Becca, a well-meaning but slightly dim woman with a high libido, is hit by a van and dies. When the Grim Reaper comes to take her away, he becomes distracted, allowing Becca to glance at his papers and see her fate. In an attempt to reverse course, she uses her sexual prowess (for good!) to bed men, women, and other ghosts, including Bloody Mary who becomes a friend to Becca in the afterlife.
Standard cover by Kenan Halilovic.
Becca Boo Issue Three
The Grim Reaper arrives at Bloody Mary’s apartment to finally escort Becca away. Once again using her charms and sex appeal, Becca is able to buy more time in the afterlife by having kinky sex with Death at his bachelor pad. Becca tells the Grim Reaper that she is using her time as a ghost to do good deeds, and recounts her activities the past two months, which include bedding the new tenant in her apartment (sparing him from a fate worse than death: karaoke!). However, the Grim Reaper falls asleep during Becca’s flashback. Seeing her chance to escape again, Becca makes haste, taking Death’s robe and scythe with her. With the help of Bloody Mary, Becca glams up the outfit with white stockings, exposed midriff, and lots of ribbons, and is now ready for more undead action.
As with issues one and two, Becca Boo #3 was a crowdfunded endeavor, which completed its campaign in September 2024 and fulfilled in January 2025 (during a time that the Canadian post was on strike). The third issue continues Becca’s exploration being a ghost, with the story trying out new comedy angles. If Becca Boo #1 was leaning in on ditzy blonde comedy and Becca Boo #2 added in some teen boner comedy, Becca Boo #3 transitions to all out parody. The centerpiece gag in #3 is a spoof of the Ring/Ringu films, where Becca crawls out of a wells à la Sadako, and then trips coming out of the wall-mounted television set. It is a sequence that was parodied over twenty years ago in Scary Movie 3, so it may not be the most current pop culture reference. However, the gag still works and it transitions extremely well to the sequential art format and fits in with the in-universe comedy of Becca Boo as issue one continued a callback to the early 90s movie Ghost.
Another spoof can be seen at the end of the comic when Becca dons the attire of the Grim Reaper. Recollections of The Simpsons 2003 Halloween episode “Treehouse of Horror XIV” which contains a segment called “Reaper Madness” where Homer becomes the Grim Reaper (itself a parody of the Tim Allen Santa Claus films) comes to mind. Becca’s sexy death outfit gives off a gothic Lolita vibe.
On the subject of the Grim Reaper, this character becomes much more fleshed out in issue three. Issue one introduced Death as a character who may not be the best as his job as he is easily swayed by the promises of sex, and issue three ramps this facet about him up to eleven. The Grim Reaper gives off the impression he is smarter than Becca, the reality is that he is easily manipulated by her sexual powers. The Grim Reaper adds tremendously to the comedy of Becca Boo with his facial – er – skull expressions. It sounds fairly hard to have a skull be so emotive, but Death brings all the squees, furrowed brows, and exasperations, so kudos to interior artist Kenan Halilovic for really bringing Death to life (pun 100% intended) and having him so animated.
Bloody Mary is not as prominent in this issue as she is in issue two, but the narrative seems to be pushing her to be the straight character in the comedic escapades.
Becca, as oblivious as she is, displays a surprisingly amount of cleverness and guile (probably accidental on the character’s part) as she is able to escape the clutches of death (again!) and, during flashback, seduce the chaste man who has moved into her apartment. Becca is truly singularly focused to redeem herself as a ghost and escape eternity from hell, so it will be interesting what her next move will be as she assumes the guise of Death.
As with prior Becca Boo Kickstarter campaigns from publisher Obscura Comics, Becca Boo #3 sports a wide array of alternate covers which in turns have various incarnations of not nude/nude artwork. All of them portray Becca in with different sex appeal styles.
Obscura continues to provide fun swag as stretch goals are met. The numbered trading cards and magnet depict the different issue covers.
There is also a bookmark, postcard, and sticker, all fun and collectible swag that all adds to the reading experience of Becca Boo.
More info on Becca Boo can be found at the following websites:
My first website content for 2025! I dig Bachelor PadMagazine, and I love stockings and nylons, so I was totally excited when they announced they were going to start a new line called Nylon Nightcap. When announced, I pre-ordered a copy immediately, and it is a fantastic issue.
I’d like to do what I can to help get the word out about this issue, so I’ve done a write up about it and included quotations from Jason “Java” Croft, Miss Corsair Debonair, and Miss Penelope Pink. Check out my write up here!
Burroughs Bulletin #109
I have not one, not two, but three publication announcements!
Firstly, as part of Michele and my retrospective of the peplum work of Bella Cortez that we did in 2024, I conducted an interview with Cortez about her work on the Italian Tarzan knock off, Taur the Mighty (1963).
This interview has now been published in issue 109 of The Burroughs Bulletin, the journal of the Burroughs Bibliophiles. This is my first time being published in the journal and I am super excited.
Bella Cortez as Queen Akiba in Taur the Mighty (1963). Screen capture from the Sinister Cinema DVD of the film.
Sincere appreciation to Cortez for her time in being part of this interview.
For more information on the Burroughs Bibliophiles, how to join, and how to get copies of the Bulletins, check out https://www.burroughsbibliophiles.com or contact editor Henry Franke III at BurroughsBibliophiles AT gmail.com.
Merry Creepsmas
I have a sword & sorcery dark comedy/horror short story appearance in the anthology Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book from Wicked Shadow Press. My story is called “There’s Always Room.”
This is actually a short story I wrote 8-9 years ago for a different Christmas themed anthology that didn’t get accepted. The story has been in my repertoire for all this time, and when I saw this call for story submissions, I thought why not dust off the story, spruce it up a bit, and submit. Chuffed that it was accepted!
The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3.
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journal is 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.
Podcast Stuff
HP Lovecast Podcast is still going, we’re just a bit erratic about it. We will have an episode for The Prophecy up, and we’ll be exploring doing some shorter comic-book reviews in between bigger episodes, perhaps resurrect the old Fragments line.
BlogTalkRadio shut down in January. This means all the podcasts I appeared on (Voice of Olympus, Chatting with Sherri) are no longer available, which is unfortunately. However, I have saved all my appearances as mp3s. I’ll be looking into having them edits and published elsewhere (with permission), perhaps at Archive.org or another venue.
This past week I’ve been a guest on Fan2Fan and also on the Castle of Horror Podcast. Stay tuned for when those become published online.
Michele is also cranking out episode of her Ride the Stream vidcast with Travis Lakata. She’s also done an episode of Fan2Fan as well.
So, we are both still heavy in the world of vidcasting and podcasting. We are just kind of all over the map now. As always, if you’d like me a guest on your podcast or vidcast, do reach out! I love appearing on other folks’ shows.
ECOF 2025
In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).
Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:
I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my external 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.
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.
“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.
“Tagliolini al Tarzan: Interview with Actress Bella Cortez on Taur the Mighty” in The Burroughs Bulletin #109. Edited by Henry Franke III. February, 2025.
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.
Horror Studies Now 2025
Horror Studies Now: A Two-Day Conference (29-30 May 2025, Northumbria University, UK)
Researchers working in the broad field of “Horror Studies”, are invited to submit abstracts about their research for an in-person conference, hosted by the Horror Studies Research Group at Northumbria University, on 29-30 May 2025.
Speakers will each deliver a 15-minute talk about their research, followed by extended discussion and questions from the conference delegation. We welcome submissions from scholars at any career stage, but are particularly open to hearing from early career researchers and new voices in the field. The event is intended to provide a welcoming space in which to develop ideas, network, and forge collaborations with fellow Horror Studies researchers.
The event seeks to explore areas and approaches that have not yet been adequately accounted for or represented in the field, encompassing (but not limited to):
The diversity of perspectives, identities, and voices that comprise Horror Studies and horror production
Independent horror production, alternative histories, and horror produced outside of Europe and North America
The field’s methodological richness, including archival approaches, audience research, practice-based research, and new theoretical perspectives
The breadth of cultural perspectives that inform Horror Studies and horror media
Papers that address horror in all its media forms including games, film, comics, music, social media, television, literature, art, and so forth
We seek to foreground scholarly excellence within the field by embracing a wide range of approaches, confronting representational biases within the canon, highlighting strategies to counter these biases, and contributing to a more diverse and inclusive academic landscape. We encourage and welcome expressions of interest from members of the global majority and people from underrepresented or marginalised groups.
Special guests include:
Dr Cüneyt Çakırlar (Nottingham Trent University; editor of Transnational Horror: Folklore, Genre and Cultural Politics [Liverpool University Press, 2025])
Dr Maxine Gee (Bournemouth University; screenwriter of short film Standing Woman [2020] and web series Tales of Bacon [2018])
Professor Maisha L Wester (University of Sheffield/Indiana University, Bloomington; author of African American Gothic in the Era of Black Lives Matter [Cambridge University Press, 2025])
The deadline for abstracts (of 250 words) is 23:59 (GMT) Friday 14 March 2025. Abstracts should be accompanied by a biographical statement (of 50-100 words) and submitted at the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/FgdAxxxWxy.
