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Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part II

Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part II

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David C. Smith and Steven H Silver find priceless treasures in the Dealers Room at Windy City Pulp & Paper

A month ago I wrote a short convention report on the 2023 Windy City Pulp & Paper Show, which took place Friday April 21st to Sunday, April 23rd in Lombard, Illinois. In that article I mostly rubber-necked at the gorgeous Weird Tales pulps and other rare magazines sold during the evening auctions, and took covetous pictures of the pre-auction displays.

Here in Part II, I’ll share a few more photos of the vendors and personalities I met, and showcase a few of the many treasures I dragged home in seven heavy boxes — including vintage comics, science fiction digests, graphic novels, new releases, and of course lots of great old paperbacks. Assuming you enjoy cautionary tales of disastrous self control, it should be an entertaining read.

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Gen Con Writers’ Symposium Aug 3-6, 2023: Special Guests and Program Release

Gen Con Writers’ Symposium Aug 3-6, 2023: Special Guests and Program Release

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Gen Con is the largest tabletop gaming convention in North America. In 2019, they welcomed over 65,000 unique visitors and offered over 19,000 events. By its nature, Gen Con attracts a large number of attendees who enjoy speculative fiction.

Gen Con 2023 will be held August 3-6 in Indianapolis, Indiana

The Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (GCWS) is a semi-independent event hosted by Gen Con and intended for both new and experienced writers of speculative fiction. All registration is handled through the Gen Con website. 

Over the past 28 years, the Writers’ Symposium has grown from a small set of panels over a day or two to one of the largest convention-hosted writing tracks in North America, offering hundreds of hours of programming from authors, editors, agents, and publishers to nearly 3000 unique visitors per year on average.  

We’re proud to announce that the Scalzi Family Foundation will be this year’s Gen Con Writers’ Symposium Legendary Sponsor! This sponsorship will enable the symposium to support more writers to attend, creating a more representative and inclusive event.

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Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part I

Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part I

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Some of the eye-popping pulps from the Bob Weinberg collection auctioned at Windy City

This weekend was the Windy City Pulp & Paper show, an annual gathering of about 600-800 pulp and vintage paperback enthusiasts in Lombard, Illinois. Founded by Doug Ellis and run by a dedicated and talented team, Windy City has gradually become my favorite convention. Back when Black Gate was a print magazine I used to get a table and sell back issues, but these days I spend my time more productively. Namely buying stuff, but also hanging out with friends and attending the auction.

And gawking at amazing sights. If you’re interested in rare and unusual items — such as mint-condition pulps, rare first editions, signed volumes, original art, and letters and esoterica from pulp writers such as Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, and countless others — Windy City is the place to be. It’s a chance to hang out with like-minded individuals, gossip, and (especially!) find incredible treasures.

Reader, I found some treasures.

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Gary Con Report: A Virtual Tour of Black Blade Publishing

Gary Con Report: A Virtual Tour of Black Blade Publishing

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Allan T. Grohe Jr. in the Black Blade Publishing booth,
a mobile pilgrimage site for old school gamers

Gary Con! The tiny annual gathering that grew out the impromptu gaming event at Lake Geneva’s American Legion Hall after Gary Gygax’s funeral in March 2008 has now been going strong for fifteen years, and has grown into my favorite gaming convention. I attended Gary Con II in 2010 (my photo essay coverage of that ancient event is here), and was frankly astounded at how much it reminded me of the early days of Gen Con (which also took place in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin). Gary Con is a celebration of the life and work of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, and it has become the most important annual gathering for old-school gamers.

Gary Con XV is usually held across four days at the end of March, and this one took place March 23-26th, 2023. I made the one-hour drove across the state border into Wisconsin to attend on Saturday, March 25. As usual, I spent most of my time at the con wandering the fabulous Dealer’s Room, taking in the amazing volume of new and upcoming gaming releases.

One of the highlights of Gary Con every year — perhaps the highlight — is Black Blade Publishing’s magically overstocked booth, run by the friendly and knowledgeable Allan T. Grohe Jr. The booth contains half a dozen tables positively groaning under the weight of hundreds of products from dozens of exciting companies. Here’s a virtual tour of the booth, with over a dozen photos, and some of my most exciting finds.

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Goth Chick News: Can Someone Please Help Me Understand Anime?

Goth Chick News: Can Someone Please Help Me Understand Anime?

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Last Friday, Goth Chick photog Chris Z and I once again had the pleasure of a press invitation to the annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (or C2E2 for you cool kids). If you haven’t heard of this event, C2E2 is a Chicago fan convention dedicated to comics, pop culture, graphic novels ,video games, toys, movies, and television.

