Author: Nicholas Diak

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News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-11-20

Personal / Website News

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

The Call for Papers for the Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and Emmanuelle derivative films is now live!

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.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance

Fan2Fan Podcast is doing a series of John Carpenter-centric episodes. I had the honor, along with Joshua Pruett, to appear on an episode discussing Carpenter’s ode to King and Lovecraft, In the Mouth of Madness.

The episode can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn website or via your podcast app of preference.

Around the time this Fan2Fan episode was recorded, Michele and I did an H. P. Lovecast episode on Carpenter’s Princess of Darkness. That episode can be seen as a companion piece to the Fan2Fan episode, so check both out!

Sincere thanks to Fan2Fan for having me on!

Galactic Terrors Appearance

The New York chapter of the Horror Writers Association does a monthly vidcast called Galactic Terrors which features authors doing readings of their work followed by Q/A.

I was very honored to be asked to appear on the November episode of Galactic Terrors. This episode featured authors Kenneth Cain, Karen Heuler, and myself. It can be streamed at YouTube or the embedded player below. Check it out!

Sincere thanks to James Chambers, Carol Gyzander, and Teel James Glenn for having me on!

Citation News

A few citations have popped up in Google scholar in the last couple of weeks.

First, a journal article called “XVII New Literatures” from This Year’s Work in English studies looks to have cited or referenced Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays. The description makes mentions of Australia, so I highly suspect what is specifically referenced is Naomi Simone Borwein’s essay “Synchronic Horror and the Dreaming: A Theory of Aboriginal Australian Horror and Monstrosity.” However, since I lack institutional access, I can’t confirm this (so if you can, I’d be appreciative!).

Next, Karl Otty’s article “GTA Vice City Created a New Wave of ’80s Nostalgia” at SuperJump looks to have been re-published. This article cites my essay “Lost Nights and Dangerous Days: Unraveling the Relationship Between Stranger Things and Synthwave” that was published in Uncovering Stranger Things: Essays on Eighties Nostalgia, Cynicism and Innocence in the Series.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Born of Blood Issue 2 Kickstarter Loot

My swag from the Born of Blood 2 Kickstarter arrived.

I’ll go over the comic and associated paraphernalia in greater detail in a future post. For now though, check out my write up of the issue 1 loot and comic impressions, and also my interview with the writer of Born of Blood.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-11-06

Personal / Website News

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

The Call for Papers for the Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and Emmanuelle derivative films is now live!

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.

New Episode of H. P. Lovecast

Our October Transmissions episode dropped a day early (didn’t want to compete with Halloween). In this episode we interview Erika T. Wurth and Chris Philbrook.

Thumbnail made by Michele Brittany.

The episode can be streamed at the H. P. Lovecast Buzzsprout page, via the embedded player below, your via your podcast app of preference.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 16 – Erika T. Wurth and Chris Philbrook – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Galactic Terrors Appearance

I’ve been invited to be a reader on the November episode of Galactic Terrors, a monthly webcast helmed by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander of the HWA NY Chapter.

Advert for Galactic Terrors November 2022.

Other guests on the program are Kenneth Cain and Karen Heuler. The episode will record live on November 10th at 8:00 pm PST. The Galactic Terrors YouTube channel can be found here (check out the archives!).

Scholars from the Edge of Time

The last two episodes of Scholars from the Edge of Time are now online. In these episodes Michele and I discuss Son of Samson (September episode) and The Barbarians (October episode). Click the links to give them a watch!

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Alicia Carter and Robot #2 Kickstarter

The Kickstarter campaign for issue two of The Astonishing Adventures of Alicia Carter and Robot is now live and can be found here.

I really enjoyed issue one of the series, and my review can be read here. I’m excited for issue two to see the continuing adventures of Alicia and GDU-3.

Image taken from the Kickstarter Campaign.

No naughty covers for me this time, I went for the standard Shikarii cover (see above) which depicts Kira, a sniper bounty hunter introduced in issue one.

Solomon and Sheba Blu-ray

A recent acquisition for the sword and sandal library, I plucked up a relatively new HD release of Solomon and Sheba (1959).

Personal Copy of Solomon and Sheba.

The film stars genre veterans Yul Brynner (The Ten Commandments and Westworld [Roman World counts as peplum!]) and the maggiorata fisica actress Gina Lollobrigida (Crossed Swords). Have not seen this film before, so it will be nice to check it out in HS.

