Haffner Press Makes Splash

Stephen Haffner evidently kept things well-balanced at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention in April. He moved so many copies of Haffner Press editions of Williamson, Hamilton and Captain Future that he “had to sneak away for 8 hours in the middle of the night to the Secret Moon Base to get more inventory.” But he also snagged a lot of old pulps with tales by Henry Kuttner whose stories will be used in future projects.

Many more details in the full press release, which follows the jump.

Hey, everybody!

It’s been a little over two months since our last update, so here’s a new broadside to bring things up to date.  We’re still chomping at the bit to announce some M-A-J-O-R news, but we’re still pulling all the details together.  Hopefully we’ll have something to share by the end of June.

On to the news!

1)  Success at Windy City – The 11th Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention was held the weekend of April 15th in Lombard, IL and it was HP’s best year ever for sales.  Organizers Doug Ellis and John Gunnison and their cadre of friends and family members did an outstanding job organizing and running the event.  We scored a larger-than-expected amount of pulps with tales by Henry Kuttner for future projects—hooray! We even had to sneak away for 8 hours in the middle of the night to the Secret Moon Base to get more inventory (we said it was our best year for sales). Really looking forward to next year: http://windycitypulpandpaper.com/

2)  Sales of New Titles – Hot on the heels of THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE JACK WILLIAMSON LECTURESHIP and AT THE HUMAN LIMIT, THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JACK WILLIAMSON, VOLUME EIGHT, we also used Windy City Pulp and Paper to debut THE COLLECTED CAPTAIN FUTURE, VOLUME TWO and THE UNIVERSE WRECKERS, THE COLLECTED EDMOND HAMILTON, VOLUME THREE.  I’m especially proud of THE UNIVERSE WRECKERS: it contains two un-reprinted “novels,” the three-part serial “The Universe Wreckers” from Amazing Stories, 1930 and “Cities in the Air” from Air Wonder Stories.  “Cities in the Air is a completely insane drama of *actual* cities (Berlin, London, New York, etc.) flying across the Atlantic to do battle In. The. Air.  Did I mention that it was insane?

3)  With the new releases come the opportunities for reviews, and Stefan Dziemianowicz opines on TERROR IN THE HOUSE: THE EARLY KUTTNER, VOLUME ONE from the May 2011 issue of LOCUS magazine. Online copy here: http://tinyurl.com/3dsqsl7

4)  Speaking of Kuttner, Dave Truesdale at Tangent Online shares the radio adaptation of Kuttner & Moore’s “Housing Problem” (originally published in Charm magazine, Oct, 1944) from the June 16, 1957 broadcast of the CBS Radio Workshop.  Listen here: http://tinyurl.com/5tp2olk

5)  Howard Andrew Jones (Managing Editor of Black Gate magazine and author of THE DESERT OF SOULS – get it now!) wrote the June 14th “Three Books” entry for NPR Online.  Leigh Brackett, Manly Wade Wellman, and Robert E. Howard all get some love here: http://tinyurl.com/3qy5xp2

6)  If you’re on Facebook, check out the new FB page for SHANNACH—THE LAST: FAREWELL TO MARS by Leigh Brackett: http://tinyurl.com/6gavv7p  SHANNACH is nearly off to the printer, and we’re trying to have copies available at Pulpfest at the end of July.  But in the lead-up to the release of SHANNACH, we’ll be periodically posting all manner of trivia, info, minutiae, etc. to the SHANNACH—THE LAST Facebook page.  One entry is up already, and dozens more to follow.

7)  Speaking of Pulpfest, we’re hard at work on our presentation celebrating the Centennial of C.L. Moore.  If you’ve seen HP’s previous presentations on Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, you know that you are guaranteed to learn something new, encounter obscure and rare items, and a few laughs along the way.

That’s all for now, fellow astrogators. Our next update will feature feedback on THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE WILLIAMSON LECTURESHIP (about 20 autographed copies remain), an update on the Leigh Brackett biography, and maybe (just maybe) we’ll finally be able to spring that M-A-J-O-R announcement for you. As always . . .

Keep Watching the Skies!

Stephen Haffner
Big Poobah
HAFFNER PRESS