New episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online! We had a bit of a modified schedule these past two months due to the holidays and other obligations, but we will be back to a regular schedule in January.
For our latest episode we take a look at the new Raw Dog Screaming Press anthology, Attack from the ’80s. Edited by Eugene Johnson, we dive into “Permanent Damage” by Lee Murray and “The White Room” by Rena Mason. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.
Scholars from the Edge of Time
Michele and I had an episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time drop last Thursday.
Our episode was on the film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. You can stream the episode at BlogTalkRadio.
AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline
The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.
George Chrysostomou has an opinion piece at SreenRant called “10 Genres That Have Been Underutilized By The MCU.” The last genre Chrysostomou suggests in the article that the Marvel universe should dive into is the sword and sandal genre. From the article:
The sword-and-sandal genre fits perfectly with characters like Thor and Loki. It really hasn’t been used properly, though, with fantasy elements and sci-fi features becoming a mainstay of those movies instead. The genre itself has really died, but Marvel can be the company to renew it.
Hercules is a natural fit for this genre, as a film surrounding the early life of the Olympian before moving across time to the modern-day would be a fantastic introduction to the character. It could play into the mythology of Ancient Greece in a way Thor’s Norse history did not get featured.
George Chrysostomou
Yes, I agree! Bring forth Marvel’s Hercules!
New Hrossharsgrani Release
My friend Alex Wieser has a Viking metal project called Hrossharsgrani (which I have written extensively his Pro Liberate Dimicandum Est album in my essay in the forthcoming Gladiator book). After around a decade hiatus, his project is back in action with a new release.
It is a split album with German Viking/black metal Nachtfalke called Journey’s End. The album can be bought at Christhunt Productions.
I received an email from my editor that the Gladiator book’s manuscript is finally in the publisher’s hands. This is fantastic news. It’s looking more optimistic that the book will be published next year and my essay, “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling,” will finally be unleashed upon the world. This is my second major contribution to peplum scholarship and I am extremely excited for this essay.
Cats: A Companion
Simon Bacon has submitted a proposal off to some publishers for a book called Cats: A Companion:
If the book gets a green light, then I’ll be contributing an essay about cats in pepla, so get ready lots of movies about lions in the arena!
General Neo-Peplum News
Horns Ablaze Magazine
Hal C. F. Astell has launched a new digital magazine called Horns Ablaze that collects his metal reviews at his Apocalypse Later website. Issue #0 is available in PDF format and contained reviews for Viking metal albums such as Enslaved’s Caravans to the Outer Worlds, Nidhoeggr’s Arise, and Aexylium’s The Fifth Season. Bonus: there’s even an advert for our own H. P. Lovecast Podcast in the magazine!
This weekly news report is a bit on the lighter side. Part of that is its the holidays, but the main reason is Michele and I are knee deep in projects that will bear lots of fruit in 2022:
Michele and I are conducting a top secret interview with another person for a book to be published in 2022.
Prepping for an interview with another author for my website.
I am starting an essay for a magazine that’s due at the end of January. My biggest magazine writing gig yet!
Knee deep in coordinating the interviews for this month’s HP Lovecast Podcast which is focused on the book Attack From the 80s.
Plotting the first three months of HP Lovecast in 2022 (take a look at the podcast page for a sneak preview).
AnnRadCon coordination.
Editing a previous essay of mine to submit to a journal.
So as you can see, there is lots of big stuff going on behind the scenes! Stay tuned as these projects come to completion. In the meantime, here is some general personal and peplum news.
McFarland Mythology & Folklore Book Sale
My publisher, McFarland, is having a sale on their books classified as mythology and folklore. Until December 19th, if you use the code MYTHOLOGY25 during check out, you’ll get a 25% discount on these books.
Cover art for The New Peplum
Included in this sale is my book, The New Peplum. If you’ve been curious about the book, (maybe as a Yuletide gift?), check it out at McFarland’s product page.
AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline
The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.
I’ve scored lots of neo-peplum and adjacent loot this past week! Hey, it’s Yuletide season, I can treat myself, right?
First up, arriving in the mail last week, is a vinyl copy of the Ex Der album, The Thirteen Years of Nero, autographed by Maurizio Iacono. I love it! The new album is stellar and I love the song “Imperator.” Both Ex Deo and Warkings are the two prominent metal acts that are just slaying the neo-peplum genre when it comes to music.
Next up, we had a friend and academic colleague visit us on their road trip. We decide to treat them by taking them to one of the Zia’s in Phoenix, which of course we love to go to and scavenge for cool loot. First up, got some new Blu-rays to upgrade my copies of 300 and 300: Rise of an Empire.
