Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Dayton in Pulp History & Bonnett's in 3-D!

Get your red/blue glasses and check out this wonderful depiction of our shop in 3-D! It really works!!!
Thanks to William Lampkin of the Yellowed Perils blog at ThePulp.net for this great, one-of-a-kind image!


Bill also posted an article about on us, "Going Back to Bonnett's", on his Yellowed Perils blog. It's a great place to find links, info, and history about the pulp magazines which gave birth to all which is now commonly known as pulp fiction. We're quite partial to pulps, not only as inventory, but for the fact that Grandpa Harold wrote detective fiction which was published in many well-known pulps of that variety. It's my suspicion that his writing helped him earn enough to open the store with Grandma Ruth.

Also on Yellowed Perils is Bill's tribute to another downtown Dayton icon, Richard E. Clear, Sr. (R.I.P.), who opened the legendary Dragon's Lair a few blocks west of us in 1973. I bought the bulk of my own new comics collection and RPGs there into the late '80s.

I had learned of Clear's passing the day before I found Bill's article about it. David T. Alexander of DTACollectibles.com shared the sad news when he stopped here on the way home from the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention. David and Richard co-authored "Old Magazines: Identification & Value Guide" in 2003; a book which has proven incredibly useful to us over the years.

Another astounding tome is from nearby Fairborn, OH. The Bookery Fantasy "Ultimate Guide to Pulps" by Tim Cottrill is a must-have for any pulp magazine collector. And while I'm mentioning reference works, I should mention the annual Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. We get our copies from Pete Bell of Bell Book & Comic. Pete got started in the comics biz at the aforementioned Dragon's Lair!

Pulp fans owe a great deal to Mr. Rusty Hevelin. Rusty was the driving force behind the nearly 4-decade run of Dayton's own Pulpcon, which was, for a time, the premiere destination for pulp collectors worldwide. Rusty's devotion to pulp was so great that there is now an award named after him. The Rusty Hevelin Service Award (aka "The Rusty") is awarded each year at PulpFest in Columbus, OH to that person who is deemed to have shown the greatest dedication to the betterment of the pulp-collecting community.

Sadly, the bulk of our pulp inventory has dwindled, but our love for it continues. We still occasionally turn up a box or two, or a stray here and there. In the past I've scanned a number of pulp covers and have them in collections on our Google+ profile (formerly Picasa albums) - here's a link to one such collection. Look around our albums to find more. Also, check out ThePulp.net's great collection of pulp-era newsstand photos for an interesting glimpse into a world when radio and reading ruled the home-entertainment universe.

Enjoy!