Street and Smith’s Detective Story.

   I also came home with many pieces of art including an Arkham House dust jacket by Herb Arnold, The Watcher Out of Time, a Detective Fiction Weekly pulp cover from the mid 1930’s, a Two Fisted Tales cover by Severin, ten illustrations by Potter from a Arkham House anthology, a Cartier illustration, and several pieces of “Outsider” art by an unknown artist who evidently submitted the pieces to Castle of Frankenstein magazine but never got them back.

   There must be something bad I can say about this convention, but no, I can’t think of a single criticism. Well maybe I can gripe about not being able to see Ed Hulse’s film program, but that’s my fault becuse I can’t drag myself away from the dealer’s room and auction.

   So after four days and nights of pulps, pulps, and more pulps, I headed back to Chicago’s Union Station and caught the 7:00 pm Amtrak. Fortunately this time the food was cooked and not microwaved, plus they had a nice lounge and bar car where you could sit and watch the scenery. This time no claustophobia! I took a xanex, closed the door to the tiny room and got more sleep than I did at the pulp show.

   Next thing on the horizon is Pulpfest! All members of this group should support it either by attending or sending in a supporting membership. Since this is the first of the new pulp shows, it must have our support in order to survive and prosper. We don’t want to wake up one day and face a world with no dealers’ room! Mark these days on your calendars, July 31, August 1 and August 2, 2009. See you there!!