Tag: Book Review

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News

News Roundup 2024-12-01

Personal / Website News

Book Review of Orphan Road

Brand new book review is up here at the website.

This is a little outside my comfort zone as I’m no expert on crime fiction, but I took a dive into Andrew Nette’s novel Orphan Road and enjoyed it. Check out the review proper here.

Interview at BoldJourney

Your’s truly got interviewed at BoldJourney.

Give it a read here. And while you’re at it, check out the interview with Philippe Gerber as well!

Danse Macabre Blu-ray

Artus Films have just released Antonio Margheriti’s Castle of Blood, under the Danse Macabre title, in a luxurious UHD Blu-ray boxset.

The boxset has 3 discs, postcards, pins and buttons, and a near 100 page booklet. The final page of the booklet contains a snippet from my master’s thesis on Castle of Blood!

Super chuffed to have some of my scholarship appear as part of a physical release of a movie I adore. The boxset can be purchased at the Danse Macabre product page at the Artus Films website.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast

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

In this episode we take a look at issue 1 of the comic book Flesh Eaters by Philippe Gerber, Orville Thurstan, with art by Okiko. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.

Ep 62 – Philippe Gerber and Orville Thurstan's Flesh Eaters Comic – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

We have one more podcast for 2024 that we are planning to do. Nothing says X-mas time like angels, so we will be watching and talking about the 1995 film The Prophecy. Stay tuned!

The Best Horror of the Year Vol 16

Every year Ellen Datlow puts out a recap book called The Best Horror of the Year where she recounts notable releases and reprints some of the best stories and poetry.

Volume 16 just dropped and I’m chuffed to find out I’m mentioned in the book regarding my essay in the cosmic horror issue of Weird Tales. I’m super flattered!

This is actually the second time I’ve been mentioned in one of these books. A few years ago both Michele and I were mentioned in The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 13 regarding the collection we edited, Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays.

Here is the text from that edition:

Both volumes can be ordered from Amazon – here is the link to #13 and here is the link to #16.

Panthans Journal #331

The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #1.

Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journalis a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn@gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.

McFarland Holiday Sale

My publisher, McFarland, is having a Holiday sale on all of their tiles! From November 15th to December 2nd, if you use code “HOLIDAY24” during checkout, you’ll get a 35% discount.

If you want to support me, consider buying a copy of The New Peplum or Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern:

The New Peplum
Cover art for The New Peplum

McFarland Purchase link

Normal price: 39.99
35% = 13.99
Price after coupon: 25.99

McFarland Purchase Link

Normal Price: 29.95
35% = 10.48
Price after coupon: 19.47

If you want to support Michele, consider buying James Bond and Popular Culture and Horror in Space: Critical Essays (I have essays in both):

McFarland Purchase Link

Normal Price: 29.95
35% = 10.48
Price after coupon: 19.47

McFarland Purchase Link

Normal Price: 29.95
35% = 10.48
Price after coupon: 19.47

If you’re interested in another book that I have an essay in, consider The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone and Uncovering Stranger Things:

McFarland Purchase Link

Normal Price: 29.95
35% = 10.48
Price after coupon: 19.47

McFarland Purchase Link

Normal Price: 19.99
35% = 6.99
Price after coupon: 12.99

A Hero Will Endure Paperback Relese + Discount

Vernon Press, the publisher of A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just released a cheaper, paperback version of the book, just in time for Gladiator 2!

The paperback is at the much more friendly price of $57 compared to $96 for the hardcover and $107 for an electronic version. All editions of the book can be found at the Vernon Press product page.

In addition, the publisher is offering a coupon on purchases of the collection! From now until the end of January 2025, if you use code SLZM30 at check out, you’ll get 30% off the title. So, the $57 book now becomes $39.99. Nice!

ECOF 2025

In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).

Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:

I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. There currently is a fundraiser going on to raise funds for the ERB plaque, and details for that can be found in the QR code in the above graphic, or by checking out the donation page at the Sulphur Springs Valley Valley Historical Society. 3.8K of 5K has been raised already. 

Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well. 

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2024.

Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #326.

Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #327.

Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #328.

Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus / Warlord of Mars #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #329.

“Wondercon 2019 Coverage: Tarzan, John Carter, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.: What’s New?” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #330.

Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #331.

Calls for Papers/Proposals

Here are some new pop culture CFPs that have crossed my path. Links to these will also be in the CFP page on the navigation bar.

Play and the Gothic

[Note: I = Simon Bacon]

I have a speculative CFP on “Play and the Gothic” to encompass any kind of gaming, boardgames, role-playing games, toys, construction games (Lego etc), dolls, collective or individual games across mediums, history and cultures that can be read in terms of play, playful, interactive, immersive, virtual, problem solving, psychological, well-being, materiality.

Their role in fictional fictional and non-fictive spaces, as the focus and instigators of narrative, their relation to the ludicrous gothic, their ability to gothicise spaces, or how they become gothicised via their use or environment.

This can equally involve the relationship between gaming/games/toys to certain kinds of gothic; happy gothic; regional gothic; ecogothic; folk gothic; children’s gothic; female gothic; religious gothic; gothic monsters (vampires/werewolves/ghosts/etc); the weird; cosmic gothic.