For only $9.00 I plucked up this Troy DVD boxset. This was too good to pass up, it full of so much swag. I think I’ll do a separator unboxing post showing off its stately contents.
Lastly, I purchased King of Kings by Leaves’ Eyes and The Witch of the North by Burning Witches.
Leave’s Eyes is symphonic Viking metal that, to me, sounds like a cross between Corvus Corvax, Qntal, and Die Prophezeiung-era E Nominee. I really dig it.
Burning Witches isn’t really peplum-metal, but there’s trace elements of Norse, Viking, and Medieval, so I’ll allow it. Very catchy all-female heavy metal.
A reminder, as the timeframe for recommendations closes at the end of the month, my essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth” is eligible for the short non-fiction Bram Stoker award. Interested parties can read the 1,600 word essay at Academia Letters. Thank you for your consideration!
Citation News: Any Time But Now
Just discovered that back in 2019, my Stranger Things/Synthwave essay, “Lost Nights and Dangerous Days,” was cited numerous times in University of Cologne student David Hornyak’s bachelor’s thesis, “Any Time But Now: The Cultural Environment of Synthwave.” If you read German, their thesis can be read online. I am super flattered to find out I was cited 15 times!
AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline
The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.
In case you missed it, Michele and I published a new episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast.
Michele at The Frida when we saw The Void back in 2016. Photo by Nicholas Diak.
Our new episode is on the cosmic horror/homage horror film, The Void. It can be streamed on our Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.
General Neo-Peplum News
Aexylium’s The Fifth Season Review
Hal C. F. Astell has reviewed the new Aexylium folk/Viking metal album, The Fifth Season, at his website, Apocalypse Later.
Medusa Horror Film
Per this article at Deadline, Anna Chazelle is looking to write and direct a horror film centered on the mythology of Medusa for Fangoria Films. This will be great!
Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity Conference
Dr. Jeremy Swist will be curating a virtual conference called Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity.
Registration for the conference is free and is being held via Zoom.
Went to the Book Gallery in Phoenix today and plucked up this autographed book:
It’s called Gladiator: Fight for Freedom and appears to be the first book in a series. I’d never heard of Simon Scarrow before, but it looks like he has a fare share of neo-pepla fiction out there, so I’ll have to check it out. I love the autograph and the stamp in this one. Copy 50 of 100, woo!
Brand new episode of H. P. Lovecraft Presents: Fragments is online!
We start our 80s theme by diving into the film, The Void. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or on your. podcast app of preference.
Citation News
My essay, “Meteor Madness: Lovecraftian Horror and Consumerism in the Battle for Small Town USA” which appeared in Michele’s Bram Stoker nominated collection, Horror in Space: Critical Essays on a Film Subgenre, looks to have its first citation, and in an unexpected book at that! Lisa Swanstrom references my essay in her essay, “From Protoplastics to the Plastiglomerate: Science Fiction’s Shifting Synthetic Sensibilities” which appears in the book Life in Plastic: Artistic Responses to Petromodernity.
I interviewed Samuel George London about the second issue of his neo-peplum comic, Band of Warriors, which can be read here. You can also read my first interview with him here.
General Neo-Peplum News
Bible Films Blog: Retrospective of The Bible on Film
Matt Page has begun his retrospective of The Bible on Film: A Checklist 1897 – 1980 at his Bible Films Blog.
Photo by Matt Page
First he has an interview with one of the authors, Richard H. Campbell. Next he has a list of ten factoids and trivia about the book. Keep checking back at the Bible Films Blog for more articles!
Recent Acquisitions
It was a Black Friday weekend and I decided to head to Zia’s Records and search around for any cool finds. I did come back with am armful of neo-pepla media that perhaps will make it onto my website as an essay or review or something!
First, here is a Blu-Ray for Ruggero Deodato’s The Barbarians. I am a fan of Deodato’s non-cannibal films, with Cut and Run being my favourite. This Italio sword-n-sorcery flick has been on my wish list to watch for a long time.
Michele and I went to the metal section, and working from both ends, tried to find any metal albums that had the most peplum-looking covers as possible. We wound up finding three along with the Gladiator soundtrack.
I only took a quick listen of all three albums, and none of them are really my cup of tea metal-wise (I prefer power metal and adventure metal personally) but all are pretty fascinating, at least from my nursery listen and looking at the art.
