Personal / Website News
2024 Accomplishments
Every year I like to do a recap of accomplishments for the prior year and talk about future projects and goals. You can find prior year end summaries here:
In short, 2024 was not a prolific year for me, especially compared to 2023. In terms of quantity of getting things published, it was a painful year. I definitely was not on my A-game this year. Now, part of this has been my focus on the Emmanuelle/Black Emanuelle book, which has had its ups and many downs. That manuscript will be done soon and sent to the publisher, freeing me up to tackle my backlog and other items on my to do list.
Despite this, there was some pleasant surprises in 2024. Let’s take a look!
Publication Accomplishments
In the realm of physical publications, I had zero new essays published this past year. However, 2024 was the year of the reprint because I had a ton of content from my archives get a new life. I’ve never had reprints of my work before, so this was a comforting accomplishment.
“A Hero Will Endure”: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, which contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling” saw a softcover edition published in November.
Portions of my master’s thesis on Antonio Margheriti’s film Castle of Blood was reprinted in the booklet for the Artus films release of the film.
The National Capital Panthans Journal reprinted six of my Edgar Rice Burroughs comic book reviews and convention writeups across six issues.
My essay I did for Weird Tales was mentioned in Ellen Datlow’s The Best Horror of the Year #16.
Here at my website I had 13 articles published (so a bit better than 1 a month):
- Peplum Ponderings = 3
- Comic Book Reviews and Articles = 3
- Book Reviews = 2
- Music Reviews and Essays = 2
- Interviews Conducted = 2
- Videogame Articles = 1
Podcast Accomplishments
Michele and I went into 2024 with big plans and goals for the H. P. Lovecast Podcast. Early in the year though, however, we had a bad encounter, which killed our podcasting momentum. That, and combined that I was working on the Emmanuelle book and Michele on her Mummy ’99 book, we put HP Lovecast on the back burner until the autumn when we resumed making new episodes. We are climbing out the rut for sure.
23 Podcasts and Vidcasts in 2024:
- 11 appearances on Scholars from the Edge of Time
- 7 appearances on Fan2Fan
- 5 episodes of H. P. Lovecast
2025 Expectations
I’m hoping 2025 will be a big turnaround for me. There’s lots on my to do list and even a few items that floating out there waiting to be published.
Podcasting
2025 Marks the 10 year anniversary of the HP Lovecast Podcast! What do Michele and I have planned? Not sure yet, but we will get it sussed out. We have an episode on The Prophecy that will be published in February (it was going to be our X-mas episode, so a little late).
Michele and I will also be continuing with the Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcast in March.
I’m already queued up to be on the Castle of Horror Podcast to talk about, well, Margheriti’s film Castle of Blood! So, folks, if you want me on your vidcast or podcast, feel free to reach out!
And not me, but I do want to plug Michele’s new vidcast, Ride the Stream, with Travis Lakata. They’ve got LOTS of episodes in the pipe on the TV show Lost.
Publications
The Emmanuelle/Black Emanuelle book will be sent to the publishers in the next month or so. So, cross fingers all goes well for it!
Hopefully my essay on peplum cats will see publication this year.
I am on the hook to do a Roger Corman and Sampling essay due later this year. After doing the Gladiator and Sampling essay, it will be fun to build on my existing scholarship.
I’ve got a backlog of comic book and book-book reviews I am hoping to churn out for my website. Some of these writings will also be concurrently published in the Panthans Journal.
I’ve been asked to create some unique cocktails to be published in a few issues of a magazine (not tiki, surprisingly!). More info when I’m allowed to spill more beans.
On the subject of tiki, I’ll be getting some articles out there for Exotica Moderne as well.
Finally, my interview with peplum starlet Bella Cortez will be published in an issue of the Burroughs Bibliophiles Bulletin later this year.
Conferences
I’m only slated for one conference this year which will be the Edgar Rice Burroughs Circle of Friendship that will be in Willcox, AZ in late September. I have a presentation I’ll be doing on the sword and planet genre.
On top of personal ongoings, (I am working on getting my driver’s license, yay!), 2025 is going to be BUSY. I am not expecting my output to be like it was in 2023, but I’m optimistic I’m going to realize some cool stuff.
Thank you to all the friends, peers, and colleagues who support what I do. And thank you, yes you visitor to my website, as well.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2025.
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.
Calls for Papers/Proposals
Here are some new pop culture CFPs that have crossed my path. Links to these will also be in the CFP page on the navigation bar.
The Handbook of Trans Cinema
Chapter proposals are invited for The Handbook of Trans Cinema. Join confirmed contributors like Cáel M. Keegan, author of Lana and Lilly Wachowski: Sensing Transgender. We seek a broadly international group of scholarly contributors.
