Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention 2011 April 14, 2011

PULP FICTION CONVENTION THUNDERS INTO CHICAGO IN APRIL CELEBRATING THE PULPS & THE 80th ANNIVERSARY OF TREND SETTING POPULAR PUBLICATIONS
11th Annual Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention Storms into the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center from April 15-17th, 2011
Lombard, IL/ - MASKED HEROES & WEIRD MENACES, SECRET AGENTS & DIME DETECTIVES, STALWART COWBOYS & HELLRAISIN' WOMEN will descend on Chicagoland along with their fans and collectors for the 11th annual Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, which will unfold at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center from Friday, April 15th to Sunday, April 17, 2011.
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, bid on rare pulps and pop culture artifacts and peruse over 100 tables of hard-to-find collectibles including rare issues of such seminal publications as Adventure, Black Mask, Dime Mystery, Operator 5, Super Science Stories, Terror Tales, The Spider and thousands more!
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 Zorro (who originated in the pulps).
This year’s convention celebrates the 80th anniversary of the undisputed king of pulp publishers, Popular Publications. Created in 1931 by Harry Steegar, the small chain which grew to dominate the field. Known for its now iconic taboo breaking painted covers featuring rock jawed heroes, endangered heroines and horrific villains, Popular defined pulp fiction with its tension packed prose, taking the reader on an emotional roller coaster of thrills, action, menace and ultimately, heroic victory.
At it's height, Popular published 42 different monthly magazines, covering every conceivable genre with such titles as Dime Western, Dime Mystery, Horror Stories, Dare-Devil Aces, Detective Tales, The Spider – Master of Men and ultimately such pulp mainstays as Adventure, Black Mask and Argosy. The company continued into the 1970s, making it the longest running pulp publisher as well as one of the most successful and influential, defining pop culture for a generation.
Scores of stories published by Popular were made into feature films (some of which will be shown at this year's convention). And the categories and characters it pioneered - the weird menace story, the masked vigilante hero, the costumed super villain, the defective detective, the America-saving government agent - are still being mined by television producers, movie makers and novelists today.

The salute to Popular and all things pulp-related will include an exhibit of surviving cover paintings, rarely seen motion pictures and lively panel discussions in which learned historians will hold forth on the magazines created by Popular.
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.
*Friday and Saturday Night auction of rare, much-sought-after pulp magazines, pulp art, and memorabilia including many almost impossible to find Popular Publications issues and items from the Popular archives. Highlights include a first edition of Tarzan of the Apes and signed checks and letters from the legendary pulp scribe Cornell Woolrich.
*Pulp Film Festival will screen films adapted from Popular stories. The films being unspooled are mostly unavailable on DVD or cable. The line up features Ticket to a Crime (1934), based on a story by Carroll John Daly, the author who created the hard boiled detective genre. Other titles include Mistress of Atlantis (1932), a rare mix of desert intrigue and science fiction, The Return of Wild Bill (1940) a rarely seen Columbia title based on a Walt Coburn story and Lady and the Monster (1944) with the legendary Erich Von Stroheim. This was the first filmed version of the classic Curt Siodmak horror story, Donovan’s Brain which debuted in Black Mask. Films will run throughout the day and night on both FRIDAY and SATURDAY.
*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 4/15: Noon-Midnight; SATURDAY 4/16: 9am-Midnight; SUNDAY 4/17: 9am-4pm.
LOCATION: Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, 70 Yorktown Center, Lombard IL 60148, 888-627-9031.
For general information visit the Windy City Pulp site: www.windycitypulpandpaper.com or Doug Ellis at 847-217-4241; email: info@windycitypulpandpaper.com