Stillbirth’s Revive the Throne has crazy cover art that is a gory parody, complete with pop culture cameos, of Gérôme’s Pollice Verso. Guttural death metal isn’t my thing, but I am digging that cover. Dark Quarterer’s Pompei also has great art, but the prog-rock vocals are a little too old school for me. I was really optimistic for Upon This Dawning’s To Keep Us Safe for some odd reason, but again, metal core not my cup of tea, but I dig the Spartans on the cover and I am not detecting the usual right-wing/eugenic nonsense on this album as found in other Sparta-centric projects/albums.
First things first, it’s been since January since we last talked. How are you, and aside from Band of Warriors, what has been going on?
What a year!? I’ve been busy badgering away on some other comics I’m pitching to publishers but also my son was born a few weeks ago. He’s our second child, so it’s been wonderful to see them interact but it’s also a game changer in terms of time management. On the whole though, I’m good and looking forward to seeing what 2022 brings.
The first issue of Band of Warriors was released earlier this year. What has been the feedback and comments you’ve received thus far?
The feedback on BoW #1 has been really positive. The general feeling seems to be that it’s a strong start and people are looking forward to seeing where it goes. Pipedream Comics gave me a positive review which I’m really happy about.
Since issue one has been out for a while, spoil away! What has been the most delightful thing for you personally about that issue?
As you say SPOILERS AHEAD, but the most delightful thing for me about issue one was killing off who seemed to be a main character. I think most people thought that King Minos would be sticking around but unless they find a cure for decapitation, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Has there been any experiences, encounters, something read, watched or learned in the last few months that has had an impact on Band of Warriors?
I went to visit my in-laws in France over the summer and we visited a beach that inspired the front cover of issue two. It’s always good to base things off of experience when you can.
Any new obstacles or hurdles encountered while trying to get issue two up and running?
Haha… The only thing was my son being born the week before. I was in a mad rush to get everything ready, so that I could just press the launch button. I almost had everything ready but hadn’t got round to the video. I managed to cobble something together, which does the job.
Your Kickstarter has some new characters mentioned. Tell us about them!
We know Gaia and Girogos a little already, although we’ll find out more about them in this issue. The main difference is that we’re ten years in the future from the previous issue, so they’re ten years older. The other two main characters in this issue are Sarpedon and King Brutus. Starting with Sarpedon, he’s King Minos’ brother and chief of Aremorio, which is where Gaia and Giorgos reside and is located in modern day Brittany, France. King Brutus hails from Cornovii, which is modern day Cornwall, England. He has an interesting back story to say the least but you’ll have to read issue 2 before finding out what that is.
Whats been your soundtrack while writing Band of Warriors? What do you suggest as a soundtrack for your readers?
When writing I usually listen to the same music whatever I’m writing, which is Tycho. It doesn’t distract me but helps boost my thought process. If I was to recommend a soundtrack for BoW #2 though, it’d be traditional Breton music. If you watch this video closely you’ll see that in the background there’s a triskell symbol, which you’ll also find on Giorgos’ shield.
You’ve been contributing to the canon of neo-pepla with your comic. The genre seems to thrive on in other medias except for film nowadays. What do you feel the sword and sandal genre needs to do in order to stay relevant?
Relevance is always difficult to a handle on but people just need a compelling story they can relate to. I’m hoping that this and the next issue (#3) of BoW does that through the journey that Gaia and Giorgos are about to go on.
A little outside scope for Band of Warriors, but still relevant to you: you have a podcast called Comics for the Apocalypse. Can you tell us about this endeavor?
Comics for the Apocalypse is a lot of fun. I interview other comic creators about what comics they’d take into an apocalypse. I started it a few years ago and I now have over 130 episode with the likes of Charlie Adlard, Alison Sampson, Mark Waid, and Rachael Smith having been on the show.
As spoiler free as possible, what are some amazing things readers can look forward to in issue two of Band of Warriors? The main thing is that readers will get to see who Gaia and Girogos are. In the first issue they were being protected by their parents, but now they’re all on their own.
Thank you very much for this second interview, wishing you and all your endeavors continued success!
Kevin Wetmore’s newest book, Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters, has just been published by Reaktion Books.
We interviewed Dr. Wetmore about this book on episode 6 of our H. P. Lovecast: Transmissions podcast, which can be streamed at Buzzsprout. Michele and I are honored that we are both mentioned in the acknowledgments of the book – thank you so very much Dr. Wetmore!
Exotica Moderne #13
Issue #13 of Exotica Moderne is out now!
This contains my review of the book Cuban Cocktails. The magazine can be ordered at the House of Tabu website.