A small fee will be required to attend to cover catering expenses; however, we are striving to keep this cost as low as possible. All speakers, unless they choose to decline, will have their work considered for the new Peter Hutchings Award for Outstanding Contribution to Horror Studies. The award includes a certificate for the winner and a publication (subject to revision) in Studies in the Fantastic.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their proposal within 14 days of the deadline. Any questions should be directed to horrorstudies@northumbria.ac.uk
The Horror Studies Research Group at Northumbria: Northumbria University is internationally renowned as the home of horror scholarship. This research specialism was founded by our late Professor Peter Hutchings, and the Horror Studies Research Group formalises Northumbria’s concentration of experts in this area. Our core team are widely recognised as leaders in this area, publishing field-defining monographs, presenting keynote lectures at major conferences, delivering talks at numerous European film festivals, holding positions on the editorial boards of the field’s primary book series and winning major research grants. Our global reputation for research excellence in Horror Studies is further proliferated by our many genre-based PhDs and alumni.
Dracula: A Companion
Dracula: A Companion is intended to both be an essential guide to interpreting Bram Stoker’s Dracula and a collection of new perspectives supporting a reshaping of the way the text is taught and engaged with by students.
Fundamental to the approach of this companion is placing the text at the epicentre of its own cultural afterlife and pop culture status. Beginning with the novel’s inception and influences, Dracula is positioned as a ‘spark’ that ignited the character’s enduring popularity and presence across the globe. From here, the familiar topics the novel is understood through will see novel perspectives, accounting not only for new and exciting research, but exploring how Dracula’s immortality stems from how it can be subjected to new approaches, showcasing the versatility of the book, and its continued capacity to lend itself to readings that speak of topical cultural concerns.
The final sections prioritise the way the text has been reshaped to suit contemporary audiences, distanced from the ‘original’ novel through adaptation and literary pastiche. Every ‘version’ of Dracula has the potential to be someone’s first encounter with the character, and may be what they think of when hearing the name. By giving this aspect a clear focus it establishes to students and readers alike that ‘Dracula’ is not contained within the novel, but has become a myth recognised across the globe.
We kindly request abstracts of no more than 250 words for either full essay style chapters of 4,500 words or shorter case studies focusing on individual texts of approx 2000 words. We are also open to further ideas, suggestions, and questions. The deadline for abstracts is Monday March 31st 2025. Full contributions are expected to be due at the end of Summer 2025.
Please email abstracts or any other enquiries to madeline.potter@ed.ac.uk & m.crofts@hull.ac.uk
Potential topics (but by no means limited to):
Theatrical Influences on the novel’s form Historical influences
Transylvania as a mosaic (Hungarian and Irish Parallelism)
Stoker: a biographical reading
Global Dracula Stoker’s own travels
Dracula in translation
New perspectives on sexuality: LGBTQA+ readings/drag
New scientific & medical readingsNew perspectives on race
Romany enslavement
Dracula as Sensation fiction/Victorian popular fiction
Publishing practices
Reception of Dracula
Reading Dracula as a werewolf text
Neo-Victorian readings
Wider cultural understanding of Dracula [Intended as shorter chapters, akin to case studies of texts]
Dracula adaptations, appropriations and pastiches
Neglected adaptations (eg. The Claes Bang/Gatiss version, The 1977 Louis Jourdan version)
Neglected adaptations from non-anglo/American countries
Non-Western Draculas
Dracula for children: eg. Hotel Transylvania eg. Count Duckula
Dracula games (computer and table-top)
Dracula in New Media & Fandom
Twenty-First Century Neo-Victorian Gothic: Deviance and Transgression on Page and Screen
For a volume in the Genre Fiction and Film Companion series published by Peter Lang Oxford, we solicit papers on the topic of Neo-Victorian Gothic literature and film adaptation in the twenty-first century.
Neo-Victorian Gothic represents a contemporary revival of Gothic themes, often exploring deviance and transgression in the context of Victorian society as a challenge to the rigid structures imposed by Victorian society and a re-examination of marginalized voices and experiences. This genre not only revisits the aesthetic and narrative structures of the Gothic, but also critiques and reinterprets the cultural anxieties of both the Victorian and modern societies. Neo-Victorian texts frequently engage with themes of sexual and social deviance thus reflecting on contemporary concerns about identity, gender roles, and morality too.
The neo-Victorian Gothic critiques historical injustices, especially regarding gender inequality, violence, sexual transgression, and neurodiversity through intricately weaving together themes of deviance and transgression, with a critical lens on both Victorian history and contemporary culture. By revisiting Gothic conventions such as encounters with the uncanny in all its manifestations, with ghosts and the doppelgënger, neo-Victorian works illuminate the persistent shadows of social constraints and anxiety while advocating for a deeper understanding of identity and morality in both past and present contexts. Moreover, the genre heavily relies on intertextual references to Victorian literature, thus drawing parallels between the past and the present and reflecting on the continuity of certain social issues across time.
While aware of the many renowned masterpieces of neo-Victorian Gothic literature from the previous century, the proposed volume will explore how our twenty-first century engages with the topics of deviance and transgression. Will Self’s Dorian, An Imitation (2002), Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George (2005), Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale (2006), John Harding’s Florence and Giles (2010), Rosie Garland’s The Palace of Curiosities (2013), Gregory Blake Smith’s The Maze at Windermere (2018), Nell Stevens’ Briefly, A Delicious Life (2022) are some of the many novels published in the past twenty-odd years. What is more, neo-Victorian novels are frequently adapted for the screen: for example, the novels of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet (2002), Fingersmith (2005), Affinity (2008) and Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White (2011) or more recent productions such as Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films, and TV series like Sherlock, Ripper Street, Whitechapel, and Penny Dreadful. The Companion will therefore revisit the issues of deviance and transgression as embodied in literary texts and adaptations in the context of the challenges set by the contemporary reading audiences and viewers.
Please send abstracts of about 300 words and short bios for consideration by 1 April 2025 to Prof. Rossie Artemis at: artemis.r@unic.ac.cy
Authors will be notified about the status of their proposals by 1 May 2025, and the first drafts of essays (about 4500 words) will be expected by 1 November 2025.
Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.
Rest in peplum David Lynch
David Lynch passed away last month, and he deserves as rest in peplum (Dune is sword and planet enough for me!). Lynch is one of my all time favorite directors, and many of his films, especially Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, had a huge impact on my and my appreciation of cinema as a whole. I’d like to recap some of my Lynch thoughts, my exposure to his work, and share some of my Lynch treasures.
The first David Lynch movie I ever saw was Lost Highway. This was in the late 90s and I checked it out because I was a hardcore Rammstein fan at the time and Rammstein was in the soundtrack.
I recall renting the movie on VHS and watching it, and my dad walked in and decided to sit down and give it a watch too. And then Patricia Arquette pops on screen and does a striptease. Awkward!
It was a surreal movie, and I didn’t know too much about film noir at the time, but I remember enjoying it! The soundtrack was rocking, Bill Pullman was fresh of ID4 and he ruled, and the movie was mysterious and interesting. I was a fan!
Years later Michele and I would meet actor Greg Travis, who played the aggressive motorist who gets beat up, at a convention were he autographed my DVD of Lost Highway (and Michele’s copy of Starship Troopers).
Years later Mulholland Drive came out. I was a student working on my bachelors and I was hyped about this film. This was the agonizing days of waiting months and months for a film to be released on DVD after it had been released in theaters.
I watched Mulholland Drive and it was basically Lost Highway done even better. The noir elements, the erotic elements, the recreation of people into other people. While Lost Highway had a “distance” to it, Mulholland Drive was more emotional. I was a super fan of it immediately.
At a different convention Michele and I met Rena Riffel, perhaps better known for her appearance in Showgirls and various women-in-prison films by Lloyd A. Simandl. She had a small part in Mulholland Drive where she is under the employ of the seedy Mark Pellegrino. I was so happy we got to meet her and she signed my Mulholland Drive DVD.
After Mulholland Drive I was pretty much a Lynch convert and watched nearly all of his movies. I dug Elephant Man. I could never get through Dune. I don’t recall Wild at Heart too well unfortunately. Blue Velvet was amazing. I have a Twin Peaks boxset, but have been afraid to dive into it unfortunately.
In the late 2000s there was a Twin Peaks anniversary convention at the Hollywood Collectors show that Michele and I went to and met lots of awesome actors and actresses.
I met Jennifer Lynch who signed the documentary she did about her father’s painting, Pretty as a Picture.
Jennifer, Charlotte Stewart, and Catherine E. Coulson all signed my Eraserhead boxset. This boxset I purchased from Scarecrow Video up in Seattle. Eraserhead is, well, it’s an odd film. It’s surreal, and I dug it, but nowhere near the level of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. But I appreciate the hell out of it.
Notice the little squiggly face by the vertical 2000 on the right side? That’s Jack Nance. When Coulson signed my DVD, she closed her eyes and reached out to the long departed Nance, who guided her to draw his face. I was so flattered she did that. RIP to Coulson who sadly passed away 10 years ago.
