In this episode we interview Tom Starita about his new horror novel, Delta, and Beth Cato about her new chef/swashbuckling novel, A Thousand Recipes for Revenge. The episode can be streamed at the H. P. Lovecast Buzzsprout website, the embedded player below, or through all major podcast apps.
For May’s Scholars from the Edge of Time episode Michele and I discuss the 1955 Howard Hawks film Land of the Pharaohs. It can be viewed on YouTube.
We also did another episode a week later, with Michele talking about the white cat in Mummy (1999) and me talking about cats in strongman sword and sandal films of the late 50s/early 60s. Also on YouTube.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.
Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”
Published in late March, the first issue of the zine Footage Fiends, contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”
I shared this on Twitter the other day and since it is peplum related I thought I would share it here.
Here is my DVD copy of Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part 1 signed by November 1980 Playboy Playmate Jeana Keough (Tomasino).
Aside from her Playboy spread, Keough is probably best known for her appearances in various ZZ Top music videos of the 80s and in The Real Housewives of Orange County series. She only had a cameo part in History of the World Part 1 during the Roman Empire segment. I had the honor to meet Keough at a Glamourcon convention way back in 2010:
Jeana Keough (Tomasino) – Glamourcon 2010
Aside from autograph my copy of History of the World, she also autographed an 8×10 of one of her Playboy pictures for Michele and I:
Jeana Keough Playboy picture with super stockings.
First new article up at my website is an interview with the authors of the brand new book, Heavy Music Mothers: Extreme Identities, Narrative Disruptions.
I had the honor to talk with Joan Jocson-Singh and Julie Turley on their book. It can be read here.
H. P. Lovecast Podcast
New episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online!
Michele and I return back to the Lands of Dream to talk about the one-shot comic Dreamquest by Clay Adams and Mick Beyers. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website, via the embedded link below, or via your podcast app of preference.
And for fun, here is my autographed copy from the original Kickstarter campaign:
Fan2Fan Appearance – Akira
2023 marks the 35th anniversary of the legendary anime Akira.
The cool kids over at Fan2Fan have invited me on their podcast to talk about the iconic Japanimation film. Part one can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn, in the embedded podcast player below, or via your podcast app of preference (Akira part 2 is with Allan and Rebecca and can be streamed here).
Also, here is my trustworthy, old school Vampire Hunter D DVD:
Book Reviews
A few reviews of some of the books I’ve been involved in have popped up.
First, there is a fairly positive review of The New Peplum that appears in Cadmo: Journal for Ancient History, 2022, No. 31., written by Inês Simão Sebastião. The review is in Portuguese.
Next, there is a review of Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern in the debut issue of The Incredible Nineteenth Century: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Fairy Tale. The review, by Hogan D. Schaak, is not a positive one at all. Take it with a grain of salt since the reviewer butchers Michele’s name as “Brittany Michelle.”
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.
Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”
Published in late March, the first issue of the zine Footage Fiends, contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”
It’s Mother’s Day so what is the best way to celebrate moms out there? A nice brunch? Flowers and treats? A present? Presents are always nice, especially if it’s a copy of the brand new book Heavy Music Mothers: Extreme Identities, Narrative Disruptions (HMM) by Joan Jocson-Singh and Julie Turley.
In HMM, Jocson-Singh and Turley dive into the world of mothers who listen to/create heavy music by citing memoirs and conducting their own interviews with musicking mothers. The book is the first of its kind to focus on mothers and their stories in a scenes historically seen as misogynistic. In anticipation of HMM’s immanent release, Jocson-Singh and Turley have been gracious to be interviewed about their work.
What got you into extreme music?
Jocson-Singh: My soon to be ex-husband, who I met when I was 17, introduced me to Carcass and Death. At the time, my ears weren’t attuned to death vocals and I fondly recall telling him that “it wasn’t music.” I was coming from a New Wave and classical music background so it was hard for me to comprehend. But then when I was 23, my mother passed away and my ex played Carcass, Death, and Crisis again, and all of sudden those growls, tremolo picking, double bass drumming, and downtuned guitars made sense. Especially hearing Karyn of Crisis belt vocals that alternated from clean to death, I was in awe. Her proto-feminist metal made even more sense to me and I found that extreme metal could be both cathartic and empowering. It was like coming home.
What was the catalyst of Heavy Music Mothers? How did this book come about?
Jocson-Singh: The catalyst for Heavy Music Mothers was meeting Julie at a library conference. A mutual colleague said Julie was the “Rock n’ Roll Librarian” and should therefore meet me, the “Metal Music Librarian!” We ended up chatting and talking about my previous graduate research which was all about interviewing women in NY and their participation in the Extreme Metal Music subculture. From there, we realized how much we had in common as unconventional mothers, librarians, and music fans. We knew right away that we couldn’t be the only ones with these kinds of stories.