If interested send abstracts/ideas to me by Jan 31, 2025 at: baconetti@gmail.com

(Final essays of 6-7,000 words would potentially be needed mid 2026)

Monstrous Consumption:
The Diets of Monsters and Monstrous Diets in the Popular Imagination

Another Simon Bacon CFP:

If we are what we eat, what things do we eat to make us monsters And what things do monsters eat to make them so monstrous?

This can be read as broad as you like, and across history and cultures and in any media (games, comics, music, performance, literature, film, TV).

Possible areas could be, but in no way limited to:

  • magic foods that transform people into monsters
  • diets/foods that make other cultures/peoples monstrous
  • additives/secret ingredients with monstrous effects
  • diets/foods specific to monsters
  • the role of cannibalism and/or forbidden foods
  • toxins/poisons/drugs
  • shrooms/mezcal and hallucinogenic foods
  • allergies and intolerances
  • transgressive foods/diets
  • supernatural and/or magical foods
  • foods that are alive
  • food/diets in rituals/religious practices and the transgression of those
  • role of vegetarianism and veganism

The call is going really well, but don’t let that put you off if you have an idea.

Consuming Identity: Cannibalism and the Beyond Human Subject

Connectedly….there has been a lot of interest within this around Cannibalism with the possibility of a separate collection solely on this. So if you have any left field ideas to do with cannibalism in regards to:

  • Historical cases
  • Philosophy
  • Theology and religion
  • fantasy and science fiction (alien cannibals)
  • indigenous and cross-cultural examples
  • cannibalism and eco-criticism/environmentalism
  • cannibalism and decolonisation

Deadline for receiving abstracts is 31st December 2024, with final essays due early to mid-2026. If you have thoughts, abstracts, or relevant essays looking for a home…drop me a message at: baconetti@gmail.com

Panel: Airborne Gothic

ASLE 2025 Panel Organized by the Society for the Study of American Gothic

July 8-11, 2025

University of Maryland, College Park

This panel sets out to consider how gothic is carried and transmitted through air. Airborne gothic takes many forms: stories told around campfires; plague and Covid narratives; texts featuring ominous flying creatures (birds, bats, and bugs!); radiation/nuclear gothic; propagandistic talk about windmills as killing machines; airplanes or spacecraft as gothic sites; the winds and wutherings that course through so many gothic stories; and more. How do gothic texts evoke unrest, turbulence, undeadness, and/or trauma by way of airborne vectors? How does airborne gothic both thwart and encourage collective atmospheres?

Please send one-paragraph abstracts and short bios to Jennifer Schell (jschell5@alaska.edu) and Eric Anderson (eandersd@gmu.edu) by December 20, 2024.

TV Matters (Intellect Books)

Editor: Sabrina Mittermeier
 
TV Matters is a new series of short monographs (40,000 to 50,000 words) on television series, analysing their production history, cultural context, main themes, as well as fandom and audience reception. The focus is on shows that both have critical acclaim (as reflected by awards, media reviews), but more importantly, are genuinely ‘popular’. That means they have had a robust viewership and ideally an active fandom (watercooler discussions on- and offline, as well as fan production such as fic, art, vids etc.) and/or an unusual reception history (cases of bans, censorship or similar).
As the intended audience for this book series extends beyond academia, we expect an engaging/accessible writing style. This however does not mean less academic ‘rigour’ – authors should thoroughly research production history (incl. where possible through interviews with creators or archival research), include a solid textual analysis of main themes and should show familiarity with concepts and theories of fan and audience studies.

The aim of this book series is to engage with TV shows that were and are truly popular rather than just part of a canon of ‘quality TV’ or ‘cult TV’. The scope includes scripted/fictional programming, both live action as well as animation, but also reality TV, casting shows and documentary formats, if they fill the criteria. If it mattered to people, it qualifies!

This crucially also means shows outside of a Eurocentric lens of media production – K-Drama, Telenovelas, any popular TV in its respective cultural contexts, but also productions that crossed border lines and were adapted transnationally. In case of particularly long-running shows such as soaps or procedurals, or non-scripted content, ongoing series are also open to consideration.
To illustrate examples, series that tentative authors have already been approached about include Bridgerton(2020–), Game of Thrones (2011–2019), Ted Lasso (2020–2023), Ducktales (1987–1990), Star Trek: Voyager(1995–2001) and the Eurovision Song Contest.

At this point, we are open to any proposals on series meeting the criteria, but are especially looking for someone interested in writing on Supernatural (2005–2020), Friends (1994–2004), Buffy the Vampire Slayer(1997–2003), Grey’s Anatomy (2005–), Doctor Who (1963–), the CSI, NCIS, Law & Order franchises or long-running reality TV and transnational competition formats such as Survivor, Big Brother or Strictly Come Dancing. If this sounds like you please approach us!

As a first step, just send a short (!) pitch (500 words max), including what series you’d want to write on and why you think it matters, to the series editor Sabrina Mittermeier (Sabrina.Mittermeier@uni-kassel.de). If deemed a good fit, we move on to a more formal proposal. We expect the series to launch in 2026.

Gothic Crossroads

A conference exploring and celebrating the multi and interdisciplinary crossings of Gothic and Horror Studies.

Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, 25th-27th June, 2025

Plenary Speakers: Prof Rosario Arias (University of Malaga, Spain), Dr. Maisha Wester (Global Professor, University of Sheffield, UK)

Physical crossroads have long been sites where the human, divine and demonic were felt to converge and potent sites for magical, religious encounters, rituals of transformation, binding of undesirable spirits, siting of gallows and links to ancient cosmology. This conference also considers the crossroads as a space where the boundaries between differing spheres are negotiable, asking what it means to walk in the interdisciplinary pathways and cross currents of the Gothic.

The crossroad is a geographical location and ancient symbol closely associated with folklore where two or more realms touch. It is historically and imaginatively connected with travellers and travelling, strange encounters, omens, choice and indecision, danger, suicide, criminality, apocalypse and renewal, guilt and judgement, punishment, ritual and ceremony, lovers’ meetings, hanging, summoning, access to Gods, devil dealing, casting out and death. The choice between paths can also lead to repercussions and consequences of “the wrong path”, “the path not taken” and “straying from the path”.

This conference invites creative and scholarly consideration of any aspect of these areas or any other creative/critical spin on themes of crossing/crossover/cross currents, travelling, intersection, interception, (con)junction, incursion, deviation and transitioning in any/all aspects of cultural production as it relates to Gothic and horror.

It also proposes the crossing as a metaphor for presenting and thinking on the interdisciplinary work of the Gothic and the intersectional/transnational spaces where the gothic is engaged and approached. Thus, we are particularly interested in “paths less travelled” and contributions from scholars and ECRs working in the intersections where the cultural work of Gothic and horror studies crosses boundaries and spheres, engaging with fields and disciplines beyond the traditional, and where new “crossings” can be discovered. This includes, but is not limited to: Gothic and horror in gaming, architecture and heritage, creative writing and practice, comics and graphic novels, scriptwriting, theatre, music, geography, plant studies and environmentalism, anthropology, libraries and archives, sociology and social studies, broadcasting, publishing, media and graphic design. We are sure there are more, so feel free to surprise us with your wanders, crossings, and encounters!

Please submit a 250-word abstract for 15-minute presentations by 28th February 2025 to Dr Emma Liggins and Dr Eleanor Beal at gothic@mmu.ac.uk

For all submissions, be sure to include your name, a short (50-word) biographical sketch, institutional affiliation (if any), and contact details. Please send your submission as an attachment (as opposed to a link to a server such as Googledocs).

Submissions for panels should be sent as a single submission with three to four 250-word abstracts, a brief statement of the theme of the panel and the information above about each of the presenters.

Submissions for workshops should indicate the length of the workshop (max. 45 minutes).

If accepted to deliver a paper or workshop, a number of travel bursaries up to £100 are available for selected international and UK postgraduates on application.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.

New John 3:16 Track

Philippe Gerber, who does the theme music to the H. P. Lovecast Podcast, has cut a new track on Bandcamp under his John 3:16 moniker.

It’s called “Terror” and it can be streamed/purchased here. Check it out!

Ancient Aliens Autograph

Arrived in the mail just before Thanksgiving was our copy of Ancient Aliens season 2 on DVD, but autographed by series guest Tim R. Swartz.

I posted the DVD sleeve to him and he was gracious to sign it, though my name is missing an “S”. I’m not saying it’s aliens that took it, but….

Categories
Essays

Crimes under the Crux: Andrew Nette’s Orphan Road

Fifty years ago, the Great Bookie Robbery occurred in Melbourne, Australia when a gang of well-prepared robbers made off with millions from a bookmaker that was never recovered. While the large sum of missing monies was well known, what was not as known was a secret stash of diamonds that were absconded with, their purported fate even more mysterious.

Five decades later, Gary Chance, a former soldier of the Australian army who served in Afghanistan, now turned criminal, finds himself in a botched robbery of a cult. Though the operation is a bust, he gains a new partner, Eva McCulloch, another criminal who had eyes on the cult’s hidden fortune.

Both searching for that one last job to put their respective criminal lives behind them, Chance and Eva accept a mission from Vera Leigh, an aging socialite/madame/S&M dungeon owner who needs monies to fight ruthless property developers. The new job: track down the mythical diamonds from the Great Bookie Robbery from ages past. With only sparse clues at their disposal, the duo accepts the gig, which will take them to the United States and different cities in southeast Australia, while also being pursued by former accomplices, cult members, criminals, and a retired police officer who all have eyes on the diamonds themselves.

Andrew Nette’s Orphan Road is an Australian crime novel, though with a greater emphasis on the adventure aspects of the criminal underworld rather than the criminal element proper. The protagonists of Orphan Road are “good” criminals in that their adversaries are all unsavory characters themselves, be it a ruthless developer, White Nationalists, a greedy former police officer, and so on, making the morals depicted in the novel black and white, rather than the grey area that is found in more noir-ish crime stories.