Past books have provided in-depth studies of transgender themes and filmmakers in selected works of cinema, e.g., Rebecca Bell-Metereau’s Transgender Cinema (2019), Eliza Steinbock’s Shimmering Images: Trans Cinema, Embodiment, and the Aesthetics of Change (2019), and Akkadia Ford’s Trans New Wave Cinema (2021). As a next step, The Handbook of Trans Cinema provides an encyclopedic overview of international trans cinema, with chapters examining the variety of genres of trans cinema from around the world, as well as the connections between these films and core concepts in trans studies and in film theory. Each chapter will provide a broad overview of its subject, with extensive references to both trans theory and film theory. In addition to giving surveys of the chapter’s topic, chapters will include in-depth discussion of at least three films. Abstracts for proposed chapters should include several references to both trans theory and film theory, and abstracts should list at least three films that will be explored in-depth.
Please see the list of high priority chapters at the end of this CFP. Proposals for other topics will also be considered, but all chapters will offer broad overviews of their subject, and not traditional scholarly analyses of a single film or filmmaker. To be most competitive, each chapter proposal should examine films from multiple countries and in multiple languages, with the exception of chapters in the handbook’s Part IV. “National Overviews of Trans Films,” which will each focus on a single country’s films. (See the listing of high priority chapters for the four parts of the book at the end of this CFP.)
The senior editor of The Handbook of Trans Cinema, Douglas Vakoch, has edited over two dozen books, including The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature (with Sabine Sharp, 2024) Transgender India: Understanding Third Gender Identities and Experiences (2022), and Transecology: Transgender Perspectives on Environment and Nature (2020).
Interested authors should submit a 300-word abstract, a 200-word biography, and a sample of a previously published chapter or article to https://bit.ly/HandbookofTransCinema no later than January 30, 2025. Proposals submitted by email will not be accepted. Abstracts and biographies should be submitted as Word documents, and previously published chapters or articles should be submitted as PDFs. Both Word files and PDFs should contain the author’s name in the file names. Please include your email address in your biography file so we can contact you with our decision about your proposal.
You are welcome to submit more than one abstract. If you decide to submit multiple abstracts for different chapters, please add a note at the top of each abstract to indicate whether you wish to be considered for writing only a single chapter, or whether you wish to be considered for writing more than one chapter.
The most competitive proposals will detail the author’s argument. It is not enough to describe what you plan to do in your chapter. You should summarize what you will conclude. For example, it’s not enough to say you will examine multiple films from diverse countries. List the specific films you propose to include and then explain what your analysis will demonstrate.
Authors will be notified whether their proposals are accepted by March 20, 2025. Partial first drafts are due by July 15, 2025; solid first drafts of full chapters are due by October 1, 2025; and final versions that cross-reference other chapters extensively are due December 1, 2025. All chapters must include at least one author with a PhD. In your 200-word biography, please note the year and university where you earned your doctorate. Only previously unpublished works will be considered.
For examples of abstracts for handbook chapters, see samples from the editor’s previous handbooks: The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature and The Routledge Handbook of Ecofeminism and Literature.
High priority chapters include:
Part I. Genres
- Drama as Trans Cinema
- Comedy as Trans Cinema
- Romantic Comedy as Trans Cinema
- Romance Trans Cinema
- Historical Trans Cinema
- Westerns as Trans Cinema
- Action Adventure Trans Cinema
- Asian Epic Trans Cinema
- Martial Arts Trans Cinema
- War Trans Cinema
- Disaster Trans Cinema
- Horror Trans Cinema
- Thriller Trans Cinema
- Mystery Trans Cinema
- True Crime Trans Cinema
- Noir Trans Cinema
- Spy Trans Cinema
- Science Fiction Trans Cinema
- Isekai (異世界) Trans Cinema
- Superhero Trans Cinema
- Fantasy Trans Cinema
- Musical Trans Cinema
- Animation as Trans Cinema
- Anime (アニメ) as Trans Cinema
- Fan Fiction Trans Cinema
- Biopic Trans Cinema
- Documentary Trans Cinema
- Travelogues as Trans Cinema
- Coming-of-Age Trans Cinema
- Sports Trans Cinema
- Silent Trans Cinema
- Experimental Trans Cinema
Part II. Trans Concepts
- Abjection and Trans Cinema
- Activism and Trans Cinema
- The Anthropocene and Trans Cinema
- Anthropology and Trans Cinema
- Aging and Trans Cinema
- Animal Studies and Trans Cinema
- Archives and Trans Cinema
- Asian Studies and Trans Cinema
- Biopolitics and Trans Cinema
- Black Studies and Trans Cinema
- Camp and Trans Cinema
- Children and Trans Cinema
- Cognition and Trans Cinema
- Colonialism and Trans Cinema
- Critical Plant Studies and Trans Cinema
- Cross-dressing and Trans Cinema
- Culture and Trans Cinema
- Diaspora and Trans Cinema
- Disability and Trans Cinema
- Education and Trans Cinema
- Ethnicity and Trans Cinema
- Fungibility and Trans Cinema
- Gender Dysphoria and Trans Cinema
- Glocalization and Trans Cinema
- Hispanic Studies and Trans Cinema
- Historicity and Trans Cinema
- Human Rights and Trans Cinema
- Identity and Trans Cinema
- Inclusion and Trans Cinema
- Intimacy and Trans Cinema
- La Loca and Trans Cinema
- Lines of Flight and Trans Cinema
- Medicalization and Trans Cinema
- Memory and Trans Cinema
- Monstrosity and Trans Cinema
- Nature and Trans Cinema
- Nomad Science and Trans Cinema
- Normality and Trans Cinema
- Paradox and Trans Cinema
- Passing and Trans Cinema
- Performativity and Trans Cinema
- Politics and Trans Cinema
- Race and Trans Cinema
- Religion and Trans Cinema
- Reveal and Trans Cinema
- Subalternity and Trans Cinema
- Subjectivity and Trans Cinema
- Temporality and Trans Cinema
- Tipping Point and Trans Cinema
- Tranimals and Trans Cinema
- Transability and Trans Cinema
- The Transgender Gaze and Trans Cinema
- Transgression and Trans Cinema
- Transphobia and Trans Cinema
- Trans-poetics and Trans Cinema
- Visibility and Trans Cinema
- Waste and Trans Cinema
- Whiteness and Trans Cinema
- Wrong Body and Trans Cinema
- Young Adults and Trans Cinema
Part III. Film Theories and Concepts
- Anthology Films and Trans Films
- Apparatus Theory and Trans Films
- Art and Trans Films
- Auteur Theory and Trans Films
- Counter Cinema and Trans Films
- Critical Theory and Trans Films
- Diasporic Cinema and Trans Films
- Ethnographic Films and Trans Films
- Existentialism and Trans Films
- Experimental Cinema and Trans Films
- Fandom and Trans Films
- Feminism and Trans Films
- Film Festivals and Trans Films
- Formalism and Trans Films
- The Frankfurt School and Trans Films
- Genre Theory and Trans Films
- German Expressionism and Trans Films
- Humor and Trans Films
- Intimacy Coordination and Trans Films
- Italian Neo-Realism and Trans Films
- Marxism and Trans Films
- Media Industries and Trans Films
- Modernism and Trans Films
- Music and Trans Films
- New Wave Cinema and Trans Films
- Phenomenology and Trans Films
- Postcolonialism and Trans Films
- Posthumanism and Trans Films
- Postmodernism and Trans Films
- Post-Structuralism and Trans Films
- Psychoanalysis and Trans Films
- Pure Cinema and Trans Films
- Queer Film Theory and Trans Films
- Realism and Trans Films
- Rhetoric and Trans Films
- Silent Cinema and Trans Films
- Sound and Trans Films
- Soviet Montage and Trans Films
- Structuralism and Trans Films
- Subjective Cinema and Trans Films
- Surrealist Cinema and Trans Films
- Visual Arts and Trans Films
- Vulgar Auteurism and Trans Films
Part IV. National Overviews of Trans Films
(National Overviews Are Also Encouraged and Warmly Invited for Other Countries Not Listed)
- Trans Cinema from Argentina
- Trans Cinema from Australia
- Trans Cinema from Brazil
- Trans Cinema from Canada
- Trans Cinema from Chile
- Trans Cinema from China
- Trans Cinema from Costa Rica
- Trans Cinema from Egypt
- Trans Cinema from France
- Trans Cinema from Germany
- Trans Cinema from Ghana
- Trans Cinema from Hong Kong
- Trans Cinema from India
- Trans Cinema from Indonesia
- Trans Cinema from Iran
- Trans Cinema from Iraq
- Trans Cinema from Israel
- Trans Cinema from Italy
- Trans Cinema from Japan
- Trans Cinema from Mexico
- Trans Cinema from New Zealand
- Trans Cinema from Nigeria
- Trans Cinema from Norway
- Trans Cinema from Poland
- Trans Cinema from Russia
- Trans Cinema from South Africa
- Trans Cinema from South Korea
- Trans Cinema from Spain
- Trans Cinema from Sweden
- Trans Cinema from Switzerland
- Trans Cinema from Taiwan
- Trans Cinema from Thailand
- Trans Cinema from the United Kingdom
- Trans Cinema from the United States
Technical and Professional Knowledge in Late Antiquity
Society for Classical Studies 157th Annual Meeting
JANUARY 7-10, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO
Call for Papers for Panel Sponsored by the Society for Late Antiquity
Organized by Betsy Bevis, Department of Classics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The Society for Late Antiquity invites papers that in some way situate themselves at the intersection of intellectual and economic history (broadly conceived) and speak to aspects of technical or professional knowledge in the long Late Antiquity. Because professional and technical knowledge is often knowledge intended to be put into practice, we encourage submissions that incorporate archaeological and other material evidence.
The past decade has been especially fruitful for both economic and intellectual histories of the ancient Mediterranean. Monographs, such as Bond 2016, or Hawkins 2016, have expanded our understanding of specific professions in the classical world, while intellectual histories such as Johnson 2010, Eshelman 2012, or Gellar-Goad and Poult 2024 have tackled topics such as reading, intellectual communities, or the transmission and creation of knowledge. Recent works such as Mark Lettney’s (2023) The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity, or Salvatore Cosentino’s (2022) “Pillars of Empire,” that deal specifically with the later centuries of Mediterranean Antiquity continue these trends into Late Antiquity. This panel endeavors to bring together these two strands of scholarship and examine their continuing impact in the post-Classical world.
Ideas for submissions might include:
- Technical Treatises – such as agricultural, military, or magical manuals. What role do compendia and encyclopedic works play in the transmission of technical and professional knowledge?
- New Professions and Technologies – such as the expansion of imperial bureaucracies, professionalization of Christian clergy, or technologies (e.g., large-scale water mills, or tube-constructed vaulting) and art forms (e.g., cage cups or gold-sandwich glass) that expanded or developed after the 3rd century CE.
- Technologies of Knowing – codices, tabulation, exegetical or typological readings of text or iconography.
- Technique/Technology within Space – where and how is professional and technical knowledge visible in the environment? Can we reconstruct changes in technical knowledge from changes in workshop spaces?
- Fragments of Knowing – where and how do technologies and professions end or break down? Processes of recycling, deconstruction, or de-skilling.
- Professional Education and Organization – how did one become a “professional”?
Please send abstracts that follow the guidelines for individual abstracts (see the SCS Guidelines for Authors of Abstracts) by email to Betsy Bevis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign at (ebevis@illinois.edu) by February 14, 2025.
Please ensure that the abstracts are anonymous.
The organizers will review all submissions anonymously, and their decision will be communicated to the authors of abstracts by March 21, 2025, with enough time that those whose abstracts are not chosen can participate in the individual abstract submission process for the upcoming SCS meeting.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.
Wildfire 7
I lived in Orange, CA from 2010 to 2020, so I am no stranger to the fires that happen in SoCal, but these fires going on right now are just Earth-shatteringly tragic. There’s places I’ve been to before that simply don’t exist anymore. I’m lucky that none of my friends have lost their homes, but thousands of others have.
I saw in the news about deployed prisoner fire fighters and it reminded me of the movie Wildfire 7:
My copy is signed by the director, Jason Bourque, and actors Tahmoh Penikett and William DeVry.
I have not seen this movie since the late 2010s, so I’ll be fuzzy on remembering the plot, but basically Tracy Gold is the victim of domestic violence, but winds up going to prison anyways, and joins the fire fighting squad in California. I’m pretty sure the movie is probably extremely relevant today regarding the punishing the women victims and the ideas of putting prisoners into legal slavery.
Nightmare Weekend
A fun one I shared on BlueSky, here is my copy of Nightmare Weekend signed by Andrea Thompson, best known for her portray of Talia Winters on Babylon 5.
We met her at an autograph show back in 2009. Here we are!
The Monuments of Mars
An odd duck in my autograph media collection, here is a copy of The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever signed by author/conspiracy theorist Richard C. Hoagland:
Why do I have this book in my collection? Well, growing up in the 90s, the channel I watched the most often was the Sci-Fi Channel (Saturday Anime! MST3K!) An aside from commercials shilling Dianetics, the commercial that appeared the most often on the network was for a VHS tape of the Monuments of Mars: A Terrestrial Connection:
So, I grew up seeing that commercial many times a day.
Years, years later I am at a Half Price Books in Tacoma Washington, and a copy of the book was sitting there, on the shelf, all autographed, for not even eight dollars. Nostalgia kicked in and I bought it.
Have I ever read it? Not a chance. I am certain 95% of the book is totally made up.
Ride the Stream Vidcast Episodes
Michele and Travis have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream Vidcast online at YouTube. They dive into the next few episodes of Lost.
Here is part 2 of discussing the pilot:
Here is their discussion on the episode “Tabula Rasa”:
And here is their discussion on the episode “Walkabout”:
Ride the Stream can be followed on Bluesky.