One other artifact I was to share is this boxset of Dumbland. It’s in the same dimensions as the Eraserhead boxset, so I believe it was put out by the same company. This boxset I also bought at Scarecrow (plug: hear me talk about Scarecrow Video at the Fan2Fan podcast!)
I remember watching this and thinking… well.. that’s David Lynch for you!
One last note, my friends over at the Fan2Fan Podcast have dropped a new episode, and it is on Lynch’s Blue Velvet. Give it a listen!
Since 2007, Jason “Java” Croft has been creating and publishing the digest-sized pinup magazine, Bachelor Pad (for more information about the history and production of Bachelor Pad check out the interview with Croft in Vilioti Vintage. My review of this book can be read here). Filled with comics, reviews, articles, and of course, many images of pinup/cheesecake/glamour models, Bachelor Pad is the de facto leader in literature for the “mature” and “sophisticated reader.”
Bachelor Pad Nylon Nightcap #1 cover promo image provided courtesy from Jason “Java” Croft.
With almost twenty years of publication, the need to innovate and experiment with Bachelor Pad has led to the creation specialty lines of issues: spotlight issues, Nightcap Edition (which focuses on topless pinups), and Tattoo Nightcap (which focus on topless tattooed models). Nylon Nightcap is the newest endeavor from Bachelor Pad to deep dive and showcase an iconic component of pinup photography and history: the stocking. Per Croft
“I am always looking for new ideas or new themes to expand the Bachelor Pad brand. I like to mix things up. I like to give myself a challenge every once in a while. Nightcap editions have always been our most popular issues (nudies girls, who knew?). Several years back we started doing our Tattoo Nightcap and way back when we did a X-mas Nightcap. This [Nylon Nightcap] seemed like a natural addition to the lineup. And, when you think of the types of retro pin-ups we feature, the classic stockings and garter look are right at home with what we do. It really is the foundation, if you will, to most pin-up looks.”
The inaugural issue of Nylon Nightcap showcases eight models (Heather Marie, Annette Coquette, Abby Dandy, Leela Minx, Peach Venom, Alaina Rose Lee, Lady Gold Moon, Miss Penelope Pink) and a story + photoset from Miss Corsair Debonair. If these names sound familiar, they should be, as most have appeared in prior issues of Bachelor Pad Magazine, with many of them making their Nightcap debut in this stockings-centric issue, an aspect that Croft is proud of:
“Most of the models had been in regular issues of the magazine. Three had been in other Nightcap projects. Six made their first Nightcap appearances with this issue. I don’t think we’ve ever had that before. I think that says something when lots of folks want to make their Nightcap debuts with this particular issue.”
For veteran readers of Bachelor Pad, seeing their favourite pinups in their (debut) appearance in a Nightcap iteration provides a more intimate venue to appreciate their craft. For brand new readers of Bachelor Pad, Nylon Nightcap provides an excellent introduction to these retro-inspired models.
Since Nylon Nightcap’s focus is on stockings, the photosets contained within showcase a variety of stocking colours and styles that guarantee an appeal to everyone. Colour-wise, Marie Heather is blue, Annette Coquette is white, Abby Dandy with black-brown, Leela Minx with transparent, Peach Venom and Lady gold Moon with black, Alaina Rose Lee with red, and Miss Penelope Pink with tan-brown. Style-wise, all the models wear stockings save Peach Venom who sports a pair of French-cut pantyhose. Abby Dandy, Leela Minx, Alaina Rose Lee, and [especially] Heather Marie all show off their seams while Annette Coquette’s white stockings feature small white flowers on down her ankle sides. With all this variety and emphasis on hosiery, Croft made sure to account for this in designing the issue:
“Fundamentally, it’s still your standard Bachelor PadNightcap issue. I still try to give each layout its own personality and try to write fun copy for each model. The big difference this time was to keep in mind that we were doing an issue focused on nylons and the legs that wear them. So, in the layouts, you see a lot more full-length photos as well as shots of just legs. Had to make sure the nylons were the focus of what people were looking at.”
To further cement this nylon philosophy home, the last comic in Nylon Nightcap (by Becca Whitaker) depicts a pinup wearing layers of different stockings, stating “I didn’t know which ones to pick, so I wore them all!”
Heather Marie promo picture provided courtesy from Jason “Java” Croft.
The first pinup in Nylon Nightcap, Heather Marie, wears a killer colour combo of black gloves and blue-seamed and blue topped stockings with matching blue garters, posing on a blue sofa. She appeared in Nightcap #14.
Annette Coquette brings a cabaret vibe with her gemstone garters and seductive teacher glasses while posing in front of a piano. This is her debut Nightcap appearance, but she previously appeared in Bachelor Pad #50.
Abby Dandy promotional image provided courtesy from Jason “Java” Croft.
Abby Dandy is the third model showcased in Nylon Nightcap and she projects the classic Irving Klaw/Eric Stanton fetish vibes with her black corset and seamed black-brown stockings that look delicate with a vintage vibe. The presence of a floor length mirror ensures readers are treated to double Abby Dandy. While this is her Nightcap debut, her prior appearance was in issues #69 and #68, sharing a photoshoot with the iconic Bernie Dexter in the latter.
Stack of Bachelor Pad issues from personal collection. Issue #68 is on top, autographed by cover model Bernie Dexter.
Following Abby Dandy is the photoset for cover model Leela Minx who brings a radiant Claire Sinclair vibe. Leela Minx’s outfit is a translucent black nightie with transparent black seamed stockings. The purple background goes with the purple ribbon that she uses to tie herself up with while sitting on a chair, recalling retro-bondage photography, but with a much more feminine touch. She previously appeared in Bachelor Pad #64.
Next, Nylon Nightcap takes a slight break from the singular photoshoots to showcase a collection of different photos of Miss Corsair Debonair along with a short missive of her’s. Debonair is a veteran of Bachelor Pad and sums up her experience initially becoming featured in the magazine:
“In 2020 as I was testing the waters with pinup photography and using myself as a subject, I sent a submission to Bachelor Pad as my biggest goal. Bachelor Pad has high standards for image quality and doesn’t churn out issues as fast as photographs come in, so I knew if I could make it into Bachelor Pad, my images were on the right track. Those first ones weren’t accepted, but Java gave me some great tips and I continued to improve until I made it in.”
Bachelor Pad #58 and Nightcap #12 from personal collection.
The photos of Debonair in Nylon Nightcap include bonus photos from her prior appearances in Bachelor Pad which had not been published before. These photos are coupled with a short commentary piece about wearing hosiery written by Debonair.
“I’ve been so busy that I wasn’t able to do a whole new set of photos for this issue, and Java said it wouldn’t be right to do a Nylon issue without something from me. So, I wrote about what first attracted me to nylons and how I wear them now.”
Following Miss Corsair Debonair’s section is Peach Venom who previously appeared in Bachelor Pad #65. Peach Venom has a fun set, with her black pantyhose and elbow length gloves, and a powerful look underscored by her yellow eye makeup, all giving her a distinguished aura.
Burlesque performer and tiki aficionado Alaina Rose Lee dominates the colour red that emit from her seamed stockings, heels, straps, hair, and bedroom-boudoir set with fluffy blankets and valentines’ pillows. Lee can also be seen in Bachelor Pad #57.
The second to last pinup is Lady Gold Moon, who like Abby Dandy, channels a retro-dominating look with her black stockings and top. Lady Gold Moon enhances the vibe she is going for by using props such as whips while her set echoes an old school “man cave” with wood paneled walls. It would not be hard to imagine that there is a camera club outside frame taking pictures of her sultry poses. Nylon Nightcap is Lady Gold Moon’s Nightcap debut, but she can be previously seen in Bachelor Pad # 69.
Stack of Bachelor Pad issues from personal collection. Tattoo Nightcap #6 is on top.
The final model showcased in Nylon Nightcap is Miss Penelope Pink, complete with her iconic look of pink hair and sporty tattoos. Miss Penelope Pink made her Bachelor Pad debut in Tattoo Nightcap #6. Miss Penelope Pink recalls:
“I’ve been a long-time follower and fan of Bachelor Pad for many years. I was so excited to see that Java added a special Nightcap edition specifically for tattooed models. It blended my love of vintage/pinup and tattooed look perfectly, I just knew I had to be part of it!”
Miss Penelope Pink brings her love of vintage and hosiery to her photoshoot, wearing a pink corset that matches her hair with garters that connect to old school solid brown stockings. For Miss Penelope Pink:
“I wear stockings for most of my shoots, nothing beats the look of nylons! I’m inspired by classic pinups of the 50s and have quite the collection of stockings: seamed, Cuban heel, different color stocking tops. For this shoot, I wanted to pair my nylons with a corset, as I have several and just love being cinched down.”
Between the photosets, Nylon Nightcap features stockings-centric comics by Jaimie Filer, Misha Pinup Art, Jerry Carr, Carlos Carrillo, and the aforementioned Becca Whitaker. An erotic short story by Sasha Dahl about a display worker at Marshalls working on a lingerie display who winds up attending to a peculiar customer’s needs rounds out the features of the magazine.