Also, this is a perfect time to show off my Gina Lollobrigida autographed 8×10:

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CFP

Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and Emmanuelle Derivatives: Essays on the Emmanuelle Legacy

Overview

In 1974 Just Jaeckin’s film, Emmanuelle, was released to commercial success. The movie propelled its starlet, Sylvia Kristel, into the limelight, spurred a wave of similar erotic fare, and concurrently with the Golden Age of Porn, helped usher in mainstream acceptance of erotic content in cinema. Black Emanuelle, one of the many films that came in the wake of Emmanuelle, would go on to have its own impact, specifically in the realm of Italian cult cinema with its plethora of sequels starring Laura Gemser. The Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and derivative Emmanuelle film phenomena lasted from the mid-70s to the early 80s before interest tapered off, though the Emmanuelle name continued to be used by producer Alain Siritzky for direct to cable softcore content.

Four decades later, the Emmanuelle movies have faded in pop culture memory, but are being kept alive with blu-ray releases from specialty and boutique labels such as Severin Films and Kino Lorber. While most of the Kristel and Gemser films are readily obtainable, scholarship on the Emmanuelle legacy is not. The majority of references to both Emmanuelleand Black Emmanuelle are found in film guides and books that focus on cult and exploitation films in a general sense (see the bibliography section at the end of this CFP) with a journal article here and there. Alex Cox’s 2000 documentary,Emmanuelle: A Hard Look, remains largely inaccessible, though companies like the aforementioned Severin Films release supplementary material on their Black Emanuelle and Emmanuelle derivative DVDs and Blu-rays. There is no singular, consolidated resource focused on the Emmanuelle film canon.

This proposed collection of essays will strive to rectify this scholarship gap. This CFP seeks abstracts that analyze the films that make up the Emmanuelle legacy (see filmography below), with the aim to illustrate the various ways these movies are important, how they impacted both pop and film culture, and to illuminate subtexts and commentaries they impart.

Framework/Topics

Frameworks, essay ideas, and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Adaptations
  • Anti/Reverse Emmanuelle roles/films
  • Auteur theory (specific films and their directors)
  • Class and wealth depictions
  • Close textual analysis
  • Comparative textual analysis
  • Cosmopolitanism
  • Cultural and racial representations
  • Feminism studies
  • Ethical/Philosophical issues
  • Genre studies (porn-chic, softcore, exploitation, grindhouse, travelog, cannibal film, women in prison, etc.)
  • LBGT+ discourse and ideology
  • Interviews with/perspectives from crew/filmmakers 
  • Literature studies (Emmanuelle Arsan books)
  • Monster Studies (Emmanuelle vs. Dracula, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals)
  • Multiplicities (see Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots eds. Klein & Palmer)
  • Music studies (soundtracks, songs, sampling)
  • Parody and/or homage (Carry on Emmanuelle, SNL’s “Danielle” skit, Seinfeld’s “Rochelle, Rochelle”)
  • Proto-Emmanuelle films (what came before, what inspired)
  • (Post) Colonialism
  • Schreiber theory (specific screenwriters)
  • Semiotics and metaphors
  • Sequential Art Studies (Crepax Emmanuelle comics)
  • Sexuality (fetishism, voyeurism, exhibitionism, desires, romance, etc.)
  • Vampire studies (Dracula’s Widow x Emmanuelle vs Dracula)
  • Vernacular film (see Mikel Koven)
  • World Cinema studies (France, Italy)
  • And other interdisciplinary approaches

Filmography

Films that fall under the Emmanuelle/Black Emanuelle/Et al. canon include the following:

Emmanuelle Series

  • Emmanuelle (1974)
  • Emmanuelle II (1975)
  • Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977)
  • Emmanuelle IV (1984)
  • Emmanuelle 5 (1987)
  • Emmanuelle 6 (1988)
  • Emmanuelle 7 (1993)
  • Emmanuelle in Space Series (1994)
  • Young/Old Emmanuelle Series (1993)
  • Emmanuelle 2000 series (2000)
  • Emmanuelle in Rio (2003)
  • Emmanuelle: The Private Collection series (2003)
  • Emmanuelle Tango (2006)
  • Emmanuelle Through Time Series (2011)

Black Emanuelle and Laura Gesmer Films

  • Black Emanuelle (1975)
  • Black Emanuelle 2 (1976)
  • Emanuelle in Bangkok (1976)
  • Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle (1976)
  • Emanuelle on Taboo Island (1976)
  • Emmanuelle and the Deadly Black Cobra (1976)
  • Emanuelle in America (1977)
  • Sister Emanuelle (1977)
  • Emanuelle Around the World (1977)
  • Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)
  • Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade (1978)
  • Emanuelle, Queen of the Sados (1980)
  • Divine Emanuelle: Love Cult (1981)
  • Violence in a Woman’s Prison (1982)
  • Emanuelle: Queen of the Desert (1982)
  • Women’s Prison Massacre (1983)
  • Scandalous Emanuelle (1986)

Misc. Films / Derivatives / Parodies / Related Films

  • Emanuelle and Francoise (1975)
  • Laure (1976)
  • Emmanuelle Tropical (1977)
  • Carry on Emmanuelle (1978)
  • Felicity (1979)
  • Emmanuelle in Soho (1981)

There is an IMDB list that has a plethora of Emmanuelle derivatives: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls069765874/ .

Non-Emmanuelle films that star Sylvia Kristel or Laura Gemser (such as Julia [1974], Alice ou la dernière fugue [1977], etc.), Alain Siritzky produced films, and other Just Jaeckin movies will be considered if they can be strongly tied to the Emmanuelle/Black Emanuelle legacy. 

Other related texts, such as the Emmanuelle Arsan novels, the Emmanuelle erotic comics by Guido Crepax, and the like, are also of interest. 

Submission

Abstracts (no word limit), preliminary bibliographies, and CVs should be submitted to Nicholas Diak at vnvdiak@gmail.com.

There is no publisher chosen for this project yet. Due to the subject matter and the speciality, niche interest of this proposed book, the goal is to amass a collection of abstracts first for the purposes of having a solid proposal and preliminary table of contents, and then procure a publisher. A proper timetable for first draft submissions will be drawn up after a publisher is obtained. 

Please feel free to share this CFP with other scholars. Any proliferation is much appreciated. 

This CFP will be open initially for six months.

About the Editor

Nicholas Diak is a pop culture scholar with a range of interests: sword and sandal films, industrial music, synthwave music and aesthetics, horror studies, and other idiosyncratic topics. He edited the collection The New Peplum: Essays on Sword and Sandal Films and Television Programs Since the 1990s (2018) and co-edited Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays (2020). More information, including academic CV, can be found at nickdiak.com.

Emmanuelle Studies Bibliography

  • 100 Cult Films by Ernest Mathijs and Xavier Mendik
  • Alternative Europe: Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945 edited by Mathijs and Mendik
  • “Black is Beautiful” in DarkSide issue 211
  • Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress: The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema 1970-1985 by Mendik
  • Deadlier Than the Male: Femme Fatales in 1960s and 1970s Cinema by Douglas Brode
  • “Forever Emmanuelle: Sylvia Kristel and Soft-Core Cult” by Leila Wimmer in Cult Film Stardom
  • The History of French Literature on Film by Kate Griffiths and Andrew Watts
  • Immoral Tales: Sex and Horror Cinema in Europe 1956-1984 by Tohill and Tombs
  • Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema” by Simon Sheridan
  • “The Legacy of Emmanuelle: Oriental Desire and Interracial Encounters 562 in European Films Set in Thailand 1974-1980” by Alexander J. Klemm
  • “Mondo Realism, the Sensual Body, and Genre Hybridity in Joe D’Amato’s Emanuelle Films” by Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare
  • Offbeat Attractions and Processes of Cultification edited by Egan and Thomas
  • “Orientalism, Star Power and Cinethetic Racism in Seventies Italian Exploitation Cinema” by Calum Waddell
  • Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol by Jeremy Richey
  • “Thailand in the European Cinematic Imagination: The Phenomenon and Legacy of Emmanuelle (Fr 1974)” by Alexander J. Klemm
  • Undressing Emmanuelle: A memoir by Sylvia Kristel
Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-10-23

Personal / Website News

Good day everyone! Final update for October. I hope everyone has a great upcoming Halloween!

The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone

The academic collection, The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone, edited by Kevin Wetmore and Ron Riekki has been published by McFarland and is now out in the wild!

Me!

My contributor’s copy arrived and it looks awesome. The TOC sports some great academics.

My essay is titled “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown” and is probably the most in-depth article out there on the movie. Note: this essay is eligible for various 2022 short non-fiction awards out there, so if it is a piece you enjoy, consider recommending it!

The collection is available to purchase at McFarland.

Galliano Mai Tai

I’ve got quite a handful of cocktail books from the 70s and 80s, most of them filled with recipes of a dubious nature. However, it’s fun to play cocktail archeology and try out some of the recipes in these books.

I have a new old school recipe exploration written up. It is on the Galliano Mai Tai. It can be read here.

H. P. Lovecast Transmissions

This month’s Transmissions episode for HP Lovecast will feature interviews with Erika T. Wurth and Chris Philbrook. This episode will publish on the last day of this month – Halloween!

Galactic Terrors Vidcast

Galactic Terrors is a monthly YouTube midcast from the Horror Writer Association’s New York Chapter. Each episode features three authors doing readings followed by Q/A. I’ve been invited to appear on the program, which will stream November 10th.

If you want to know more about Galactic Terrors, check out their Facebook group or have a look at their episode archive on their YouTube channel. Michele was a guest last month, so check that episode out for sure!

Miscellaneous Tidbits

New Edge Sword and Sorcery

Issue 0 of the new magazine, New Age Sword and Sorcery, it out.

Personal copy of the hardback edition.

The magazine looks like a great endeavor to make the S&S genre more inclusive. The digital copy is free (link here), while the paperback and hardback iterations are available at cost (Amazon link here). Consider plucking up a copy, show interest, so the magazine can get a great start.

Amon Amarth Album Review

Hal C. F. Astell has a new review up at his Apocalypse Later website.

It is on the Viking metal outfit Amon Amarth’s new album, The Great Heathen Army. Check it out here.

Categories
Cocktails

Banging Against the Wall: The Galliano Mai Tai

Galliano. 

What can be said about it? It comes in a tall bottle that refuses to fit in a liquor cabinet. It is vibrant yellow, blindingly so. Like licorice, Galliano has an “either you love it or loathe it” taste profile of anise and vanilla. It is definitely an acquired taste.

The liquor gained prominence during the Dark Ages of Cocktails in the 70s when executives at McKesson Liquor Co. concocted the Harvey Wallbanger, a cocktail made of Galliano, vodka, and orange juice. The Harvey Wallbanger was a hit and McKesson sought other ways to market Galliano. 

Read the rest of this article to discover gold!

One of those efforts was an early 70s cocktail booklet published by McKesson that featured Galliano front and center in all of the recipes. Some of the recipes were new and unique to the booklet while others were riffs on established cocktails (Galliano Margarita, Galliano Manhattan, Galliano Daiquiri, etc.).

A variation that appeared in the booklet was a Galliano take on the tiki vanguard cocktail, the Mai Tai. 

Galliano Mai Tai Recipe.

The Galliano Mai Tai calls for:

  • 1 oz Galliano
  • 1 oz White Rum
  • 0.5 oz Lime Juice
  • 0.5 oz Orgeat
  • 0.5 oz Orange Curaçao

Put all ingredients into an ice-filled rocks glass, stir, and garnish.

The end result should look akin to this:

Galliano Mai Tai from the Galliano Recipe Booklet.

The Galliano Mai Tai is quite similar to the classic ‘44 Trader Vic’s Mai Tai save an ounce of rum has been replaced by an ounce of Galliano.

This drink is 29% Galliano.

That’s a lot of Galliano. 

The spirits for this cocktail are fairly easy to obtain; nothing discontinued since the 70s. Galliano is Galliano and there is no substituting that in a Galliano Mai Tai. For the Orange Curaçao, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao is a nice go to for Mai Tais. 

Dangerously low on the White ‘Stache.

The Galliano Mai Tai calls for a white rum. Based on the recipe this poses the question: use a higher quality rum and increase the probability of making a good tasting drink, or error on the side of caution and use an inexpensive rum and build from there. For this cocktail, caution will be heeded and Bacardi Superior will be used over a higher quality rum, which would entail El Dorado 3, Plantation Three Star, or, as pictured above, Hamilton White ‘Stache. 

The first step is to fill a rocks glass with ice.

Next, pour in one full ounce of Galliano. Bask in its yellow glow. 

Add one ounce of Bacardi Superior.

Then half an ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice.

Pour in a half an ounce of orgeat. Liber & Co. is a great one to use.

Finally, add the half an ounce of the Dry Curaçao

Despite containing citrus, the recipe calls for the drink to be lightly stirred once or twice. This, of course, isn’t going mix the cocktail very well as it will keep the ingredients in layers.

The end cocktail is horrible. In an attempt to salvage it, it was dumped into a shaker, shaken, and repoured with additional ice. It failed.

Galliano is the dominate flavor, which is probably to be expected as this is the Galliano Mai Tai after all. The Bacardi doesn’t have much character to it, which allows the Galliano to dominate the drink. Using a rum with more character, such as a funky Jamaican rum or a Rhum Agricole, would clash with the Galliano. Using a higher quality white rum also would have been a bad idea as any uniqueness it would have brought would’ve been overpowered by the Galliano.

The taste is akin to absinthe-vanilla; it is sickly sweet and not a pleasant sweet that is found in other tiki cocktails. Adding simple syrup, which many Mai Tais call for, would have made this worse. The cocktail also leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. 

A possible remedy for the Galliano Mai Tai would be to re-balance it. Cutting back the Galliano by at least half and also reducing the orgeat would help bring down the sweetness. Perhaps a better option would be to prepare a Mai Tai according to spec of preference and then add a splash of Galliano to it at the end. 

The Mai Tai is not the best cocktail to have a Galliano riff done to it, but it might work in other tiki drinks that use absinthe or Pernod. 

If you enjoyed this write up about a cocktail from a vintage cocktail book, check out other write ups I’ve done:

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-10-09

Personal / Website News

Three weeks in a row of articles at my website. I hope I can keep up the momentum.

Two New Book Reviews

I’ve published not one but two book reviews at my website in the past two weeks.

First up, stepping in the realm of middle grade, I’ve done a review on Lora Senf’s debut novel, The Clackity. It can be read right here.

Book Template

Monster mayhem continues in my second book review which is on Robert P. Ottone’s newest novel, Nocturnal Creatures. This one can be read right here.

New Episodes of H. P. Lovecast

More double trouble, two episodes of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast have also been published in the last two weeks.

First is our monthly Transmissions program. For September we interviewed Brenda S. Tolian and Ian Welke. That episode can be listened to at our Buzzspout page, the embedded link below, or via your podcast app of preference.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 15 – Brenda S. Tolian and Ian Welke – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Next, roughly a year after we discussed Mimic on our podcast, we return to the franchise by discussing Mimic 2.

This episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout page, via the embedded link below, or via your podcast app of preference.

Ep 55 – Jean de Segonzac's Mimic 2 – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Horror Book Sale at McFarland

McFarland is doing a sale on horror books during the month of October. During checkout, use the code “HORROR22” to get 25% of books in their horror category.

There’s three books included in the sale I have involvement in (The Twilight Zone book is tagged as horror, but it isn’t out yet, so I’m not sure if the sale applies to it or not):

This is a great opportunity to pluck these books up and be supportive to what Michele and I do.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Footage Fiends Zine

Evan Jordan of the Void Video Podcast and Madeleine of the Unnamed Footage Festival are launching a brand new zine called Footage Fiends that is devoted to all aspects of the found footage genre of films. Tweet embedded below:

I’ve completed and submitted a short-form essay about Mario Bava’s film Caltiki: The Immortal Monster. The submission window for issue 01 is still open, so send them a pitch! Email address is footagefiends at gmail dot com.

Artist Gilead Kickstarter Campaign

Sword and sorcery artist Gilead has started a Kickstarter campaign for his Sketch book and print art.

Check out the campaign on Kickstarter and consider supporting.

Categories
Essays

Invasive Species: Cryptid Horror in Robert P. Ottone’s Nocturnal Creatures

It’s the summer of ‘92 and you’re off for a long break. You and your family live in the woods outside a small, rural town. Life consists of exploring the forest by day and staying up late playing Sega Genesis by night. It is the perfect time to be a kid before Eternal September. One night you catch an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, one where they are recreating encounters with Bigfoot. The iconic ominous music and real-world reenactments give you the heebie jeebies. You go to bed, turn off the lights, and look out your window to the dark, starlit forest outside. Eyelids heavy, you almost fall asleep –crash! What was that? You peer out the window. Was that movement just at the treeline? You think back to the show earlier that night. Could it be – a Bigfoot right outside your house?

Nocturnal Creatures cover.

If the above scenario ushers in a sense of nostalgia, then Robert P. Ottone’s short novel, Nocturnal Creatures, is a perfect flashback story for you. Set during the tail end of the Gulf War in rural New York, Nocturnal Species is a cryptid story with elements of the siege genre.

The story is told through the perspective of Cassie Albero, a middle schooler whose family owns an orchard. Hard times have fallen on the Albero family as an unseasonably cold late spring/early summer threatens their apple harvest. Their problems are compounded when their home is besieged by a family of Sasquatch-like monsters, who have been driven from their home in the nearby caves and woodlands. 

Nocturnal Creatures is similar to the animals run amok narratives of the 70s: as civilization pushes into nature, nature fights back to survive. This puts Cassie and her family and the cryptids in the same moral boat as both groups are trying to survive each other, thrust into a situation that is neither’s fault. The Albero family, coming from a generation of immigrants, contrasted to the mysterious cryptids adds another level of complexity – strangers in strange lands trying to eek by in a rapidly globalizing world. Readers will certainly identify with the humans, and yet, while the cryptids are portrayed as menacing and near unstoppable, there’s a sympathy for them as well. 

Taking place in the early 90s, Nocturnal Creatures has many callbacks to the era: a ChatBoy (a stand in for the TalkBoy from Home Alone 2), discontinued soda, listening to grunge bands on cassette, the Gulf War in the background, and no internet. These sentiments cater to the Oregon Trail generation, a refreshing break from the 80s nostalgia that has been enjoying a wave of popularity for the past decade. 

The characters of Nocturnal Creatures are incredibly fleshed out with backstories, motivations, and worries. If anything, the Albero family embodies the idyllic nuclear family found in 80s and early 90s sitcoms. This is contrasted to Azura and her son, Darwin, immigrants from El Salvador, also chasing the American dream. Azura is a total James Cameron character, a cross between Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 and Vasquez from Aliens. She acts as a mentor to the Albero family, teaching them how to use firearms and survive the cryptid siege, but also as a role model to Darwin and Cassie. Everyone looks up to her. 

The stars of a Bigfoot-style story are, of course, the cryptids themselves. In terms of placement on the Sasquatch spectrum, they are a little folky like the Fouke Monster from The Legend of Boggy, but much more cunning and violent like the Sasquatch in the 2006 film Abominable. They are completely believable humanoids that are also frighteningly strong, able to tactically plan their attacks, and near invulnerable due to their super thick skin. They are also presented as a family, functioning no different than the Alberos.

This is the heart of Nocturnal Creatures: different types of families, all looking to survive and make their way in the world, wrapped up in a cryptid horror story with a dollop of early 90s nostalgia and coming of age. The formula works, no doubt to its relatable and fleshed out characters along with menacing, multifaceted monsters. 

Nocturnal Creatures can be purchased at:

Robert P. Ottone can be found at:

If you’ve enjoyed this review, please check out this related content:

Categories
Essays

A Good, Fair Deal: Lora Senf’s The Clackity

The Clackity is the debut, middle-grade novel from Lora Senf, released in the summer of 2022. The book evokes shades of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Labyrinth, Edward Gorey, and 90s-era Nickelodeon. 

Personal copy of The Clackity.

The story of The Clackity is centered on preteen Evie who lives with her aunt Desdemona in the town of Blight Harbor. When Desdemona goes missing in the town’s old and abandoned abattoir, Evie investigates with the hopes of rescuing her. She meets the titular Clackity, a nefarious shadowy being that is part Cheshire cat, part Oogie Boogie, and 100% can not be trusted. The Clackity tells Evie where Desdemona has been taken to, but in return she must venture into another world, with a black sun and purple sky, to visit seven houses, and bring back John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer from Blight Harbor’s past. Within each house is a test that challenges Evie’s wits and bravery. Aside from negotiating the houses, Evie must keep pace ahead of the pursuing Pope while also completing all her tasks before black sun down.

The Clackity is overflowing with vivid imagination, an amalgamation of child-like nightmares. Each house Evie visit has its own personality. One has a maze of repeating doors that must be entered in a certain order (think of those forest mazes in the original Zelda on the NES), another a gingerbread house, and one is even a house made from a witch who turns into a tree. There is a bag of holding, magical boats, distorted forests, enchanted flowers, birds that become shadow tattoos, infinity pits, and so on. If a child’s imagination can dream it, Senf grabs it, reworks it, and turns it into a wondrous component of The Clackity. 

In addition to how varied and versatile The Clackity is, the prose is beautifully executed. Narrated in first-person perspective, Evie (by way of Senf) describes the world (both real and unreal) around her in a creative ways. Interspersed in the text of the book are black and white illustrations by Alfredo Cáceres that are a cross between Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Tony Di’Terlizzi. The illustrations capture Senf’s set pieces and underscore the novel’s atmosphere.

If there is a theme for The Clackity it is about bravery combined with a “fake it till you make it” ethos. Evie puts on the bravest face she can, and even changes her looks (hair cut, mascara, etc.) to give the impression that she is a warrior, even if she doesn’t feel it it. As she adventures through the seven houses, her bravery is put to the test, and often times she freezes with fear. The Clackity normalizes that it is ok to be afraid of big things, and that bravery isn’t sudden: it’s something to strive toward, mimic, and eventually you become it. It also underscores that even in moments that we lose our brave face, there is a safety net of others (shadow birds, witches, etc. in the case of The Clackity, but in real life, friends, family, etc.) to be there to be supportive. A person is never alone, there is always someone.

Even though The Clackity (book and monster) can be scary, the story is incredibly fun. Readers root for Evie in her highs and lows in her quest to rescue her aunt, feel and empathize with her emotions, but also have their imagination sparked by Senf’s descriptions of the unreal world. A creative and spooky endeavor, The Clackity is a fantastic dark, adventurous story. 

Lore Senf can be found at:

Lora Senf was also a guest on The H. P. Lovecast Podcast. That episode can be streamed here or in the embedded player below.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 13 – Lora Senf and Robert P. Ottone – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-09-25

Personal / Website News

Welcome to the second instance of my biweekly news roundup. I am digging this schedule more than my prior weekly schedule. There is a lot of content below, so make sure you scroll through it all.

Alicia Carter and Robot #1 Review

The physical first issue of the crowdfunded pulp/sword and planet inspired comic The Astonishing Adventures of Alicia Carter and Robot arrived last week.

Check out my review of the issue here.

The New Peplum Citation News

One of my favorite things is finding new citations of the essays by the authors who appeared in the books I edited.

Dr. Hannah Mueller’s essay, “Male Nudity, Violence and the Disruption of Voyeuristic Pleasure in Starz’s Spartacus,” which appeared in The New Peplum, has been cited in Dr. Amanda Potter’s essay, “From Female Stereotypes to Women with Agency: Elite Women and Slave Women in Howard Fast’s 1951 Novel, Spartacus (1960), and Starz Spartacus (2010–13)” in Gender, Power, and Identity in the Films of Stanley Kubrick, edited by Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Dijana Metlić, and Jeremi Szaniawski.

Super congrats!

The Kubrick collection has been published by Routledge and the product page can be found here.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast Updates

New episode of H. P. Lovecast is online!

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany.

In this episode we talk about the second film in John Carpenter’s informal apocalypse trilogy, Prince of Darkness. This episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout page, in the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

Ep 54 – John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

On the 30th this month our September Transmissions episode will publish. This episode will have Brenda S. Tolian and Ian Welke.

Looking to the future, for October we will be covering the movie Mimic 2 (we covered the first Mimic film almost a year ago – here is the link). We are also solidifying our Transmissions guests as well.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance

The folks at Fan2Fan Podcast are collecting top five Halloween season films from their guests and I was honored to contribute mine.

The episode I appear on with my top five was published last Wednesday and can be heard at this Fan2Fan Libsyn page. Present in this episode was also Joshua Pruett. His top five movies can be heard on this Fan2Fan episode. Keep an eye out for Michele’s list!

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Footage Fiends Zine

Evan Jordan of the Void Video Podcast and Madeleine of the Unnamed Footage Festival are launching a brand new zine called Footage Fiends that is devoted to all aspects of the found footage genre of films. Tweet embedded below:

This, of course, inspired me, so now I am working on an essay about the 1950s Italian cosmic horror film, Caltiki: The Immortal Monster (one of the first films to have a found footage scene). If you’re interested in submitting, check out the Tweet thread above for more information.

The Warrior and the Sorceress Re-Release

Shout Factory, under their Scream Factory label, is did a re-release of the Roger Corman 1980s sword and sorcery (sword and planet since it takes place on another planet?) film, The Warrior and the Sorceress.

My copy of The Warrior and the Sorceress with the poster.

I have not seen this film before, even though it is included in the four movie DVD release Shout Factory did a few years ago that contained Deathstalker, Deathstalker 2, and Barbarian Queen (side note: if you want to hear me talk Deathstalker 2 with the Fan2Fan Podcast crew, click here). Of course I had to pre-order the Blu-ray incarnation, plus it comes with a poster and the cover is reversible to a Cthulhu-looking one.

Reverse sleeve.

Here is a link to the Shout Factory product page for The Warrior and the Sorceress. My copy arrived extremely quickly.

Just Jaeckin Releases from Cult Epics

Emmanuelle director Just Jaeckin passed away earlier this month.

The filmmaker may be gone but his legacy lives on. Later in September Cult Epics released two Blu-rays of Jaeckin’s work: Madame Claude and The Last Romantic Lover. Commentary on the discs is done by Jeremy Richey who wrote Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol (read my review here). Check out the Cult Epics website for more info on these releases.

Artist Gilead Kickstarter Campaign

Sword and sorcery artist Gilead has started a Kickstarter campaign for his Sketch book and print art.

Check out the campaign on Kickstarter and consider supporting!

Categories
Peplum

Salvaged Goods: Alicia Carter and Robot Issue 01

The Astonishing Adventures of Alicia Carter and Robot is a brand new comic series by Tristan Vick, with Chris Awayan on art and Mirza Wirawan on colours. The debut issue of Alicia Carter and Robot (ACaR) was Kickstarted in February 2022 and released by Vick’s own publishing imprint, Regolith Comics. 

SFW cover for ACaR by Karen Darboe (for preview/thumbnail purposes)

ACaR is described on its Kickstarter campaign as an “action-packed sci-fi adventure” in the vein of classic pulps such as “Northwest Smith, Flash Gordon, and John Carter of Mars” with comedy thrown in. The Edgar Rice Burroughs’ character homage is immediately noticed in Alicia Carter’s last name. The comic shares the sci-fi pulp DNA in the same vein as Star Wars does. 


Personal copy of ACaR with NSFW Toshio Maeda-inspired cover by Awayan.

Carter is an infamous space thief whose latest escapade has her stealing a crystal from the reptilian criminal Klaven Skullvek and the two bounty hunters in his employ: the cybernetic Armitage and sniper Kira. While being pursued, Carter crash lands on Junk World, an entire planet converted into a garbage dump by Nova Corp. Amnesic from a head wound during her rough landing, Carter is rescued by Garbage Disposal Unit 3 (GDU-3), a bipedal robot that salvages treasures from the refuse. Together, Carter and GDU-3 team up to evade Skullvek and his henchpeople and escape from Junk World. 

Alicia Carter.

Carter as a character is a fun, rogueish heroine in the Han Solo/Star-Lord sense. As a sword and planet character, much like John Carter, she appears to be incredibly agile and able to leap large distances – or at least within the gravity on Junk World. If Carter has any fault it is due to the temporary amnesia she only suffers from for a handful of pages. If anything, this selective amnesia robs her of precious character development as it otherwise doesn’t advance or effect the plot at all. On the other hand, Carter is extremely animated and emotive. She pops off the comic’s pages with gestures and facial expressions that make her both endearing and easy to read, which is definitely in part due to the art and colour work of Awayan and Wirawan respectively. 

GDU-3 (The Robot).

GDU-3 is quite fleshed out as a robot character. While he has protocols he must follow, he exhibits numerous human-like traits, such as he collects books and other trinkets for his own collection. His relationship to his parent company, Nova Corp, is very like that of Robocop to OCP – he follows his directives, but with the help of others, is able to overcome some of his programming to be more capable and free. 

The art of ACaR is excellent. The Awayan and Wirawan team are able to make the muted, drab garbage planet of Junk World look interesting. All the characters look distinctive, at appropriate times stepping into cartoonish territory, but only for added comedic affect. 

No expense was spared on issue one of ACaR. The comic clocks in at thirty-six pages of content including a gallery of all the alternative covers. The back cover of the comic has a bit of texture on it as well. In addition, folks who contributed to the ACaR Kickstarter received a plethora of fantastic loot as part of the campaign’s stretch goals. 

Trading cards.

Firstly, there was six trading cards, one for each character. The backs of the cards contain stats (strength, speed, charisma, etc.) along with a biography of the pictured character. Hopefully the trading card trend will continue in successor crowdfunding campaigns. They are fun but they also provided paratextual information to supplement the world and character building in the comic.

Stickers and magnet.

Next, two chibi-styled stickers of Carter and GDU-3 along with a magnet of their ship were part of the stretch goals.

Foil art print by Shikarii.

Finally, a holofoil art print of Carter looking bad ass by artist Shikarii is also part of the package.

The Kickstarter campaign was also an avenue to pre-purchase exclusive cover variants of ACaR done by different artists, with most covers also having a NSFW incarnation. Interestingly, most Kickstarter comic book campaigns that have numerous NSFW covers also have corresponding content that is adult in nature (nudity, sex, and violence). Though ACaR has a handful of risque covers (see personal copy above), the comic proper is fairly PG-13. There’s no nudity and barely any profanity (swear words are replaced: “helios” for “hell,” “frack” for “fuck” and so on). The violence is cartoonish, with only one scene showing blood (on a regenerative character at that). 

ACaR is off to a great start. Carter is a fun heroine and GDU-3 a shocking fleshed out, unique character. Unknown if future issues of the series will be episodic in nature, with a different adventure in each comic, or one large arc spanning multiple issues, but the intergalactic antics of Carter and GDU-3 look promising and exciting.

More information about Alicia Carter and Robot and the team behind it can be found at the following locations: