Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention 2010 April 22, 2010

PULP FICTION CONVENTION CELEBRATING

100 YEARS OF ‘ADVENTURE’ –
THE IMMORTAL PULP MAGAZINE
STORMS INTO CHICAGO IN APRIL!
Tenth Annual Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention Soldiers into the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center from April 23-25, 2010
Lombard, IL/ - VALIANT EXPLORERS AND SULTRY NATIVES, BOLD WARRIORS AND FAIR MAIDENS, MEN OF BRONZE AND SCARLET WOMEN will descend on Chicagoland along with their fans and collectors for the tenth annual Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, which will unfold at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center from Friday, April 23 to Sunday, April 25, 2010.
The three-day event, which yearly draws hundreds of aficionados from all across the country, celebrates this uniquely American form of popular literature. Attendees hear from pulp-fiction historians, see original vintage pulp art displays, watch films adapted from the great pulp stories, and peruse over 100 tables of hard-to-find collectibles while seeking out rare issues of such seminal publications as The Shadow, Spicy Detective, Amazing Stories, Black Mask, Weird Tales and thousands more, including the greatest of them all, Adventure!
The pulp magazine, which thrived in the years between the two World Wars, vied with radio and the movies as the era’s most popular form of mass entertainment. These periodicals, printed on coarse pulpwood paper and boasting eye-grabbing, often lurid cover paintings, introduced to the American reading public such still-popular fictioneers as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Dashiell Hammett, Zane Grey, Raymond Chandler, Ray Bradbury, L. Ron Hubbard, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, and Robert Heinlein to the American public. The pulps are widely recognized as the inspirations for such pop-culture mainstays as Star Trek, Star Wars, and virtually every comic-book hero from Batman to Iron Man.
This year’s convention celebrates the centennial of what Time Magazine in 1935 called “the Dean of the pulps”—Adventure. In 878 issues published from 1910 to 1971, this landmark periodical published the cream of the pulp-fiction crop, selected by a world-class editorial staff that for years included Pulitzer Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis. The magazine’s top contributors included such pioneering men’s-action writers as Rafael Sabatini (creator of Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, and Scaramouche), H. Rider Haggard (creator of Allan Quatermain, the inspiration for Indiana Jones), and Talbot Mundy (whose King of the Khyber Rifles was a best-seller), along with such Pulitzer winners as MacKinlay Kantor and T. S. Stribling. Adventure’s roster of writers comprised a veritable Who’s Who of the country’s top creators of rousing, red-blooded fiction. They developed the plot devices and character types that to this day populate the modern adventure genre, as reflected in TV series, motion pictures, and video games in which noble knights, rugged soldiers, Foreign Legionnaires, and adventurers of all types, from all historical periods fight for country, glory, and honor.
The outstanding fiction published in Adventure—much of which found its way into hard-cover books that topped best-seller lists—continues to attract readers and collectors, and while the old magazines are difficult to find, the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention gathers together the nation’s top merchants of such rare vintage material. Attendees could troll the internet for years and not find as many rare and valuable collectibles as they will see in the Westin Lombard over the convention’s three days.
The salute to Adventure will include an exhibit of surviving cover paintings, rarely seen motion pictures adapted from the magazine’s most popular stories, and lively panel discussions in which learned historians will hold forth on the trend-setting publication.
Other attractions include:
*100+ table dealer showroom boasting one of the world’s largest assemblies of vintage pulp, paperback, old time-radio, movie memorabilia, and related collectibles. Affordable reprints, hard-to-find books, fanzines and original artwork will also be offered for sale on FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY.
*Pulp Film Festival, screening pulp-era shorts and features saluting the genre’s greatest heroes and creators, including many films adapted from the pages of Adventure. The films being unspooled include the rarely seen silent versions of Sabatini’s Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk (both from 1924); a complete 1934 serial, The Red Rider, starring cowboy immortal Buck Jones in an action-packed adaptation of W. C. Tuttle’s story; and The Black Watch, the 1929 John Ford-directed version of Talbot Mundy’s King of the Khyber Rifles, with Victor McLaglen and Myrna Loy making their first appearances in a “talkie.” Films will run throughout the day and night on both FRIDAY and SATURDAY.
*Friday and Saturday Night auction of rare, much-sought-after pulp magazines, pulp art, and memorabilia from the collection of Peter Scullo, one of the leading collectors of 20th-century pulps and other pop-culture items.
*Pulp Art Show displaying an unparalleled collection of rare and highly sought after original pulp and paperback art. FRIDAY-SUNDAY
ADMISSION is $35.00 for all three days; $25.00 on Friday; $25.00 on Saturday; $15.00 on Sunday. Ages 13 and under admitted free with parent. Fee includes access to all convention events and souvenir program book containing pulp articles and reprints.
SHOW HOURS: FRIDAY 4/23: Noon-Midnight; SATURDAY 4/24: 9am-Midnight; SUNDAY 4/25: 9am-4pm.
LOCATION: Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, 70 Yorktown Center, Lombard IL 60148, 888-627-9031.
For artwork, additional questions, press, and media credentials contact: Mark Trost, Media Relations - 516-330-7487; email:poppub@yahoo.com
For general information visit the Windy City Pulp site: www.windycitypulpandpaper.com or Doug Ellis at 847-217-4241; email: info@windycitypulpandpaper.com