For HMM, how did yall go about defining heavy music? Is it centered on punk and metal? Or do other extreme genres fall under this umbrella, such as power electronics and noise?
Jocson-Singh: I think for the most part, we defined “heavy” broadly. At times it was structural music that didn’t adhere to typical musical structures, compositions, and convention. We looked at “heavy” music with a subcultural lens – one where women weren’t welcomed due to typically male-coded elements of performance, aggression, hardness – where hard music “might be a place where every trace of the feminine has been expunged” (Reynolds and Press, 247). As far as genres, for me extreme metal became an umbrella term used to encompass music that’s often considered tonally aggressive, often incorporating harsh, unrecognizable vocals, down-tuned guitars, extremely fast percussion, rapid “wall of sound” drumming through use of double-bass drumming and “blast beat” techniques, frequent tempo and time signature changes and inhuman vocal style. Lyrical content is frequently described as misogynistic and nihilistic in theme, often relaying stories of murder, rape, death, suicide, Satanism, the occult, and madness (Jocson-Singh, 2016).
Turley: In general, our book focuses on women in punk, rock, and metal, but many of the women we included don’t fit neatly within these genres. For instance, Amy Rigby, whose memoir is discussed in chapter three, makes music in the tradition of Americana singer/songwriter tradition. Her great 90s-era all-female band The Shams were unplugged, after all. Heaviness is largely associated with amplification. Rigby’s memoir is among my favorites of what I’ve termed the “rock mom memoir,” and her songwriting is heavy in that it deconstructs love and relationships in complex ways. Likewise, Dafna Naphtali and her work have been included in the book. A music professor, she’s an experimental musician, who messes with a variety of musical traditions, from classical to heavy metal. Would her work be neatly classified as rock, punk, or metal? Conventionally speaking, no. Is her work and position as a musicking mother worthy of attention in our book? One-hundred percent yes.
Author photo provided by Jocson-Singh.
Can you provide a preview of some of the musician mothers you interviewed for HMM?
Jocson-Singh: I’m going to let Julie answer this when she gets a chance. She had far more interviewees than me and I think her perspective sheds some different and important insights.
Turley: The heavy music mothers who make up the heart of our book range from music lovers, to performing musicians–with a heavy metal deejay, and a writer/rock journalist who directed the 2022 docu-series Women Who Rock on Epix thrown into the mix.
How did you go about contacting folks for interviews? Were some acquaintances in your music circles or perhaps folks you had not met before and you reached out?
Jocson-Singh: For me, most of my interviewees came from the women I had interviewed during my graduate thesis work. I had kept in touch with the women who became mothers like myself, and others who were already mothers who had mentioned the challenges of being in the metal “scene.” We also conducted an online survey which asked participants if they wanted to be part of one-on-one interviews for us to gather further qualitative data.
Turley: Many of the musicking mothers were already within our respective circle of friends. Or extended circles. I had been a fan of Jessica Hopper’s book The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic for years and followed her on Instagram. And then I noticed she was a mom and reached out.
Without revealing too much from HMM, were there any major commonalities that were shared in the responses received?
Jocson-Singh: I felt the “return to autonomy” was a common pattern. I think the mothers we interviewed felt that when they became mothers they had to learn to be all the things that society embeds in us to be “good”mothers, thus personal interests and self-care activities went out the window until they were able to once again take up that mantel. Few were able to create new identities that incorporated being a successful mother and musician, though it was possible.
Turley: In almost all cases, including the data gleaned from published rock star memoirs, maintaining a “heavy music” identity in whatever iteration was crucial for a sense of overall mental health and well being. If one of our subjects felt compelled to “give up” a music identity, they at some point felt a strong pull for reconnection.
What was the biggest challenge encountered while composing and researching the book?
Jocson-Singh: For me, I would say timing. We started interviewing back in 2016/2017? A time when I was attending the DC Women’s March because Trump became president so you can imagine the social climate. I was on tenure track and pregnant with my second daughter and just trying to manage my career and life/work balance. Julie and I decided to formally start our study with women in the tri-state area somewhere in 2018/2019. We had been interviewing women for some time anyways. We got approached to convert our findings into a book from our publisher who attended one of our conference presentations.
But the biggest timing challenge was when I decided to take on a new position as the Library Dean at CalArts in Valencia CA. I had to move my family of four cross-country from New York to California at the height of the Covid pandemic (summer of 2020). The world was just a mess. On top of this, my twenty year relationship and marriage started falling apart. To be honest, this was happening while we were still in NY but I buried myself in work and research. In any case, these challenges served to be a multitude of lessons for me. I came to understood what it is to be a single mother; I became and heavily relied on my friendship with Julie and the moms we interviewed. And I came back to my first love – metal – to find myself again.
And conversely what was the biggest surprise that you learned?
