Notes from PulpFest-H.P.L. at 125

Today, August 20, 2015, is the 125th anniversary of the birth of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, author, poet, essayist, editor, publisher, and perhaps the most prolific writer of letters in human history. PulpFest, the annual pulp magazine convention held in Columbus, Ohio, honored Lovecraft at the convention and on the cover of its annual magazine, The Pulpster. Inside is a long article called "Lovecraft's Lasting Legacy," with contributions from Ramsey Campbell, Darrell Schweitzer, S.T. Joshi, Marvin Kaye, Will Murray, and many others. Happy Birthday, Ech-Pi-El! (The photograph is from 1915.)

This week is also the anniversary of the birth and death of Hugo Gernsback, known as "The Father of Science Fiction." Born Hugo Gernsbacher on August 16, 1884, he came from Luxembourg to the United States in 1904 and set himself up in the electronics business. Soon he was on to radio and eventually television. In the 1910s, he began publishing science fiction. (The term did not come into use until 1929.) In 1926, Gernsback published the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. If I have done my research correctly, he also published the second, third, and fourth science fiction magazines, the Wonder titles of 1929-1930. The Hugo Awards, presented by the World Science Fiction Convention, are named in his honor. (Incidentally, the World Fantasy Awards, presented by the World Fantasy Convention, are cast in the image of H.P. Lovecraft.) Hugo Gernsback died on August 19, 1967, at age eighty-three. Happy Birthday, too, to Hugo Gernsback! (The photograph is from 1918.)

Captions copyright 2015, 2023 Terence E. Hanley