Nidhoegger sounds like a mixture of folk metal and Viking metal. Since I’ve just got done doing my Vikings presentation at MAPACA, I am kinda in a Viking metal mood, so I’ll definitely be checking this out.
Fascist Receptions of Antiquity in Metal Music
Dr. Swist gave a talk at Harvard back in October called “Fascist Receptions of Antiquity in Metal Music.”
That presentation has been uploaded to YouTube can be be watched here or in the embedded link above.
The Bible on Film 40th Anniversary Retrospective
Matt Page will be doing a retrospective on Richard H. Campbell and Michael R. Pitts book, The Bible on Film: A Checklist 1897-1980 at his Bible Films Blog. He’s planning a series of posts to celebrate the book, including an interview with one of the authors, so keep checking his website.
Recent Acquisitions
While at Barnes & Noble today I plucked up two items of interest.
The first is a National Geographic issue devoted to gladiators, which should be an interested research piece.
The next is a hardback edition of Lore Olympus. I became aware of the webcomic way back in 2019 when I was covering the Eisners for Fanbase Press (my overview of the webcomic Eisner nominees can be read here) and I fell in love with the neo-peplum aspects and the art style. However, I only read it back in 2019 but lost track. Now with this hardback I can submerge myself with the comic.
This episode is a little different. Michele and I have been inundated with lots of projects which took up the month of November. To accommodate this, we’ve decided to spread our 80s month over November and December and push our programming back a month. However, we took the opportunity to talk about all the various projects we are doing (NanoWriMo, AnnRadCon, MAPACA, etc.). It’s not often we get to talk about our selves and what we are working on, so here is a nice opportunity we made for ourselves. The episode can be streamed at our BuzzSprout website or via your podcast app of preference.
MAPACA Conference – Vikings/Acylum Presentation
This past week was the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association Conference. I gave a presentation titled “Victory Or Valhalla: Violence via Vikings Sampling in Acylum’s Kampf Dem Verderb.” The presentation continues the same scholarship from my Gladiator/industrial music sampling essay (that is to be published in 2022).
I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with this presentation. It’s really reduced to fit in the 15 minute timeframe, so I am thinking about overhauling it and getting it to proper essay length and submitting it to a journal. For now though, I’ve recorded a version of it and uploaded it to YouTube (unlisted) for the time being. Feel free to watch and let me know of any feedback!
General Neo-Peplum News
Recent Acquisitions
A few years late and a dollar short, but I finally got my paws on a copy of the Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey art book.
Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays, the academic anthology that Michele and I edited that is based on presentations from the first two years of our Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference, is listed in the non-fiction section of Ellen Datlow’s book, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 13.
For November we will be doing an 80s-themed month for the H. P. Lovecast Podcast. We will be watching the film, The Void, and then looking at the Raw Dog Screaming Press anthology, Attack from the 80s. Keep an eye out for these episodes at our Buzzsprout website or on your podcast app of preference.
NanoWriMo
Michele is doing NanoWriMo! She’s working on a novel called Land of the Riverbank.
If you want to support her or follow her progress, her username is Mbrittany at the NanoWriMo website.
General Neo-Peplum News
Band of Warriors #2 Kickstarter
Samuel George London has officially launched the Kickstarter to fund issue #2 of his neo-peplum comic series, Band of Warriors.
Here are some new sword and sandal and neo-peplum artifacts I’ve procured.
Physical releases of sword and sandal films are drying up. These used to be very plentiful in the 2000s and early 2010s from budget companies. However, these mostly skipped the Blu-ray format and now exist on YouTube in even worse edits. Had an opportunity to pick up this 50 movie back of sword and sandal films which plugs a lot of gaps on my collection.
I really enjoyed Warkings’ Revolution that I bought from Zia’s Records a few weeks ago. I decided to buy their first two albums, Reborn and Revenge. Very nice power metal, though the lyrics at times are a little silly.
Our monthly Transmissions episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is now online. This month we interview Kathleen Kaufman, Janet Joyce Holden, and Heather Herrman.
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany
The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.
Isidora #2 Unboxing
Over the weekend I received my copy of Isidora #2 and wow! was it packaged with so much loot. I decided to do a write up of unboxing its contents.
Sword and Sandal Podcasts
On Tuesday I was a guest on Hercules Invictus’ Sword and Sandal Special episode. I talked about the neo-peplum video game, The Forgotten City. That episode can be streamed/downloaded at BlogTalkRadio.
On Thursday Michele and I had our monthly Scholars From the Edge of Time episode, which is currently focused on the sword and planet genre. We discuss Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. This episode can also be streamed/downloaded at BlogTalkRadio.
