I received an email from my editor that the Gladiator book’s manuscript is finally in the publisher’s hands. This is fantastic news. It’s looking more optimistic that the book will be published next year and my essay, “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling,” will finally be unleashed upon the world. This is my second major contribution to peplum scholarship and I am extremely excited for this essay.
Cats: A Companion
Simon Bacon has submitted a proposal off to some publishers for a book called Cats: A Companion:
If the book gets a green light, then I’ll be contributing an essay about cats in pepla, so get ready lots of movies about lions in the arena!
General Neo-Peplum News
Horns Ablaze Magazine
Hal C. F. Astell has launched a new digital magazine called Horns Ablaze that collects his metal reviews at his Apocalypse Later website. Issue #0 is available in PDF format and contained reviews for Viking metal albums such as Enslaved’s Caravans to the Outer Worlds, Nidhoeggr’s Arise, and Aexylium’s The Fifth Season. Bonus: there’s even an advert for our own H. P. Lovecast Podcast in the magazine!
A reminder, as the timeframe for recommendations closes at the end of the month, my essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth” is eligible for the short non-fiction Bram Stoker award. Interested parties can read the 1,600 word essay at Academia Letters. Thank you for your consideration!
Citation News: Any Time But Now
Just discovered that back in 2019, my Stranger Things/Synthwave essay, “Lost Nights and Dangerous Days,” was cited numerous times in University of Cologne student David Hornyak’s bachelor’s thesis, “Any Time But Now: The Cultural Environment of Synthwave.” If you read German, their thesis can be read online. I am super flattered to find out I was cited 15 times!
AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline
The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.
In case you missed it, Michele and I published a new episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast.
Michele at The Frida when we saw The Void back in 2016. Photo by Nicholas Diak.
Our new episode is on the cosmic horror/homage horror film, The Void. It can be streamed on our Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.
General Neo-Peplum News
Aexylium’s The Fifth Season Review
Hal C. F. Astell has reviewed the new Aexylium folk/Viking metal album, The Fifth Season, at his website, Apocalypse Later.
Medusa Horror Film
Per this article at Deadline, Anna Chazelle is looking to write and direct a horror film centered on the mythology of Medusa for Fangoria Films. This will be great!
Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity Conference
Dr. Jeremy Swist will be curating a virtual conference called Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity.
Registration for the conference is free and is being held via Zoom.
Went to the Book Gallery in Phoenix today and plucked up this autographed book:
It’s called Gladiator: Fight for Freedom and appears to be the first book in a series. I’d never heard of Simon Scarrow before, but it looks like he has a fare share of neo-pepla fiction out there, so I’ll have to check it out. I love the autograph and the stamp in this one. Copy 50 of 100, woo!
