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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-05-26

Personal / Website News

Peplum Ponderings: Vulcan, Son of Jupiter

A new Peplum Ponderings article is now online!

I’ve done a write up about Vulcan, Son of Jupiter which can be read here.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

Two episodes of Scholars from the Edge of Time have gone online in the last couple of week.

First, for the end of April, we did an episode where Michele talked about the Alexander the Great TV series while I talk about the Lovecraftian Choose Your Own Adventure video game, The Innsmouth Case. YouTube link is here.

Next, Michele and I resume our Bella Cortez film retrospective and we dive into the pulp/scifi/peplum film The Giant of Metropolis. Check it out here on YouTube, and anticipate a Peplum Ponderings on it later on.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

The Nylon Stories: Book 1

My friend, Miss Corsair Debonair (who you may recall I interviewed for Exotica Moderne issue #14), has ventured into writing, have her first erotic short story, “The Nylon Stories: Book 1,” published on Kindle.

I was honored to do a bit of beta reading and editing for her first publication, and super flattered and humbled to be mentioned in the acknowledgements.

The story can be bought from Amazon – here is the Kindle product page. If you’re into office/business erotica with am emphasis on stockings, this is totally your cuppa.

Awen’s This World and Its Spirits

The newest Awen album, This World And Its Spirits, is officially out! I’m feel super chuffed and honored to be mentioned in the thank yous in this exquisite release.

This physical, vinyl edition of the album can be bought at the Triskele website (limited to 100 copies, so act quick!). The digital edition of This World and Its Spirits can be purchased on BandCamp.

For those curious, many releases in Awen’s catalogue are still available, be it through Triskele or Bandcamp. If you’re interested in The Hollow in the Stone, I did a review on that album, so consider giving it a read and checking out that album as well. Also, many moons ago, I did a review of their Grim King of the Ghosts for Heathen Harvest. An archived copy can be read here, but I’ll see about republishing it and updating it to my website. Regardless, check that one out as well!

Newest Acquisitions

Pluck up two new movies for the peplum library.

First is The Slave and the Sorcerer. This was a Kickstarted endeavor to make an very 80s-homage sword and sorcery flick.

The Crowdfunding campaign has long since ended, but info about the film can still be found at the Kickstarter site.

Next, a film I am super, super excited to see, is She is Conann.

A feminist take on Conan the Barbarian, reimagined as a woman through different points in time? Yes, please! My sixth sense of that this film is going to be amazing is going off.

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-05-05

Personal / Website News

Scholars from the Edge of Time

The April episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online.

In this vidcast Michele and I take a small break from talking about the films of Bella Cortez and talk about the 1985 Spanish sci-fi/fantasy film, Star Knight. The episode can be watched on YouTube.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

New Sword and Sandal Book Acquisitions

Two new tomes have been added to the sword and sandal/pop culture library.

The first is Helen of Troy in Hollywood by Ruby Blondell. This book cites The New Peplum, which is wicked cool (I always gush when my work gets cited). I don’t know too much about Helen of Troy mythology and I have not seen too many films based on her, so this book will definitely fill that knowledge gap. A few years ago Michele and I watched/did a Scholars from the Edge of Time episode on the film The Lion of Thebes (1964) [listen to it here]. Looking at the index of this book, The Lion of Thebes doesn’t appear to be mentioned. So, perhaps a future essay idea to apply Blondell’s work to that film?

Second up is the Cult Epics book The Films of Tinto Brass. I’ve been a huge Tinto Brass fan for years, probably due to his emphasis on stockings – he’s like an Elmer Batters, but for Italian erotica. Aside from all the hosiery-focused films, Brass did the most infamous porno peplum ever, Caligula (1979), which there is an entire chapter dedicated to in this book.

This book was funded from a crowdfunding campaign, so I have my name listed in the back, which is always fun. Cult Epics also published the Sylvia Kristel book a few years back, which you can read my review here. As soon as I can clear my review plate off I’ll try and do a write up of this book.

Though The Films of Tinto Brass was a crowdfunded endeavor, the book is readily purchasable from Cult Epics which comes with some exclusives such as a disc of trailers, a poster, and an autograph from Nico B.

