Month: December 2021

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2021-12-26

Personal / Website News

H. P. Lovecast Podcast

New episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online! We had a bit of a modified schedule these past two months due to the holidays and other obligations, but we will be back to a regular schedule in January.

For our latest episode we take a look at the new Raw Dog Screaming Press anthology, Attack from the ’80s. Edited by Eugene Johnson, we dive into “Permanent Damage” by Lee Murray and “The White Room” by Rena Mason. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

Michele and I had an episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time drop last Thursday.

Our episode was on the film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. You can stream the episode at BlogTalkRadio.

AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline

The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.

AnnRadCon Logo by Greg Chapman

Details of the CFP can be found at the StokerCon website.

General Neo-Peplum News

MCU and Pepla

George Chrysostomou has an opinion piece at SreenRant called “10 Genres That Have Been Underutilized By The MCU.” The last genre Chrysostomou suggests in the article that the Marvel universe should dive into is the sword and sandal genre. From the article:

The sword-and-sandal genre fits perfectly with characters like Thor and Loki. It really hasn’t been used properly, though, with fantasy elements and sci-fi features becoming a mainstay of those movies instead. The genre itself has really died, but Marvel can be the company to renew it.

Hercules is a natural fit for this genre, as a film surrounding the early life of the Olympian before moving across time to the modern-day would be a fantastic introduction to the character. It could play into the mythology of Ancient Greece in a way Thor’s Norse history did not get featured.

George Chrysostomou

Yes, I agree! Bring forth Marvel’s Hercules!

New Hrossharsgrani Release

My friend Alex Wieser has a Viking metal project called Hrossharsgrani (which I have written extensively his Pro Liberate Dimicandum Est album in my essay in the forthcoming Gladiator book). After around a decade hiatus, his project is back in action with a new release.

It is a split album with German Viking/black metal Nachtfalke called Journey’s End. The album can be bought at Christhunt Productions.

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2021-12-19

Personal / Website News

AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline

The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.

AnnRadCon Logo by Greg Chapman

Details of the CFP can be found at the StokerCon website.

Gladiator Book Status

I received an email from my editor that the Gladiator book’s manuscript is finally in the publisher’s hands. This is fantastic news. It’s looking more optimistic that the book will be published next year and my essay, “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling,” will finally be unleashed upon the world. This is my second major contribution to peplum scholarship and I am extremely excited for this essay.

Cats: A Companion

Simon Bacon has submitted a proposal off to some publishers for a book called Cats: A Companion:

If the book gets a green light, then I’ll be contributing an essay about cats in pepla, so get ready lots of movies about lions in the arena!

General Neo-Peplum News

Horns Ablaze Magazine

Hal C. F. Astell has launched a new digital magazine called Horns Ablaze that collects his metal reviews at his Apocalypse Later website. Issue #0 is available in PDF format and contained reviews for Viking metal albums such as Enslaved’s Caravans to the Outer Worlds, Nidhoeggr’s Arise, and Aexylium’s The Fifth Season. Bonus: there’s even an advert for our own H. P. Lovecast Podcast in the magazine!

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2021-12-12

Personal / Website News

General Life/Project News

This weekly news report is a bit on the lighter side. Part of that is its the holidays, but the main reason is Michele and I are knee deep in projects that will bear lots of fruit in 2022:

  • Michele and I are conducting a top secret interview with another person for a book to be published in 2022.
  • Prepping for an interview with another author for my website.
  • I am starting an essay for a magazine that’s due at the end of January. My biggest magazine writing gig yet!
  • Knee deep in coordinating the interviews for this month’s HP Lovecast Podcast which is focused on the book Attack From the 80s.
  • Plotting the first three months of HP Lovecast in 2022 (take a look at the podcast page for a sneak preview).
  • AnnRadCon coordination.
  • Editing a previous essay of mine to submit to a journal.

So as you can see, there is lots of big stuff going on behind the scenes! Stay tuned as these projects come to completion. In the meantime, here is some general personal and peplum news.

McFarland Mythology & Folklore Book Sale

My publisher, McFarland, is having a sale on their books classified as mythology and folklore. Until December 19th, if you use the code MYTHOLOGY25 during check out, you’ll get a 25% discount on these books.

The New Peplum
Cover art for The New Peplum

Included in this sale is my book, The New Peplum. If you’ve been curious about the book, (maybe as a Yuletide gift?), check it out at McFarland’s product page.

AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline

The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.

AnnRadCon Logo by Greg Chapman

Details of the CFP can be found at the StokerCon website.

General Neo-Peplum News

Frozen Shield’s Ínia Review

Hal C. F. Astell has reviewed the new Frozen Shield folk/Viking metal album, Ínia, at his website, Apocalypse Later.

Kara Cooney’s Afterlives New Episode

If you have not been listening to Kara Cooney’s podcast, Afterlives, you should!

New episodes drop every Monday. Last week’s episode is called “A Leaders Power and Trickle Down Economics” and can be heard on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.

Recent Acquisitions

I’ve scored lots of neo-peplum and adjacent loot this past week! Hey, it’s Yuletide season, I can treat myself, right?

First up, arriving in the mail last week, is a vinyl copy of the Ex Der album, The Thirteen Years of Nero, autographed by Maurizio Iacono. I love it! The new album is stellar and I love the song “Imperator.” Both Ex Deo and Warkings are the two prominent metal acts that are just slaying the neo-peplum genre when it comes to music.

Next up, we had a friend and academic colleague visit us on their road trip. We decide to treat them by taking them to one of the Zia’s in Phoenix, which of course we love to go to and scavenge for cool loot. First up, got some new Blu-rays to upgrade my copies of 300 and 300: Rise of an Empire.

For only $9.00 I plucked up this Troy DVD boxset. This was too good to pass up, it full of so much swag. I think I’ll do a separator unboxing post showing off its stately contents.

Lastly, I purchased King of Kings by Leaves’ Eyes and The Witch of the North by Burning Witches.

Leave’s Eyes is symphonic Viking metal that, to me, sounds like a cross between Corvus Corvax, Qntal, and Die Prophezeiung-era E Nominee. I really dig it.

Burning Witches isn’t really peplum-metal, but there’s trace elements of Norse, Viking, and Medieval, so I’ll allow it. Very catchy all-female heavy metal.

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2021-12-05

Personal / Website News

Bram Stoker Award Eligibility

A reminder, as the timeframe for recommendations closes at the end of the month, my essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth” is eligible for the short non-fiction Bram Stoker award. Interested parties can read the 1,600 word essay at Academia Letters. Thank you for your consideration!

Citation News: Any Time But Now

Just discovered that back in 2019, my Stranger Things/Synthwave essay, “Lost Nights and Dangerous Days,” was cited numerous times in University of Cologne student David Hornyak’s bachelor’s thesis, “Any Time But Now: The Cultural Environment of Synthwave.” If you read German, their thesis can be read online. I am super flattered to find out I was cited 15 times!

AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline

The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.

AnnRadCon Logo by Greg Chapman

Details of the CFP can be found at the StokerCon website.

Ian Welke’s Jolabokaflod’s List

Honoured to have my book, The New Peplum, listed as a suggestion of Ian Welke’s blog as a book to contribute to the Jolabokaflod tradition. Michele and I interviewed Welke in April of 2020 on our Scholars from the Edge of Time Program, and then discussed his book, End Times at Ridgemont High on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast a month later.

PeplumTV Mention

The New Peplum gets a mention at PeplumTV. The PeplumTV proprietor is compiling a list of the various sword and sandal books and e-books in their collection, and they include mine. Check it out!

ICYMI – New HP Lovecast Episode

In case you missed it, Michele and I published a new episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast.

Michele at The Frida when we saw The Void back in 2016. Photo by Nicholas Diak.

Our new episode is on the cosmic horror/homage horror film, The Void. It can be streamed on our Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.

General Neo-Peplum News

Aexylium’s The Fifth Season Review

Hal C. F. Astell has reviewed the new Aexylium folk/Viking metal album, The Fifth Season, at his website, Apocalypse Later.

Medusa Horror Film

Per this article at Deadline, Anna Chazelle is looking to write and direct a horror film centered on the mythology of Medusa for Fangoria Films. This will be great!

Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity Conference

Dr. Jeremy Swist will be curating a virtual conference called Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity.

Registration for the conference is free and is being held via Zoom.

Recent Acquisitions

Went to the Book Gallery in Phoenix today and plucked up this autographed book:

It’s called Gladiator: Fight for Freedom and appears to be the first book in a series. I’d never heard of Simon Scarrow before, but it looks like he has a fare share of neo-pepla fiction out there, so I’ll have to check it out. I love the autograph and the stamp in this one. Copy 50 of 100, woo!