The inaugural C2E2 was held in 2010 at the McCormick Place in Chicago and hosted roughly twenty-eight thousand people over three days. Thirteen years later and according to our inside sources, all three individual days were sold out, as well as the three-day passes. Though C2E2 show runners have been tight-lipped these last few years as to attendance numbers, estimations I’ve been able to gather put the total in the 110K neighborhood for 2023, making C2E2 in the top five largest comic conventions in the US.

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Goth Chick News: Cosplayers, an Author Exclusive, and a Zombie Tramp, or Our Trip to C2E2 2022

Goth Chick News: Cosplayers, an Author Exclusive, and a Zombie Tramp, or Our Trip to C2E2 2022

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Two weekends ago, Chicago’s largest convention space, McCormick Center, played host to over 100K attendees to the 12th annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2 for you cool kids), and I am once again reminded why Chicago ranks in the top cities for people-watching. Amidst the oodles of MCU, Star Wars, and anime merchandise, aisles of comic illustrators (many of whom appeared to have a near cult-like following) and celebrity autograph queues, mingled individuals who seemed to have ample expendable income for use on high-end costumes.

Though the mother of all cosplay costume contests occurred on Saturday (the Cosplay Central Crown Championships), it didn’t stop the Friday attendees from turning out. In fact, we learned that plenty folks have 3-day passes and appear in a different persona each day. And though I could have easily grabbed a spot on the floor opposite the entrance and spent the day people-peeping, Black Gate photog Chris Z and I waded in with the rest of the press at the opening bell on Friday morning.

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Goth Chick News: And Then We Went to the Midwest Haunters Convention…

Goth Chick News: And Then We Went to the Midwest Haunters Convention…

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Last week I told you all about the adventures Black Gate photog Chris Z and I had on the Haunted House Bus Tour which was the appetizer for the Midwest Haunters Convention. The MHC, held in Chicago in early June, is the largest Halloween show of its kind in the US, targeted at haunt actors, attraction owners, home haunters and Halloween enthusiasts, making it the place to be for all aficionados of scary stuff.

Unlike a lot of shows we cover for Black Gate, the MCH is open to the public and we met attendees from all over North America, which helped explain why my favorite season is a $10B+ annual money spinner.

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Goth Chick News: Midwest Haunters Bus Tour – Because Its Only 130 Days Until Halloween

Goth Chick News: Midwest Haunters Bus Tour – Because Its Only 130 Days Until Halloween

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I’m going to go ahead and say it, because I know you’re thinking it. Yes, its only June and yes, there are a solid four months until Halloween.

But all the spooky wonderfulness that pops up in the month of October doesn’t materialize overnight. Nope, it requires months of planning, therefore making it necessary for Black Gate Photog Chris Z and I tool around the Midwest wracking up enormous expense reports to bring you news from this incredible unseen world; a world which is moving year-round, and ultimately generates $10B plus annually in the US alone (NRF, 2021).

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A Mecca for Book Hunters: The Chicago Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention, 2022

A Mecca for Book Hunters: The Chicago Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention, 2022

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A few $1 magazines in near-mint condition I purchased today at Windy City Pulp & Paper

I just returned from Doug Ellis’s Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention, exhausted but happy.

I’ve been attending Windy City here in Chicago for nearly 20 years. It’s the premier show in the country for pulp and paperback collectors, and the main Exhibit Hall is an inexhaustible Cave of Wonders for anyone who loves vintage books, comics, artwork, pulps, science fiction and fantasy, new pulp, old DVDs, collectibles of all kinds — or just hanging out and talking with like-minded collectors and enthusiasts.

Over the years Windy City has become my favorite local convention. It’s a wonderful place to connect with friends and fellow Black Gate contributors, folks like Rich Horton, Howard Andrew Jones, Steven H. Silver, Bob Byrne, Doug Ellis. E.E. Knight, John C. Hocking, Barbara Barrett, and many others. But the main draw is that marvelous Exhibit Hall, where you can find almost anything you want, no matter how rare or unusual. And if what you love is book bargains (or to, say, literally carpet your entire kitchen floor with dollar books), then you are definitely in luck.

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Goth Chick News: Kicking Off the 2022 “Season” With the Halloween & Attractions Show

Goth Chick News: Kicking Off the 2022 “Season” With the Halloween & Attractions Show

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Given that I absolutely refuse to believe I am older than, say, 27 – it’s even harder to believe that we here at Goth Chick News have been covering Transworld’s Halloween and Attractions show for nineteen glorious years. But as Black Gate photog Chris Z and I once again headed south from Chicago at 5 a.m. toward St. Louis, I can’t help recall that this was the time I used to be headed home from somewhere…

But as we motored through darkened cornfields dodging various small animals and quoting the movie Motel Hell (“It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s fritters!”), it dawned on me how many “firsts” this show represents in my Black Gate career; first trade show covered, first interview and first article in the top 50, though back then I think it was top 20.

Needless to say, not only does the H&A loom large professionally, the people we’ve met along the way mean it has an extra special place in my little black heart.

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