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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.”

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News Roundup W/E 2021-06-27

Personal / Website News

Scholars from the Edge of Time

On Thursday Michele and I had our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time segment on the Voice of Olympus program. In this episode Michele discussed the mummy anthology Spirits Unwrapped while I talked about the classic peplum film Ursus in the Valley of the Lions. The episode can be listened to at Blog Talk Radio.

Peplum Ponderings

I’ve started a new series here at my website called Peplum Ponderings. This is reserved for after I’ve watched a peplum film and I’ve taken notes, as a venue for me to share my informal observations about the film. My first one is online and it is for Ursus in the Valley of the Lions. Expect one later on this week for Messalina.

HWA CFP Board

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) Academics/Non-fiction board has been updated with a few new CFPs:

  • NEPCA – Monstrous in Disney
  • NEPCA – Northeast USA contribution to Monstrous canon
  • Call for chapters for book on horror comics

Details for these CFPs can be found on the board. If you have a CFP yourself that needs to be added, please send an email to annradcon@gmail.com .

General Neo-Peplum News

Physical Release of Ancient Greece and Rome in Videogames

The physical version of Dr. Ross Clare’s Ancient Greece and Rome in Videogames: Representation, Play, Transmedia will be published next week! The New Peplum is cited many times in this book.

The electronic version is already out while the physical version can be found at the Bloomsbury website.

Band of Warriors #2 Kickstarter News

Samuel G. London has been sending out the Kickstarter rewards for backers of Band of Warriors #1 (which you can read my interview with London here). In a news update for backers, the script for issue #2 is being worked on and the campaign to fund the issue is likely to launch in September. However, there is a cover reveal for issue #2, with art by Federico Avila Corsini:

Follow London on Twitter for more information about this comics.

New Ex Deo Album

Canadian neo-peplum band Ex Deo officially announced on their Facebook page their next album, The Thirteen Years of Nero, will be released on August 27th. They released the first video of the album, “Imperator,” on Youtube.

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News Roundup W/E 2021-06-20

Personal / Website News

The 20th was my birthday. Happy birthday to me!

HP Lovecast Podcast Episode

New episode of HP Lovecast Presents: Fragments is now online. This is our discussion on the film Caltiki: The Immortal Monster, which was delayed from last month due to StokerCon/AnnRadCon. The episode can be found on our HP Lovecast Buzzsprout website or on your podcast application of preference.

Transmissions will drop June 30th and I believe we may have three (!!) interviews on this one.

This Thursday we will both be on an episode of Scholars from the Edge of time.

Chopping Spree Writeup

Michele and I interested Angela Sylvaine last week for an upcoming episode of HP Lovecast Presents: Transmissions. I plucked up her novella Chopping Spree and saw all the fun that was being had in the story by mixing around different genres (including pepla!) that I simply had to get a writeup about the novella out ASAP. My musings on Sylvaine’s debut can be found here. Stay tuned for when her interview will drop on HP Lovecast!

General Neo-Peplum News

Norse Mythology II #1 Review

Michele Brittany has a review at Fanbase Press on the first issue of Norse Mythology II.