Pulpfest 2025 is less than a week away, beginning on Thursday, August 7, and continuing through mid-day Sunday, August 10. For the uninitiated, Pulpfest is an annual convention of pulp fiction collectors and dealers, as well as writers and publishers of modern-day pulp tales crafted in the spirit of the classic stories from the first half of the 20th century. The gathering in Pittsburgh has become a summer tradition for me since 2009, when the organizers of a similar convention known as PulpCon rebranded and reengineered the event to expand its scope and broaden its flagging attendee base.
In the sixteen years since the inaugural Pulpfest (it started out in Columbus before relocating to Pittsburgh several years ago), I’ve missed only one. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, so I count that as a hiatus for everyone rather than a miss for myself. I had to decline the following year due to a scheduling conflict related to my daughter – then a college student – moving into her apartment on the Ohio State University campus the same weekend. Otherwise, I’ve been a regular, especially since I co-founded Flinch Books in 2015 and maintained a consistent presence in the convention’s robust dealer room every year since – along with my co-founder, publishing partner and friend, Jim Beard. Ten years on, our table is getting increasingly crowded with Flinch titles. (We manage to add one or two new ones every year.)
We’re planning to make little extra noise at this year’s convention as we celebrate Flinch’s tenth anniversary. We’ve somehow managed to keep the venture alive for a decade, so when the Pulpfest doors open on Thursday, we’ll have all sixteen of our titles available for sale. (While sixteen books – and soon to be seventeen – in ten years may seem like a modest output, we’re just two writers and small-press publishers who work full-time jobs to pay our respective bills. We’ve prioritized quality over quantity, and we’re quite proud of our back catalog.)
I expect Friday to be the most hectic day of the convention for me, as I’ll be participating in two back-to-back presentations during the early afternoon hours.
At 12:30 pm, I’ll be sitting on a panel entitled “Personal Demons and the Creative Mind.” Also joining in the conversation will be pulp writers and historians Morgan Holmes, Will Murray and Craig McDonald. William Patrick Maynard will moderate the discussion. I can say right up front that I could easily spend the entire afternoon and evening talking about my own personal demons, but this won’t be that kind of panel – and that’s not the kind of therapy that I’d be inclined to seek out in front of an audience anyway. Instead, I’ll be talking about Raymond Chandler, one of the primary architects of hardboiled detective fiction whose personal life and creative journey were plagued by a variety of bad habits, insecurities and other obstacles.
Immediately following the panel, Jim and I will take the stage for our (sort of) annual “Flinch Fest” at 1:30 pm. We’ve staged this presentation at Pulpfest intermittently over the last ten years to offer attendees a peek into the various projects and schemes that we’re hatching in any given year. This year, as you can probably guess, our focus will be on our tenth anniversary. In addition to a brief discussion of How It All Began, Jim will do a reading from Sgt. Janus and he House that Loved Death, the latest installment in his ongoing series about the mysterious ghost hunter known as Sgt. Janus. We’ll also be revealing the cover of my next novel, The Midnight Guardian: March of the Giants, which will be available before the end of 2025. In addition to the cover reveal, I’ll provide a little taste of the story with a reading of my own. On top of all that, there’ll be a drawing for a Flinch giveaway. So much good stuff packed into an hour-long presentation!
For me at least, Pulpfest never fails to be a re-energizing experience. There are always interesting and informative sessions that shine a light on the origins and history of the pulps, and the long weekend includes numerous opportunities – oftentimes impromptu and informal – to hang with old friends and maybe make a few new ones too. And like all the other folks peddling their wares in the dealer room, we try to make a little money without turning around and spending too much of it – or all of it, for that matter – on some of the collectibles and other goodies we’re likely to find at a table just down the aisle or maybe at the other end of the room.
But even if I don’t hit the jackpot with sales, I inevitably come home from the convention feeling inspired to lean into the writing a little harder as I head into the late summer and fall. (And we won’t even talk about the importance of feeling productive during the hard winter months along the Great Lakes.)
If you’re reading these words and you happen to be within a couple hundred miles of Pittsburgh next weekend, consider hopping in your car and getting a taste of Pulpfest, even if it’s just for a few hours on Saturday. Advance registration is just about closed at this point, but you can still register at the door. But even if you can’t make it, there’s a treasure trove of information on Pulpfest website – not just about the convention but also about the pulps in general. If you take a look around, there’s a good chance you’ll learn something interesting without even trying.
There’s a pulp adventure in Pittsburgh every summer. I’m looking forward to the one starting in just a few days. Maybe I’ll see you there!