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News Roundup W/E 2022-02-27

Personal / Website News

New Episodes of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast

It’s the end of the month, we’ve got not one – but two! – new episodes of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast online.

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

First, on H. P. Lovecast Present: Fragments, we have a longer form interview with author/editor/podcast Eric Raglin. We discuss his podcast, Cursed Morsels, and his recently released anthology, Antifa Splatterpunk. The episode can be streamed at this listing at our Buzzsprout website.

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

Next, we have our monthly Transmissions episode. In this episode, as part of our support for Bram Stoker preliminary ballot/final ballot folks, we interview Mathias Clasen, Angela Yuriko Smith, Aric Cushing and Logan Thomas. This episode can be streamed at this listing at our Buzzsprout website. Of course, both episodes can be listened to via your podcast app of preference.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

Michele and I had our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time appearance on Hercules Invictus’ program. In this episode we talk about Barbarella! Check it out on BlogTalkRadio.

There’s No Such Thing as Vampires Release

Aric Cushing and Logan Thomas (see podcast above) are the creative team behind the retrowave 80s inspired film, There’s No Such Thing as Vampires.

Poster courtesy of Logan Thomas

While Cushing and Thomas appeared on our podcast, years ago we appeared in their film! Michele and I had the opportunity to play dead bodies in There’s No Such Thing as Vampires, and what an awesome experience it was.

Let the bodies hit the floor.

The movie has now been officially released to the home watching markets: it can be rented on Amazon Prime or bought on Blu-Ray (which is full of lots of features, including a “making of” documentary). Thomas’ synthwave soundtrack can even be bought from Amazon Music. Check it all out!

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well is in the process of shuttering its operations. This means two anthologies they’ve published that I have stories in will be out of print.

Trickster’s Treats #3: The Seven Deadly Sins, which contains my story “Journey to Agharti,” already has the Kindle version delisted from Amazon. There are only two physical copies left.

Guilty Pleasures and Other Dark Delights, which contains my story “Seamed Stocking Summoning Circle,” still has Kindle and physical copies for sale.

Act fast on these books! I don’t have any upcoming venues to have the story/drabble republished, so it will be a while before they see print again. Editors interested in republishing these pieces in other anthologies, feel free to contact me.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Matt Page Podcast Appearance

Matt Page, author of the upcoming 100 Bible Films, had an appearance on The Online Movie Show with Phil Hall podcast, where, of course, Biblical pepla was brought up.

One Will Fall Online Comic

Bernie Gonzalez, one of the co-hosts of the Fan2Fan Podcast, has an online Viking/barbarian/neo-peplum comic hosted at Instagram called One Will Fall.

By Bernie Gonzalez

Check it out on Instagram / at onewillfall.com.

Son of Samson Re-release

Kino has a product page for their Son of Samson release. Slated to be released 2022-05-10.

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News Roundup W/E 2022-02-20

Personal / Website News

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well has started the process of shuttering its operations and that means two anthologies they’ve published that I have stories in will soon be out of print.

Trickster’s Treats #3: The Seven Deadly Sins, which contains my story “Journey to Agharti,” already has the Kindle version delisted from Amazon. There are only two physical copies left.

Guilty Pleasures and Other Dark Delights, which contains my story “Seamed Stocking Summoning Circle,” still has Kindle and physical copies for sale.

Act fast on these books! I don’t have any venues right now to have the story/drabble republished, so it will be quite a while before they see print again. Editors and publishers interested in republishing these pieces in other anthologies, feel free to contact me!

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Recent acquisitions, courtesy of the Full Moon Valentines sale.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Thermae Romae Novae Trailer

On March 28 Netflix will begin streaming the neo-peplum anime Thermal Romae Novae, which is about a Roman bath designer who accidentally time travels to modern day Japan.

A trailer has been released! Not many animes or mangas dealing with antiquity, so this is quite cool.

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News

News Roundup W/E 2022-02-13

Personal / Website News

New Episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast

A brand new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is now online!

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

In this episode we discuss the space horror comic series Caliban, written by Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher) and art by Facundo Percio. This episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

Tiki Melange Article

It has been a while, but I have a new article at my website – a cocktail article!

It’s about the Tiki Melange cocktail that can be found in the comic book Jasper’s Starlight Tavern. It’s not a good comic or drink but I had fun writing about it. The article can be read here.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Tarzan and the Lion of Judah

Tarzan is not a peplum property, but he is a strong man that shares imagery with a majority of sword and sandal protagonists, and he was also in the peplum novel, Tarzan and the Lost Empire, so I am counting this news as peplum-adjacent.

Cover art provided by Gary A. Buckingham

Gary A. Buckingham (Tarzan: Untamed Frontiers) is publishing a new Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. authorized book titled Tarzan and the Lion of Judah. The book contains eight stories and is available in a variety of editions: an autographed sketch letter edition with a Dan Parson Remarque for $175, an autographed limited numbered edition for $118, and a trade edition with a signed bookplate for $56. Tarzan and the Lion of Judah is slated to be released this June. For more information or ordering details, contact Buckingham at gbucking2@yahoo.com.

Recent Acquisitions

Scholar Rocky Colavito brought to my attention a magazine called The Lost Films Fanzine. The zine is focused not strictly on lost films, but films that were supposed to get made, but for a variety of reasons, did not.

Issue eight of the zine prominently features on the cover a movie called Hercules Against the Gods, with Hercules fighting a giant dragon-dinosaur-looking monster. So, of course, I had to order this.

The article, citing Peplum TV, suspects that the unmade Hercules Against the Gods film was actually, more or less, filmed, but it became The Vengeance of Hercules. It’s a fun read that gives a glimpse into the American process of importing and rejiggering Italian films for state-side audiences.

During the week Michele and I took a trip to Zia’s since she was procuring some Highlander releases. I plucked up a used copy of the Dragonheart collection. I had seen the first movie long, long ago but never any of the sequels. I’ve heard of them, and also heard that their quality is extremely lacking. But, I have a soft spot for franchise continuations (I stand by the Scanner Cop movies are legit awesome) so I decided to buy this set. It’s sword and sorcery, with the first movie having shades of Arthurian-peplum, so I’m interested.

Powerslave: Exhumed was just released digitally last week and I bought it off the Xbox marketplace and have been playing it off an on. I was a huge PC gamer in the 90s, and I still love classic DOS style FPS like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. Powerslave looks to have been released at the height of Doom clones, but I had never heard of it before (I may have seen it in a PC Gamer mag?). Regardless, it’s old school and its Egyptian antiquity (thus: neo-peplum!). I am a bit into the game and its…… I dunno. I really want to like it, but it has some questionable mechanics (no reticle, so it’s hard to hit airborne enemies), way too much platforming for a faux 3D FPS, and it is extremely, extremely cryptic at what you need to do to progress. Aside from that, I like the 90s charm and the soundtrack is banging.

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News Roundup W/E 2022-02-06

Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot Listing

My essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft Through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth,” has made the preliminary Bram Stoker Award ballot in the short non-fiction category. Note: this does not denote I am nominated or a finalist. It simply means I am on the preliminary ballot and have a 50% chance to advance to the final ballot.

Active and Lifetime members of the Horror Writers Association who would like to read my essay for final ballot consideration (which closes February 15th) you can find it online at Academia.edu. Note: if there is a big ad in the way taking up the screen, just hit the X at the top right. Academia.edu is silly that way.

New Issue of Exotica Moderne

Issue fourteen of Exotica Moderne is now out!

Celebrating my newest publication with a Death & Co. inspired Mai Tai

This issue contains my interview with New Zealand stockings/pinup model Miss Corsair Debonair and it can be purchased at the House of Tabu website.

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Rest in Peplum

Monica Vitti, who stared in many, many Italian auteur films, passed away at the age of 90 (article at CNN.com).

She starred in the Medieval peplum/comedy film On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who… which is also known as The Chastity Belt.

The Sword and the Sorcerer Release

Shout Factory announced they are doing a 4K/Blu-ray release of the Albert Pyun sword and sorcery film, The Sword and the Sorcerer, which is slated for a March 15th release.

I actually have not seen this film since most older releases are way OOP so you better believe I pre-ordered this. Side note: I dig Albert Pyun films, with Cyborg and Nemesis being my favorites.

Zeus Super Bowl Commerical

I’m always down for some neo-peplum commercials (anyone remember the Gladiator/Jif one from last year?)

Per Cinema Blend, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek will star as Zeus and Hera respectively in a series of Super Bowl ads for BMW.

I love buying art prints and getting commissions done when at comic books cons. I’ve made lots of friends over the years going to cons and I’ve accumulated quite a bit of art!

I was only passingly familiar with Les Edwards, due to him doing the cover art of Hero Quest, but I am certain I’ve seen his sword and sorcery artwork in other places. Recently, I am not sure where, but I saw his art piece, The Invocation, and I was just mesmerized by it. Simply a beautiful piece. Yes, there is a naked lady featured prominently, but the sky in the background – I am always in awe in powerful skies. When I see a cloud filled sky, be it ominous with storm clouds or full of huge, puffy white ones, I get that feeling of “something big is coming.” The Invocation does that.

Anywho, turns out Edwards has a website and sells prints of his work. So, I ordered a print of The Invocation.

Even autographed to me. I love it.

On Sunday Michele and I went to Half Price Books (we had not been in a while) to scour material for some of our respective projects.

I may double dipped on that Historic Epics boxset, but if I did, it’s in an inaccessible box. For sure though I didn’t have that Hail, Caesar! soundtrack. Coen Brothers films usually have fantastic soundtracks, and since Hail, Caesar! is a fantastic neo-peplum and one of the source films that launched The New Peplum, I had to pluck it up.

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News Roundup W/E 2022-01-30

Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot Listing

My essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft Through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth,” has made the preliminary Bram Stoker Award ballot in the short non-fiction category. Note: this does not denote I am nominated or a finalist. It simply means I am on the preliminary ballot and have a 50% chance to advance to the final ballot.

Active and Lifetime members of the Horror Writers Association who would like to read my essay for final ballot consideration find it online at Academia.edu. Note: if there is a big ad in the way taking up the screen, just hit the X at the top right. Academia.edu is silly that way.

New Episode of H. P. Lovecast

Our January Transmissions episode for H. P. Lovecast went up earlier today!

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany.

This episode concludes our exploration into the anthology New Maps of Dream with interviews conducted with Matthew M. Bartlett, Christine Morgan, and Kaaron Warren. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout site or via your podcast app of preference.

February will see us diving into a space horror comic, the world of splatterpunk and antifa, and doing some additional coverage of writers who made it to the Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot. I invite you all to take a dive into our 2021 episodes because we reviewed/interviewed quite a few writers and editors who made the preliminary ballot.

New Episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time

Last week Michele and I were on our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time program.

My Yor collection. German version autographed by Reb Brown to me.

For January we continued our sword and planet theme by discussing Yor: The Hunter from the Future. The episode can be streamed at BlogTalkRadio. I’ll be taking my notes, compiling them, and turning them into a Peplum Ponderings writeup in February.

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Rest in Peplum

European comic book artist and illustrator Jean-Claude Mézières passed away at the age of 83 (article at Comics Beat).

Personal collection.

The D.N.A. of the sword and planet genre can be felt in his seminal series, Valerian and Laureline, which was later adapted into the movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Michele and I recently discussed the movie incarnation on the Scholars from the Edge of Time program.

Son of Samson Upcoming Blu-Ray Release

Kino Lorber announced over the weekend that they would be releasing 1960’s Son of Samson on Blu-Ray:

The release isn’t listed for pre-order at the Kino website, but once it becomes available I’ll post news about it here.

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News Roundup W/E 2022-01-23

Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot Listing

My essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft Through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth,” has made the preliminary Bram Stoker Award ballot in the short non-fiction category. Note: this does not denote I am nominated or a finalist. It simply means I am on the preliminary ballot and have a 50% chance to advance to the final ballot.

Active and Lifetime members of the Horror Writers Association who would like to read my essay for final ballot consideration find it online at Academia.edu. Note: if there is a big ad in the way taking up the screen, just hit the X at the top right. Academia.edu is silly that way.

New H. P. Lovecast Podcast Episode

New episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online!

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany. Mighty cat of Ulthar is Algernon.

In this episode we focus on two short stories from New Maps of Dream, released by PS Publishing and edited by Cody Goodfellow and Joseph S. Pulver Sr.: “The Dankness over Dylath-Leen” by Scott R. Jones and “The Malls of Ulthar” by Matthew M. Bartlett. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

The last day of this month we will post our Transmissions episode which will feature interviews with Matthew M. Bartlett, Christine Morgan, and Kaaron Warren. Stay tuned!

H. P. Lovecast Bram Stoker Prelim Ballot Recap

During 2021 Michele and I had the honour to review the works / interview the folks that have appeared on the preliminary ballot. A listing of those episodes (from both H. P. Lovecast and Scholars From the Edge of Time) will be listed below in an effort to promote the writers and their works in their respective paths to the final ballot.

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern Review

Michele’s and my co-edited book, Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays has a new review!

Shannon Scott at the Revenant Journal has reviewed the book in the journals newest online journal. It can be read here. Of course, the book can be purchased at McFarland.

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Recent Acquisitons

Been a while since I plucked up some pepla films. I went on Amazon and procured these two items:

I’d never seen Ulysses before, but Justin Decloux mentioned it as an essential sword and sandal film in one of the supplements in his release of Fury of Achilles (read my write up) and it’s been on the wish list to get for a while, so time to scoop it up.

I was also in the mood for some 80s sword and sorcery. The new Blu-ray releases of the Deathstalker films from Shout Factory are already out of print! So this four pack will do instead, and that’s fine. But seriously, some Shout Factory Blu-Rays just go OOP right away. I recall last year trying to find their versions of Slumber Party Massacre 2 and 3 and what the hell?

While exploring the Transcending Obscurity Records Bandcamp site I happened upon the neo-peplum metal album Dust of Aeons by Towards Atlantis Nights.

I ordered this album back in November I believe and it came all the way from India, arriving last week. I’ll be giving it a listen this upcoming week. Cool cover!

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News

News Roundup W/E 2022-01-16

Personal / Website News

H. P. Lovecast News

Our first episode of January on New Maps of Dream will go up later today (instead of yesterday). We got two stories we will be examining. Our Transmissions episode will go up as usual at the end of the month and we are interviewing three folks from the anthology. Tune in to that episode when it drops for even more news.

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Rest in Peplum Mark Forest

Stalwart sword and sandal veteran Mark Forest passed away at the age of 89 (article at Ansa). Along with the likes of Steve Reeves, Alan Steel, Reg Park, and Ed Fury, Forest literally and figuratively carried classic Italian pepla on his back.

He appeared in numerous historic epics:

  • The Egyptian (1954)
  • Goliath and the Dragon (1960)
  • Son of Samson (1960)
  • Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961)
  • Colossus of the Arena (1962)
  • Goliath and the Sins of Babylon (1963)
  • Hercules Against the Mongols (1963)
  • Hercules Against the Barbarians (1964)
  • The Lion of Thebes (1964)
  • Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)
  • The Magnificent Gladiator (1964)
  • Kindar the Invulnerable (1965)
  • The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules (1964)

Rest in Peplum Matt Jacobs

I received news that artist and comic book illustrator Matt Jacobs passed away back in December.

Matt holding a drawing he did of Jason Voorhees in Michele’s sketchbook.

I’ve had the honour to know Matt since the early 2010s. He was a staple to the various Los Angeles and surrounding area comic book conventions, typically present at the Fanbase Press booth. He did the illustrations to one of their early comics, The Arcs, which is also his contribution to the neo-peplum genre. He was fun to talk with, especially about gory horror films.

He was a versatile dude, doing projects for Faith No More and Howard Stern. His art can still be seen on his Instagram account. He did this incredible sketch on an Army of Darkness blank cover as a gift to me back in 2014.

Can you spot all the cameos?

I have not seen Matt for a couple years, he kinda feel off the radar and stopped showing up to conventions. I only just found out via Fanbase Press that he passed away. He will be missed.

Gorgon Volume 2 Comic Kickstarter

Jay Fotos is doing a Kickstarter for volume 2 of a comic called Gorgon. Shades of neo-peplum are present! Kickstarter campaign can be found here.

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News

News Roundup W/E 2022-01-09

Personal / Website News

Cover Reveal: Exotica Moderne #14

Here it is, the cover of the next issue of Exotica Moderne:

This issue contains my interview with the wonderful stockings pinup, Miss Corsair Debonair, who was gracious to provide exclusive photos. If you’d like a sneak peek of one of them, here you go:

Photo by Miss Corsair Debonair

Keep an eye on The House of Tabu website when the magazine becomes available for ordering. I’ve had the honour to write for all 14 issues of Exotica Moderne so far, but alas, I will have to skip issue 15 since that will be focused on the huge Tiki Caliente event. But no worries, I got lots more articles in the pipeline for the magazine. I appreciate all the folks who’ve read my interviews, reviews, and essays that have appeared in the magazine so far.

“Magnificent Maleficarum”

I recently did a write up on unboxing The Witches’ Bundle version of Severin Films’ new folk horror boxset, All Haunts Be Ours.I also did a mini interview with Howard David Ingham who contributed to the set (tarot cards and documentary).

The article can be read here.

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

La Nativité Write Up

Matt Page has a new write up/review at his Bible Films Blog.

It’s on the Biblical silent proto-peplum film La Nativité from 1910. The review can be read here. Check it out!

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2022-01-02

Personal / Website News

2021 Accomplishments / 2022 Projects

I’ve aggregated all my 2021 accomplishments on this post while also listing projects I expect to realize in this new year. I thank the folks who have supported me or provided me platforms immensely.

H. P. Lovecast Transmissions Episode

Our last episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast for 2021 is online!

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

This is our monthly transmissions episode where we interview a few folks. In this episode we interview Jennifer Barnes, Lee Murray, and Rena Mason about their work with Attack from the ’80s. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.

AnnRadCon CFP is Closed

The CFP for the 5th Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference at StokerCon 2022 has now closed. Thank you to all who submitted abstracts. Michele and I will be going over them during the first two weeks of January and sending out acceptances.

Highlander CFP

When one CFP closes another one opens!

Adrian Paul has way more charisma than Christopher Lambert.

Michele has a CFP that just opened on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays about the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything. If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others! With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of.

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Recently I scored two Black Emanuelle vinyls from Light in the Attic records and it got me really nostalgic.

Two Black Emanuelle vinyls I procured. I just need a record player!

I grew up with the Sylvia Kristel Emmanuelle films and got into the Laura Gemser Black Emanuelle films when I started studying Italian genre films when I was working on my masters. One of my bucket list items has been to do a book on the Emmanuelle films and their various knock offs, sequels, and so on because no such book exists. I think it’s time to bite the bullet and get the process going for this project.

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I’ll be publishing an official CFP for essays on Emmanuelle, Emanuelle, and the other Emmanuelles out there. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better!

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP.

The two books with Amazon links are:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

General Neo-Peplum News

Bible Films Blog: Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem

Matt Page has a new review up at his Bible Films Blog.

It’s on the 2019 Italian Biblical neo-peplum film titled Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem. Page’s write up can be read at his blog.

Severin Caligula Releases

Severin Films is releasing two Italian porno-pepla in February.

The first is Joe D’Amato’s 1982 film Caligula: The Untold Story and the second is Bruno Mattei’s 1981 Caligula and Messalina. Severin is offering quote a few options on pre-ordering these films:

Yours truly, of course, has already pre-ordered these. Expect essays later on!

Born of Blood Comic

I only learned about this comic because it appeared in an update email from another peplum comic I contributed to on Kickstarter. Of course, upon discovery, it has 40 hours left of its campaign, so by the time this news post goes up it will have ended. Regardless, a newish publisher called Merc Magazine is putting out a neo-peplum comic called Born of Blood.

Sorah Suhng cover
Mike Krome virgin cover

It looks like Born of Blood was previewed in prior published comics of Merc Magazine, Miss Meow and Deathrage, so I am a bit out of the loop of plot. Looking at the cover art, I see lots of Spartan imagery, so I am definitely intrigued.

As an aside, there has been a great uptick in what I call “pandemic peplum” comics appearing on Kickstarter. I have interviewed many of those creators already at my website:

Not to mention many others I’ve Kickstarted as well that I either have not written about or haven’t received yet: Gilgamesh Eternal #1, Teoatl, and Aztlan.

Anywho, I hope once I get Born of Blood 01, maybe I can do a review or interview the team behind it. But it’s so curious that so many sword and sandal crowdfunded comics have come out since the pandemic began.

I put in monies to get two versions of the first issue: a cover by Sorah Suhng and a virgin cover by Mike Krome. As you can see above, they look really sweet!

Categories
News

2021 Accomplishments

2021 was definitely a crazy and hectic year. The global Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world with multiple variants. Michele and I continue to play it safe: we mask up, limit us going out, and received our vaccines, though we need boosters soon. The move from Orange to Phoenix also required some normalization. There was also personal ailments, family issues, work woes, and lots of anxieties. 

Despite all this, 2021 was a successful year on many fronts. I didn’t have any books published and outside my regular contributions to Exotica Moderne, nothing else saw physical print. However, Michele and I really ramped up the focus on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast. We launched an additional show and tweaked the format a little bit and the results so far have been quite positive. In 2022 we are going to concentrate on growing our audience, which right now as a cult following. But with 30 episodes published this year plus other podcast appearances, we were both successful on this front, and we hope the books and authors we featured also received a spike in promotion.

Vanity shelf at the end of 2021

What follows is a break down of all major 2021 accomplishments. 

2021 Accomplishments

Podcast Accomplishments

  • 50 podcast appearances

Publication Accomplishments

  • 6 physical/print publications
    • 4 articles for Exotica Moderne
    • 2 book contributions
      • Mark My Words
      • StokerCon 2021 Souvenir Book (co-written with Michele)
  • 16 articles at my website
    • 7 interviews
    • 3 book reviews
    • 6 articles/essays
  • Essay published at Academia Letters

Conference Accomplishments

  • Co-chaired with Michele the 4th year of the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference
  • 2 Conference Presentations
    • AnnRadCon
    • Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association

For some of the above accomplishments I’d like to give a shout out to: Brenda S. Tolian and Joy Yehle (Burial Plot Podcast), Sherri (Scaredy Cats Podcast), Hercules Invictus (Voice of Olympus Network), Ken Holewczynski (Exotica Moderne), Josh Viola (Hex Publishers), and Lee Murray (Mark My Words) who all gave me platforms and opportunities. I sincerely appreciate you all. Of course I have to think Michele for being my biggest supporter and partner in crime in these endeavors.

2022 Projections

Only a few days into the new year and 2022 is already filling up with new projects, opportunities, and publications!

Things to look forward to in 2022

  • Publication of Kevin Wetmore’s The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise which contains my essay “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown”
  • Publication of Rachel Corazo’s untitled Gladiator book which contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling”
  • Issue of Exotica Moderne that contains my interview with New Zealand Pinup model Miss Corsair Debonair
    • Other Exotica Moderne appearances will happen
  • Essays and interviews co-written with Michele for the 2022 StokerCon souvenir book
  • Co-chairing and presenting at the Fifth Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference
  • Secret magazine article (due at the end of January)
  • More episodes of H. P. Lovecast
  • More articles and interviews at my website

Projects I’ll be starting in 2022

Projects I anticipate to be starting on or working on in the next year:

  • Composing a Highlander essay for Michele’s Highlander Book (see CFP here)
  • My first monograph (which will be on Lovecraft and Rene Girard)
  • Publishing a CFP for the Emmanuelle and Black Emanuelle films
  • Editing my Acylum presentation into a journal article proper
  • And others tbd! 

Thank you everyone who has been along with me on my academic journey.