January 2026 – Nicholas Diak's Homepage

Personal / Website News

This is my first News Roundup post for 2026. This is also my first post of moving to my new schedule of publishing these once a month at the end of each month.

2025 Accomplishment Recap

My recap of 2025 – writing I got done (published or reprinted), vidcasts, podcasts, conferences, etc. is now online.

Five books laid out on a table. — Works published physically in 2025: Three issues of NESS, 1 issue of Burroughs Bulletin, and Merry Creepmas.

Last year was a pretty good year! I did not get to everything I wanted to (Emmanuelle book), but I was pretty prolific! Feel free to read the recap here.

Panthans Journal #344 and #345

The newest issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of issue five of of the adult/neo-jungle girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior. The original version of my review can be read right here.

Cover is by Mark Wheatley and called "The Beasts". It is red hued. It shows Tarzan riding atop of an elephant. Below the elephant are two gorillas and a lion. Behind them is a tree and a setting sun. — National Capital Panthans Journal #344.

The February Panthans issue #345 came out a day earlier on January 31st. This issue has a reprint of my review of Vanya #7, and the original can be read here.

Cover by David Michael Beck. It's a drawing of Tarzan atop an elephant, with 2 axes in front. — National Capital Panthans Journal #345.

As a preview of things to come, the March issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal will contain a reprint of one of my short stories that has been OOP for a few years. Stay tuned!

Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journalis a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos, and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn AT gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.

Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance

The cool kids at the Fan2Fan Podcast have been dropping episodes recently about collecting physical media (see below).

Square podcast thumbnail. It is black and orange. It shows a hand holding a music CD. It says: F2F New Fan2Fan Podcast Epiosode! CDs fanpodcast.com — Fan2Fan Podcast episode thumbnail for the episode about CD collecting.

They just dropped an episode about CD collecting and both Michele and I are on it. The episode can be streamed at this link here, via the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

Following that they have another episode about how Michele and I’s collection of movies, games, etc. and how we collect lots of media.

Thumbnail shows a stack of 4 TVs, one displaying a record, one a CD, one a video game contractor, and one a record. The thumbnail reads: F2F New Fan2Fan Podcast Episode! Physical Media - Movies & Music Special Editions Video Games. Fanpodcast.com — Fan2Fan episode thumbnail on Physical Media.

That episode can be heard here or in the player below.

Check out both episodes!

H. P. Lovecast Podcast

H. P. Lovecast Podcast will return in February! We’ve already recorded our discussion on the 80s creature feature classic, The Deadly Spawn, it just needs to be edited and published.

The New Peplum Citations

It has been a hot minute, but new citations for The New Peplum have just popped up!

Cover shows an actress wearing a purple peplum looking over her shoulder to a movie camera. — Audio-Visual Roman Women cover.

The open access collection, Audio-Visual Roman Women: Gender, History & Screen Media, contains two essays that reference The New Peplum. Martin M. Winkler’s essay “Caesar’s Daughter: Lucilla on Screen” while Panayiota Mini’s essay “British Women in a Roman World: Female Figures in Audio-Visual Works about the Ninth Legion” cites Kevin Wetmore’s essay. Always wonderful to see The New Peplum continue to be cited by others.

Audio-Visual Roman Women can be read online here.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

The last episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time in 2025 was on the David Carradine/Roger Corman 80s S&S classic, The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984).

Blu-ray cover shows a woman with 2 sets of breast (really) and a barbarian swinging a sword and the two are dragged by tentacles into a toothy maw. — Blu-Ray of The Warrior and the Sorceress.

The cover promises a lady with four boobies and a Cthulhu and gosh darn it, the movie actually delivers four boobies and a Cthulhu. Our discussion of The Warrior and the Sorceress can be watched on YouTube. Check it out!

For January 2026 we kick of a new year of Scholars on the comedy side by discussing Hercules Returns (1993). An Australian movie that is essential a comedic redubbing of Samson and His Mighty Challenge (1964) with a thin plot of sorts that act as bookends. It’s a hilarious film.

DVD of Hercules Returns is blue. The title is being held up by Hercules on his back. The Blu-ray is a cardboard slipcase. It shows Hercules flexing, with the main character imposed in his toga top. — Personal copies of Hercules Returns on DVD and Blu-ray.

Our discussion of Hercules Returns can also be watched on YouTube.

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2026.

“All E.T.’s Aren’t Nice: Vanya 06” reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #344, January 2026.

Original can be read here.

“The Prehistoric Purge: Vanya 07″ reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #345, February 2026.

Original can be read here.

Calls for Papers/Proposals

Here are some new pop culture CFPs that have crossed my path or I am sharing on behalf of my colleagues. Links to these will also be in the CFP page on the navigation bar.

Werewolf Media Journal

Seeking paper abstracts for an upcoming WEREWOLF MEDIA-themed literary journal. Abstracts are open for critical theory papers discussing ANY MEDIA OR FRANCHISE WITH WEREWOLVES. The Horror Scholar Journal Vol 8 aims to be made available online in July 2026. This opportunity is paid 50 USD upon receipt of the final paper. Abstracts should be ~300 words briefly describing the scope and topic of your paper.

Final papers must be anywhere from 2000-5000 words. Not accepting reviews or previously published papers. This journal attempts to prioritize underserved or less published horror academics. Proposals and papers should be submitted in a readable, neutral size 12 font.

CUT OFF DATE FOR ABSTRACTS: FEB 3rd, 2026

CUT OFF DATE FOR FINISHED PAPERS: JUNE 1st, 2026

STEPS FOR APPLICATION:

Submit your abstract via email to horrorscholar@gmail.com, along with your name, a 3-sentence bio, and social media links.
Once your abstract is accepted, a finished paper can be submitted via email any time until the cutoff date above.
Payment for your work will be sent upon reception of the first draft.
Each paper will have 1 round of edits.

ABOUT HORROR SCHOLAR

HS is an independent horror research brand and one-woman publishing operation. It strives to make academic publishing more accessible and to celebrate both critical theory and fandom. @scholarhorror on Twitter or horrorscholar@gmail.com for questions.

Contemporary Indigenous Horror – Creative Writing

Contemporary Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi, 2027) solicits original, unpublished short horror fiction, poetry, and experimental works by self-identifying Indigenous creatives. No work produced with AI will be accepted.

Honorarium: $250 (Canadian) per accepted piece

Deadline for submissions: July 14th, 2026

Name of organizer: Dr. Naomi Simon Borwein and Dr. Krista Collier-Jarvis

Contact email: Naomi Simone Borwein (nborwein@uwo.ca) and Krista Collier-Jarvis (Krista.Collier-Jarvis@msvu.ca)

As a companion to analysis in Contemporary Indigenous Horror (contracted with University Press of Mississippi), we are looking for creative pieces to be published within this academic volume.

To acknowledge the various ways in which Indigenous scholarship may engage in an ongoing conversation with other forms of expression and writing, we welcome both traditional as well as more exploratory approaches to fiction, poetry, flash, and related hybrid, experimental intertexts that rupture settler-colonial categorizations of genre. Word/line count should be as follows:

Flash Fiction: about 500-1000 words
Short Stories: about 1000-4000 words
Poetry: maximum of about 110 lines
Experimental, hybrid words: some flexibility

Please send submissions and a 100 word bio to editors Naomi Simone Borwein (nborwein@uwo.ca) and Krista Collier-Jarvis (Krista.Collier-Jarvis@msvu.ca) by July 14th, 2026.

Autographs from the Archive

Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.

Student Bodies

Student Bodies (1981) is one of, if not the first, slasher comedy film. It is fairly rough around the edges if I recall, but still an important film in the early days of the genre. It would take a while to kind of juggle the two genres successfully, perhaps the first Scary Movie (2000)?

DVD shows a dead cheerleader, with a megaphone protruding from her mouth. She is laying on a school desk with a blackboard behind her. — Personal copy of Student Bodies on DVD.

Backside of the DVD. Shows images from the film. In the bottom left, in ball point pen, it is signed "Best - Robyn Flanery" — Student Bodies DVD signed by Robyn Flanery.

Way back in the 2000s, I was hooked on buying Mike Nelson commented movies from Legend Films, and they released Student Bodies, so of course I plucked it up. I sent my copy off to actress Robyn Flanery who graciously signed it.

The Strangeness

Two decades before The Descent (2005) there was The Strangeness (1985), though The Strangeness did come 5 years after Alien 2: On Earth (1980), when it comes to subterranean horror.

The Strangeness was one of those films I discovered during my Stephen Thrower/Nightmare USA phase in the 2000s. This movie was talked about in great detail in Thrower’s book, and I was tracking down all the movies I could. The only copy of The Strangeness I could find at the time was a British import from 23rd Century, a DVD label of dubious quality. I mean, look at that skull on the back. Generic much?

Shady looking, quasi bootleg DVD. The cover shells a skull and the inside of a well. — Personal copy of The Strangeness DVD.

Back of the DVD. It has a skull with swirls around it. In black ink it is signed "Best Wishes Nick! Mark Sawicki". — Strangeness DVD signed by Mark Sawicki.

Regardless, I plucked up this film to add to my growing Nightmare USA collection. I did reach out to Mark Sawicki, who worked on the film and asked if he could autograph it for me, and he said sure!

Years later Code Red released a much better version of this film. Time for a re-watch!

New Sword and Sandal Acquisitions

The ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal acquisitions.

The Last Legion and Seventh Son

Michele and I took our periodic trip to Zia Records the other weekend. I’m always on the lookout for some peplum and peplum-adjacent movies when we are out and about and this time I scored two!

DVD of The Last Legion shows Colin Firth is armor about to swing a sword. There is a battle behind him. The Blu-ray for Seventh Son its the standard characters face forward and is not particularly interesting. — Personal copies of The Last Legion and Seventh Son.

The first is The Last Legion (2007). I’ve been on the prowl for this one for a while, especially since it is mentioned in Dr. Wetmore’s essay in The New Peplum. That’s on the to watch pile for sure, and possible Peplum Ponderings article?

The second is Seventh Son (2014). I’ve never heard of this movie before and bought it because it looked like a post LOTR cash grab. Turns out I was wrong and it is based off a series of grim dark young children’s fantasy novels from the Spook’s series by Joseph Delaney. So, this is more of a post-Harry Potter cash grab as kids fantasy was in. Didn’t no one learn from Eragon (2006) a decade earlier? Regardless, it could be fun, so I look forward to checking it out.

News from Friends

Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.

New Ride the Stream Episodes

Michele Brittany and Travis Lakata have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast where they dive into season 2 of the cult television series Lost.

Here is their discussion of season two episode ten:

And season two episode eleven:

Their discussion on Season 2 Episode 12:

John 3:16 Remix

Philippe Gerber has a new remix that just dropped.

Black and white cover. It looks like a swipe of black paint with scratches in it. — Sobaki Tabaka Remixes cover art.

Under his John 3:16 moniker, Philippe has done a remix of the song “V Bezdne” by Sobaki Tabaka that appears on the remix album Sobaki Tabaka Remixes. The album is released by Industrial Complexx and is available at Bandcamp.

New Janet Joyce Holden Books

My friend Janet Joyce Holden has two books that are coming out at the very beginning of February.

Two book covers. Palladium's Resolution is white, with a symbol on the cover that looks like a bunch of music symbols. There are drops of blood next to it. Palladium's Insurrection is green. It has a symbol on the cover too that looks like a swirl of flames. — Palladium’s Resolution and Palladium’s Insurrection by Janet Joyce Holden.

They are titled Palladium’s Resolution and Palladium’s Insurrection. Blurb below for what these are all about.

Here is the Amazon link for all of the books in Holden’s Palladium series.

Press Blurb

Rogan is a troubled clairvoyant who can see more than most, but when he teams up with the monstrous Jake, a Khir’gham Guardian of the Void, it’s for an undeniably good cause. Keeping the hungry Void from invading Jake’s home of Palladium, and thereby saving Rogan’s own world from destruction.

Except a hitherto mysterious threat has now fully revealed itself. Carl Drake, visionary CEO of Stormquell and secretly one of Palladium’s mighty dragons, is not only hellbent on breaking his exile and reclaiming what he has lost, he has greedy ambitions regarding Rogan’s world, too.

The series reaches its climax in the final two novellas, Palladium’s Insurrection, and Palladium’s Resolution. The confrontation they always feared is now on the horizon, its arena shifting from the glossy mansions of Benedict Canyon, to the Southern California high desert, and finally into the fragile world of Palladium, and it’s up to Jake and Rogan to save the day. Except the task of killing dragons, not only seems impossible, its consequences will prove devastating and unforgivable. Perhaps Rogan and Jake will survive, but at what terrible cost?

Palladium is a series of high fantasy and dark adventure, containing monsters, dragons, interdimensional worlds, along with the all too human attributes of trust, courage, and family treachery.

Arriving on Tuesday 2nd February.

New Fan2Fan Episodes

Brand new episodes of the Fan2Fan podcast are now online. Aside from the CD collecting episode above, there’s a plethora of other episodes since the end of December. Check these all out:

First there is “2025 Horror: The Monkey, 28 Years Later, Good Boy & More“:

Then “Best of 2025: Movies, Music, and More“:

Followed by their first episode in their physical media series “The One Where We Talk About Physical Media“:

And “VHS Collecting with Cory Gorski“:

And then “VHS Collecting with Jim Karl“:

Older episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.

Apocalypse Later Film Review: The Giant of Marathon

Hal A. F. Astell has a new film review up at his Apocalypse Later website, this one on the sword and sandal classic The Giant of Marathon (1959).

Black thick DVD case. The cover shows Hercules with a shoulder wound standing in an arena. Below shows Hercules walking with a lady and a crowd of people behind him. — Personal copy of the Clash of the Olympians DVD collection.

Back cover of the DVD. Shows a group of archers lined up. The text reads: A Colossal Collection of Epic Adventures! Take a mythological journey back in time with this Herculean compilation of lavish sword-and-sandal films filled with muscle-bound men, ravishing ladies, malicious monsters and awesome action. Movies: Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens (1964) The Avenger (1962) The Giant of Marathon (1959) The Giants of Rome (1964) The Giants of Thessaly (1960) Goliath and the Sins of Babylon (1963) Hercules and the Captive Women (1961) Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964) Hercules Against the Mongols (1963) Hercules and the Masked Rider (1963) Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965) Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964) Hercules Unchained (1960) Herod the Great (1960) Kindar the Invulnerable (1964) Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators (1964) — Clash of the Olympians DVD collection, back cover.

Check out the review at the Apocalypse Later website.

At the start of every new year I like to reflect on the previous year, see what I accomplished, had published, got done. Did some projects I say I would get realized actually get realized? Did I wander off and do something else? Am I more or less prolific?

Two IKEA shelf cubbies filled with books, magazines, and journals. — Shelfie at the end of 2025. All work I’ve had physically published in my career up to this point.

Prior year recaps can be found at the following links:

Publication Accomplishments

In the realm of physical publications, I appeared in five (!!) journals, magazines, and books!

Firstly, the year began with the publication of Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book which contained my horror/sword and sorcery/comedy short story “There’s Always Room”. I do not write much fiction and this was the first time in years I had something that was not non-fiction published. This was actually a story I wrote ten years ago for a different anthology that did not make the cut. Thus, the story has been sitting in my arsenal to be used later all this time. The opportunity popped up in 2024 for a different anthology, I revisited this story, polished it up a bit, submitted it, and got accepted. Take this an encouragement that rejections can turn into successes, even if it takes a while.

Next, in February, the 109^th issue of the Burroughs Bulletin, the journal of the Burroughs Bibliophiles, came out and contained my interview with peplum starlet Bella Cortez titled “Tagliolini al Tarzan: Interview with Actress Bella Cortez on Taur the Mighty”. Michele and I spent a good chunk of 2024 discussing the sword and sandal films of Bella Cortez on Scholars from the Edge of Time, and this interview is the cumulation of those efforts. I felt really proud to immortalize her and one of her movies, in this instance, an Italian Tarzan knock off.

Fast forward to the end of the year and volumes five, six, and seven of New Edge Sword and Sorcery were published simultaneously. I was invited by editor Oliver Brackenbury to contribute a themed cocktail to each issue. It was fun inventing cocktails to honour different characters of sword and sorcery fiction and I was ecstatic to be involved. The hardcovers of these issues are so damn stately and it feels really rad to be included in their pages.

2024 saw the beginning of my past works being reprinted and that practice continued well into 2025. Last year I had six previously published works reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal, while this year I had nine!

In 2024 I had 13 articles published at my website. This year I had 15:

Comic Book Reviews = 10
Magazine Reviews = 2
Interviews Conducted = 1
Peplum Ponderings = 1
Conference Recaps = 1

So, overall, on the writing and publishing front, by the numbers I had a much more successful year in 2025 than in 2024.

On the flip side, some projects did fall through. The book that my peplum cats essay was initially accepted for had a change in editors or publishers or something and my essay is no longer a part of it. If anyone out there is editing a collection that needs an essay about lions/tigers/panthers and how they recreate the Nemean Lion myth in sword and sandal films, let me know! In the meantime, the essay goes into the arsenal, to be used at a later date.

I did bow out of the Roger Corman project. The essay I was writing was less Roger Corman-centric and more industrial sampling specific, and I really could not find a way to rejigger it. So, better to bow out rather than write an essay that does not even pass my muster for the project at hand.

Podcast/Vidcast Accomplishments

Podcast and vidcasting took a bit of a backseat in 2025. For H. P. Lovecast Michele and I did not record any episodes. There are lots of reasons for this including there was just a lot on our plates. Michele and Travis Lakata did start their vidcast, Ride the Stream, so do check that out. We are hoping in 2026 that we will bring H. P. Lovecast back. On the board is to start with an episode on Deadly Spawn.

Even though there were no H. P. Lovecast this past year, Scholars from the Edge of Time was pretty prolific! Overall 2025 can be recapped as:

10 appearances on Scholars from the Edge of Time
1 appearance on Castle of Horror podcast

Conferences

2025 did see me return to the conference circuit, somewhat. In late September, Michele and I attended the Edgar Rice Burroughs Circle of Friendship (ECOF) gathering in Willcox, Arizona (read my recap of it here). It was our second time ever vending a convention, so that was neat. I sold a few books, which is a nice feeling. I gave a presentation on the sword and sandal elements of the Burroughs novel Tarzan and the Lost Empire, which, I think, was decently received? Hopefully I made some impression on the ERB Inc., folks and other attendees. The last time I did an academic presentation was at AnnRadCon in 2022. I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with my presentation. I may record a version of it and put it on YouTube with some of my other presentations, or rewrite it to be in essay format and submit it so one of the Edgar Rice Burroughs journals out there. But, it was nice to be back at a conference and giving a presentation and hopefully another opportunity pops up in 2026.

2026 Expectations

Overall, 2025 was not a bad year at all. A fairly successful year in fact! I did hit a few slumps through the year. After giving my presentation in Willcox, I was pretty much drained from writing, so the last part of 2025 I did not get much done. I’ll be honest, it is tough sometimes. I am still culling through a backlog of obligations. I’ve said “yes” instead of “no” to too many things. My work life has gotten more strenuous as I am now juggling being on two different teams, reporting to two mangers both with different sets of projects. Sometimes when I am done with a day at work I don’t want to look at my computer anymore. General life anxiety also creeps in, and, well, it takes a lot of effort to push myself to work on things.

Walking into 2026 I already have things lined up to be published. I have a stockpile of reviews that are spoken for to be reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal (one just dropped earlier this month!). A short story of mine that has been out of print for many years will also be reprinted around March, so that is great!

Michele and I did a few episodes of the Fan2Fan podcast in December, so expect those episodes to drop soon. We also contributed some text to an upcoming secret Fan2Fan project. I can’t say more, but I’m extremely excited about it.

I will also be returning to Exotica Moderne! I am finishing up am essay about the documentary The Donn of Tiki and interviewed the filmmakers behind it. This will see the light later this year as well. I have other ‘to do’ items on my Exotica Moderne list (that have been there for a while) that hopefully I will realize.

So, 2026 is already looking pretty good with material already primed and good to go.

Other obligation-wise, the Emmanuelle book needs to be a big priority to complete in 2026. I’ve been stymied on this project and hope to get is sussed out and get back on track. I’ll be honest, unliked my peplum book which went by smooth, this project has not been the best to work on for a variety of reasons. I’ll say no more out of professionalism.

I also hope to get re-caught up with my reviews of the Vanya series of comics. I was caught up for a brief spell there, but then Willcox happened and I got fatigued on writing.

I would like to go back and revisit some of my presentations I’ve given in the past and see about getting them published in some form. Maybe working backwards from the Tarzan presentation I just did, and then the Acylum presentation. I believe I’ve done some great academic work that should be published to reach a greater audience.

I have been asked back to contribute cocktail recipes to the 2026 issues of New Edge Sword and Sorcery. Of course this requires me to go back into the lab, experimenting with mixology to come up with some great, new libations.

A big thing I want to pivot to are revenue generating projects. I’ve gotten too much in the hole for doing things for/about others and I should be doing more projects that I want to do. I think of back to the early years of Covid and Nick Mamatas was sharing on social media how much he was making each month in royalties and passive book income. It was interesting and kind of inspiring. Aside from the yearly McFarland check I get for The New Peplum and Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Moderne, I do not have any other publications that generate passive income. I would love to change that, especially as we move into more uncertain times economically. With that in mind, I do want to draw attention to my “Support Me” page which has a list of ways to support me in what I do.

Overall, I am looking forward to 2026. I am intimidated to get back on track for the Emmanuelle book, to be honest. Words of encouragement and motivation will be greatly appreciated.
I do want to end with a sincere thank you to all the folks who support what I do, be it buying books I am a part of, inviting me to podcasts, recommending me for projects, or even sharing my work on social media. It is dog eat dog out there. I am a small fry in the sea of other writers and academics. Every little bit helps and I am grateful for the support I do receive.

The One Where We Talk About CDs – Fan2Fan Podcast

Physical Media: Heavy Boxes, Special Editions, and Video Games – Fan2Fan Podcast

2025 Horror: The Monkey, 28 Years Later, Good Boy & More – Fan2Fan Podcast

Best of 2025: Movies, Music, and More – Fan2Fan Podcast

The One Where We Talk About Physical Media – Fan2Fan Podcast

VHS Collecting with Cory Gorski – Fan2Fan Podcast

VHS Collecting with Jim Karl – Fan2Fan Podcast