Just back from PulpFest after a tiring 500 mile drive and discovered that Trenton, NJ had been hit by a big storm on Sunday which caused some damage to the airport which is near my house. Fortunately my pulp collection survived, but my wife’s car had to be towed to the repair shop.

   Upon arriving in Columbus on Thursday, I met fellow early birds for dinner and we all started to unload our pulps in the dealer’s room at 7:00 PM. This lasted until around 12:00 midnight and was a nice way to start the convention. We all missed the usual old Pulpcon rules of “no talking, no dealing, and no looking at other tables!”

   Friday the fun officially began and I noticed a vast improvement over the previous Pulpcons in Dayton. For example the attendance was over 350 which is more than Pulpcon ever had and I’ve been keeping track since 1972. This figure put PulpFest near the great level achieved by Windy City’s 400.

   During the three days the dealer’s room never looked empty and I saw several important and rare deals being made. For example I sold 17 bound volumes of Weird Tales, numbering 97 issues, mostly in the 1930’s, for only $1000. That’s like $10 an issue. Also sold from my table were many canceled checks from the Munsey and Popular Publication files.

   I bought my usual mound of pulps like Western Story, Dime Mystery, Dime Detective, Detective Story. There was a lot of original art for sale and I bought a framed, signed Edd Cartier drawing which illustrated a Harry Whittington story.

   I also obtained a Detective Fiction Weekly painting from 1931 and a strange bondage cover that was supposed to be used for Fred Cook’s 1960’s pulp fanzine, Bronze Shadows. I say “supposed” because the magazine died before the cover could be printed.

   Also sold from my table were such odd items as a Charles Russell bronze and a pulp painting cover from Fifteen Western Tales. Across the aisle I was witness to the five issues of Black Mask containing the “Maltese Falcon” serial being sold for $4,000.

   What made this deal so strange was the fact that the buyer wanted the issues not because they were from Black Mask or contained Hammett, but because he is an Erle Stanley Gardner fan.

   For those collectors who went broke buying pulp magazines, there were plenty of panels, slide shows, and auctions during the evening hours. The panels were all interesting and covered such pulpish topics as collecting pulps (I was so excited about being on this panel, that I almost tripped and fell on my face), Frederick C. Davis, Edmond Hamilton, The Shadow, and H. P. Lovecraft.

   The guest of honor was Otto Penzler, book dealer, editor, expert on mystery first editions. He was the perfect guest and appeared to be enjoying himself.

   However I was stunned by his announcement that his big book of Black Mask stories had been rescheduled for publication and would appear in late 2010, about a year beyond the date we were hoping for.

   Why? Because since vampires are so popular, they decided to publish a big book of vampire stories first. This of course was sad news for all pulp and mystery fans, but to offset the disappointment, Otto announced that he would also be editing a big book of adventure stories.

   In addition to thousands of pulps there were also quite a few reprints making their debut, such as new Edmund Hamilton collections and several new collections from Black Dog Books, including a stunning collection of Roger Torrey stories. Torrey died an early death but was quite prolific in the detective pulps. For some reason he has been unjustly forgotten and this is the first big collection of his work.

   Also being introduced was the new and enormous issue of Blood ‘n’ Thunder with a ground breaking article by Ed Hulse on Popular Magazine.

   After the panels and auction ended many of us gathered in the Hospitality room for snacks, soda and thank god, beer. More that one collector contributed to the free food and drink, and I’m not sure of their names but I believe Rusty Burke deserves my thanks for supplying the beer, and not just the usual watery American beers, but imported beers.

   I was glad to see such women collectors as Laurie Powers and Karen Cunningham. I caught a glimpse of Clare MacDonald from Australia but Curt Phillips quickly escorted her from my view.

   The Sunday morning Munsey breakfast was a rousing success with far more collectors being willing to rise up early on Sunday morning than I expected. The new Munsey award was a stunning image by David Saunders. I thought about stealing it but it was always under guard. I asked Mike Chomko if I could trade my Lamont award for the Munsey but he was not at all receptive to this reasonable request.

   The first winner of this award is Bill Thom, who administers the Coming Attractions website. This site is new every Friday evening and announces all sorts of pulp related news.

   I would like to thank the PulpFest committee for a great job on their very first attempt. Soon Mike Chomko, Jack Cullers, Barry Traylor, and Ed Hulse will be busy planning the 2010 convention. Fellow Pulp Collectors, this is an event that you must attend, so start making plans!

Editorial Comments: I echo everything that Walker has to say. By any standard you can think of, the convention was a resounding success. The dealers room was constantly busy with none of the lulls that has afflicted the past few PulpCons in recent years. I didn’t buy much myself, but there seems to have been lots of activity at and around Walker’s table.

   I’ve looked carefully, but I have not spotted myself in a short YouTube video of the event, but you can see Walter Albert’s brother Jim in the process of covering their table with a white cloth, probably just before one of our joint ventures out for food and/or local bookhunting.

   I won’t mention any of the names of the people I met there, some for the first time, even though I’ve known many of them for a long time. I spent most my time walking up and down the aisles, but not getting very far any time that I did. It was far too easy to find someone to stop and talk to for large chunks of time, and more than anything else, that’s what I did and why I go.

   For me the convention was compact, intense, and all too short. It was hard to believe it when Paul Herman and I got off the plane together and he dropped me off at home thirty minutes later. Many thanks for all of the effort put into this year’s event by the organizers of PulpFest 2009, and as Walker says, it’s time to start thinking about next year!