Jocson-Singh: The biggest surprise I learned was that I wasn’t alone with my personal struggles, that other women were empowered by extreme metal music and its transgressive nature. I learned to be kinder to myself and navigate love in different ways. I know too many people think love and metal seem antithetical to each other, but for me, it’s their elements of being unconventional and unique that bridged a way for me to approach life more openly.
Your publisher’s book description says this is the first book of its kind. Are there more concepts you’d like to explore in successor material that you didn’t get a chance to in HMM?
Jocson-Singh: I agree with our publisher whole-heartedly! While there have always been women and mother-musicians talking about challenges within their musical subculture, I didn’t see enough ethnographic titles that reflected “lived” experiences, especially in heavier musical subcultures. As for successor material, I really want to explore more vigilante feminist practice, both with lyrical compositions in extreme metal music as well as performativity (how are women, mothers, trans, and non-binary folks performing in typically masculine spaces?).
Turley: Our bold assertion could be said to be based on a relatively cursory perusal of what we’ve seen online and in bookstores and libraries. As librarians, both Joan and I have been engaged in building library collections for years. So, to the best of our knowledge, ours is the first book to focus solely on the experiences of mothers who participate in what we’ve termed heavy music subcultures. The term “heavy” can have a variety of meanings and iterations. To answer your question, I wish we could have been a bit more exhaustive in our coverage. There were many rock moms we missed discussing, for example. Likewise, the book is frank about its limitations: our conclusion discusses contemporary and necessary challenges to the historically constructed binary and the nuanced iterations of mothers and bodies that give birth. I would love the chance to do an expanded edition.
Since some of HMM has been presented at academic conferences, how has the material been received so far? Did you have any attendees that identified with your work?
Jocson-Singh: Overall I think our research has been and continues to be well received. Most of the women I encounter tend to be artists and musicians and oftentimes they find our work very relatable.
Turley: The presentations Joan and I did together early on consisted of data from the still open online survey and resonant quotes pulled from the qualitative interviews. From the Museum of Motherhood Conference to the Modern Heavy Metal Conference in Helsinki, audiences were very receptive and excited about the topic. In Helsinki, an amazing rocker in a touring Helsinki-based band let us know that our presentation gave her hope that she could integrate motherhood into extreme, high-participation musicking.
With HMM concluded, what are your next projects or news you’d like to share?
Jocson-Singh: I continue to be interested in gender and musical subcultural practices all the time. The latest news I get to share is that for the next two years I will be busy helping to start up the library at the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art which will be opening here in LA in 2025. So for now, I’m learning all about the special collections at Lucas and thinking of ways in which the library can be both a welcoming and innovative place for all patrons interested in narrative art.
Turley: Right now, I’m hoping the book does well enough to warrant a second edition! I have some things in the works. Still trying to make every subject rock ‘n’ roll.
Sincere appreciation to Jocson-Singh and Turley for their time for this interview. For more information about Heavy Music Mothers and the other endeavors of these authors check out the links below. The book is slated to be published May 2023 by Rowan & Littlefield.
Another series of productive and hectic weeks. The big thing is the CFP for the Emmanuelle project closed at the end of April. I’ve sent out acceptances and am currently working on proposals to send to publishers. However, there is room for more essays in the book so I will probably reactivate the CFP and accept abstracts on a rolling basis. If you’re interested, reach out!
Weird Tales #367 Mini-Interviews
Last year for the sword and sorcery issue of Weird Tales I did a series of mini-interviews with a handful of contributors. That article can be found here.
I’ve done the same thing for the cosmic horror issue of Weird Tales that is being published later this month. Angela Yuriko Smith, Samantha Underhill, and Carol Gyzander all let me do a mini interview with them and they can be read here. Check them out and consider pre-ordering the issue.
“Strange Realities” Supplemental Material
Last year I had an essay about the movie Encounter with the Unknown published in The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone.
The final bit of the essay I make reference to the various VHS releases of Encounter. As a supplement to that essay I’ve uploaded pictures of these releases. Check it out here.
Footage Fiends #1 Is Out
The debut issue of Footage Fiends is out!
It actually was released a month or so ago and the copy I bought has been sitting in my PO Box for a few weeks. Oops.
This zine contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.” This first issue is limited to 50 physical copies, but I believe digital copies are available. The zine can be ordered via subscription from the Footage Fiends Patreon.
New H. P. Lovecast Podcast
Our monthly Transmissions episode for H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online!
In April we interviewed some cool comic book kids: Bernie Gonzalez (also of Fan2Fan Podcast fame) and Joshua Pruett. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout site, via the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.
Thank you Bernie and Joshua for appearing on our show!
Scholars from the Edge of Time
New episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online!
Michele and I talk about the 1954 proto-Raiders of the Lost Ark film, Secret of the Incas. You can hear our discussion on YouTube. I’ll be turning my notes into an article for Exotica Moderne in a bit, so stay tuned!
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.
Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”
Published in late March, the first issue of the zine Footage Fiends, contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”
Angela Sylvaine (awesome friend and writer who we interviewed on H. P. Lovecast back in June 2021) has her debut novel, Frost Bite, coming out later this year. Her publisher, Dark Matter Ink, just did a cover reveal and it is the bomb dot com.
I am digging the 90s and shades of vaporwave going on here. And, it’s meteorite-horror adjacent, so I am triple excited.
In the final quarter of 2022, the edited collection The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise, was published by McFarland. Edited by Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. and Ron Riekki, the book contains nineteen essays that take a variety of academic approaches to different Twilight Zone texts. One of those essays is mine, “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown.”
In my essay, I compare and contrast the original run of The Twilight Zone with the 1972 anthology-horror film, Encounter with the Unknown, which uses Rod Serling’s narration and Twilight Zone visual cues to, more-or-less, rip off the legendary series. While I consider the essay exhaustive and complete, I feel it could benefit from an addendum. The final section of my essay, ‘Voices and Images,’ I bring up examples of how VHS releases of Encounter of the Unknown mimic iconic visual elements of The Twilight Zone. While these descriptions are as detailed as possible, I figured readers of the essay would benefit from supplemental material that contains pictures of these VHS releases.
Blu-ray that uses the Encounter with the Unknown Poster.
Cover of the Interglobal release of Encounter.
Back of the Interglobal release.
Front of the VCI release.
Back of the VCI release.
If you haven’t read my essay and are curious, (or the entire book sounds intriguing), The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone can be purchased at McFarland and Amazon.
The early days of Weird Tales are renown as the premiere venue of authors of cosmic horror. Writers and poets such as H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, E. Hoffman Price, Robert Bloch, and others have had some of their most influential work initially published in the magazine.
A century later, even after a few turbulent decades, Weird Tales is still regarded with prestige and as a premiere publisher of pulp stories, including the cosmic horror genre it pioneered. Issue 367, slated to be published in May 2023, is themed on cosmic horror, rounding up numerous authors and poets of the genre, both new and established. A few of these authors have graciously allowed me to conduct some short-form interviews with them about their works that will appear in the new issue.
Angela Yuriko Smith
Story Title
“Lost Generations”
Story Synopsis
From Earth, a spaceship full of human seeds that have been programmed to procreate like mad when they are safely awakened at the end of their journey, thus ensuring offspring, and a future for humanity. Unfortunately, a black hole winds up being their unplanned destination.
Primary goal you wanted to accomplish with your story?
I enjoy the challenge of pairing contradictory ideas into a cohesive story. This was the result of pairing the joy of lovemaking and procreation with the opposite of that: death.
What cosmic horror authors/artists, both old school and contemporary, have had an influence on you and how?
Growing up I devoured all the Alfred Hitchcock anthologies I could find. I went through a period where I explored Lovecraft, but Edgar Allen Poe will remain my literary love until my own end, black hole or otherwise. I recently enjoyed Matt Huff’s Lovecraft Country and The Croning by Laird Barron.
Compared to other horror subgenres out there, what do you think are the appealing aspects and enduring qualities of cosmic horror?
For me, the appeal is the genre’s emphasis on our insignificance on this planet, in time and the universe in general. I think we make far too much of ourselves, in general, and that bloated sense of self-importance has been the catalyst for a lot of real horror in the world. The idea that a vast, overwhelming and omnipotent something might come and put us in our place is refreshing. In reality, I’m sure I’d be screaming with the rest of the fleeing mob, but I like to think I could appreciate a good, colossal doom for what it was before my own lights went out.
Your favourite Cthulhu Mythos deity or monster?
In the Cthulhu mythos, it would have to be Shub-Niggurath. Of monsters (cryptids) in general, I’m partial to Chupacabra. I’m positive if I ever cross paths with one, it will be instant mutual love at a glance.
Using cosmic horror and existential dread poetic styles, this poem explores how people accept the rose-colored version of what they want to see as it presents itself on the surface in a new relationship only to learn that what they allowed themselves to fall so easily for might take them to dark, dangerous, and inescapable places.
Primary goal you wanted to accomplish with your poem?
I hoped to evoke elements of cosmic horror and gothic poets such as Borges, Lovecraft, and Poe while representing my personal experiences of the everyday horrors of life and relationships. I was wanting to convey a message about the nature of existence and the unknown beyond our world, particularly in how there may be more to life than what we can see and experience in our own world, but that there are dangers and uncertainties in exploring the unknown.
What cosmic horror authors/artists, both old school and contemporary, have had an influence on you and how?
Jorge Luis Borges is probably one of my largest influences. He was a renowned Argentine writer and poet, known for his surreal, metaphysical, and philosophical literary works. Although not traditionally considered a writer of cosmic horror, his writing often explored themes of existential dread, the limits of human knowledge, and the incomprehensible nature of the universe, which are all central themes in cosmic horror. He often constructed elaborate narratives that led to unexpected and unsettling conclusions. I draw heavily on his fascination with paradoxes and the interplay of reality and fiction. He had a unique approach to exploring the limits of human knowledge and understanding to create works that were both intellectually stimulating and deeply unsettling.
Compared to other horror subgenres out there, what do you think are the appealing aspects and enduring qualities of cosmic horror?
Cosmic horror appeals to horror lovers in an academic, philosophical way. It raises questions about the unknown, the nature of reality, the limits of our human understanding, and how humanity fits into a larger universe. This genre is thought-provoking and transcends the boundaries of specific cultures, time periods, and the like. Fear of the unknown is a universal fear that knows no limits. It evokes awe and wonder about our place in the larger piece of the puzzle of life. Essentially, cosmic horror hits on that very question we all inevitably come to now and then – why are we here?
Your favourite Cthulhu Mythos deity or monster?
Definitely Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep is a complex, multifaceted figure who embodies the unpredictable and incomprehensible nature of Lovecraftian horror. He is truly different from the other deities in many ways. Unlike other Lovecraftian gods who are often depicted as indifferent and distant from humanity, he takes an active role in interacting with humans. He is described as the “Crawling Chaos,” a shape-shifting entity who can take on any form he desires and manipulate humans into doing his bidding. His motives are unclear, and his actions are unpredictable, which adds to his allure as a character.
Ellen feels compelled to visit Utah’s Arches National Park. Her mother recently passed from Alzheimer’s, and Ellen wants to understand why she was so drawn to the red rock formation called Medusa—and see if her own life has a purpose.
Primary goal you wanted to accomplish with your story?
Much of the story comes from my real life! I wanted to explore my experiences during a trip to Utah’s red rock country in another light.
What cosmic horror authors/artists, both old school and contemporary, have had an influence on you and how?
One of the earliest I read was H. P. Lovecraft, “The Colour Out of Space”—and I was so taken with the story that I wrote a cyberpunk adaptation of it. I got to explore R. W. Chambers’ work, “The Repairer of Reputations” for the Under Twin Suns anthology. And of course, Poe—for example, “MS. Found in a Bottle” was one of the early influences.
From current authors, Mary SanGiovanni has fabulous work and gave an excellent lecture at one of the Writing in the Dark events from AllAccessCon and Raw Dog Screaming Press. I was delighted to discover from her talk that I seemed to be doing it right!
Compared to other horror subgenres out there, what do you think are the appealing aspects and enduring qualities of cosmic horror?
Cosmic horror can resonate with the reader in different ways, depending upon their background. I love that it realigns the focus away from humanity as the most important thing in the story—because the cosmic entity does not care about us in the least.
Your favourite Cthulhu Mythos deity or monster?
Azathoth is cool. Imagine being able to change reality by just rolling over in your sleep!
Thank you Angela, Samantha, and Carol for being a part of this mini-interview compilation to talk about their cosmic horror texts. If you’re interested in reading their work, make sure to pre-order issue #367 of Weird Tales. If you enjoyed these mini-interviews, make sure to check out the one for issue #366 which is on sword and sorcery.
Mighty prolific last two weeks with articles, podcasts, and other projects. It’s also three consecutive weeks of me publishing an article at this website, and I have another one queued up this Wednesday. Feeling good!
Buzzworthy Book Review
I have a new book review up at my website. I return to the world of Jennifer Croll’s homage cocktails. Previously I did a review of her Art Boozel.
Croll’s newest book, Buzzworthy, was published earlier this month, and holy smokes in a rare instance of me being timely, I had a review of it written up and posted. Not to brag, (but I will), I think one of the things I do when I review cocktail books that other websites don’t do is actually make some of the cocktails inside. Anywho, my review of Buzzworthy is online, check it out and consider plucking up Croll’s newest release.
Claus Larsen Interview
Next up I return to my roots of music journalism! I have not really written about/interview anyone since my Heathen Harvest days, so I thought it would be fun to dip back into penning an article on something industrial.
Claus Larsen’s EBM act, Leæther Strip, recently released a new album and I enjoyed it throughly. I reached out to Larsen to ask if I could ask him some questions about it and he said sure! So, here is my mini-interview with Larsen about his newest album, Last Station.
New H. P. Lovecast Podcast
Happy three year anniversary to the resurrected H. P. Lovecast Podcast! Back in 2020 when the pandemic had really started, Michele and I brought the podcast back and have done quite a bit since: read some good (and bad) works, interviewed lots of cool people.
On this episode we discuss the 1970 AIP adaptation of The Dunwich Horror. Arrow Video did a restored release of the film on Blu-ray this past January and we had hoped to do an episode then, but house stuff and other projects got in the way. So, a little late but here is our episode. It can be steamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout page, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.
Princeton University Press recently published the book, Helen of Troy in Hollywood, by Ruby Blondell (a super expert on classics and Helen of Troy canon).
Very flattered to see essays from The New Peplum cited in this tome! Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the book so I am using preview pages from Google Books to deduce what has been cited. From what I can tell:
Steven Sears’ afterword
My introduction
Haydee Smith’s “Queering the Quest: Neo-peplum and the Neo-femme in Xena: Warrior Princess“
Valerie Estelle Frankel’s “Hercules, Xena, and Genre: The Methodology Behind the Mashup”
Paul Johnson’s “Adapting to New Spaces: Swords and Planets and the Neo-peplum”
I love to see The New Peplum continued to be cited and used in new scholarship. More information about Helen of Troy in Hollywood can be read at the Princeton University Press’ product page for the book.
Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances
The cool kids at the Fan2Fan Podcast are doing a series of episodes about folk’s favorite theme songs from TV shows.
Michele and I are on an episode talking about ours which can be heard at the Fan2Fan Libsysn, on your podcast app, or via the embedded player below. Sincere thanks to Bernie and Pete for having us on.
A side note, one of the shows I mention is the theme song to Mission Hill, which is an edited version of Cake’s “Italian Leather Sofa.” It’s one of my favorite cartoons ever and I talk about why on the episode.
But, for fun, here is my autographed copy of the Mission Hill DVD signed by Brian Posehn. I met him at an Emerald City Comic Con way back in the late 2000s.
Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP
The Call for Papers for Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and Emmanuelle derivative films is open until the end of this month (April 30th).
Emmanuelle the Private Collection Soundtrack.
The CFP can found on this page. If you know other scholars who would be interested in this project, please share! I’d be super appreciative to get the word out.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.
Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”
Claus Larsen’s Leæther Strip is a vanguard music project that has continued to shape the industrial/EBM genre since the genre’s infancy in the 80s. For decades Larsen has seen the genre develop and expand, with him continuing to be a pillar in its evolution with his prolific output of albums, singles, and digital releases. Despite obstacles such as the loss of his husband Kurt and dealing with a worldwide pandemic, Larsen remains a musical tour de force, a powerful train in the underground, and Leæther Strip’s newest album, Last Station, demonstrates this.
Larsen has just concluded a series of American concerts earlier this month before gearing up for a round of German appearances. He has graciously let me ask him a few questions about Last Station during this short period of respite. [Note: Larsen’s answers are in italics]
Personal copy of Last Station, autographed by Larsen.
You just completed a round of concerts in America for your current tour. Hope your visit over here was successful!
Larsen: Yes, and it was amazing, as always. The USA has been very good to me and I try to get over there as much as possible. It’s been seven years since the last big US tour, but because of my late husband’s health, and covid, I haven’t really been able to do more than one off’s of festivals. So, getting two weeks of shows on the west coast was amazing, I would have done more on that trip but I have booked shows in Europe to do too. I will be back to do Atlanta, Orlando, Detroit and Newark in May/June. Then I hope to get more bookings for the fall. So far this year has been amazing. New album and lots of gigs.
Last Station has eighteen tracks, sixteen original compositions and two remixed songs from prior albums (“Stigma” from 2021’s Back to Industry and “Japanese Bodies” from the Zoth Ommog single way back in 89). The tracks harness the vibes of old school 80s/90s EBM and are incredibly dance-floor friendly. The sound doesn’t veer into aggrotech – there’s no harsh, unintelligible, pitch shifted vocals – but there’s anger (“Hate DNA”), melancholy (“It Cuts Deep”), and maybe a little sarcasm (“Bite My Tongue”). The most standout track is “Flammen und Flüsse” which drops a serious mad hook between verse and chorus.
Despite the catchy, danceable music, there’s an air of melancholy and finality in the tracks of Last Station, such as in the lyrics of the titular song (“Last station, no exit..”), “It Cuts Deep” (“the pain is endless now, the walls are just to strong for me…”), “Double Edged Sword” (“is this my final call?”), and others. Was this a feeling that naturally emerged while creating Last Station, a coincidence, or something else?
Larsen: Most of the songs on this album was composed after Kurt died, so this was my way of dealing with my grief, and being on my own after twenty-seven years with Kurt by my side. The hardest period of my life, So I just opened the floodgates and poured my soul into the songs. I honestly thought that this was it for me.
The tone of the entire album is emotive and evokes lots of imagery. For example, the cover art of the album coupled with the titular song conjures images of riding along in the dark metro, waiting for a stop that never comes. The album is a vessel of different subjects under a cohesive mood.
Were there any pop culture sources that had an influence on Last Station?
Larsen:During the past few years I’ve been getting back to reading and I think that really inspired me, especially for the mood and sound of the songs, not so much the lyrics. [I’ve] been reading a lot of Clive Barker and Stephen King again. Lyrically it was my own personal pain and grief that poured out. I was very much alone during 2020-21 so there was time to listen to my inner voices, someone else’s needs were more important than my own for many years and there I was, suddenly having to care for myself. Not an easy thing to do.
Larsen mentioning getting back into reading Baker is quite apropos as the horror master penned “The Midnight Meat Train,” which is certainly compatible with the album’s titular song.
How was composing and recording Last Station different than other albums in your repertoire?
Larsen:As I always do, I just sit down and see what pops up in my head. I had a lot of time on my hands so I was in the studio all day and most nights. Also, to get my mind off things and get that pain and grief out that was destroying me. This is for me, by far, my most therapeutic album I’ve composed. It was either do this or end it all. I promised Kurt to go on and focus on my music and playing shows. So ending it was not an option. I keep my promises.
Is there a particular highlight of Last Station that you’re proud of?
Larsen:First of all I’m very proud that I was able to get the album done. I really had my doubts, cause it was very painful to open up for stuff Ive had to suppress for years and years. But, we all are so much stronger than we think. For me, this one is my most important album of my career, and I am very proud of the overall production of the album. I never get tired of learning and becoming a better producer and mixer.
The biggest thing you want to accomplish with Last Station?
Larsen: I hope it can help others as much as it has helped me making it. It saved my life doing this one. Being creative has saved my ass many many times.
Claus Larsen (Facebook Profile picture).
Touring, running a label, doing fulfillment, maintaining a prolific output of music, all while the effects of the pandemic are felt. How do you do it all?
Larsen:I am doing what I dreamt about doing when I was fourteen years old. It is all I ever wanted to do really, and I will do anything to keep it going.
Despite the title, there’s nothing “last” in the future for Larsen as the prolific musician has even more output on the horizon.
Upcoming news you’d like to share?
Larsen: We – John Mirland and I – got a new album in the works from the synth-pop project Am Tierpark, and also a new album form the punk/metal project Gusten. For release later this year. I am also putting my last touches on the next Leæther Strip album, release date not scheduled yet, but soon. As for gigs, I will play anywhere I am booked. I hope for more shows in the USA, Canada and SouthAmerica, and hopefully Japan and Australia too.
Sincere appreciation to Claus Larsen for his time doing this interview about Last Station. For more information on the album or Larsen’s projects, please see below:
With Free the Tipple (2018), Art Boozel (2021), and Dressed to Swill (2022), Jennifer Croll has established herself as the de facto master of the homage cocktail. Diving deep into each subject, Croll susses out each person’s passions, what they stand for, their worldly contributions, what makes them iconic, and distills (pun intended) all their elements into a representative cocktail.
Cover for Buzzworthy.
Continuing in the same vein as Free the Tipple which showcased cocktails inspired by women across a variety of disciplines, Croll’s newest book, Buzzworthy, focuses on fifty female authors, both old guard (such as Jane Austin, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf) and new school (such as Sally Rooney, Amanda Gorman, Rupi Kaur). Buzzworthy doesn’t just focus on literary fiction authors (though they do comprise the majority of the book), but highlights women authors who write poetry, genre fiction, graphic novels, (which is extremely appreciated), and non-fiction.
Croll uses an introductory approach to not only present authors to readers, but to the art of mixology as well. The beginning of Buzzworthy gives a run down on equipment, ingredients, and measurements, providing all the key instructional components for readers regardless of mixology skill level to consult in order to realize all the cocktails presented in the book.
Each recipe in Buzzworthy contains an ingredient and measurement list, instructions, and also a short biography about each writer along with the rationale behind the recipe. For example, Terese Marie Mailhot’s cocktail is berry-centric, using a berry syrup with strawberries and blueberries for garnish, which corresponds to her memoir’s title, Heart Berries. Her cocktail is actually a mocktail, using Lyre’s American Malt faux-bourbon as its base spirit. Creating a non-alcoholic drink aligns with Mailhot’s biography that mentions her alcoholic father.
The Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Glass from Strong Water in Anaheim. Photo taken by Michele Brittany.
There’s a total of fifty cocktail recipes to explore in Buzzworthy that run the gamut of simple to complex in difficulty, using a variety of spirits, but also plenty of mocktail and low ABV options as well. An example can be found in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s cocktail which calls for grenadine, lime, lemon, and orange juices, bitters, club soda, and a shot of Campari. This is a fizzy and fresh drink with the bitterness normally found in Campari-forward drinks being greatly subdued. With so little alcohol there’s no burn, making a pleasant, long-sipping experience.
The Amy Tan. Photo taken by Michele Brittany.
The Amy Tan is another Campari cocktail that takes a hint of inspiration from a daiquiri by using white rum, simple syrup, lime juice, and muddled raspberries. The ruby red colour gives this drink an elegant appearance while its fruity aroma projects a candy smell, like a liquid Jolly Rancher. The white rum (Flor de Cana used for this article) muddled with the raspberries are a perfect combination.
The Shelia Heti. Photo by Michele Brittany.
Aside from the Pisco Sour, there’s not too many pisco-centric cocktails out there, so it is a treat to see Shelia Heti’s homage cocktail that uses pisco, muddled basil, lime juice, and simple syrup. In essence a gin-basil smash, this libation comes through extremely crisp, the basil almost straying into mint territory. Another smooth cocktail with a wine-like aroma notes from the pisco.
Buzzworthy concludes with a reading list suggesting one to a handful of publications of each author along with a one sentence overview and/or synopsis.
The illustrations by Rachelle Baker that correspond to each author and cocktail are fun to look at and perhaps on the chic side. Each author is represented accurately but in a stylized fashion while each cocktail illustration provides an end result for experimenting readers to shoot for. The beginning of Buzzworthy has a piece that features an orange cat with a white blaze that is adorable to look at and it’s a shame the feline didn’t make an appearance at the end of the book to, well, bookend it.
Cropped image of the cheers illustration in Buzzworthy by Rachelle Baker. This piece rules so much.
While the illustrations depicting each author are fantastic in their own right, the best art piece in Buzzworthy is the second cat piece that shows two fashionable ladies toasting with cocktails they just made. This illustration is so fun with a few hidden gems in it, such as the aforementioned orange/white blaze kitty peering at an open copy of Buzzworthy which was no doubt consulted by the two women to make their libations. This piece sums up the entirety of Buzzworthy: creating cocktails, honoring (author) women, and having a fabulous time doing so.
March went by fairly quiet and BOOM!, first week of April do I have some epic and awesome news to share.
Weird Tales Issue #367
The big, big, big news is issue 367 of Weird Tales that is slated to be published this May. Yours truly got to contribute an essay to this legendary periodical!
Look at that! My name on the cover with some other titans of horror with a cover by Mike Mignola. Talk about a milestone, I am extremely elated.
My essay is about cosmic horror back in the 1920s and 1930s issues of Weird Tales. The issue is available for pre-order, so check it out at the Weird Tales website.
I’ll also be conducting mini-interviews for this issue as well.
Cinema Highball Writeup
New cocktail article is posted at my website as well!
As yall know I love diving into the esoteric, weird, forgotten, and sometimes, kinda nasty, cocktails. The PDT Cocktail Book has a recipe for the Cinema Highball which I actually gave a shot on Twitter back in 2021:
However that was made with Bacardi. The real recipe calls for Flor de Cana, and this time I am doing it for realz. Have a read!
New Episode of H.P. Lovecast
We have a new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast online!
As conveyed in previous posts, March was a pretty hectic month for Michele and I. We still are settling into the house and we had essays due at the end of the month (for the cats in cinema book) and just a few other obligations that popped up. Because of this, we didn’t get a normal episode of the podcast online, but we did get a Transmissions episode online. In this episode we got to interview weird fiction author Michael Cisco about his new novel, Pest, and one of our academic colleagues, J. Rocky Colavito, about his Giallo-inspired novel, The Night Scavengers. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout website, via your podcast app, or via the embedded link below.
We are hoping to be back on track in April as we will finally get our episode online of the Dean Stockwell Dunwich Horror.
Fan2Fan Appearances
Michele and I have made a few appearances on the Fan2Fan Podcast which have been published in the last two weeks.
First up is the Fan2Fan episode on the classic Larry Cohen film, The Stuff. That episode can be streamed via the Fan2Fan Libsyn page, via your podcast app of preference, or the embedded player below:
Next, Fan2Fan sometimes does short podcasts on Fridays called “Five Minute Fridays.”
Michele and I appeared on one to talk about what cosmic horror is. That episode can also be streamed via your podcast app of preference, at the Fan2Fan Libsyn, or via the embedded player below.
As always, sincere thanks to Bernie and Pete of the Fan2Fan crew for having us on their show. We sincerely appreciate them.
Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP
The Call for Papers for Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and Emmanuelle derivative films is open until the end of this month.
Recent acquisitions to the collection: Emmanuelle in Paradise and Emmanuele (single “L”) 3. Also notice the Silvia Castell vs. the iconic Sylvia Kristel.
The CFP can found on this page. If you know other scholars who would be interested in this project, please share! I’d be super appreciative to get the word out.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.
Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”
Friend and colleague Sean Woodard has just had his first physical publication, his essay “‘But Illusions Don’t Kill’: An Examination of Giallo Tropes and Gender in Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue” in the newly released academic collection Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad.