New Sword and Sandal DVDs Acquisitions

An opportunity to pluck of Princess Warrior (1989) presented itself, so I had to go for it.

I had never heard of this film until I saw a RedLetterMedia review on it, and it looked bad (and by bad I mean awesome). It’s an 80s sword and sorcery film, with maybe a little sword and planet element thrown in. It mostly has the heroine traveling to Earth where the plot is akin to The Terminator combined with an extended a wet t-shirt contest.

Autograph Treasures

Karen McDougal, 1998 Playboy Playmate of the year, is in the news related to the trial of Trump falsifying business records in violation of campaign finance law (among other things). So, I’ll take advantage of the news to show off my autographed copy of The Arena (2001) in which she starred in.

The Arena is remake of the Pam Grier 1974 version of the same name. The 2001 version is directed by Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, who did the amazing film Night Watch (2004). Bekmambetov would revisit the neo-pelum genre in 2016 with another remake, this time of Ben-Hur.

I had the honour to meet McDougal at Glamourcon in Long Beach, November of 2011, where she signed my DVD of The Arena. It’s been over a decade since I last watched the film, but I remember enjoying it, so time to revisit it!

CFPs

Simon Bacon has a new CFP on Folk Horror and UFO/Alien Narratives:

I’m putting something together on a prospective project on the intersection of Folk Horror and UFO/Alien narratives. This could include, but not limited to:

  • The intersection of Folk Horror and Cosmic Horror
  • Lovecraft, Hope Hodgeson, and Folk Horror
  • Texts (films/games/lit/comics/etc) that use historical alien visitations as the basis of folklore/cults
  • Summonings that turn out to be alien entities
  • Alien encounters/visitation texts that use Folk Horror tropes
  • Examples of alien planets that feature their own versions of Folk Horror
  • Human/Alien futures that see past versions of humanity as sources of Folk Horror
  • Folk Horror and series such as Star Trek, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Dune, etc.

At this stage it’s just ideas/abstracts I’m needing (final essays wouldn’t be before end 2025). If interested contact me at: baconetti@gmail.com

I Am a Barbarian

Stock of Thomas Simmons and Mike Dubisch’s graphic novel, I Am a Barbarian is getting low, so if you want a copy – especially a limited edition one with an autographed book plate, scoot over to the Edgar Rice Burroughs website.

I had the honor to interview Simmons and Dubisch about their work, so check that out here, and then consider checking out their work proper.

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-04-21

Personal / Website News

Peplum Ponderings

I have a brand new Peplum Ponderings published!

I take a look at the 1961 sword and sandal film The Tartars. Check it out here.

Emmanuelle Legacy CFP Re-opened + Bibliography

Since garnering publisher interest, I’ve re-opened the CFP for the Emmanuelle legacy book. The updated CFP can be found here.

I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it is a major WIP.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Chopping Spree Re-release

Angela Sylvaine’s novella Chopping Spree is getting a re-release by Dark Matter Ink this upcoming autumn. Here is its sporty new cover:

I did a write up about this book back in 2021. If you’re curious about the book, give my review a read, and then consider pre-ordering the book directly from the publisher. There’s signed editions!

Call For Papers

Here is a collection of calls for papers/proposals for pop culture studies I want to help proliferate. If you have a CFP you need help proliferating and want me to add it to my news roundups, shoot me an email and I’ll get it added.

The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies

Deadline for abstract submissions: 24th May 2024
Editors: Lorna Farnell and Carl Wilson

The editors have already commissioned a substantial number of chapters for The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies and are seeking the last few essays that specifically consider the following topics:

  • Superhero tourism (including Disney parks)
  • Merchandise and toys
  • Superheroes in the Global South
  • Superheroes and refugees
  • Superheroes and the Anthropocene
  • Digital superheroes
  • British superheroes
  • Counterculture superheroes
  • Superhero narratives 1930-1970s, and offshoots/adaptations
  • Superhero origin stories
  • Superhero animations (including the X-Men, BTAS, She-Ra, He-Man, magical girls, and more)
  • Creators and the creative process
  • Fan communities

The editors invite abstracts of around 300 words on any of the above topics.

Final essays will be 5500 words in length, including references, and will be due two months after a provisional acceptance has been made.

Please email your abstracts (together with a short bio, 100 words max) for consideration to both editors: Lorna Piatti-Farnell, lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz and Carl Wilson, carl@carl-wilson.com

The Cursed Archive: Dangerous Texts, Deadly Communications, and Gothic Media

A popular trope in horror and speculative fiction is a cursed archive: a textual communication that is dangerous, forbidden, or contagious. Medieval grimoires and alchemist treatises were early examples of such cursed or forbidden texts. However, in the age before widespread literacy, the cursed archive was limited to a few banned or heretical books. The trope came into its own with the rise of popular literature when the issue of dangerous ideas disseminated through mass media became a cultural and political concern. Early examples of cursed archives centered on printed or written texts, as in H. P. Lovecraft’s imaginary Necronomicon or G. K. Chesterton’s story “The Blast of the Book” (1933). But with the explosion of media technologies, contemporary cursed archives encompass haunted websites, contagious cellphones, entrapping video games, monster-infested TV sets, and killer movies. In this collection, we want to probe the implications of the cursed archive; its connection to the issues of censorship, book-banning, and freedom of expression; the notion of “contagious” ideas; the differences and similarities between the forbidden book and the dark web; and electronic media as a pandemic. The topics we want to address include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The history of the cursed archive (early examples of book-banning or book-burning by the Church or other religious institutions).
  • The cursed archive and the rise of mass media.
  • Demonic books in Gothic and horror literature (Lovecraft’s Necronomicon; James Blish’s Black Easter; and similar texts).
  • The cursed archive and censorship.
  • Horror at the movies (Clive Barker’s “Son of Celluloid”)
  • Haunted media (such as video games in the Ring series; Stephen King’s Cell; dating apps in Jason Arnopp’s Ghoster).
  • Social media as contagion (including use of social media in crime fiction, such as novels by Ruth Ware and Matt Wesolowski)
  • The library as a gothic space (Borges’ “The Library of Babel”; Korner-Stace Archivist Wasp, Scott Hawkins’ The Library at Mount Char)
  • Alien communications as transforming or erasing humanity (Arrival; Cixin Liu’s Three-Body Problem).
  • Gendering the cursed archive.
  • Cross-cultural examples.
  • Cursed writing, languages, symbols.
  • Cursed means of recording such as tape cassettes, video cassettes, photos, paintings, vinyl records, databases, performance, choreography, etc.

Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to Simon Bacon (baconetti@googlemail.com) and Elana Gomel (egomel@tauex.tau.ac.il) by June 30, 2024.

Deep State Conspiracies and the Gothic

This focuses on the intersection of recent conspiracy theories and horror/folk-horror/gothic texts featuring hidden societies /corporations (John Wick/Blade/Resident Evil) or secret cabals/cults (Hereditary/Empty Man/Paranormal Activity) whose aim is control/takeover/cause the end of the world. Ideally in any media, across cultures, since 2000 but historical perspectives welcome.

If interested send a 300 word abstract by end Sept 2024 to: baconetti@gmail.com

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-04-07

Personal / Website News

Fan2Fan Appearance

Honoured to be a guest on a recent episode of the Fan2Fan Podcast to talk about one of my all time favorite films, Ark of the Sun God.

Sincere thanks to Bernie and Pete for having me on to talk about this cult Euro film that borrows heavily from both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Roger Moore-era James Bond. You can listen to the episode via the embedded player below, at this link here, or through your podcast app of preference.

Ark of the Sun God – Fan2Fan Podcast

And just for fun, how much do I love Ark of the Sun God? Why, I have four copies of the film, one of them autographed by Edoardo Margheriti!

My very first academic presentation was also on this film at a SW/PACA Conference way back in the late aughts.

“Dance or Dēcēdere” Citation

My essay, “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling” from A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just got its first citation!

Humbled that Ksenija Ševcova has cited the essay in her essay, “Music As a Means of Resistance: Rhetorical Analysis of Three Ukrainian Wartime Songs” which can be read online here.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

March’s Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcast is online!

Michele and I continue our dive into the filmography of pepla starlet Bella Cortez and discuss her film, The Tartars. The Vidcast can be watched on YouTube here.

Emmanuelle Legacy CFP Re-opened + Bibliography

Since garnering publisher interest, I’ve re-opened the CFP for the Emmanuelle legacy book. The updated CFP can be found here.

I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it is a major WIP.

Note: Light in the Attic is doing pre-orders for the Emmanuelle 2 soundtrack on vinyl (see image above). I’ve got my copy preordered! Here is a link to their product page. The description as follows:

This French masterpiece is the second adaptation of Emmanuelle Arsan’s novel “Madame Emmanuelle,” widely acclaimed as a global box office success. Francis Ray composed the music, and lead actress Sylvia Kristel’s appearance in Japanese commercials sparked a social sensation. The theme song, a popular French Lolita tune sung by Kristel herself, carries a melancholic yet captivating melody. The sensual jacket faithfully reproduces the original Japanese release, capturing the essence of that era.

LITA Newsletter from 2024-04-02

Miscellaneous Tidbits

By The Gods! Issue #2

PeplumTV has their second issue of By The Gods! out now!

The magazine can be readily purchased at MagCloud. If you have not checked out issue one, that is also available for purchase at this MagCloud product page link.

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-03-24

Personal / Website News

XII Caesars Retrospective

Brand new, hot off the presses, article up at my website!

As yall know, I love it when the world of industrial music and sword and sandal collide and I jump on any chance to write about them. Twenty years ago the industrial-ambient-experimental compilation XII Caesars was released. An opportunity presented itself to interview both Post Scriptvm and Murderous Vision, so I leapt on it and churned out this retrospective of the compilation. Some great insight from both projects – please check it out here!

Emmanuelle Legacy CFP Re-opened + Bibliography

Since garnering publisher interest, I’ve re-opened the CFP for the Emmanuelle legacy book. The updated CFP can be found here.

Tracie May-Wagner in Passion and Romance: Double or Nothing (prod. by Alain Siritzky)

I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it is a major WIP.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Michele on the Fan2Fan Podcast

Michele recently appeared on a two-parter episode for the Fan2Fan Podcast to talk about the City Symphony genre of silent films.

Part 1 can be found here.

Part 2 can be found here.

Or streamed through your favorite podcast app.

Awen/Murderous Vision/Autumn Brigade/DSM-III Concert

American neofolks acts Awen and Autumn Brigade, along with industrial project Murderous Vision and DSM-III will be holding a concert in Brooklyn, NY on May 5th.

Per the Awen Facebook:

Awen returns to New York after 17 years!
There will be an intimate concert in Brooklyn on May 5th with Murderous Vision and Autumn Brigade.
This will likely be the only Awen concert this year, in celebration of the new album This World And Its Spirits!

Tickets are available now in limited numbers and it’s recommended that you not wait too long, as the venue has limited capacity.

Tickets can be purchased here.

I’ve done a couple of articles about Awen before that I need to migrate to this website. You can find my review of their album, The Hollow in the Stone, at this link.

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-03-03

Personal / Website News

Hearteater #1 Review

New comic book review is now online!

I take a look at the debut issue of Hearteater, a NSFW erotic pirate adventure comic. It can be read here.

HP Lovecast Podcast

A new episode of HP Lovecast Podcast is also online!

We have a returning guest, David Rose, on the show talking about his short story collection of Lovecraftian military fiction, Monsters in the Bush. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout page, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 29 – David Rose and Monsters in the Bush – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Scholars from the Edge of Time

The February Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcast is now online.

Michele and I start our retrospective of the peplum films of Bella Cortez with Vulcan, Son of Jupiter. I’ll be typing up my notes as a “Peplum Ponderings” article later this month.

The episode can be watched on YouTube. Stay tuned in March for the next Bella Cortez film we tackle which will probably be The Tartars (1961).

Emmanuelle Legacy CFP Re-opened + Bibliography

Since garnering publisher interest, I’ve re-opened the CFP for the Emmanuelle legacy book. The updated CFP can be found here.

I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found hereand it’s a major WIP.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Recent Peplum Acquisitions

I never heard the term “spear and fang” before as a genre, I just kinda called them “prehistoric peplum,” but alas, it’s a term and it has its roots in a Robert E. Howard story of the same name (story found here).

Coincidentally, at the same time of learning about “spear and fang” I had ordered such a film from Amazon. I never heard of it before, but it is called Alpha (2018). I learned of it while researching my In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds write up in that both films star Natassia Malthe).

I’ve never seen it, but it looks tough. I also know the poor pupper is not going to make it.

In the mood for some new peplum music to write to I plucked up off discos the soundtrack to the Conan TV series of the 90s.

This was a series that was greenlit to capitalize on the success of the Hercules/Xena shows. Conan managed to slip by me growing up, so I’ll have to hunt down the boxset of it to watch (but it’s way OOP). It does star Ralph Möller who is always bad ass, from Universal Solider to Gladiator. He looks like a good Conan on the cover of the album.

The music is fun – great background music to write to.

On the subject of Möller and music, I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up his guest appearance in the E Nomine song “Schwarze Sonnne” which has Möller wielding a sword in a post- apocalyptic city while fighting tech ninja. The song slaps hard:

Next up is In The Name of the King 3: The Last Mission.

After seeing Two Worlds, I felt obligated to complete the trilogy. I hope in this one they actually lean into the modern day soldier/merc doing stuff in Medieval times. If you want to read my thoughts on In the Name of the King 2: Two World, click here.

Also procured is Damon and Pythias (1962), another classic era sword and sandal I have not seen.

I’ve been trying to get the Warner Archive releases of sword and sandal films when I can. I heard scuttlebutt that Warner was going to wind down their production of physical media, which would be a shame because they actually took care of their films so their peplum releases actually look decent on home video.

I don’t know how I stumbled across it, but it was random on Discogs, but I had to have a copy of Inferno’s The Roman Empire.

Someone on a Sword and Sorcery Discord I go to said the cover looks like Encarta barfed all over it (they’re not wrong!). I am going to try to hunt down all the pictured that where used in the collage work on this album. I’ve identified one: The chariot and horse scene near the top left is from the Hercules Unchained poster (see bottom right):

The music is early 90s Eurodance style. It’s campy, but kinda catchy and fun. If I can find more image sources I’ll do an article proper on this album.

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-02-11

Personal / Website News

Peplum Ponderings: In The Name of the King 2

It’s been almost 2.5 years since my last “Peplum Ponderings” (which was on Messalina [1960]), so hoping 2024 is a good year to bring that series back.

Starting off with a “Peplum Ponderings” of the 2011 Uwe Boll film, In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds. Check it out here!

The next few “Peplum Ponderings” will probably be on the pepla of actress Bella Cortez.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

And, coinciding with the above article, Michele and I talked about Two Worlds on the January episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time, which can be watched on YouTube.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Marx Warriors of the World

In early February Michele and I attended the AZToyCon over at the Mesa Convention center. The con was 90% Funkos, but there was some neat stuff here and there.

One of the things I spotted was a vendor with a Tupperware full of CIB of these late 50s/early 60s plastic figures form a company called Marx. The line was “Warriors of the World.” I had never seen or heard of these before, but I loved, loved the vintage box art on them. There was a handful of Viking ones, but quite a few Roman solider ones, so I plucked up three of them.

Look at those boxes!! Are they not awesome? I wanted to open all three, but I didn’t want to risk accidentally tearing a box, they have older style flaps inside. I did manage to open Tiberius:

There’s the box, a little card with a bio, and the figurine proper, all handprinted. It’s about the size of a classic green plastic army man. But I really dig it! Once I get a proper curio cabinet in my office, I’ll open all three boxes and put these bad boys on display.

Autographed Stuff

Ship of Dreams

In early January iconic horror writer Brian Lumley passed away. He and Gary Myers are probably the two most important authors at shaping Lovecraft’s Dreamlands after Lovecraft has passed away. We have not had a chance to discuss Lumley’s work on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast, but we hope to in the near future.

One of Lumley’s Dreamlands entries is the book Ship of Dreams, which I have this awesome, limited edition, autographed copy.

The cover art by Allen Koszowski is spectacular. Here is the back cover:

Friends’ Stuff News

Neverending Streamer Substack

My friend Travis has a new article at his Neverending Streamer Substack. It’s about episode 4 of the Marvel streaming series Echo. Subscribe and check it out here.

Bible Films Blog

Matt Page has a new article at his Bible Films Blog called “Which Bible Films Celebrate a Significant Anniversary in 2024?”. There’s a lot of films on the list with movie birthdays so check it out here.

Angela Sylvaine Short Story Collection

Angela Sylvaine will be having her first short story collection published this spring by Dark Matter Ink. It is called The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls and is already available for pre-order at the Dark Matter Ink Store.

Of course, Angela has been on our HP Lovecast Podcast twice: talking about her novella Chopping Spree and talking about her debut novel Frost Bite. Click the links to have a listen and then consider supporting her work!

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-01-28

Personal / Website News

Book Review

First article for the new year is now online!

Check out my book review of Vilioti Vintage by Jimmy Vargas and Lady Medusa, which can be read here. he book contains an interview with Ken Holewczynski, the dude behind Exotica Moderne, a magazine I’ve contributed to many times. So, definitely check out the review and the book proper.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance

My first podcast guest appearance for 2024 is over at the Fan2Fan Podcast!

In this episode we talk about the classic Italian gothic horror film, Castle of Blood. This was a lot of fun to revisit as it has been years – I dived deep into this movie over a decade ago when writing my thesis and since then I’ve grown to appreciate it more.

The episode can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn website, via the embedded player below, or through your favorite podcast app.

Castle of Blood – Fan2Fan Podcast

And, of course, I’d be remiss without showing our copy of Castle of Blood, autographed to Michele and I from both Barbara Steele and Edoardo Margheriti, son of director Antonio Margheriti:

Emmanuelle Legacy CFP Re-opened + Bibliography

Since garnering publisher interest, I’ve re-opened the CFP for the Emmanuelle legacy book. The updated CFP can be found here.

I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it’s a major WIP.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

New Edge Sword and Sorcery Issues 3 & 4

At the tail end of 2023 issues 1 and 2 of New Edge Sword and Sorcery, which has been previously Kickstarted, was unleashed upon the world. I received my copies:

The Fall 2023 issue has an advert for H. P. Lovecast, how cool is that! Also, a reminder, I did a write up about issue 0, which can be read here.

On February 15th there will be a new crowdfunding campaign to publish issues 3 and 4. You can sign up for when the campaign goes live at this link. There’s details there of what to expect from the new two issues. Check it out!

Recent Pepla Acquisitions

Recently plucked up copies of Gold for the Caesars and The Tartars, both from Warner’s Archive Collection. If it’s a peplum film Warner had a hand in back in the day, they kept decent prints of them over the years and give them decent releases:

The Tartars star pepla starlet Bella Cortez. Michele and I are probably going to do a retrospective of her pepla appearances, talking about different movies of the next few episodes of Scholars from the Edge of Time. I’ll be turning those discussions into articles for my Peplum Ponderings series which has been severely neglected.

Rest in Peplum Jesse Jane

This past week erotic actress Jesse Jane passed away. Jane appeared in many adult movies, including two pirate porno pepla: Pirates 1 and Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge. Had the honor, way back in the late aughts, to meet not only Jesse Jane, but co-stars Stoya and Riley Steele at a meet and greet: won a raffle and received copies of both of the Pirates films in which the actresses autographed. Here is a mini-slideshow (NSFW images):

I have a polaroid somewhere as well documenting the meet and greet, soon as I find it I’ll add that to the gallery.

Autographed Stuff

Here is a summary of some of the autographed stuff from my library over the past two weeks on social media.

Robot Jox

Actor Gary Graham passed away on the 22nd. He didn’t star in anything I’d consider peplum, but he starred in lots of sci-fi movies and shows. Michele and I met him at a Hollywood Collectors show way back in the day. I had him sign my copy of Robot Jox:

As you can see, I’ve had quite a few people autograph Robot Jox over the years: Graham, director Stuart Gordon (RIP), producer Charles Band, and writer Joe Haldeman. It’s a fun mecha film. We see lots of mechs in anime and video games, but live action, not so much (but the ones we get, like Pacific Rim, turn out to be cult hits later on).

The Plain Janes

Here are copies of The Plain Janes and Janes in Love signed by author extraordinaire Cecil Castellucci.

And:

When we lived in Orange we would see Castellucci at many of the local cons and she was always awesome to say hi to. Michele moderated a panel on Star Wars at a Long Beach Comic Con that Castellucci was a panelist on.

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Biweekly News Roundup 2024-01-14

Personal / Website News

2023 Accomplishments

Michele and I recapped a majority of our accomplishments and projects on the last episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast, however I’d like to do a personal breakdown here.

Publication Accomplishments

Honoured to appear in five physical publications this year:

Sincere appreciation to Rachel Carazo, Jonathan Maberry, Evan Jordan, Michael Duda, and William Sloan for letting me be part of their projects.

Podcast Accomplishments

Links to all podcast appearances can be found on the Podcast Index page. Sincere thanks to Bernie Gonzalez, Peter Charbonneau, Hercules Invictus, and Sherri Nunn for having me be a part of their programs.

Conference Accomplishments

Michele and I attended CoKoCon 2023 and ere on two panels. It was also our first time ever vending at a con. Thank you to Hal and Dee Astell for having us.

2024 Looking Forward

I am hoping that 2024 will be as successful as 2023 was. This year will see a decade of me writing (since the publication of my first essay in James Bond in Popular Culture).

On the podcast front, Michele and I already have the first half of 2024 planned for H. P. Lovecast. We’ve also already recorded a few episodes with the folks at Fan2Fan Podcast, so expect those episodes to drop throughout 2024.

My essay on peplum cats, currently titled “Hic Sunt Leones: Peplum Strongmen and the Nemean Lion Legacy” was accepted last year by editor Simon Bacon for his collection, Cats: A Companion. The manuscript was sent to the publisher in early December, so hopefully this book winds up being published later this year! Nice to have a publication already on the docket.

I still have a pile of reviews I want to get done that have been piling up. I also have a list of essay ideas I have approval on, I just need to write and get out the door. It’s been a while since I’ve submitted to Exotica Moderne, so hopefully I can get an essay or two to them this year.

The main project for 2024, however, is the Emmanuelle Legacy book. On my timeline I have submit a manuscript to the publisher in October, which will be here before I know it. I have an intro and an essay to write, along with editing other folks’ essays. I’m super excited to try and realize this project, so it’s going to be nose to the grindstone for this one.

Thank you to all the folks who support me and my endeavors. You are sincerely appreciated!

Horror Literature.. Review

The collection, Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays, that Michele and I edited has just gotten a new review from the Journal of Ecohumanism, and it is a very positive one!

The review (along with the rest of the journal) can be read in its entirety here.

New Episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast

New episode to kick off 2024! We kick off the new year interviewing Pat Shand about his three issue comic book miniseries I Summoned Cthulhu to Fund my Kickstarter.

The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Podcast Buzzsprout site, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 28 – Pat Shand and I Summoned Cthulhu to Fund my Kickstarter – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

H. P. Lovecast on BlueSky

H. P. Lovecast is now on Blue Sky. If you’re using that social media please consider giving us a follow there! The username is: @hplovecast.bsky.social .

Emmanuelle Legacy CFP Re-opened + Bibliography

Since garnering publisher interest, I’ve re-opened the CFP for the Emmanuelle legacy book. The updated CFP can be found here.

I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it’s a major WIP.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

The Neverending Streamer Substack

My friend, Travis Lakata, has started a Substack called The Neverending Streamer. Give him support and subscribe – check it out here: https://travislakata.substack.com.

Rest in Peplum Jennell Jaquays

Fantasy artist Jennell Jaquays passed away last week. She did lots of fantastic work. Her covert art for the Dragon Mountain boxset is probably one of the most iconic pieces of 90s 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons.

My copy of the box proper hasn’t survived the 30+ years, but the contents have! Here is book 1 of the module which sports the legendary red dragon.

Legends of the Lance Newsletter

While digging through my old Second Edition stuff I happened upon these five issues of the Legends of the Lance Dragonlance newsletter. Apparently these are extremely rare! I love how they look though and the art on them is aces.

Endless Armies Jeff Grubb Autograph

For this roundup of autographs, since I was going through my D&D stuff, figured I would show of my copy of Endless Enemies autographed by Jeff Grubb.

Way back in the 2000s my comic book store was Spy Comics in Federal Way. Apparently that was also Jeff Grubb’s comic book store to go to as well. The owner, Richard, arranged an in store event with Jeff Grubb who was on hand to autograph stuff he wrote. I got a few things signed by him, Endless Armies being one of them. Somewhere there is a photo of the event, I hope I can find it!

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-12-31

Personal / Website News

End of Year H.P. Lovecast Podcast

A brand new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast, and the last one for 2023, is now online.

This is a recap episode where Michele and I talk about what we accomplished with personal projects and podcast stuff for 2023 and what to expect for 2024. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout website, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference

Ep 60 – 2023 Recap, Podcast News, Upcoming Projects – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

The New Peplum Citations

Lots of citation news for The New Peplum. Two books have recently been published that cite essays in The New Peplum.

First is “The Performance of Plasticity: Method Acting, Prosthetics, and the Virtuosity of Embodied Transformation” by David LaRocca, published in Plastics, Environment, Culture, and the Politics of Waste by Edinburgh University Press. The editor of this tome is Tatiana Konrad, who wrote the essay “Laughing at the Body: The Imitation of Masculinity in Peplum Parody Films” that appears in The New Peplum.

Next up is Brill’s Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Warfare on Film edited by Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos and published by Brill. This collection contains five essays that cite contents from The New Peplum:

  • “Brad’s Biceps and Dwayne’s Delts: Stardom as Physicality and Digital Spectacle in Troy (2004) and Hercules (2014)” by Djoymi Baker (who also wrote the Hercules essay in The New Peplum)
  • Swords Made of Rubber: Cinematic Antiquity through the Lens of War” by Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos
  • “Romans and Zealots in the Global War on Terror: Asymmetric Warfare and Counterinsurgency in Risen (2016) and Ben-Hur (2016)” by Oskar Aguado-Cantabrana
  • “Atalanta as Celluloid Warrior in Jason and the Argonauts (2000) and Hercules (2014)” by Patricia Salzman-Mitchell
  • “Rockules’ Revenge: The Portrayal of the Veteran Warrior in Brett Ratner’s Hercules” by Owen Reese

Unfortunately, I don’t have copies of the above books so I can’t say what specifically is mentioned. Once I suss that out I’ll add the information to the page for The New Peplum. As always, even years later, I am super happy and flattered to see scholars still citing the essays in The New Peplum.

Emmanuelle Legacy CFP Re-opened + Bibliography

Since garnering publisher interest, I’ve re-opened the CFP for the Emmanuelle legacy book. The updated CFP can be found here.

Emmanuelle 6.

I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found hereand it’s a major WIP.

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors for the year of 2023. Next week this section goes blank, so wish me luck as I crank out a new batch of essays to be published in 2024. Thank you to everyone who took an interest in my publications for last year. You not only supported me, but you supported the different publishers and editors who gave me venues.

Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”

Vernon Press Product Page

Published in May, this issue of Weird Tales contains my essay “When the Stars are Right.”

Weird Tales Product Page

Published in late March, the first issue of the zine Footage Fiends, contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”

Limited to 50 physical copies.

Order via Patreon.

Published in early August, Dark Dead Things #2 contains my essay “Correlating the Contents: Mimetic Desire in H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Call of Cthulhu’.”

Order via Dark Dead Thingswebsite.

Published late November/early December of 2023, my essay “An Imperial Decree? Soitenly! Matri-Phony as Proto-Toga and Sandal Comedy” appears in the debut issue of The Journal of Stoogeological Studies.

Amazon product page.