The lead protagonist, Chance, is incredibly fun to follow. He is akin to a Jack Reacher-style character: former military, nomadic, off the grid, cunning, finding themselves in the middle of bigger criminal schemes, and extremely proficient at bedding the ladies. The big difference between the two characters is that Reacher is far more noble and near invulnerable compared to Chance, while Chance is a much more grounded character and less of a Gary Stu. 

The adventure/mystery of Chance trying to track down diamonds, for all purposes lost to history, it fairly exciting, especially considering the roadblocks and dead ends he and his cohorts encounter. There is a tiny bit of globetrotting, fisticuffs, and gunplay, but the forefront is the mystery. Nette crafts a new mystery (the diamonds) and anchors it to a real-world event (the robbery), which gives the story credibility and buy in from the reader. This does cause a small problem: how does one graft this new mystery when decades have passed and most historic players are long dead and leads dried up. How can in-world amateur sleuths and professionals alike fail to find the diamonds, but Chance is able to get a new trail? The clue is fairly lackluster, a newspaper clipping that, in theory, anyone else would have access to, but its serviceable to get the heroes on their adventure. 

The strongest component of Orphan Road does arise from Nette trying to work within these real world confines of lapsed time inherent in old cold cases, and that is its critique on the past and nostalgia. The majority of players in Orphan Road are fairly old, in their 70s and 80s, having served in Vietnam, or East Coast American Mafia of the 80s, or lived through other events. The Melbourne that Chance remembers has been demolished and gentrified, which is supposed to be the ultimate fate of Leigh’s establishment. Leigh, herself, tries to retcon the past by positing it was a time when criminals had class, code, and honour. Chance is quick to point out this rose-coloured view of old school crime, and even confirms it firsthand when he encounters the American mafia, still holding onto their old ways as if in a Scorcese film. Everything in Chance’s mission is old: the archive of files and photos around the diamond caper, the Ford Falcon that is driven, the Luger that is the sidearm, the ruins of burnt down buildings, and even the cult at the beginning of the novel, who worship the lost continent of Atlantis. While there are many adversaries in Orphan Road, the spectre of the past is the prominent one. 

The weakest component, on the other hand, is the end of Orphan Road. Not so much the end-end proper, which does nicely wrap up all loose ends of Chance’s adventure – diamonds and all, but it is the in between the book’s climax and then end revelation. After the climax, the adventure resolution is still not within hand, so the book changes its focus from a time-is-of-the-essence thriller to a leisurely explore around and let a large passage of time elapse pace, which kills the momentum. This is unfortunate because everything up to this point is a real page turner, coupled with heightened stakes as Nette is unafraid to kill off a pivotal characters. 

There is a passion from Nette on display in Orphan Road, and this is no doubt due to his love of the pulp genre, police procedurals, and gritty crime cinema, all of which he has written essays and commentaries about. With Orphan Road, Nette is able to seize a historic robbery, make it even more interesting, and throw in characters like Chance that are easy to become invested in, while at the same time not resorting to the tried-and-true method of pulling rabbits out of the pop culture reference hat. Orphan Road is anchored historically, despite being contemporary, and it succeeds extremely well. 

For more information on Orphan Road and Andrew Nette, check out these links:

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-04-23

Personal / Website News

Mighty prolific last two weeks with articles, podcasts, and other projects. It’s also three consecutive weeks of me publishing an article at this website, and I have another one queued up this Wednesday. Feeling good!

Buzzworthy Book Review

I have a new book review up at my website. I return to the world of Jennifer Croll’s homage cocktails. Previously I did a review of her Art Boozel.

Croll’s newest book, Buzzworthy, was published earlier this month, and holy smokes in a rare instance of me being timely, I had a review of it written up and posted. Not to brag, (but I will), I think one of the things I do when I review cocktail books that other websites don’t do is actually make some of the cocktails inside. Anywho, my review of Buzzworthy is online, check it out and consider plucking up Croll’s newest release.

Claus Larsen Interview

Next up I return to my roots of music journalism! I have not really written about/interview anyone since my Heathen Harvest days, so I thought it would be fun to dip back into penning an article on something industrial.

Claus Larsen’s EBM act, Leæther Strip, recently released a new album and I enjoyed it throughly. I reached out to Larsen to ask if I could ask him some questions about it and he said sure! So, here is my mini-interview with Larsen about his newest album, Last Station.

New H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Happy three year anniversary to the resurrected H. P. Lovecast Podcast! Back in 2020 when the pandemic had really started, Michele and I brought the podcast back and have done quite a bit since: read some good (and bad) works, interviewed lots of cool people.

On this episode we discuss the 1970 AIP adaptation of The Dunwich Horror. Arrow Video did a restored release of the film on Blu-ray this past January and we had hoped to do an episode then, but house stuff and other projects got in the way. So, a little late but here is our episode. It can be steamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout page, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.

Ep 57 – The Dunwich Horror (1970 Film) – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

The New Peplum Citations

Princeton University Press recently published the book, Helen of Troy in Hollywood, by Ruby Blondell (a super expert on classics and Helen of Troy canon).

Very flattered to see essays from The New Peplum cited in this tome! Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the book so I am using preview pages from Google Books to deduce what has been cited. From what I can tell:

  • Steven Sears’ afterword
  • My introduction
  • Haydee Smith’s “Queering the Quest: Neo-peplum and the Neo-femme in Xena: Warrior Princess“
  • Valerie Estelle Frankel’s “Hercules, Xena, and Genre: The Methodology Behind the Mashup”
  • Paul Johnson’s “Adapting to New Spaces: Swords and Planets and the Neo-peplum”

I love to see The New Peplum continued to be cited and used in new scholarship. More information about Helen of Troy in Hollywood can be read at the Princeton University Press’ product page for the book.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances

The cool kids at the Fan2Fan Podcast are doing a series of episodes about folk’s favorite theme songs from TV shows.

Michele and I are on an episode talking about ours which can be heard at the Fan2Fan Libsysn, on your podcast app, or via the embedded player below. Sincere thanks to Bernie and Pete for having us on.

Our Favorite TV Theme Songs Michele and Nick – Fan2Fan Podcast

A side note, one of the shows I mention is the theme song to Mission Hill, which is an edited version of Cake’s “Italian Leather Sofa.” It’s one of my favorite cartoons ever and I talk about why on the episode.

But, for fun, here is my autographed copy of the Mission Hill DVD signed by Brian Posehn. I met him at an Emerald City Comic Con way back in the late 2000s.

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

The Call for Papers for Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and Emmanuelle derivative films is open until the end of this month (April 30th).

Emmanuelle the Private Collection Soundtrack.

The CFP can found on this page. If you know other scholars who would be interested in this project, please share! I’d be super appreciative to get the word out.

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.

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

Vernon Press Product Page

Scheduled to be published in May, this issue of Weird Talescontains my essay “When the Stars are Right.”

Weird Tales Product Page

Categories
Cocktails

Literary Libations: Jennifer Croll’s Buzzworthy

With Free the Tipple (2018), Art Boozel (2021), and Dressed to Swill (2022), Jennifer Croll has established herself as the de facto master of the homage cocktail. Diving deep into each subject, Croll susses out each person’s passions, what they stand for, their worldly contributions, what makes them iconic, and distills (pun intended) all their elements into a representative cocktail.

Cover for Buzzworthy.

Continuing in the same vein as Free the Tipple which showcased cocktails inspired by women across a variety of disciplines, Croll’s newest book, Buzzworthy, focuses on fifty female authors, both old guard (such as Jane Austin, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf) and new school (such as Sally Rooney, Amanda Gorman, Rupi Kaur). Buzzworthy doesn’t just focus on literary fiction authors (though they do comprise the majority of the book), but highlights women authors who write poetry, genre fiction, graphic novels, (which is extremely appreciated), and non-fiction. 

Croll uses an introductory approach to not only present authors to readers, but to the art of mixology as well. The beginning of Buzzworthy gives a run down on equipment, ingredients, and measurements, providing all the key instructional components for readers regardless of mixology skill level to consult in order to realize all the cocktails presented in the book.

Each recipe in Buzzworthy contains an ingredient and measurement list, instructions, and also a short biography about each writer along with the rationale behind the recipe. For example, Terese Marie Mailhot’s cocktail is berry-centric, using a berry syrup with strawberries and blueberries for garnish, which corresponds to her memoir’s title, Heart Berries. Her cocktail is actually a mocktail, using Lyre’s American Malt faux-bourbon as its base spirit. Creating a non-alcoholic drink aligns with Mailhot’s biography that mentions her alcoholic father. 

The Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Glass from Strong Water in Anaheim. Photo taken by Michele Brittany.

There’s a total of fifty cocktail recipes to explore in Buzzworthy that run the gamut of simple to complex in difficulty, using a variety of spirits, but also plenty of mocktail and low ABV options as well. An example can be found in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s cocktail which calls for grenadine, lime, lemon, and orange juices, bitters, club soda, and a shot of Campari. This is a fizzy and fresh drink with the bitterness normally found in Campari-forward drinks being greatly subdued. With so little alcohol there’s no burn, making a pleasant, long-sipping experience. 

The Amy Tan. Photo taken by Michele Brittany.

The Amy Tan is another Campari cocktail that takes a hint of inspiration from a daiquiri by using white rum, simple syrup, lime juice, and muddled raspberries. The ruby red colour gives this drink an elegant appearance while its fruity aroma projects a candy smell, like a liquid Jolly Rancher. The white rum (Flor de Cana used for this article) muddled with the raspberries are a perfect combination.

The Shelia Heti. Photo by Michele Brittany.

Aside from the Pisco Sour, there’s not too many pisco-centric cocktails out there, so it is a treat to see Shelia Heti’s homage cocktail that uses pisco, muddled basil, lime juice, and simple syrup. In essence a gin-basil smash, this libation comes through extremely crisp, the basil almost straying into mint territory. Another smooth cocktail with a wine-like aroma notes from the pisco.

Buzzworthy concludes with a reading list suggesting one to a handful of publications of each author along with a one sentence overview and/or synopsis.

The illustrations by Rachelle Baker that correspond to each author and cocktail are fun to look at and perhaps on the chic side. Each author is represented accurately but in a stylized fashion while each cocktail illustration provides an end result for experimenting readers to shoot for. The beginning of Buzzworthy has a piece that features an orange cat with a white blaze that is adorable to look at and it’s a shame the feline didn’t make an appearance at the end of the book to, well, bookend it.

Cropped image of the cheers illustration in Buzzworthy by Rachelle Baker. This piece rules so much.

While the illustrations depicting each author are fantastic in their own right, the best art piece in Buzzworthy is the second cat piece that shows two fashionable ladies toasting with cocktails they just made. This illustration is so fun with a few hidden gems in it, such as the aforementioned orange/white blaze kitty peering at an open copy of Buzzworthy which was no doubt consulted by the two women to make their libations. This piece sums up the entirety of Buzzworthy: creating cocktails, honoring (author) women, and having a fabulous time doing so.

I’ve reviewed Croll’s prior cocktail book, Art Boozel, which can be read here: “Museum Quality Cocktails: Jennifer Croll’s Art Boozel.”

For more information about Buzzworthy check out the links below:

Categories
Essays

Cinema of Lust: Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol

SK:FETC with Dust Jacket

When released in 1974, the erotic French film Emmanuelle became a worldwide sensation that topped box offices and garnered controversy. The movie would catapult its starlet, Sylvia Kristel, into the limelight, but at the same time it would overshadow her. Kristel became synonymous with the Emmanuelle character whose specter she could never escape despite efforts appearing in a variety of other films ranging from auteur-made art house movies to lifeless commercial fare. During her lifetime, few critics and scholars took Kristel seriously as an actress. Jeremy Richey’s book, Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol (SK:FETC) aims to rectify this oversight and help usher in a reassessment and a rediscovery of Kristel and her body of work.

Published in 2022 by Cult Epics after a successful crowdfunding campaign, SK:FETC focuses on Kristel’s career from 1973 to 1981, her beginnings to when she was at her height of popularity. The book is divided into seven sections covering twenty-three movies, with the final section devoted to unrealized projects. Richey sticks to a disciplined structure when discussing each film: background contextualization, production and musings, and performance assessment with contemporary reception. This structure makes SK:FETC easy to navigate, search, and enjoy.

Standard cover.

Starting each film’s chapter is a background to how the movie came to being, diving into literary sources, filmmaker and crew backgrounds, and even general societal hegemony. For example, before discussing Kristel’s first film, Frank and Eva, time is spent describing the general landscape of Dutch cinema of the era so readers will have the contextualization that Kristel’s movies operated in. Regarding filmmakers and the crew, SK:FETC takes an interconnected approach by highlighting who was in Kristel’s orbit and describing how they contributed to the film and her career. 

Next, Richey focuses on the film’s production while adding his own musings, such as what scenes and sequences stand out, or detailing difficulties Kristel dealt with, such as egotistical directors and actors (see the entry on The Concorde … Airport ’79). There are some insightful observations within these film entries, such as when Richey points out that Naked Over the Fence captures a specific snapshot of early 70s Netherlands analog pinball arcades and the burgeoning European martial arts culture. 

Finally, each chapter concludes with an assessment of the film and performances. For Richey, Kristel is the gold standard for performance and other players are held to this bar. Richey does counterbalance this inherent favoritism by including a plethora of quotations from contemporary film critics from all over the globe, both positive and negative reception. In addition to film critical quotations, Richey incorporates a great deal of other citations as well: texts from scholars such as femist academic Camille Paglia and cult film scholar Marcus Stiglegger; excerpts from Kristel’s autobiography, and interviews from cast and crew, some of them rare (such as the interview with Laura Gemser about Emmanuelle 2) and others conducted by Richey exclusively for SK:FETC. 

If there is a fault with SK:FETC, it is a built in one that mirrors Kristel’s career. In her attempt to shake the Emmanuelle image, Kristel began appearing in films that would hinder rather than advance her career. These films are otherwise unremarkable, giving Richey less to work with in his writings. The chapters become shorter and contain less insight when compared to the first 2/3s of SK:FETC. 

Example of interior with lobby card images.

Clocking in at over 330 pages, SK:FETC is a tome of insight, observations, and rare material about Kristel and her career. Care was not only put into the text but into the physical book proper as SK:FETC is a luxurious hardcover release. Aside from the standard edition of the book, there are versions with a collector’s box and others with dust jackets autographed by Richey. The book is presented in full colour and filled with numerous photographs and promotional materials, such as lobby cards and posters. Such inclusions greatly add to the reading experience while acting as a visual catalogue to Kristel’s career. The end product is a gorgeous edition matching – even surpassing – comparable efforts by similar publishers such as FAB Press or PulseVideo.

SK:FETC accomplishes its goal in reassessing Kristel and her films. The book acts as an authority on Kristel’s early career, and provides much needed contextualization along with performance observations and incorporation of a variety of rare, unique, and otherwise inaccessible sources. Kristel is portrayed in a positive and interesting light. Emmanuelle still remains the film Kristel is the most synonymous with, but SK:FETC demonstrates that there is much more to the legendary Dutch actress.

Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol book can be purchased at the following venues:

Categories
News

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!

Categories
Essays

Blue-collar Horror: Book Review of A Primer to Jeffrey Ford

Eric J. Guignard’s Dark Moon Books has been establishing itself over the last few years as a premiere publisher of dark fiction anthologies. Having recently acquired the Horror Library series that was originally published by Cutting Block Press from the mid 2000s to the mid 2010s, Dark Moon Books looks poised to increase its esteem even more.

Even with an upcoming roster of Horror Library re-releases, one should not overlook one of Dark Moon Books’ most prestigious endeavors: its series of primers that focus on horror and dark fiction writers. These primers, complete with comprehensive bibliographies, commentaries and essays by Dr. Michael Arnzen, act as accessible gateways for readers who have been curious by acclaimed, cult authors with large bodies of work, but unsure where to start. The first three primers released by Dark Moon Books were dedicated to Steve Rasnic Tem, Kaaron Warren, and Nisi Shawl. Book four of the series focuses on Jeffrey Ford.

A Primer to Jeffrey Ford contains five previously published short stories: “A Natural History of Autumn,” “Malthusian’s Zombie,” “Boatman’s Holiday,” “The Night Whisky,” and “A Night in the Tropics” along with one exclusive story, “Incorruptible.”

The first story, “A Natural History of Autumn,” has a Japanese-folk feel to it, as a young Japanese businessman takes a possible romantic interest to a forested retreat with a hot springs. The idyllic getaway turns south in the night as ghostly dogs with human faces set upon the duo along as some business double crossings come to light. A fun and frightening story.

“Malthusian’s Zombie” is about a nuclear family that takes in a hypnotized zombie (not an undead one) into their home. The setup for this story is perfect: the family takes care of the zombie as it regains its memories. The story flirts with some of the themes of humanity in zombies, as with Bub in Day of the Dead, the film Warm Bodies, and Fido in Fido. The narrator, the father of the household, even remarks about his daughter’s relationship to the zombie: “Throughout the ordeal, she proved to be the most practical, the most caring, the most insightful of us all.”

Here is were the story diverges from its setup and instead beelines straight to a twist ending. Granted, the twist ending no one could possibly see coming: it is completely inventive and clever, yet it comes at the expense of what Ford was building up in the story. The final reveal nullifies the humanist elements that the story had began exploring. 

Story three, “Boatman’s Holiday,” succeeds where “Malthusian’s Zombie” failed. This story is deep, multilayered, entertaining with hints of comedy of the absurd, yet introspective. The story has shades of the neo-peplum as it is about Charon, the mythological boatman of Hades that ferries the dead down the River Styx. Charon is cast in an overt blue collar role, with him ferrying the dead day after day. However, perhaps due to his employment contract, he is granted a short vacation every few hundred years. For his vacation in this story, Charon seeks out the island of Oondeshai, which only gained existence because a living person made it so by writing about it in a book translation. 

“Boatman’s Holiday” is first and foremost darkly funny. Imaging Charon as a worker bee more-or-less doing a 8 to 5 for eternity points out the absurdity that movies such as Office Space have illustrated. But, there is a Marxist layer here. Even though Charon is subservient to the lords of the underworld, he doesn’t quite realize how much power he wields. He is the only one who can do his occupation, and the underworld would crumble without him. Aside from the Marxist tones, the story recalls some of the work of Italo Calvino, particularly in regard to conjuring meaning. The creation of Oondeshai because someone simply willed it into existence is totally a Calvino move, echoing his story “A Sign in Space” from Cosmicomics. “Boatman’s Holiday” is the stand out story in the primer.

“The Night Whisky” is a great followup to “Boatman’s Holiday” and even continues to explore the themes of that story. This story, too, features a blue collar job for outlandish occupations: a kid who is learning to poke people with sticks who are sleeping in trees because they are in a mystical sleep trance from drinking a magical brandy made from a plant that grows from dead corpses. Also prevalent is the want to escape from one’s own reality/small town. This is an inventive story as Ford puts so much world building into the story’s small town and yearly libation practices that a reader is 100% sold on the premise. 

“A Night in the Tropics” is a story that is not quite what it seems to be: it’s a story built on illusions. The titular bar in the story sounds like a tiki bar, but it’s not. Sure, it has a giant tropical mural, but it is more akin to a dive bar that just threw up one or two exotica embellishments in order to call themselves. The name is a fraud, yet the tropical mural inside enchants the narrators, much like the various fountains and foliage that adorned the now defunct Don the Beachcomber’s. Just like tiki culture, this is a story about digging up [an imagined] past. “A Night in the Tropics” is not even about the narrator as the actual story is told by an old school acquaintance who lived a criminal life who is now the bartender at the Tropics. The story is actually his story, but filtered through the narrator, much like the telephone game, where meaning is transformed in the telling. It’s an interesting way to tell a story, and ultimately Ford is successful.

The final story, “Incorruptible,” has a Tales from the Crypt feel to it. A painter happens upon a paintbrush that is made from the public hair of Jesus Christ. This, of course, attracts the wrong type of attention from a couple of ne’er-do-wells. This story continues the themes from “A Night in the Tropics” as it explores the effects of magical artifacts and how theyimpact the folks who happen across them.

Between each story in the primer, Dr. Arnzen provides a page or two of commentary. Compared to prior primers, Dr. Arnzen’s musings seems a bit more general and not as insightful. However, his essay on why Ford matters is superb and significant as it points out many of the reoccurring themes in Ford’s body of work and identifies the auteur elements of the writer. There’s a colloquial interview between Guignard and Ford, followed by an essay by Ford on the importance of conducting historic research and integrating the findings into one’s fiction.

As with the other primers in the series, A Primer to Jeffrey Ford is an excellently compiled short story collection that has selected some choice cut’s from Ford’s canon, and presented them in a palpable fashion. Intrigued readers who have not explored Ford’s repertoire will greatly benefit from this collection while Ford enthusiasts will appreciate the supplemental material and exclusive story. 

Links

Categories
Lovecraft

High Octane Octopi and Tentacle Treads: Maximum Performance in Jason Parent’s Eight Cylinders

Eight Cylinders is the newest novella by Jason Parent and published by Crystal Lake in November 2020. The story focuses on Seb, a mid-range Las Vegas criminal who is gravely injured during a shootout with a mobster after a deal gone bad. Seb flees Vegas in his Charger, and after consulting the magic 8-ball he plucked from the mobster’s eye, drives through the night and through the desert mountains. He awakens to find himself in a small desert camp with his wounds treated. The camp is full of other criminals and ne’er-do-wells (Earl, Malcom, Mary, Red, Sly, Helen, Skeeter, Malcolm, and Angelique) who all seem to come from different times and places. Seb and his companions are all trapped in the camp because giant tentacles shoot out from the mountains that encircle the area that whisk away unlucky persons who wander too far away. After Mary falls mysteriously ill and unresponsive, the motley crew band together to use their arsenal of vehicles and weaponry to escape the gigantic mollusk monster of the mountain and back to civilization.

Covert art for Eight Cylinders

If the above synopsis sounds fast-paced and cinematic, that is because Eight Cylinders is. Be it consciously, unconsciously, or coincidentally on Parent’s part, Eight Cylinders leverages elements from a variety of film (and video game) sources and blends them into a new narrative that gives the novella a cinematic quality. Examples of influences or apt comparisons include Fallout: New Vegas (both the game and novella begin similarly with the main protagonist being shot by a Las Vegas mobster and then being resurrected outside the city), Cube (all the characters are criminals trapped in a location they are trying to escape), Tremors (general tone of being trapped in a podunk desert locale with hidden monsters about), The Mist (characters who leave the safety of the area are quickly killed), Evil Dead 2 (similar fates for the main character at the story’s end), and Mad Max: Fury Road (climatic driving sequences through a desert) along with fast pace, car action sequences found in the likes of The Transporter and The Fast and the Furious series of films.

Though the tone is first and foremost an action centric, Lovecraftian elements seep into the story brining shades of horror and the grotesque. Overtly, the giant tentacles hidden in the mountains leverage distinctive Cthulu-ian imagery, but Eight Cylinders takes a self-aware approach to using Lovecraft elements. The antagonist character of Sly verbally references Lovecraft by equating the hidden tentacles to that of Cthulhu and referring the mountains that surround the camp as “The Mountains of Madness.” Unlike zombie films that are afraid to use the zed-word, Eight Cylinders embraces its few instances of being a metatext and uses it to full and realistic affect without relying on winking or easter egg-ing.

If there is an element in Eight Cylinders that seems out of place, it is that of the hero, Seb. In Crystal Lake’s promotional material for the novella, they quote author James Chambers who equates the story to a redemption tale, which Eight Cylinders certainly is. The issue is that Seb does not seem like a character who needs redemption. Though his character is a criminal, his portrayal in the story is extremely noble and he often thinks of others and their wellbeing. The few instances of selfish moments are quickly pushed aside to showcase his more positive leadership qualities as he puts others before him. If Parent was trying to write a criminal, anti-hero like that of Vin Diesel’s Riddick character, then it did not quite come across. Seb is still a fantastic character, easy to identify with, to follow along and root for, but he does not come across as a character who has done a tremendous amount of egregious activities in his past to merit his punishment in the desert mountains with the other characters.  

Regardless of Seb’s portrayal, his predicament is extremely relatable to readers, especially in the current period. Though probably written in the “before times,” Eight Cylinders manages to tap into the fears and emotions many are feeling during the COVID-19 pandemic: trapped and wanting to escape, but unable to leave their homes (desert camp) due to a deadly virus rampaging around (mountain tentacles). The purgatory nature of the book echoes the never-ending nature of the pandemic that currently does not seem to have an end in sight.

Clocking in at 102 pages, Eight Cylinders moves as fast as the cars within. The novella combines aspects of the pursuit genre with Lovecraftian monsters to create a gripping (be it armrests or steering wheels) tale that is fully loaded.

Links

Eight Cylinders can be purchased at the Crystal Lake store or at your bookseller of preference.

Jason Parent can be reached at the following platforms: