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News Roundup W/E 2021-09-05

Personal / Website News

HP Lovecast Podcast News

We concluded our King in Yellow month on the HP Lovecast Podcast. This past Tuesday our monthly transmissions episode went up which contained interviews with James Chambers, Carol Gyzander, and Meghan Arcuri about Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign. This episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

Candyman Essay

Taking advantage of the renewed interest on Candyman ’92 because of the new Candyman ’21, I’ve written an article about bands and music projects that sample the original Candyman. This was a fun article to do and it continues one of my interests to explore the world of sampling.

General Neo-Peplum News

Essay on Antiquity and Far-Right in French Heavy Metal

Antiquipop has published Dr. Swist’s essay titled “Les légions du soleil noir: Classical Antiquity & Far-Right Politics in French Heavy Metal.” An English version can be read at their website.

Fascist Receptions of Antiquity in Metal Music Presentation

Dr. Swist will also be giving a presentation called “Fascist Receptions of Antiquity in Metal Music” at Brandeis University on October 19, 5pm via Zoom.

Registration is at: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYtcOCoqzwrEtOvAUhbE_8mgfo2Ftq6BCTd

Forgotten City Physical Releases

Physical releases of The Forgotten City for xbox and PS5 has just been released!

Skies of Venus

In sword and planet news, Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. is publishing a new Carson of Venus novel, Skies of Venus: A Novel of Actor.

The new novel is written by Neal Romanek with cover art by Richard Hescox. The book is available for pre-order at the ERB website and is expected to be released in the upcoming Winter.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-08-29

Personal / Website News

Podcast News

Hercules Invictus started a new program of sorts on his Voice of Olympus show called Hercules and the Planetary Powers, which has a focus on space stuff. Because of this, for the next few episodes, Scholars from the Edge of Time will be doing more sword and planet oriented programming. Our first episode kicked off with a talk about the cult film The Ice Pirates. Check it out on the Voice of Olympus BlogTalkRadio website.

HP Lovecast News

We’ve finished recording and editing the August episode of Transmissions. This episode will feature interviews with James Chambers, Carol Gyzander, and Meghan Arcuri and will conclude our King in Yellow month for August. This episode will post Tuesday the 31st.

The Podcast Appearance page has been updated with dates and programming until the end of the year. These are subject to change, of course, but should give you a general idea of what we are covering and when for the remainder of the year.

Horror Writers Association Cook Book

The Horror Writers Association did a cover reveal of their upcoming cook book.

Cover by Robert Payne Cabeen

The book is edited by Marge Simon, Robert Payne Cabeen, and Kate Jonez, with Cabeen also doing the spooky cover art. Currently unknown publish date. Also, I am not sure, but I may be in this book? Long ago the editors were collecting recipes and I did some sort of vegetarian dish. But that was way back in 2016. So, maybe 50-50 chance I got a recipe in this book or not. We will find out together!

General Neo-Peplum News

Bible Films Blog and Cover Reveal

Matt Page has added a new review to his Bible Films Blog: the silent film Absalon (1912).

Also, Page’s upcoming debut, 100 Bible Films, has a cover reveal!

More info and pre-ordering options can be found at the Bloomsbury product page for the book.

Ancient World in Media

Helicon Storytelling has a new article up called “Classical Reception Studies: The Ancient World in Media.” They cover movies Gladiator and Troy, the Hades video game, the 2000s Battlestar Galactica iteration, and the books Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and the Cicero Trilogy by Robert Harris.

Sons of Chaos at UCLA

Sons of Chaos author Chris Jaymes will be speaking at the UCLA SNF Hellenic Center about his graphic novel. Zoom registration details are here. The event is September 18th.

Ancient Greeks on the Human Condition

My publisher, McFarland Books, has just published a new book by Matthew Sims called Ancient Greeks on the Human Condition.

Ordering details can be found at the McFarland product page.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-08-22

Personal / Website News

Dark Libations

Starting another series of articles at this website called “Dark Libations” where I look at the usage of cocktails in horror and dark fiction. My first article is online and it is on the Jungle Bird in Nisi Shawl’s short story “Street Worm.”

King in Yellow Month Continues on H. P. Lovecast Podcast

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

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

In this episode Michele and I discuss the graphic novel adaptation of The King in Yellow done by I. N. J. Culbard. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

This episode, along with all of our other programming this month, is all themed on Robert W. Chambers’ influential collection, the King in Yellow. The first episode that dropped this month was on the Hippocampus Press release of Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, in which we talked about “The Yellow Crown” by Carol Gyzander and “Found and Lost” by Meghan Arcuri. This episode can be listened to at our Buzzsprout website.

The final day of the month on our Transmissions episode we will be publishing interviews with James Chambers, Gyzander, and Arcuri about their work with Under Twin Suns.

In addition, I’d like to highlight that the Horror Writers Association released their own version the The King in the Yellow via their Haunted Library of Horror Classics series. Consider plucking up a copy (Amazon link), being supportive of the organization, and following along our podcast this month.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-08-15

Personal / Website News

Burial Plot Podcast

Michele and I were both interviewed on Brenda S. Tolian and Joy Yehle’s Burial Plot Podcast. We are both super honored and flattered to be invited onto their show were we talk horror academia, the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference, our H. P. Lovecast Podcast, and much more. The episode can be streamed at the Burial Plot Podcast Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

General Neo-Peplum News

“Iconic Encounter: Water and Bone”

Danielle DeLisle has written a sword and sorcery short story over at Paizo called “Iconic Encounter: Water and Bone.”

Taught by Time: Myth Goes Punk

Earlier this month, Writerpunk Press released their sixth anthology called Taught by Time: Myth Goes Punk.

Looking at the table of contents, there is a lot of neo-peplum stories dealing with mythology:

  1. AR DeClerck: “Drag Me Down”
    (A cyber/biopunk story inspired by the Greek myths of Hades and Persephone)
  2. Nils Visser: “The Skirring Dutchman: A Sussex Steampunk Tale”
    (A steampunk story inspired by De Vliegende Hollander [The Flying Dutchman] by Piet Visser, 1901)
  3. Lee French: “Little Red Riding Hood”
    (A cyberpunk story inspired by the European folktale of Little Red Riding Hood)
  4. Phoebe Darqueling: “Making Bones”
    (A noirpunk story inspired by the European folktale of Cinderella)
  5. Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins: “Lured”
    (A steampunk story inspired by Grimm’s fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”)
  6. Rachel Brune: “H-Bomb Over Paris”
    (An atompunk story inspired by the various Greek myths of Helen of Troy)
  7. Teel James Glenn: “Black Sails”
    (A biopunk story inspired by the legend of Theseus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses)
  8. Virginia Carraway: “The Lost Princess Returns”
    (A steampunk story inspired by George MacDonald’s 1875 fairy tale novel The Lost Princess)
  9. Rachel Brune: “Bea Wolf”
    (A dieselpunk story inspired by the Old English epic poem Beowulf)
  10. Bryce Raffle: “Threads”
    (A dreadpunk story inspired by the Homerian myth of Althaea, Meleager and the Three Fates)
  11. Carol Gyzander: “Dust to Dust”
    (A biopunk story inspired by the legend of Echo and Narcissus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses)
  12. H. J. Lopez: “Corporate G.O.D.S.”
    (A nano/biopunk story inspired by Homer’s Odyssey)

The anthology can be ordered at Amazon.

Dr. Swist on Spartan History Podcast

Dr. Swist has made an appearance on the Spartan History Podcast. The episode can be streamed at their Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-08-08

Personal / Website News

Podcast News

H. P. Lovecast Podcast kicks off its King in Yellow August with a brand new episode. Live now is our deep dive into two short stories from the brand new anthology from Hippocampus Press, Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign: “The Yellow Crown” by Carol Gyzander and “Found and Lost” by Meghan Arcuri. The episode can be streamed on our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

In other podcast news, Michele and I were interviewed by Brenda S. Tolian and Joy Yehle for their Burial Plot Horror Podcast. This episode will be published later on, but I strongly encourage a listen to their catalog of episodes which can be found at their Buzzspout website or via your podcast app of preference.

Exotica Moderne #12

The newest issue of Exotica Moderne is now out! This issue contains my write up of the video game The Touryst. So far, I have still be in all issues of Exotica Moderne, and I hope to keep it up.

The issue can be ordered from the House of Tabu website. The product page can be found here.

Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association Conference

I have been accepted to present a paper at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association conference in November. My paper is titled “Victory over Valhalla: Violence via Vikings Sampling in Acylum’s Kampf Dem Verderb” and continues my research of industrial bands that sample peplum/historic epic texts into their music. This will be the first time presenting at MAPACA, thought I have presented many years at the SWPACA. I’m excited for the opportunity. Time to get to work on that presentation!

Gladiator Book

On the subject of industrial bands that sample peplum films, the Gladiator book that contains my essay about industrial bands that sample Gladiator, is looking to be published in early 2022. Cross fingers!

General Neo-Peplum News

Drunk Mythology Gals Podcast

Discovered a podcast called Drunk Mythology Gals described as “Two gals spike and spill the divine tea from Olympus to Valhalla.” Their newest episode dropped August 3 and is a second part of a discussion on the Olympics of antiquity.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-08-01

Personal / Website News

Podcast News

Recorded a short segment on Hercules Invictus’ Sword and Sandal Special on his Voice of Olympus program. I talk about the indie Kickstarted Pandemic Peplum comics, Band of Warriors #1 and Teoatl #1. It can be listened or downloaded from BlogTalkRadio.

Brand new episode of HP Lovecast Podcast is also online. This is our monthly Transmissions episode. In this episode we interview S. T. Lakata and J. H. Moncrieff. The episode is on our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

Citation News

Just found out that my essay, “Permission to Kill: Exploring Italy’s 1960s Eurospy Phenomenon, Impact and Legacy” which appeared in Michele Brittany’s James Bond and Popular Culture: Essays on the Influence of the Fictional Superspy has been cited in Michael Guarneri’s book Vampires in Italian Cinema, 1956-1975.

The book can be purchased at the Edinburgh University website.

HWA Academics Board Update

I’ve updated the HWA Academics/Non-Fiction board with three new CFPs:

  • Beyond Psycho: A Critical Assessment of Joseph Stefano & Horror in The Outer Limits
  • Theology & Vampires
  • Horror Scholar Journal #4

These CFPs can all be found at the board here.

General Neo-Peplum News

Rest in Peplum

David von Ancken passed away at the age of 56. He executive produced and directed the Ben Kingsley miniseries, Tut (2015).

Hyacinth Wijeratne passed away at the age of 74 from a car accident. She was in the Sinhala Biblical epic Christhu Charithaya (1990).

Jean-François Stévenin passed away at the age of 77. He was in The Silence of Joan (2011).

The Forgotten City

The neo-peplum video game, The Forgotten City, was just released and the reviews are coming in:

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News Roundup W/E 2021-07-25

Personal / Website News

Podcast News

Michele and I were on the Mythic Gaming special episode of Voice of Olympus. We discussed Minecraft Dungeons. The episode can be streamed/downloaded from BlogTalkRadio.

Next, for our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time program, we discussed the film Hercules Against the Mongols. This, too, can be streamed/downloaded from BlogTalkRadio.

In HP Lovecast news, our news Fragments episode is online! In this episode we tackle Michael Mann’s The Keep. The episode is on our Buzzspout page and all major podcast applications.

General Neo-Peplum News

Rest in Peplum

Renown comedian Jackie Mason passed away away at the age of 93. He has a cameo role in Mel Brooks’ peplum parody, History of the World: Part I.

Mike Mitchell has passed away at the age of 65. He was in Gladiator (2000), Braveheart (1995), Morning Star (2014), The Legend of Mordred (2019), and The Wilhelm Tell Saga (202x).

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News Roundup W/E 2021-07-18

Personal / Website News

The Supernatural Media Virus

Friend, colleague, and AnnRadCon alumni Rahel Sixta Schmitz has their debut book, The Supernatural Media Virus: Virus Anxiety in Gothic Fiction Since 1990, being published by transcript Verlag.

Cover image from the publisher’s website

Schmitz’s book cites her essay, “Mapping Digital ­Dis-Ease: Representations of Movement and Technology in Jim Sonzero’s Pulse and Stephen King’s Cell” and Frazer Lee’s “Koji Suzuki’s Ring: A World Literary Perspective” both of which appeared in Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays. I am honored to be mentioned in the acknowledgments.

The book can be purchased at the publisher’s website or at any major online bookstore.

Exotica Moderne #12 Cover Reveal

Issue 12 of Exotica Moderne will be out soon! The cover of a Tiki Statue fighting a shark makes me recall Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2:

Exotica Moderne #12 Cover

This issue contains my write up of the video game “The Touryst” published by Shin’en Multimedia. Here’s an interview preview that shows a bit of my article:

I’ll admit, I’m proud of the pictures in this one, they were convoluted to get! I played the game on the Xbox One, which allows screen captures. However, I don’t have a Microsoft cloud storage, so I wound up posting screenshots to Twitter from the Xbox and downloading them from there.

The magazine will be able to be ordered at the issue’s product page at House of Tabu.

General Neo-Peplum News

Dr. Kara Cooney Podcast Appearance

Dr. Kara Cooney will be appearing on The Ozymandias Project: Ancient Office Hours podcast on July 21. Episode listing at their website.

Neo-peplum Short Story Submissions

Black Ink Fiction has an open call for 2-5K neo-peplum short stories for an anthology called Shadows Over Olympus. Details can be found at the publisher’s website.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-07-11

Personal / Website News

H. P. Lovecast Podcast

New episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online! In this episode we discuss “The Barrens” by F. Paul Wilson and “The Faces at Pine Dunes” by Ramsey Campbell both from the Arkham House anthology Cthulhu 2000. The episode can be streamed from our Buzzsprout website or your Podcast app of preference.

General Neo-Peplum News

Call for Peplum Papers

There are a few CFPs for peplum related conferences going on right now.

The first is from Dr. Jeremy Swist and Dr. Charlotte Naylor Davis on Heavy Metal and Global Premodernity. The CFP can be found here on Google Docs.

The second is from Michael A. Torregrossa on Medieval in Popular Culture Sponsored Sessions at MAPACA 2020. The CFP can be found at UPENN.

Rest in Peplum

Rest in peplum to iconic director Richard Donner! Director of many high profile and influential films, such as The Omen (1976), Superman (1978), and Lethal Weapon (1987), he also directed peplum adjacent fare such as Ladyhawke (1985) and Timeline (2003). He passed away at the age of 91.

Prolific character and genre actor William Smith passed away at the age of 88. His most iconic peplum role was playing Conan’s father in Conan The Barbarian (1982). He was also in Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961).

Michele and I had the honor to meet William Smith at a convention.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-07-04

Personal / Website News

H. P. Lovecast Podcast

New episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online! This one is our monthly Transmissions episode, and we got three guests on this episode: G. A. Lungaro, Angela Sylvaine, and Rhonda Jackson Joseph. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or on your podcast app of preference.

The Podcast index page has not only been updated with this episode, but descriptors for upcoming episodes. They are:

  • 7/4 – F. Paul Wilson’s “The Barrens” and Ramsey Campbell’s “The Faces at Pine Dunes” both from Cthulhu 2000.
  • 7/18 – Fragments episode will be on Michael Mann filmic adaptation of The Keep.
  • 7/30 Transmissions episode will have J. H. Moncrieff and others tbd.
  • August is our King in Yellow month were we will be looking at the brand new anthology Under Twin Suns, interviewing some of the contributors, and also looking at a graphic novel adaption.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

Another new episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online! For this episode Michele and I talk about the 1960 peplum film Messalina. The episode can be streamed or downloaded at BlogTalkRadio.

General Neo-Peplum News

Final Call for Abstracts – Ancient World, Modern Music

A reminder: Dr. Swist has an open CFP called “Ancient World, Modern Music” for the Classical Association of the Middle West & South conference in March 23-26 2022 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina:

We are seeking abstracts for a panel on the reception of antiquity in modern music. 15-minute papers on the topic may discuss any genre of modern & popular music, including folk & country, rock & metal, hip-hop & pop, and theater & soundtracks, and may focus on lyrics, album artwork, music videos, live performances, or the music itself. We are particularly interested in questions of how musicians integrate ancient culture, myth, and art into modern medium, and how they read antiquity in response to the personal, the aesthetic, and the political. 

Send 300-word abstracts & questions to Jeremy Swist (jeremyswist@brandeis.edu) by 10 July 2021. Potential panelists must commit to present in person if accepted. 

The CFP ends this upcoming weekend.

Asterix Essay

Hary Oulton has an essay published at Academia Letters called “Astérix and the Impossible text: Adaptation and Intertextuality in Historical Fiction.”