Overall, the inaugural issue of Bachelor Pad’s Nylon Nightcap is a tremendous success. The photoshoots are professionally shot with interesting and retro sets. The pinup ladies are all exciting and gorgeous to look at, with each one showcasing a different facet of the allure of stockings. Aside from the nylons continuity, the issue in its entirety is adventurous and fun, as was the intent of Croft:
“With all my issues I want it to be fun for the readers, and I want for those people who are involved to be proud to be in it. I think I accomplished both of those. On top of that, I got to see a lot of models who weren’t in the issue get excited about the concept. So, we made a showcase for those who were in it and inspired others to want to be in future issue. I would call that a success.”
With the publication of Nylon Nightcap, Croft reflects on its impact of readers and models and the future for the new line of the themed magazine:
“The response has been amazing. Besides other models and photographers being inspired, our readers have really taken to it. It really struck a chord with pin-up fans. But, I’m really not surprised. It’s fun to have themes every once in a while. Sometimes folks need a creative prompt. And I’m happy to supply it. […] I already have people asking about the next [issue of Nylon Nightcap]. My hope would be to be able to do another at the end of 2025. All I need is for folks to start sending me those photos!”
Sincere appreciation to Jason “Java” Croft, Miss Corsair Debonair, and Miss Penelope Pink for their time providing quotations to use in this write up. For more information on Bachelor Pad, Nylon Nightcap, or the models, artists, and writers featured within, check out the following links:
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.)
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.
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”:
Happened across two new citations of my Stranger Things/synthwave essay, so I’d like to share them and invite you to take a gander at these scholars’ work:
The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2.
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@gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
A Hero Will Endure Paperback Relese + Discount
Vernon Press, the publisher of A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just released a cheaper, paperback version of the book, just in time for Gladiator 2!
The paperback is at the much more friendly price of $57 compared to $96 for the hardcover and $107 for an electronic version. All editions of the book can be found at the Vernon Press product page.
In addition, the publisher is offering a coupon on purchases of the collection! From now until the end of January 2025, if you use code SLZM30 at check out, you’ll get 30% off the title. So, the $57 book now becomes $39.99. Nice!
ECOF 2025
In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).
Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:
I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. There currently is a fundraiser going on to raise funds for the ERB plaque, and details for that can be found in the QR code in the above graphic, or by checking out the donation page at the Sulphur Springs Valley Valley Historical Society. 3.8K of 5K has been raised already.
Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of 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 Gore Gore Film Book
Edited by: Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns (Universidad de Buenos Aires) Kevin Wetmore (Loyola Marymount University)
We, the editors, are looking to put together an edited collection on gore on film and gore films. The recent success of films such as the Terrifier franchise and Smile has shown that there is a growing interest in gore films. This interest is not recent, as the gore film began in the mid-sixties, with the godfather of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, directing Blood Feast, a fringe hit that would bring gore to the forefront. That first success would be followed by others, each of them bloodier (The Wizard of Gore; The Gore Gore Girls) but gore would not reach mainstream cinema until the 1980s, with the rise of the slasher and its inventive murders. This new visibility would clash many times with the MPAA and feed the UK “video nasties” controversy. Magazines like Fangoria would be in charge of rescuing the gore scenes from the editing room floor, putting exploded heads on their covers.
However, gore was always frowned upon, a trashy resource to attract unsophisticated viewers. It is in our contemporary times that gore reached a novel point: mainstream recognition as another cinematographic tool to tell a story and appeal to the spectator’s sensorium. Today gore seems to have reached a certain degree of respectability.
However, it has not yet achieved critical recognition, with few studies on gore cinema within academic scholarship. This edited collection aims to begin to fill this gap by offering several chapters that conceptualize gore from different interdisciplinary perspectives, while offering close readings of gore films.
This collection will be divided into two main theoretical sections: the first will be focused to analyzing gore itself, centering on its aesthetics, its ethics, its relationship with the spectator, etc. The second section will be devoted to close readings of gore films of any period and nationality.
Contributions could include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
Section I:
Gore and aesthetics (including color, thickness, digital blood vs. practical blood, etc.)
Gore and humor
Gore and ethics
Gore and theology
Gore and spectatorship
Gore and art house sensibilities
Gore and the body
Gore on video vs. gore in cinema
Gore and horror film magazines
Section II:
American slashers
Auteur cinema
Gore in mainstream horror films
European gore films
Asian gore films
Herschell Gordon Lewis’s films.
Gore in classic films
We are open to works that focus on other topics as well. Prospective authors are well to contact the editor with any questions, including potential topics not listed above. Please submit a 300-500-word abstract of your proposed chapter contribution as a Word Doc (not PDF) with a brief bio (in the same document), current position, affiliation, and complete contact information to editors Kevin Wetmore and Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns to goregorebook@yahoo.com by 28 February 2025. Full chapters of 5,000-6,000 words are likely due in October 2025. A renowned publisher has shown preliminary interest.
Please share this announcement with anyone you believe would be interested in contributing to this volume.
Note: Acceptance of a proposed abstract does not guarantee the acceptance of the full chapter
Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns (PhD in Arts, PhD Candidate in History) works as Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) – Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (Argentina)-. He teaches courses on international horror film. He is director of the research group on horror cinema “Grite” and has authored a book about Spanish horror TV series Historias para no Dormir (Universidad de Cádiz, 2020) and has edited books on Frankenstein bicentennial (Universidad de Buenos Aires), one on director James Wan (McFarland, 2021), the Italian giallo film (University of Mississippi Press, 2022), horror comics (Routledge, 2022) and Hammer horror films (Routledge, 2024). Currently editing a book on Baltic horror. He is Director of “Terror: Estudios Críticos” (Universidad de Cádiz, Spain), the first-ever horror studies series in Spain.
Kevin Wetmore (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is a professor of Theatre Arts at Loyola Marymount University, teaching courses in horror cinema and horror theatre, among others. He also transforms his university library into a literary haunted house every October. He is a six-time Bram Stoker Award nominee, author of thirteen books including Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters (Reaktion, 2021) and Post-9/11 Horror in American Cinema (Continuum, 2012), and editor or co-editor of another nineteen volumes, including The Streaming of Hill House (McFarland, 2020), Theatre and the Macabre (University of Wales Press, 2022) and The Many Lives of the Purge (McFarland, 2024).
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.
Shadows Over Main Street
I shared over on my BlueSky account (link) my copy of Shadows Over Main Street.
I got my copy autographed by a handful of contributors at one of the StokerCon events: D. Alexander Ward, Stephanie M. Wytovich, James Chambers, Lucy A. Snyder, Josh Malerman, and Lisa Morton. Scroll through the gallery above to check them out.
Biblical Pepla Haul
On New Years Eve Michele and I visited our local Zia Records to do a little shopping of used music and movies. I walked away with way too much loot, but also procured three Biblical epics on Blu-ray.
The three movies were Samson and Delilah (Cecil B. DeMille, 1949), The Robe (Henry Koster, 1953), and its sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators (Delmer Daves, 1954). Plucking up Demetrius and the Gladiators on Blu-ray was extremely fortuitous. Twilight Time, a now defunct boutique label, released the Blu-ray edition and it is way out of print and commands absurd prices on eBay (the same fate as with their Blu-ray release of The Egyptian [Michael Curtiz, 1954]). Note: I did a write up of the Twilight Time release of Messalina (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1960) which can be read here.
Ride the Stream Podcast Episode 01
Michele and Travis Lakata have started a vidcast together called Ride the Stream. They are currently going through each episode of the cult TV series Lost. The vidcast’s debut episode just got published. The episode can be watched on the Ride the Stream’s YouTube channel or via the embedded player below.
One of my favorite electro-pop bands is Hyperbubble. I’ve been a super fan of theirs since buying a copy of Candy Apple Daydreams from A Different Drum way back in the late 2000s.
Hyperbubble put together a documentary about the making of their Western Ware album, and their exploration of country and cowgirl/boy (pop toy) aesthetics. The documentary is called Cowgirls and Synthesizers and more information about it can be found at the Hyperbubble website.
I am super chuffed to discover I am listed in the Thank You section in the credits!
One more article up here at the website before 2024 ends and I am going out talking to what I believe is the video game of the year: Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore.
I had pre-ordered this game from Limited Run thinking it would be a fun little CD-i Zelda curio, but it turned out to be a fantastic adventure/Metroidvania that I could not put the controller down (I beat the game across all difficulties in just a few days). I loved this game and I hope you check out my write up about it here.
Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances
The cool kids at the Fan2Fan Podcast have dropped two episodes that I am a guest on.
These episodes can be streamed via the links above, or the embedded players, or through your favorite Podcast App. Check them out!
Sincere appreciation to the Fan2Fan crew for having me on their podcast.
Vilioti Noir
Sincerely chuffed to find myself name dropped in the new book Vilioti Noir: Interviews with the World’s Greatest Neo-Noir Creatives. What an honour!
The book is the brain child of Lady Medusa and Jimmy Vargas. I’ve reviewed Vargas’ fiction in an issue of Exotica Moderne, and I’ve reviewed Medusa/Vargas’ prior collaboration, Vilioti Vintage, right here at my website. Give it a read!
I don’t think Vilioti Noir is out in the wild for purchase yet, but when it is, it will probably be found at the Vilioti Press website.
Citation News
The New Peplum has been cited in Ronald Blankenborg’s essay “The Wide Canvas of human Drama: Fantasizing Antiquity Through Graphic Novel” in the open source/access journal Thersites.
Did you miss out on McFarland’s Black Friday sale of 35% off books? Well, worry not for the publisher is still doing an online sale, though at 20% off instead of 35% off. Still a great deal! During check out, use code HOLIDAY24 to get 20% off your order.
If you want to support me, consider buying a copy of The New Peplum or Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern:
Vernon Press, the publisher of A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just released a cheaper, paperback version of the book, just in time for Gladiator 2!
The paperback is at the much more friendly price of $57 compared to $96 for the hardcover and $107 for an electronic version. All editions of the book can be found at the Vernon Press product page.
In addition, the publisher is offering a coupon on purchases of the collection! From now until the end of January 2025, if you use code SLZM30 at check out, you’ll get 30% off the title. So, the $57 book now becomes $39.99. Nice!
ECOF 2025
In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).
Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:
I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. There currently is a fundraiser going on to raise funds for the ERB plaque, and details for that can be found in the QR code in the above graphic, or by checking out the donation page at the Sulphur Springs Valley Valley Historical Society. 3.8K of 5K has been raised already.
Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2024.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #326.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #327.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #328.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus / Warlord of Mars #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #329.
“Wondercon 2019 Coverage: Tarzan, John Carter, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.: What’s New?” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #330.
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #331.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks. I shared a lot of autographed swag on Bluesky, so I’m going to reshare them here.
Forgotten Realms Campaign Boxset
Last year I shared the tale of how my Local Comic Book Store back in Federal Way had Jeff Grubb as a customer and did a meet-n-greet and signing event with him. I shared that Grubb has signed one of my Forgotten Realms modules, “Endless Armies”. That recap can be read here.
Grubb signed lots of other stuff from Michele and I. One of the other items he signed was my Forgotten Realms campaign boxset. Check that bad boy out! And I still have everything in it too!
Space Truckers DVD
Someone on Bluesky did a post that shared their adoration of the Stuart Gordon movie Space Truckers, which afforded me the perfect opportunity to share my autographed copy of the film.
I’ve shared my autographed copy of RobotJox before (link here), but I never talked about how we met Gordon (RIP). He was a guest at a Monsterpalooza event in the LA Area, and here is a picture of all of us. He will be missed!
Cherry 2000 DVD
The 80s gave us lots of cyberpunk films, from Bladerunner to Akira to Max Headroom. Cherry 2000 is, I feel, a forgotten film of 80s cyberpunk. I have a copy of the DVD signed by cult actor Tim Thomerson and Connie Woods.
Connie Woods was in an episode of the original run of Twin Peaks. I met her at Twin Peaks reunion at a Hollywood Collector’s show where she signed my DVD:
Italian Sexy Comedy
A book from the collection, here is Italian Sexy Comedy. This book is 99% pictures from Italian sex-comedy films, so stockings everywhere. I love it.
But, I also love it in that its shore foreword is pretty informative in talking about how Italian horror films faved the way for the sex comedies. This actually become a big point in my masters thesis back in the day.
My book is also signed by starlet Barbara Bouchet!
Victoria Vetri Autographs
A couple months ago I sent off my Blu-ray sleeves of When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and Kings of the Sun to Hammer Glamour lady Victoria Vetri, and I just got them back. Check them out!
And:
Since one film is a spear and fang movie and the other a Mesoamerican Historic Epic, Michele and I will probably wind up talking about them on a vidcast next year.
The Children of Gla’aki
Finally, one more sharing of autographed loot from the archives, is my copy of The Children of Gla’aki.
My copy is signed by the legendary Ramsey Campbell:
And the prolific Tim Waggoner:
If folks recall, Michele and I rebooted the HP Lovecast Podcast talking about stories from this book. That episode can be streamed at this link, the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.
Non-PC videogaming during the 90s was predominately dominated by three companies: Nintendo (Super Nintendo, N64, and the Gameboy), Sega (Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast), and, in the latter half of the decade, Sony (Playstation). It was an era of innovation (graphics and online capabilities), experimentation (FMV and system add-ons), and transition (12 bit to 32 to 64, cartridges to CDs), and these three companies trailblazed the gaming Wild West. Of course, other companies would throw their hats into the ring to partake in the Console Wars, though most would fail miserably: Atari with the Jaguar, 3DO Company with the 3DO, and Philips with the CD-i (SNK’s Neo-Geo is an outlier console). These consoles failed for just reasons (lack of gaming libraries, hard to develop for, poor performance), but remain a curious aspect of gaming history, though practically inaccessible to revisit with retrogaming in mind. Emulation of these systems is difficult and out of reach of a typical gamer, hardware is expensive and prone to break, and console exclusive titles do not see releases.
That is until the past few years in which failed console games have started to be resurrected with re-releases. Atari 50, released in 2022, is a museum/compilation hybrid release that contained nine Atari Jaguar titles, providing the first opportunity in thirty years to play these games. In 2024 Limited Run Games re-released the maligned 1993 3DO game Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties, allowing gamers to experience one of the worst video game titles in existence.
Cover art for Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, also released by Limited Run Games in 2024, is title born out of these resurrected titles. Back in 1993, Philips released two Legend of Zelda games on its CD-i console: Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon (the same year the Super Mario Bros. movie was released [Nintendo seemed to be a bit more laissez-faire with their properties back them]). The two Zelda games became notorious for their poor quality, horrible controls, and most famously, their cartoon cutscenes. Someone looked at these two Zelda games and said, “But what if they were remade – but made good?” The end result is Arzette, and it is an AMAZING game.
Released across all major gaming platforms, Arzette is a fantasy adventure game with some light Metroidvania elements, an homage to the two aforementioned Zelda games, and a love letter to a different style of retrogaming that has not been accessible for some time.
The river level in Arzette. The colorful backgrounds done in an drawn/painted style are like this for every level.
The first thing players will notice about Arzette is its art style and animation. The narrated intro to Arzette is done in a colour-pencil, storybook style. The game proper shies away from the pixel art that has dominated retrogaming and instead embraces a painted aesthetic, which gives each level a unique look. The enemies are also done in a similar style, at times giving them the appearance of vaporwave artwork. The cutscenes of the game are straight poorly animated cartoon style as used the in CD-i Zelda games, and almost reminiscent of rudimentary Flash animation during the format’s heyday. All of this gives Arzette a distinct and unique charm. It does not look like any other game out there right now, while at the same time evoking the imagery of early 90s non-pixel gaming.
Cutscene of Arzette and the Ice Lady. The animation is crude and the style purposely campy and low budget.
The music of Arzette, composed by Jake Silverman, is an absolute banger and compliments the game’s visual aesthetics. The score is firmly in the realm of fantasy, but it almost has a pirate, tropical vibe to it at times (it would not be out of place in a Shantae game at all). It is upbeat and carries the feeling of exploration. Even the tracks for more sinister looking levels (such as the volcano level) and boss fights sound positive instead of aggressive and menacing. This is a whimsical game and the soundtrack underscores this.
One of the many criticisms of the original CD-i Zelda games were its controls and gameplay, such as requiring the character to duck in order to access the inventory or having to stab gems with the character’s weapon in order to collect them. Arzette pokes fun at these restrictions without breaking the gameplay. For example, gems and other items can be walked over to be collected (as is standard in 99.99% of these types of games), but in order to talk to another character, they need to be “attacked” with the sword. The sword is (per the story) enchanted in such a way that bad people get damaged while good people do not. As for the ducking to access the menu, Arzette offers a difficulty option that brings in some of these Zelda aspects, such as the duck-menu, into the game.
On the subject of difficulty, Arzette is an extremely forgiving. The easier settings provide unlimited level continues with enemies spawning health regenerating items. Harder difficulties take away the level continues and health item generation and even bring in the aforementioned Zelda broken gameplay aspects. However, the levels in Arzette are fairly small, broken into even smaller sections. Dying on a screen only sets the player back to the beginning of that screen, so major progress is never lost. This makes Arzette quite accessible to younger or newer gamers, but it does perhaps come at the cost of being almost too easy, even on higher difficulties, for seasoned gamers. Once all of the game’s powerups are collected, Arzette becomes extremely overpowered, regardless of difficulty.
World map screen for Arzette. Level selection at the bottom, level progress at the top.
As each level is in bite-sized chunks, they invite multiple replays for exploration to find hidden collectables. As with other Metroidvania style games, many areas of Arzette are initially inaccessible until later in the game when a specific item (double jump shoes or a different colour magic shot for example) is procured. A handy menu on the world map indicates progress of each level’s collectables and the system menu indicates game completion percentage. In this regard, Arzette provides quality of life mechanics that were absent in older games, and still sometimes missing in present day titles.
If there is a fault with Arzette it is with its story and characters. The story of Arzette is fairly standard sword and sorcery fare: the evil Daimur (a stand-in for Zelda’s main antagonist Ganon) who was defeated and imprisoned many years ago is set free. He and his band of cronies (which include a horseman and a business suit wearing dragon) set out to conquer the land of Faramore while shrouding it in darkness. Princess Arzette sets out to relight the beacons to bring light back to the kingdom and then defeat Daimur again. This is not George R. R. Martin levels of storytelling, but it is serviceable, and certainly expandable if Arzette sequels are realized.
Arzette and Maki in the bakery.
The characters of Arzette, save the titular character herself, are one dimensional. The majority of characters simply appear during a cutscene, a fetch quest is given/completed, and they scamper off to become dialogue repeating NPCs. This is unfortunate because the world of Arzette looks like it contains some interesting characters (an ogre who likes to garden, a bourgeois frog, a clumsy but well-meaning guard, etc.) that could really take advantage of the game’s camp-style cutscenes. These are missed opportunities to really flesh out the side characters, expand on the world building, and have more of the game’s fun cutscenes. Thankfully, Arzette the character has some great character building: coping with the death of her King father and being the only competent one in the kingdom to stand against Daimur in battle. She also is a problem solver as she develops an alternative way to deal with Daimur than how he has been dealt with in the past. The game also drops hints that Arzette may be a non-heterosexual character, such as her agreeing to a date with the Maki the Baker and her blushing at the physical advances of the Ice Lady. Though the game does not fully commit to this representation, the overall character of Arzette is multifaceted and as far from a stock heroine as seen in games past.
Arzette has been released digitally across all the major gaming consoles, making it readily procurable by almost anyone (in stark contrast to the Zelda CD-i games that command large prices on eBay). In addition to this, Limited Run Games did physical releases of the game for the different platforms, and its collector’s edition incarnation is fully stacked with swag.
Outside slip case of the Collector’s Edition.
The game comes packaged in the iconic big-box format, evocative of PC game packaging of the 90s.
Inside box.
The game proper comes with both a standard case as well as a jewel case akin to how CD-i games were packaged back in the day.
Xbox version with clip case, and a CD case with a sleeve.
There is also a soundtrack, a poster map, and a titanic tome of art, lore, background images and information and more.
Art book, poster, and soundtrack.
There is also a pin of Arzette and a display of Mortar, the pompadour-sporting merchant, though a display of Arzette proper would have been preferred.
Pin and stand.
Overall, Arzette is a fantastic game. The gameplay is a solid adventure/platformer/Metroidvania with a variety of collectibles. The art style is genius, both as an homage to a gaming style that has not been explored in decades but also stands on its own right. The music and the overall presentation of the game is singular and whimsical. The main protagonist has the makings of becoming an iconic videogame character. If Arzette is the result of taking two broken games and turning them into something successful and fun, it would be incredible to see if Arzette can be built upon even more via a sequel title (which, post credits, do hint at).
This is a little outside my comfort zone as I’m no expert on crime fiction, but I took a dive into Andrew Nette’s novel Orphan Road and enjoyed it. Check out the review proper here.
Artus Films have just released Antonio Margheriti’s Castle of Blood, under the Danse Macabre title, in a luxurious UHD Blu-ray boxset.
The boxset has 3 discs, postcards, pins and buttons, and a near 100 page booklet. The final page of the booklet contains a snippet from my master’s thesis on Castle of Blood!
Super chuffed to have some of my scholarship appear as part of a physical release of a movie I adore. The boxset can be purchased at the Danse Macabre product page at the Artus Films website.
H. P. Lovecast Podcast
Brand new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is now online!
In this episode we take a look at issue 1 of the comic book Flesh Eaters by Philippe Gerber, Orville Thurstan, with art by Okiko. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.
We have one more podcast for 2024 that we are planning to do. Nothing says X-mas time like angels, so we will be watching and talking about the 1995 film The Prophecy. Stay tuned!
The Best Horror of the Year Vol 16
Every year Ellen Datlow puts out a recap book called The Best Horror of the Year where she recounts notable releases and reprints some of the best stories and poetry.
Volume 16 just dropped and I’m chuffed to find out I’m mentioned in the book regarding my essay in the cosmic horror issue of Weird Tales. I’m super flattered!
This is actually the second time I’ve been mentioned in one of these books. A few years ago both Michele and I were mentioned in The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 13 regarding the collection we edited, Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays.
Here is the text from that edition:
Both volumes can be ordered from Amazon – here is the link to #13 and here is the link to #16.
Panthans Journal #331
The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #1.
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@gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
McFarland Holiday Sale
My publisher, McFarland, is having a Holiday sale on all of their tiles! From November 15th to December 2nd, if you use code “HOLIDAY24” during checkout, you’ll get a 35% discount.
If you want to support me, consider buying a copy of The New Peplum or Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern:
Normal Price: 19.99 35% = 6.99 Price after coupon: 12.99
A Hero Will Endure Paperback Relese + Discount
Vernon Press, the publisher of A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just released a cheaper, paperback version of the book, just in time for Gladiator 2!
The paperback is at the much more friendly price of $57 compared to $96 for the hardcover and $107 for an electronic version. All editions of the book can be found at the Vernon Press product page.
In addition, the publisher is offering a coupon on purchases of the collection! From now until the end of January 2025, if you use code SLZM30 at check out, you’ll get 30% off the title. So, the $57 book now becomes $39.99. Nice!
ECOF 2025
In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).
Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:
I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. There currently is a fundraiser going on to raise funds for the ERB plaque, and details for that can be found in the QR code in the above graphic, or by checking out the donation page at the Sulphur Springs Valley Valley Historical Society. 3.8K of 5K has been raised already.
Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2024.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #326.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #327.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #328.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus / Warlord of Mars #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #329.
“Wondercon 2019 Coverage: Tarzan, John Carter, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.: What’s New?” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #330.
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #331.
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.
Play and the Gothic
[Note: I = Simon Bacon]
I have a speculative CFP on “Play and the Gothic” to encompass any kind of gaming, boardgames, role-playing games, toys, construction games (Lego etc), dolls, collective or individual games across mediums, history and cultures that can be read in terms of play, playful, interactive, immersive, virtual, problem solving, psychological, well-being, materiality.
Their role in fictional fictional and non-fictive spaces, as the focus and instigators of narrative, their relation to the ludicrous gothic, their ability to gothicise spaces, or how they become gothicised via their use or environment.
This can equally involve the relationship between gaming/games/toys to certain kinds of gothic; happy gothic; regional gothic; ecogothic; folk gothic; children’s gothic; female gothic; religious gothic; gothic monsters (vampires/werewolves/ghosts/etc); the weird; cosmic gothic.
If interested send abstracts/ideas to me by Jan 31, 2025 at: baconetti@gmail.com
(Final essays of 6-7,000 words would potentially be needed mid 2026)
Monstrous Consumption: The Diets of Monsters and Monstrous Diets in the Popular Imagination
Another Simon Bacon CFP:
If we are what we eat, what things do we eat to make us monsters And what things do monsters eat to make them so monstrous?
This can be read as broad as you like, and across history and cultures and in any media (games, comics, music, performance, literature, film, TV).
Possible areas could be, but in no way limited to:
magic foods that transform people into monsters
diets/foods that make other cultures/peoples monstrous
additives/secret ingredients with monstrous effects
diets/foods specific to monsters
the role of cannibalism and/or forbidden foods
toxins/poisons/drugs
shrooms/mezcal and hallucinogenic foods
allergies and intolerances
transgressive foods/diets
supernatural and/or magical foods
foods that are alive
food/diets in rituals/religious practices and the transgression of those
role of vegetarianism and veganism
The call is going really well, but don’t let that put you off if you have an idea.
Consuming Identity: Cannibalism and the Beyond Human Subject
Connectedly….there has been a lot of interest within this around Cannibalism with the possibility of a separate collection solely on this. So if you have any left field ideas to do with cannibalism in regards to:
Historical cases
Philosophy
Theology and religion
fantasy and science fiction (alien cannibals)
indigenous and cross-cultural examples
cannibalism and eco-criticism/environmentalism
cannibalism and decolonisation
Deadline for receiving abstracts is 31st December 2024, with final essays due early to mid-2026. If you have thoughts, abstracts, or relevant essays looking for a home…drop me a message at: baconetti@gmail.com
Panel: Airborne Gothic
ASLE 2025 Panel Organized by the Society for the Study of American Gothic
July 8-11, 2025
University of Maryland, College Park
This panel sets out to consider how gothic is carried and transmitted through air. Airborne gothic takes many forms: stories told around campfires; plague and Covid narratives; texts featuring ominous flying creatures (birds, bats, and bugs!); radiation/nuclear gothic; propagandistic talk about windmills as killing machines; airplanes or spacecraft as gothic sites; the winds and wutherings that course through so many gothic stories; and more. How do gothic texts evoke unrest, turbulence, undeadness, and/or trauma by way of airborne vectors? How does airborne gothic both thwart and encourage collective atmospheres?
Please send one-paragraph abstracts and short bios to Jennifer Schell (jschell5@alaska.edu) and Eric Anderson (eandersd@gmu.edu) by December 20, 2024.
TV Matters (Intellect Books)
Editor: Sabrina Mittermeier
TV Matters is a new series of short monographs (40,000 to 50,000 words) on television series, analysing their production history, cultural context, main themes, as well as fandom and audience reception. The focus is on shows that both have critical acclaim (as reflected by awards, media reviews), but more importantly, are genuinely ‘popular’. That means they have had a robust viewership and ideally an active fandom (watercooler discussions on- and offline, as well as fan production such as fic, art, vids etc.) and/or an unusual reception history (cases of bans, censorship or similar). As the intended audience for this book series extends beyond academia, we expect an engaging/accessible writing style. This however does not mean less academic ‘rigour’ – authors should thoroughly research production history (incl. where possible through interviews with creators or archival research), include a solid textual analysis of main themes and should show familiarity with concepts and theories of fan and audience studies.
The aim of this book series is to engage with TV shows that were and are truly popular rather than just part of a canon of ‘quality TV’ or ‘cult TV’. The scope includes scripted/fictional programming, both live action as well as animation, but also reality TV, casting shows and documentary formats, if they fill the criteria. If it mattered to people, it qualifies!
This crucially also means shows outside of a Eurocentric lens of media production – K-Drama, Telenovelas, any popular TV in its respective cultural contexts, but also productions that crossed border lines and were adapted transnationally. In case of particularly long-running shows such as soaps or procedurals, or non-scripted content, ongoing series are also open to consideration. To illustrate examples, series that tentative authors have already been approached about include Bridgerton(2020–), Game of Thrones (2011–2019), Ted Lasso (2020–2023), Ducktales (1987–1990), Star Trek: Voyager(1995–2001) and the Eurovision Song Contest.
At this point, we are open to any proposals on series meeting the criteria, but are especially looking for someone interested in writing on Supernatural (2005–2020), Friends (1994–2004), Buffy the Vampire Slayer(1997–2003), Grey’s Anatomy (2005–), Doctor Who (1963–), the CSI, NCIS, Law & Order franchises or long-running reality TV and transnational competition formats such as Survivor, Big Brother or Strictly Come Dancing. If this sounds like you please approach us!
As a first step, just send a short (!) pitch (500 words max), including what series you’d want to write on and why you think it matters, to the series editor Sabrina Mittermeier (Sabrina.Mittermeier@uni-kassel.de). If deemed a good fit, we move on to a more formal proposal. We expect the series to launch in 2026.
Gothic Crossroads
A conference exploring and celebrating the multi and interdisciplinary crossings of Gothic and Horror Studies.
Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, 25th-27th June, 2025
Plenary Speakers: Prof Rosario Arias (University of Malaga, Spain), Dr. Maisha Wester (Global Professor, University of Sheffield, UK)
Physical crossroads have long been sites where the human, divine and demonic were felt to converge and potent sites for magical, religious encounters, rituals of transformation, binding of undesirable spirits, siting of gallows and links to ancient cosmology. This conference also considers the crossroads as a space where the boundaries between differing spheres are negotiable, asking what it means to walk in the interdisciplinary pathways and cross currents of the Gothic.
The crossroad is a geographical location and ancient symbol closely associated with folklore where two or more realms touch. It is historically and imaginatively connected with travellers and travelling, strange encounters, omens, choice and indecision, danger, suicide, criminality, apocalypse and renewal, guilt and judgement, punishment, ritual and ceremony, lovers’ meetings, hanging, summoning, access to Gods, devil dealing, casting out and death. The choice between paths can also lead to repercussions and consequences of “the wrong path”, “the path not taken” and “straying from the path”.
This conference invites creative and scholarly consideration of any aspect of these areas or any other creative/critical spin on themes of crossing/crossover/cross currents, travelling, intersection, interception, (con)junction, incursion, deviation and transitioning in any/all aspects of cultural production as it relates to Gothic and horror.
It also proposes the crossing as a metaphor for presenting and thinking on the interdisciplinary work of the Gothic and the intersectional/transnational spaces where the gothic is engaged and approached. Thus, we are particularly interested in “paths less travelled” and contributions from scholars and ECRs working in the intersections where the cultural work of Gothic and horror studies crosses boundaries and spheres, engaging with fields and disciplines beyond the traditional, and where new “crossings” can be discovered. This includes, but is not limited to: Gothic and horror in gaming, architecture and heritage, creative writing and practice, comics and graphic novels, scriptwriting, theatre, music, geography, plant studies and environmentalism, anthropology, libraries and archives, sociology and social studies, broadcasting, publishing, media and graphic design. We are sure there are more, so feel free to surprise us with your wanders, crossings, and encounters!
Please submit a 250-word abstract for 15-minute presentations by 28th February 2025 to Dr Emma Liggins and Dr Eleanor Beal at gothic@mmu.ac.uk
For all submissions, be sure to include your name, a short (50-word) biographical sketch, institutional affiliation (if any), and contact details. Please send your submission as an attachment (as opposed to a link to a server such as Googledocs).
Submissions for panels should be sent as a single submission with three to four 250-word abstracts, a brief statement of the theme of the panel and the information above about each of the presenters.
Submissions for workshops should indicate the length of the workshop (max. 45 minutes).
If accepted to deliver a paper or workshop, a number of travel bursaries up to £100 are available for selected international and UK postgraduates on application.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.
Fifty years ago, the Great Bookie Robbery occurred in Melbourne, Australia when a gang of well-prepared robbers made off with millions from a bookmaker that was never recovered. While the large sum of missing monies was well known, what was not as known was a secret stash of diamonds that were absconded with, their purported fate even more mysterious.
Five decades later, Gary Chance, a former soldier of the Australian army who served in Afghanistan, now turned criminal, finds himself in a botched robbery of a cult. Though the operation is a bust, he gains a new partner, Eva McCulloch, another criminal who had eyes on the cult’s hidden fortune.
Both searching for that one last job to put their respective criminal lives behind them, Chance and Eva accept a mission from Vera Leigh, an aging socialite/madame/S&M dungeon owner who needs monies to fight ruthless property developers. The new job: track down the mythical diamonds from the Great Bookie Robbery from ages past. With only sparse clues at their disposal, the duo accepts the gig, which will take them to the United States and different cities in southeast Australia, while also being pursued by former accomplices, cult members, criminals, and a retired police officer who all have eyes on the diamonds themselves.
Andrew Nette’s Orphan Road is an Australian crime novel, though with a greater emphasis on the adventure aspects of the criminal underworld rather than the criminal element proper. The protagonists of Orphan Road are “good” criminals in that their adversaries are all unsavory characters themselves, be it a ruthless developer, White Nationalists, a greedy former police officer, and so on, making the morals depicted in the novel black and white, rather than the grey area that is found in more noir-ish crime stories.
The lead protagonist, Chance, is incredibly fun to follow. He is akin to a Jack Reacher-style character: former military, nomadic, off the grid, cunning, finding themselves in the middle of bigger criminal schemes, and extremely proficient at bedding the ladies. The big difference between the two characters is that Reacher is far more noble and near invulnerable compared to Chance, while Chance is a much more grounded character and less of a Gary Stu.
The adventure/mystery of Chance trying to track down diamonds, for all purposes lost to history, it fairly exciting, especially considering the roadblocks and dead ends he and his cohorts encounter. There is a tiny bit of globetrotting, fisticuffs, and gunplay, but the forefront is the mystery. Nette crafts a new mystery (the diamonds) and anchors it to a real-world event (the robbery), which gives the story credibility and buy in from the reader. This does cause a small problem: how does one graft this new mystery when decades have passed and most historic players are long dead and leads dried up. How can in-world amateur sleuths and professionals alike fail to find the diamonds, but Chance is able to get a new trail? The clue is fairly lackluster, a newspaper clipping that, in theory, anyone else would have access to, but its serviceable to get the heroes on their adventure.
The strongest component of Orphan Road does arise from Nette trying to work within these real world confines of lapsed time inherent in old cold cases, and that is its critique on the past and nostalgia. The majority of players in Orphan Road are fairly old, in their 70s and 80s, having served in Vietnam, or East Coast American Mafia of the 80s, or lived through other events. The Melbourne that Chance remembers has been demolished and gentrified, which is supposed to be the ultimate fate of Leigh’s establishment. Leigh, herself, tries to retcon the past by positing it was a time when criminals had class, code, and honour. Chance is quick to point out this rose-coloured view of old school crime, and even confirms it firsthand when he encounters the American mafia, still holding onto their old ways as if in a Scorcese film. Everything in Chance’s mission is old: the archive of files and photos around the diamond caper, the Ford Falcon that is driven, the Luger that is the sidearm, the ruins of burnt down buildings, and even the cult at the beginning of the novel, who worship the lost continent of Atlantis. While there are many adversaries in Orphan Road, the spectre of the past is the prominent one.
The weakest component, on the other hand, is the end of Orphan Road. Not so much the end-end proper, which does nicely wrap up all loose ends of Chance’s adventure – diamonds and all, but it is the in between the book’s climax and then end revelation. After the climax, the adventure resolution is still not within hand, so the book changes its focus from a time-is-of-the-essence thriller to a leisurely explore around and let a large passage of time elapse pace, which kills the momentum. This is unfortunate because everything up to this point is a real page turner, coupled with heightened stakes as Nette is unafraid to kill off a pivotal characters.
There is a passion from Nette on display in Orphan Road, and this is no doubt due to his love of the pulp genre, police procedurals, and gritty crime cinema, all of which he has written essays and commentaries about. With Orphan Road, Nette is able to seize a historic robbery, make it even more interesting, and throw in characters like Chance that are easy to become invested in, while at the same time not resorting to the tried-and-true method of pulling rabbits out of the pop culture reference hat. Orphan Road is anchored historically, despite being contemporary, and it succeeds extremely well.
For more information on Orphan Road and Andrew Nette, check out these links:
My publisher, McFarland books, is having a Holiday sale on all of their tiles! From November 15th to December 2nd, if you use code “HOLIDAY24” during checkout, you’ll get a 35% discount.
If you want to support me, consider buying a copy of The New Peplum or Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern:
Normal Price: 19.99 35% = 6.99 Price after coupon: 12.99
A Hero Will Endure Paperback Relese + Discount
Vernon Press, the publisher of A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just released a cheaper, paperback version of the book, just in time for Gladiator 2!
The paperback is at the much more friendly price of $57 compared to $96 for the hardcover and $107 for an electronic version. All editions of the book can be found at the Vernon Press product page.
In addition, the publisher is offering a coupon on purchases of the collection! From now until the end of January 2025, if you use code SLZM30 at check out, you’ll get 30% off the title. So, the $57 book now becomes $39.99. Nice!
ECOF 2025
In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).
Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:
I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. There currently is a fundraiser going on to raise funds for the ERB plaque, and details for that can be found in the QR code in the above graphic, or by checking out the donation page at the Sulphur Springs Valley Valley Historical Society. 3.8K of 5K has been raised already.
Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2024.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #326.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #327.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #328.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus / Warlord of Mars #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #329.
“Wondercon 2019 Coverage: Tarzan, John Carter, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.: What’s New?” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #330.
Calls for Papers/Proposals
Here are some new pop culture CFPs that have crossed my paths. Links to these will also be in the CFP page on the navigation bar.
Edited by Dr. Naomi Simone Borwein and Dr. Krista Collier-Jarvis
Building on discussions in the edited volume, Global Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi, 2025), this is a call for chapter proposal submissions focused on the topic of Contemporary Indigenous Horror. Beautiful, luminous and resonant moments of horror exist in the work of writers like Shane Hawk, Kim Scott, Tiffany Morris, Waubgeshig Rice, or Ambelin Kwaymullina. But Indigenous horror tales thrive in many narrative or storying forms—from fiction, plays, and music, to graphic novels, art installations, or experimental films fortified by sonic and oral manifestations.
In response to the forthcoming inaugural essay collection, Global Indigenous Horror (2025), Judith Leggatt states, “Global Indigenous Horror is a timely and welcome addition to the growing field of Indigenous Horror studies.” Over the past decade, there has been a (re)surgence in Indigenous works focusing on tales of horror, such as Anoka: A Collection of Indigenous Horror (2011; Hawk); Ajjiit: Dark Dreams of the Ancient Arctic (2011; Tinsley and Qitsualik); Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Anthology Collection (2023; Hawk and Van Alst Jr.); Whistle at Night and They Will Come: Indigenous Horror Stories (2023; Soop); Midnight Storm, Moonless Sky: Indigenous Horror Stories (2022; Soop); Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories (2019), Moosebumpz: Scary Stories from the Rez, and The Land Has Spoken—Tales of Indigenous Horror (2024; Hawk and Rogers), and Zegaajimo: Indigenous Horror Fiction (2024; Akiwenzie and Adler), just to name a few.
Responding to the widening gap between Indigenous horror and academic responses to it, editors Naomi Simone Borwein and Krista Collier-Jarvis solicit contributions for Contemporary Indigenous Horror. Shane Hawk broadly defines horror as that which “prioritizes the fear factor, often using graphic depictions of violence, monstrous beings, or otherworldly threats to achieve its effect. The ultimate purpose of horror is to confront the reader with their deepest fears, creating an experience that is visceral and unsettling.” When taken up by Indigenous storytellers, horror often engages with a colonial past that has never really passed, and as such, it haunts contemporary Indigenous peoples and communities. Indigenous horror thus often blends traditional stories as well as Indigenous ways of knowing and being with contemporary issues. In many cases, Indigenous horror is about our lived experiences, not as the victim of ongoing coloniality, but as resistance. According to Elizabeth Edwards and Brenna Duperron, “Indigeneity is a resistance — in the usual sense of opposition, repudiation, and refusal to comply […but also] resistant to assimilation. Indigeneity is the lived and embodied experience of peoples who have participated in that resistance” (94). In many other cases, Indigenous horror is about what Scott Gordon calls “colonial whiplash,” where “white people who haven’t turned into zombies [or other monsters] are at the mercy of the oppressed”—their Indigenous saviours. And in other cases, what Indigenous horror is has yet to be revealed.
Chapters (6,000-8,000 words including bibliography) may examine modern, contemporary representations of Indigenous Horror from a variety of perspectives. With a focus on analysis of current horror (narrative) production by self-identifying artists, writers, and other creators, some areas of consideration include, but are not limited to:
the future of Indigenous Horror;
Indigenous futurisms;
Indigenous futurism in relation to Afrofuturism;
the post-apocalyptic;
after the Anthropocene (or other labels);
pre-contact/post-contact;
Indigenous “monsters”;
Indigenous identity/identities;
unsettling, activism;
love, reciprocity, and horror;
Indigenous horror and visual, digital, or textual sovereignty;
mixed media, experimental media;
virtual, embodied, extended, or augmented reality;
multisensory installation and the horror experience;
ecological discourses and horror manifestations in relation to speculative narratives;
interrogation of “rewilding” and alternatives;
decolonization of Indigenous stereotypes in mainstream Horror and their counterparts in Indigenous narratives;
authentic Indigenous horror images, visions, “metaphors” or “motifs”;
social media and h/Horror in relation to fiction marketization;
sonic landscapes of horror;
systems of Indigenous horror that move between fiction, film, music, and other media;
NDN and Horror media;
inter-tribal horror/Horror and trans-Indigeneity or pan-Indigeneity;
exploration of various land-based, place-based, sky-based, star-based, or water-based horrors in narratives by Indigenous creators;
blood, heredity, categorization, and holocaust/genocide narratives;
reconciliation;
virtue signalling, horror, media cultures and spaces;
metacommentary;
analysis of Indigenous Gothic and Horror;
Indigenous Horror fiction and ways of knowing;
reading (and teaching) Indigenous horror fiction;
horror systems as epistemologies;
Indigenous Horror fiction and scholarship;
and more.
This follow-up collection seeks contributions from self-identified Indigenous scholars in any stage of their academic journey. We also encourage submissions from allies to the community. To acknowledge the various ways in which Indigenous scholarship may emerge, we welcome both traditional as well as more exploratory approaches, including submissions of proposals for non-fiction works by self-identified Indigenous storytellers reflecting on the process of writing, or otherwise producing, horror.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to editors Naomi Simone Borwein (nborwein@uwo.ca) and Krista Collier-Jarvis (Krista.Collier-Jarvis@msvu.ca) by May 30, 2025. Accepted chapters will be due June 30, 2026.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.
Gladiator 2 Cinemark Popcorn Bucket
Collectable popcorn buckets are becoming a big thing now. Gladiator 2 has one, of course. Thankfully this bucket could be ordered online instead of actually going to a Cinemark theater. So, of course I ordered a bucket:
Sword and Sandal Blu-rays
Coinciding with the release of Gladiator 2 in November, there’s been a handful of older pepla getting new releases on UHD/Blu-ray. In mid November three came in the mail: Steelbook edition of the original Gladiator (2000), a new cut of Caligula (1979), and a new edition of Hercules Returns (1993).
Rest in Peplum Tony Todd
Tony Todd, horror actor extraordinaire best known for his portrayal as Candyman, passed away. He starred in a handful of pepla: Xena (1995-2001), Hercules (1995-1999), Beastmaster 3 (1996), and Minotaur (2006).
Michele and I had the honor to meet him way back in 2008 at a horror con in SeaTac. He autographed my Criterion Collection edition of The Rock (1996):
When Candyman 2021 came out I did an article on bands that sample dialogue from the original Candyman (1992). Do check out that article to see some innovative ways that Todd lives on via textual sampling.
Art of Michele Brittany
Michele has started a Facebook Page devoted to her crafting and art. If you want to check out her projects or purchase some of her journals, give the page a like and follow!
