Tag: CFP

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News

Biweekly News Roundup 2024-08-18

Personal / Website News

Becca Boo Issue Two Review

New review is up at my website!

I take a look at Becca Boo issue 2. I had previously reviewed issue 1 and enjoyed it (read my review here), and issue 2 definitely kept up the quality. My issue 2 review can be read here.

Note: A while after publication of my review, Obscura Comics sent over the missing Kickstarter swag. I’ll be updating my review to reflect this.

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.

Calls for Papers/Proposals

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

Phantom of the Paradise Edited Collection

Editor: Sean Woodard
Contact: phantomparadisebook@gmail.com
Abstract Deadline: Friday, November 15, 2024
Chapter Drafts Deadline: June 15, 2025

Essays sought for a peer-reviewed edited collection focused on Brian De Palma’s film, Phantom of the Paradise.

Brian De Palma’s 1974 film Phantom of the Paradise, starring William Finley, Paul Williams, and Jessica Harper remains a cult classic of 1970s American independent cinema and popular culture. A throwback to the legend of Faust and Gothic narratives such as Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera (1910), and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), the film satirizes the modern music industry. The musical prominently features a stellar soundtrack by Paul Williams and many of De Palma’s trademark filmmaking techniques and Hitchcockian homages that he would perfect in further genre fare like Carrie (1976), Dressed to Kill (1980), and Blow Out (1981).

Furthermore, Phantom of the Paradise has a devoted fan base around the world. For example, a fan-made preservation website called “The Swan Archives”—devoted to detailing the film’s production history and cataloging and preserving its physical promotional materials and merchandise—was the subject of a 2013 Bright Lights Film Journal essay. In addition, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro owns an extensive collection of Phantom of the Paradise memorabilia, while director Edgar Wright specifically cast Paul Williams in a cameo role in Baby Driver (2017) out of his affinity his role in De Palma’s film. The film’s growing popularity has also led to sold-out repertoire screenings, shadow cast events, and fan cosplay at horror conventions. In an archived 2019 interview with The Globe and Mail, Williams commented on the film’s resurgence and its overall legacy: “Isn’t it bizarre? You can’t be quick to write something off as [a] failure. . . . I am beyond grateful.”

While academic research has been focused broadly on De Palma’s filmography, there has not been a singular scholarly text devoted to the film. The celebration of Phantom of the Paradise’s 50th anniversary in 2024 makes it an appropriate time to celebrate and re-evaluate the film.

The purpose of this edited collection is to place Phantom of the Paradise into a cultural and theoretical context, as well as critically analyze the film, its connections to other genre films, its place in Brian De Palma’s filmography, and its continued influence.

We seek proposals for chapters that approach the subject matter with theoretical concepts that will appropriately meet the rigorous expectations of an academic work, but through a prose style that shall be accessible for both an academic audience and a general readership.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Brian De Palma as an Auteur
  • Paul Williams’ Career
  • Film and Literary Adaptation and Intertextuality (Phantom of the Opera, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Faust, etc.)
  • Narrative, Thematic, or Structural Analysis of the Film
  • Audio/Visual Style
  • The supernatural and the Gothic
  • Body Horror
  • Monstrosity/Abjection
  • Class, Gender, Sexuality, and Queer Readings
  • Psychoanalytic Film Theory
  • Philosophy in Film/Film as Philosophy
  • Voyuerism and “the gaze”
  • Mirrors, Screens, Foils, and Doubles
  • Genre Hybridity
  • Soundtracks and Film Scoring
  • Horror Musical Film Cycles (including Phantom of the Paradise; The Rocky Horror Picture Show [Sharman, 1975]; Shock Treatment [Sharman, 1981]; Little Shop of Horrors [Oz, 1986]; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [Burton, 2007]; Repo! The Genetic Opera [Bousman, 2008]; and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog [Whedon, 2008])
  • Cult Cinema, Fandom, and Popular Culture

Please send abstracts of 300 – 500 words with a working title and five (5) keywords, accompanied by a short third-person author bio (100 words max), to phantomparadisebook@gmail.com as a Word document.

Final essays should be 5,000 – 6,000 words in length, inclusive of endnotes and bibliography. Citations and references shall be formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. No images. A formal proposal for the collection will be submitted for consideration to a leading academic press.

Proposed Timeline

  • August 1, 2024 – November 15, 2024: Call for Papers
  • December 15, 2025: Notification of abstract acceptances sent to authors
  • December 15 – June 15, 2025: Book chapters drafting period
  • June 15 – July 31, 2025: Initial editorial review of submitted chapter drafts; editing/revision remarks sent to writers
  • August 1 – September 15, 2025: Contributor revision period
  • September 15 – September 30, 2025: Second editorial review
  • October 1 – October 15, 2025: Contributor revisions, as neede
  • October 15 – December 15, 2025: Finalize full manuscript
  • December 15, 2025: Submit full manuscript to press for editorial board consideration and peer review process

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Elysian Fields Kickstarter

Michael Oden is revamping/rebooting his Neo-peplum comic, Elysian Fields, with a Kickstarter campaign. You can sign up to get notified when the campaign launched at this link.

I had the honor to interview Oden a few years ago about the original incarnation of Elysian Fields, and if you’re curious, it can be read here.

Arcade Autograph

My friend Nolan McBride of the Dead Ringers Podcast was a recent guest on the VH US Podcast to talk about the Albert Pyun film Arcade (check out the episode here).

Back in December 2022 after Pyun had passed away I shared my autographed copy of Cyborg (check it out here). McBride podcast appearance totally made me remember that I had a copy of Arcade signed by the awesome cult director. So, here it is!

Nick,

We shot this in 12 days and I actually got into a fight with Charles Band on the final cut and left the film. But I really liked the Cast and David Goyer’s script.

Best, Albert Pyun

Thanks for all the memories Pyun!

Alien Quadrilogy Autographs

Alien: Romulus is out in the world now. Despite not caring for Prometheus and Covenant, I’ll give Romulus a shot since I’m always curious were the Alien/Predator universe lore takes off into. But for now, since the movie is out, it’s a good enough time as any to share my autographed copy of the Alien Quadrilogy boxset.

This is signed by Veronica Cartwright (Alien) and Lance Henriksen (Aliens). I recall buying this boxset back in 2004 from a Fred Meyer I lived across the street from in University Place, WA. I was so excited to scrimp some monies to buy this set and all the supplemental goodies in it. The set is two decades old, and I’ll probably someday buy some 4K versions of the movies on it, but this will remain one of my prized gems in the library.

In Gowan Ring Concert 2007

Speaking of old, old Washington memories, while categorizing my music and getting everything imported onto my Mac, I came across a copy of Webs Among the Din 2 by folk project In Gowan Ring.

Michele and I actually got to be concert organizers and promoters and have In Gowan Ring (Patreon link) perform a tiny concert at the University Bookstore at the University of Washington – Tacoma Campus. It was a lot of fun! Michele did up posters, and I did the green room and made my custom onion cheese tart. Michele also made a recording of the event, so perhaps we will find it while we continue to unpack, and see if something can be done with it.

After In Gowan Ring concluded their tour they did a commemorative release called Webs Among the Din 2, which features a map and a listing of all their performances.

So, 17 years ago this month we got to host a folk band at our school. Very cool!

The Neverending Streamer – More Fallout Write Ups

Travis Lakata has some new Fallout episode write ups on his Substack, The Neverending Streamer.

Check them out:

Florida, Man Indiegogo

My friend Evan Jordan (one of the editors of Footage Fiends, the zine I got to contribute an essay about Caltiki to last year) is doing a crowdfunding endeavor for his feature-length movie debut, Florida, Man.

Per the Indiegogo campaign:

Florida, Man aims to explore the [..]paranormal encounters I had in addition to the rest of my weird past in the state of Florida through archival footage, re-enactments, interviews with surviving family members and other involved parties, as well as ending with a full paranormal investigation of the rural home where everything occurred all those years ago.

Check out the campaign at Indiegogo.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2024-07-28

Personal / Website News

Fred Phillips Interview

Back in 2018 I did an interview with poet Fred Phillips that was published at the Witch Haunt. However the website has been shuttered.

Because of this, I have republished the interview here at my website. It can be read here.

Panthans Journal #327

The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issues contains a re-print of my review of Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond #2.

If you’re interested in receiving copies of Panthans, contact Laurence Dunn at laurencegdunn @ gmail dot com (sans spaces).

Scholars from the Edge of Time

For the July episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time Michele and I decided to look at a film that is pretty new: She is Conann (2023) by Bertrand Mandico.

The episode can be streamed on YouTube.

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.

From the Archives

This following podcasts episodes and articles were published from 7/8 to 7/28:

Calls for Papers/Proposals

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

Occult Detectives

Edited by Michael Goodrum, Kris Mecholsky, and Philip Smith

The occult detective has a long history. Depending on how one defines the genre, occult themes coincide with the earliest detective fiction and theatre, 公案小說 (gong’an, or crime-case) stories from the Song dynasty (13th-14th century), which often featured supernatural appearances and interventions. To Anglophone audiences, however, the figure is, perhaps, most closely associated with the decades that followed the founding of the Society for Psychical Research in London in 1882. While Sherlock Holmes dedicated much of his efforts to exploding notions of the supernatural, most famously in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), other detectives both drew on and fought against the occult. Making his debut in 1898, Flaxman Low is perhaps the first to fit the (inevitably) loose model of the occult or psychic detective. Driven by a late Victorian interest in the occult and ghost-hunting, though, Low was rapidly followed by a stream of successors, a connection that continues to the present with new detectives appearing well into the 21st century in a wide variety of media (including novels, short stories, comics, theatre, television, film, games, and more). Horror and crime fused in weird fiction in the pulps; in comics such as Hellblazer and Dead Boy Detectives; in video games such as Alan Wake and Alone in the Dark; in TV shows such as Twin Peaks and True Detective; and in films such as The Exorcist III and The Sixth Sense, to name just a few.

The editors seek essays of ~4,000 words. Topics should include occult detectives and any text which sits at the intersection of detective and horror narratives. Texts can be of any medium or time period. Some possibilities include, but are not limited to, the following figures, genres, or texts:

  • Gong’an (Judge Dee and/or Judge Bao in any medium)
  • Abraham Van Helsing (in any medium)
  • Flaxman Low
  • John Silence
  • Luna Bartendale
  • Carnacki the Ghost-Finder
  • Fantastic/horror noir (e.g., Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Angel Heart)
  • Hellblazer and John Constantine (in comics and film)
  • Hellboy (in comics and film)
  • The Exorcist series (in novels and film)
  • Stephen King (in any medium)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (in television, film, and comics)
  • The X-Files
  • Twin Peaks
  • Supernatural
  • Alan Wake
  • Ed Brubaker’s Fatale

Essays should be accessible but touch on big ideas, using a single text, author, artist, or director as a lens to comment on the genre(s) and themes at play. We particularly encourage contributions that take an international, cross-cultural perspective, and/or touch on topics of queerness, ethnicity, gender, and disability.

Proposals of up to three hundred words due by 29 September 2024 to occultdetectivesbook@gmail.com Final drafts for accepted proposals will be due by 30 March 2025. Each essay will be subject to editorial review; authors should expect to undertake at least one round of revisions before final acceptance.

Genre and Video Games

We are seeking short chapters of approximately 2,500-2,700 words for an edited collection on literary genres in video games. We invite submissions for all five of the genres: Fantasy, Historical fiction, Romance, Horror/Gothic, and Science Fiction, that the collection endeavours to explore.

The collection fits into an ongoing genre studies series and will examine how literary genres function in video games, thereby bringing video games into the existing literary canon of genre studies. Each subsection will explore key themes in the existing canon while expanding on the interactive elements of video games that update and/or alter existing conversations about genre. The essays will be educational and accessible in nature with the aim of producing a comprehensive teaching companion for future courses in game studies, game development, or the digital humanities.
This call addresses all five general genre areas the collection seeks to address. These are meant to be general categorizations, but we encourage submissions that also move into inter- or cross-genres, as many of these genres overlap and share different features in both games and literary studies.

Topics that might be considered (but are not limited to):

  • Fantasy
  • The Prominence of Fantasy Games and Nostalgia
  • Fantasy Race and Colonization
  • Non-Western Fantasy
  • Resource-Gathering and Digital Landscapes
  • Pseudo-Medievalism in Fantasy Game World
  • Historical Fiction
  • (Pre)Industrialism & economy and/or class dynamics
  • Feudalism
  • Monarchy and/or Empire
  • Colonialism
  • Myth and Storytelling (written, oral or otherwise)
  • Gender and/or sexuality
  • Disability
  • Romance
  • Player Character (PC) and Non-Playable Character (NPC) Agency
  • Queer Romance Routes
  • LGBTQ2IA+ Representation
  • Digital Sex, Consent and AI Romance
  • Romantic Subplots Across Genres
  • Horror/Gothic
  • Queer Horror and the Monstrous ‘Other’
  • Gothic Games and the Undead Past
  • Haunted Digital Landscapes
  • Consumption Horror: Parasites, Vampires, and Cannibals
  • Speculation and Apocalyptic Horror
  • Science Fiction
  • Digital Posthuman Landscapes and Mitigating Climate Nihilism
  • Human/Technology Interactions and the Rise of Artificial Intelligence
  • Space Exploration and Colonization
  • Speculative Dystopias and Projected Futures
  • Alternative Futurisms

Particular interest will be paid to pieces that engage with Indigenous and Non-Western perspectives in the chosen game or through the chapter’s proposed scholarship.

Please submit an abstract of 250-300 words alongside a brief (100 word) bio to genreandvideogames@gmail.com by the date below.
Abstract due by: August 15, 2024

Prospective draft due date: December 15, 2024

(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media

Co-organizers Michael A. Torregrossa, Karen Casey Casebier, and Carl B. Sell

Sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture


56th Annual Convention of Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown (Philadelphia, PA)
On-site event: 6-9 March 2025

Submission Instructions

In this panel, we seek in particular to build upon the pioneering work of medieval-animation scholar Michael N. Salda and provide additional insights into the ways medieval-themed animation has impacted our contemporary world. Presenters might explore anime, cartoons, films, games, shorts, and videos produced through traditional ink-and-paint, stop-motion, claymation, or computer-generated imagery. Selections should represent and/or engage with some aspect of the medieval, such as artifacts, characters, settings, themes, etc., presented as central to the narrative, tangential, or appearing solely as cameos.

For ideas and support, please see our list of representative texts and resource guide devoted to studies of medieval-themed animation.

All proposals must be submitted into the CFPList system by 30 September 2024. You will be prompted to create an account with NeMLA (if you do not already have one) and, then, to complete sections on Title, Abstract, and Media Needs.

Notification on the status of your submission will be made by 16 October 2024. If accepted, NeMLA asks you to confirm your participation with the session chairs by accepting their invitations and by registering for the event. The deadline for Registration/Membership is 9 December 2024.

Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com.

For more information on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, please visit our website at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com

The Dark Side of Lego: The Gothic Fantastic, and the Uncanny Pleasures of Lego

Lego is everywhere. The ubiquity of the children’s building is both a marvel at its popularity but also the kinds of financial muscle and cutthroat business practice that has seen Disney approach, what sometimes feel, as world domination of the entertainment and leisure industry — there’s no surprise that the Lego and Disney frequently work together.

Unsurprisingly Lego is not all fun and play and whilst much of the “dark side” of Lego can be seen to come making toys for all ages of “children” with no age restriction on who buys or plays
with them (other than a “age suggestion” on the box) there is much of it that purposely Gothic in tone and intent. In part this comes from the other franchises that Lego partners with such as Star
Wars, Jurassic Park, DC Superheroes, and Harry Potter, but they also have their own dedicated series using such themes as Ninjago, special Halloween and monsters series, as well as those promoting villains and even shark attacks in the crossover brands.

Equally unsurprising are the various compromises and missteps that have occurred over gender and ethnicity within the franchise with concerns over inclusion, the “yellowness” of the toys, cultural appropriation, and sets such as Jabba the Hutts’ Mosque/Palace. Some of this can be seen to stem from an under appreciation of the kinds of troubling identity and inclusion issues that are part
of the franchises they choose to deal with and the fandoms that follow them — Lego too has it’s more extreme fandoms amongst the faithful.

With this is what we might term real-world Lego in terms of theme parks (Legolands), shops, conventions and the parent company itself. The kinds of aggressive sales models that power Lego’s increasing global reach often pays little regard to those who work for them, other local businesses in the areas they move in to, or legal action against those deemed to be infringing on their copyrights.

This collection is interested in any aspect of the above or the suggestions below:

  • Gothic aspects of any of the series such as Harry Potter, DC Superheroes, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Disney Princesses, Mario Brothers (Luigi’s Haunted House), Lord of the Rings, Marvel Superheroes, Ninjago, Scooby Doo, etc.
  • The story arcs of any characters within those Batman, Joker, Lord Garmageddon, Darth Vader etc.
  • How any of the above play out over different platforms, bricks, books, games, accessories, theme parks, conventions, etc.
  • Gothic aspects of standard sets, Lego City, Creator, Dots and portraits, special editions etc.
  • Special sets/figures of vampires, monsters, Halloween, picture books of Dracula & Frankenstein, gothic castles, villains, dinosaurs, sharks etc.
  • Gothicism and play, mash-ups, and fluid Identity in self-creation.
  • Inappropriate Lego or fan interventions: The Simpsons, Lego Rifle, terrorist figures, Lego death camp, Breaking Bad, etc.
  • Lego fandom — Brickipedia, Legopedia, Wiki-Lego — and intersections with toxic fandoms from other franchises (ie Star Wars).
  • Issues around gender and ethnicity.
  • Ihe gothic nature of the company itself.
  • Any other areas that seem gothic in nature or outcome.

Send ideas and/or 300 word abstracts for a prospective collection of essays by 30th November 2024 to Simon Bacon: baconetti@gmail.com

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2024-06-23

Personal / Website News

Transcend Review

I have a brand new music review up at my website!

I take a gander at the newest album from Zeena, Transcend. Check it out here!

From the Archives

I’m starting to accumulate quite the repertoire of essays, articles and podcast appearances. I’d like to make sure I spotlight these older works so they don’t fall into obscurity. Going forward I’m going to have this new section on my updates called “From the Archives” where I list out items that occurred in the same time period (last update to current update), but in prior years

This following things happened from 6/9 to 6/23:

Calls for Papers/Proposals

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

Queer Horror: A Companion

“To create a broad analogy, monster is to ‘normality’ as homosexual is to heterosexual” (Benshoff, 1997).

This quote, well worn within the pages of academic criticism, speaks to how the connection between queer identity and the horror genre is now so established as to become indivisible. From Frankenstein’s Creature to Dracula, the Babadook to Jennifer Check, in fiction and in film these monstrous queers “live in a world that hates them. They’ve adapted, they’ve learned to conceal themselves. They’ve survived” (Machado, 2020). Kirsty Logan, in the Foreword to It Came From the Closet, suggests that “horror [never] gives us LGBTQIA+ people accurate representation. The best we can have is a reflection: an image mirrored, turned backwards; an image in shifting water, wavering and distorted” (2023). However, in The Celluloid Closet and Beyond, the closeted monsters of the closeted text have now been routinely outed. Queer horror, too, is no longer the sole domain of monstrous metaphors, but a pluralistic space in which to thematise queer anxieties and to foreground non-hegemonic sexual identities, gender expressions and narrative approaches. Pitched as part of Peter Lang’s ‘Genre Fiction and Film Companion’ series, Queer Horror: A Companion thus seeks to collate a diverse volume showcasing how the label of ‘queer horror’ transcends the trauma of its shadowed roots into an explicit exploration, vital resuscitation, and ultimate celebration of queerness itself.

Following after New Queer Horror’s movement away from “a simplistic binarised negotiation of identification between normative (straight) protagonists and the non-normative (queer) monster” (Elliot-Smith & Browning, 2020), Queer Horror: A Companion looks to foreground explicit queer narratives (Chucky, Monstrilio) and the queer creators imbuing their works with queer sensibilities (Kyle Edward Ball, Carmen Maria Machado, Christopher Landon). Across new forms and mediums, such as video games and podcasts, queer horror moves towards intrinsically queer narratives of homophobic abuse (Femme), alienation (I Saw the TV Glow) and romance (Love Lies Bleeding). And, much as Pride has given way to Pride Progress, so too do works of queer horror emerge that centre underrepresented identities including intersex (Sorrowland), bisexuality (Jennifer’s Body), or explore unwritten narratives such as domestic abuse between partners of the same sex (In the Dream House). Queer Horror: A Companion thus seeks to channel this multiplicity into wide- reaching and inclusive analyses of the many modes and inflections that queer horror adopts today.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Queering of specific genres and sub-genres, especially those held to be traditionally exclusionary to queer narratives (e.g. Bodies Bodies Bodies and the slasher, or In the Dream House and the memoir).
  • Representation of non-hegemonic queer identities, including asexual, intersex, trans, non-binary and non-white narratives (e.g. the works of Jane Schoenbrun, Sayaka Murata, or Rivers Solomon).
  • International approaches to queer horror (e.g. Huesera: The Bone Woman, Climax, or Thelma).
  • Relationship between queer horror and the mainstream, in relation to cross-medium adaptation (e.g. the alterations to Bill and Frank’s relationship in The Last of Us).
  • Tracing the establishment, and development, of academic criticism toward queer horror (e.g. Harry M. Benshoff’s Monsters in the Closet, or Michael William Saunders’ Imps of the Perverse).
  • Queer horror in video games (e.g. Signalis, or The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories).
  • Queer horror’s intersections with other theoretical disciplines (e.g. Masculinity Studies and Titane or All of Us Strangers, or Critical Disability Studies and Freaks).
  • Performing queer horror on stage and screen (e.g. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or Dragula).
  • Queer horror as a way of mapping queer history (e.g. The Picture of Dorian Gray and the Labouchere Amendment, James Whale and the Hays Code, or American Horror Story: NYC and the AIDS crisis).
  • Relationship between queer horror, exploitation cinema and pornography (e.g. Hellraiser, Knife +)
  • Heart, or the works of Billy Martin, writing as Poppy Z. Brite).
  • Existence, or reclamation, of tropes and stereotypes (e.g. ‘Bury Your Gays’, or queer villainy).
  • Classic works of queer horror (e.g. Carmilla, or Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), or the queering of classic horror fiction (e.g. Murders in the Rue Morgue and New Murders in the Rue Morgue).
  • Sapphic horror narratives (e.g. Our Wives Under the Sea, or Wilder Girls).
  • Any forms not listed above, such as graphic novels or podcasts, or concerns such as queer aesthetics.

Finished chapters will be approximately 4000 words (exc. bibliography), adopting a primary text to discuss the broader topic of queer horror. Submissions should be accessible to new readers, while still articulating the individual elements that distinguish the chosen work.

Please submit abstracts of 300 words, alongside a short biographical note (50–100 words), to Dr Michael Wheatley at michaeldavidwheatley@gmail.com by September 30th, with chapters expected in late 2025. Criticism on sexual identities and gender expressions marginalised in academia are particularly welcome.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Happy Birthday to Me

June 20th was my birthday! I took Thursday and Friday off work to have a nice four day birthday weekend. Michele had lots of plans for me.

On Thursday we went to Imperial Outpost Games and played T.I.M.E. Stories while eating sandwiches from Goodcents. Michele and I like board games, but we don’t get to play them often in our home become 1) we lack a large table and 2) we have a certain cat who NEEDS to be involved, which includes knocking pieces around and laying in the center of the board. So, it was nice going to an outside venue to play.

We got our butts kicked on T.I.M.E. Stories. Fucking dude who wanted a plunger and distracted us with his dancing, causing us to lose five turns. WTF buddy.

On Friday we did a tour of the Arizona Biltmore, an art deco hotel from the 1920s. It was amazing! The tour was super fun, we got to see lots of original rooms, furnishings, etc. of the hotel and learn about its rich history. Nothing brought up about ghosts though.

The Biltmore is also the birthplace of the original Tequila Sunrise. Not the 1970s one made with 90% orange juice created during the disco and cocaine era, but this one was created 30 years prior and uses tequila, lime, soda water, and creme de cassis. So, of course, I had to have one! It’s not often you get to experience cocktail history.

As a present to myself, I got this amazing statue from Sideshow Collectables. It’s from their PulpVixens line. The set is called Dr. Sin, but the protagonist here is Agent Ursula. This statue has everything I love: beautiful pinup, spy-fi, Lovecraftian horror, and pulp adventure. I love it!

Time to invest in a legit display cabinet!

Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes Kickstarter

There’s a brand new sword and sorcery Kickstarter I want to signal boost, and it’s for Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes. Check it out on Backerkit.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2024-06-09

Personal / Website News

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances

The Fan2Fan Podcast are doing a themed months for May and June: John Carpenter films! Episodes published during these months are about John Carpenter films, with a few about Pete and Bernie’s travels to locales exploring Carpenter pop culture.

Two of these podcast episodes Michele, Joshua Pruett, and myself got to be guests on The first one is on Christine.

And the second is on Prince of Darkness.

The episodes can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn website (link for Christine and link for Prince of Darkness), via the embedded players below, or through your podcast app of preference. Do check these episodes out!

John Carpenter's Christine – Fan2Fan Podcast

John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness – Fan2Fan Podcast

Two New Website Sections

I’ve added two new sections to my website.

The first is a “Support Me” page. For a consolidated list on ways to support me and my writing, this is the page to check out.

Next is a page of CFPs – calls for papers, proposals, and conferences. I like to proliferate other scholars’ CFPs when I can, so here is a resource folks can use. If you have a CFP you need shared around, let me know!

Calls for Papers/Proposals

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

“Children of the Night” International Dracula Congress 2024

It is our great pleasure to invite you to 2024 double edition of “Children of the Night International Dracula Congress”. This year, participants are invited to join the ONLINE part of the Congress on October 25th and 26th, 2024 (Friday and Saturday) via Zoom.

A few days later, we will gather IN PERSON for further Halloween sessions in Brașov, Romania from October 31st to November 2nd, 2024. We have decided to hold two parts of the Congress separate from one another, so that Brașov participants were able to fully engage in academic discussions, get to know each other and discover the wonders of Transylvania outside the conference venue.

October 31st (Thursday) and November 1st (Friday) will be devoted to academic speeches and discussions, with a walking tour of Brașov and various evening activities. On November 2nd (Saturday), we will set on a one-day trip to Bran Castle, a nearby Dracula related pop-cultural tourist attraction.

Additionally, from October 30th to November 2nd, International Dracula Film Festival is taking place in Brașov and the Congress participants will be able to join chosen festival events.

We invite everyone who is interested in speaking at the 2024 conference to submit an abstract of 150 – max. 250 words plus a meaningful title indicating the planned content of your presentation to dracongress@gmail.com. The official language of the conference is English. The abstracts must be submitted by email and fit the conference main topics (please, have a look at the slider with 8 workshops on our website). Deadline for abstract’s submissions: August 31, 2024. Please, state if you intend to participate online or in person.

Also, remember to dust your Vampire/Dracula/Gothic costume for our annual Costume Contest (in person and online entries welcome!).

Conference fee

  • 50 euro (physical participation in Brasov)
  • 10 euro (online participation).
  • Listeners join free of charge.

The 2024 COTN International Dracula Congress is organised by:

  • Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania (Florin Nechita),
  • Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Lublin, Poland (Magdalena Grabias),
  • State University of Rio de Janeiro in Brasil (Yuri Garcia).
  • In collaboration with The Dracula Fan Club, Mexico (Enrique A. Palafox).

More details will be announced soon. https://dracongress.jimdofree.com/

Preternatural in Popular Culture
Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association 2024

The Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA) invites submissions under the general theme of the Preternatural in Popular Culture.

For this year, submissions should focus on creatures and/or creations that exist above, beyond, and/or outside the natural world and the ways these entities are represented in popular culture (anime, comics, fiction, film, manga, streaming video, television, etc.) from across time and space.

The Monsters & the Monstrous Area is among NEPCA’s largest areas, and we often have blocks of sessions running across the full event. To best accommodate everyone, single presentation submissions are preferred over panel submissions.

Please direct any questions or concerns to Michael A. Torregrossa, Monsters & the Monstrous Area Chair, at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com, and check out our blog Popular Preternaturaliana: Studying the Monstrous in Popular Culture for ideas and past sessions. The blog can be accessed at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/.

Conference Information

The 2024 Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA) will host its annual conference this fall as a hybrid conference from Thursday, 3 October, through Saturday, 5 October. Presenters will be required to become members of NEPCA for the year.

Virtual sessions will take place on Thursday evening and Friday morning via Zoom, and in-person sessions will take place on Friday evening and Saturday morning at Nichols College, in Dudley, Massachusetts.

For more information about the conference and to submit a proposal, please visit our NEPCA’s dedicated Conference site at https://nepca.blog/2024-conference-page/. Be prepared to answer the following questions about your proposal:

  • Proposal Type (Single Presentation or Panel)
  • Modality (in person or virtual)
  • Subject Area
  • Working Title
  • Academic Affiliation (if any)
  • Abstract (250 words)
  • Short bio (50-200 words)
  • Accommodations
  • Preferences for when to present

The submissions site will be open until 11:59 PM (EDT) on 15 June 2024.

Toyetic Television: A Companion

From G. I. Joe workout routines and Sailor Moon wedding gowns to Bratz doll make-unders and Ferby modding, toyetic, merchandise-driven television from past decadeshas proved remarkably resilient. Toyetic television clearly holds a far greater and more enduring cultural significance than definitions such as “glorified half-hour commercials” (Hilton-Morrow & McMahan 2003, p. 78) might suggest. It is meaningful to individual viewers, it becomes “social lubricants facilitating communication between one child and another” (Steinberg 2012, p. 90), and it can connect generations through shared viewing and playing pleasures. The idea of the program created to sell merchandise has been reversed in cases where the production of a program is funded through the
sale of its merchandise, such as The Amazing Digital Circus. The boundary between quality and merchandise-driven television is no longer clear, with even educational programs such as Sesame Street now associated with significant merchandising. One of the aims of this volume, then, is to ask how we might define toyetic television as we move into the second quarter of the millennium. Intended for Peter Lang’s Genre Fiction and Film Companions series, this volume turns a critical eye to the genre of toyetic television and its many transmedia intertexts, exploring the significance and resonance these texts hold for children, adults, and communities. It examines the
movement of toyetic texts cross-culturally, intergenerationally, and between media. It analyses texts and audiences, industry and regulators, to uncover the significance of toyetic television to the contemporary moment.

Children’s programming is the most widely internationally traded category of television, while simultaneously being subject to intensely localized regulatory systems. Sesame Street has had numerous localized versions, for example, including Nigeria’s Sesame
Square, Mexico’s Plaza Sésamo, and pan-Arabic collaboration Iftah Ya Simsim. When toyetic television moves transculturally, it encounters new reception contexts. Japanese animation Dragon Ball found a devoted fanbase across Latin American, leading to new merchandise such as Argentinian soccer jerseys featuring Dragon Ball characters. A particular focus of research, advocacy, and debate around toyetic television has been concern about potential negative impacts on children from the blurring of boundaries between entertainment and advertising. While it may seem quaint in the current era of toy unboxing YouTube channels, the fear that toyetic
television would cause rampant consumerism, rigid perceptions of gender roles, increased American cultural imperialism, and actual acts of violence amongst children was widespread in the 1990s. Those fears are mirrored in recent years by hope that the same toyetic franchises could reflect socially progressive ideas such as body positivity in the remake of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018-2020), queer representation in recent seasons of Power Rangers, and greater racial diversity in last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023). Toyetic Television: A Companion moves beyond these good/bad media effects binaries to consider how and what meaning is made with, through, from, and by the various networks surrounding toyetic television and its consumers.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Transnational and intercultural approaches to toyetic television
  • Gender, race, disability, and sexualities in toyetic television
  • Material cultures: Collections, cosplay, and toy modification
  • Toyetic television production and consumption in the Global South
  • The future of toyetic television in the streaming age
  • Remakes and reimaginings
  • Nostalgic engagement with toyetic television
  • Afterlives of toyetic television in fan fiction and paratextual play
  • Video games and digital paratexts
  • Theoretical approaches to transmediation, media-mix, and franchising
  • Regulation, national or cultural identity, and children’s television
  • Educational and psychology approaches to toyetic television
  • Music and sound effects in toyetic franchises
  • Toyetic media for adults and intergenerational consumption
  • Ludic approaches to television
  • Fan studies approaches to toyetic television
  • Toyesis and toyetics in unexpected places

Please send 300 word abstracts and a short biographical note (50-100 words) to Dr. Sophia Staite at staitepublications@gmail.com by August 30th 2024, with a view to having a completed essay by early 2025. Finished essays will be approximately 4000 words long (excluding bibliography), should be accessible but touch on the big ideas, and will ideally take a main example as a ‘lens’ to look at the wider topic.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

The Neverending Streamer – Fallout Episode 1 and 2

My friend, Travis Lakata, has started watching Fallout on Netflix and doing a write up on each episode. Check out his thoughts on episode one and on episode two at his Substack.

Categories
News

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.

Categories
News

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

Categories
News

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.

Categories
News

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 2023-12-03

Personal / Website News

New Publication: The Journal of Stoogeological Studies Vol 1

The debut issue of The Journal of Stoogeological Studies is out now!

I received a draft PDF of the first issue and its 88 pages of essays, reviews, and other musings all about the Three Stooges (and, as of 12/27, there’s supposed to be a bit more content added this week, so it’s getting even bigger!). I’m honored to have a short piece in this journal called “An Imperial Decree? Soitenly! Matri-Phony as Proto-Toga and Sandal Comedy.” I am no expert on The Three Stooges or a super fan or anything, but I love writing about sword n’ sandal stuff so this was a unique venue to talk about the genre in an eccentric way.

For information on procuring a copy of the zine contact editor Will Sloan (website is https://www.willsloan.ca).

UPDATE: Amazon product page here.

Becca Boo #1 Review

New review up at my website! I take a gander at the first issue of the sex-comedy comic book Becca Boo the Bimbo Ghost.

The review can be read here. I enjoyed the comic and chipped in the for Kickstarter for issue 2, so expect a review of that when it is published. The issue 2 Kickstarter can be found here.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast

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

Episode 59 Thumbnail by Michele Brittany.

Michele and I finally conclude our annual Mimic series discussion by talking about Mimic 3: Sentinel. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website, via the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

Ep 59 – J. T. Petty's Mimic 3: Sentinel – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

McFarland Christmas Sale

My publisher, McFarland, is doing a holiday sale on ALL their titles. Use code “HOLIDAY23” at checkout to receive 25% off your order. The sale appears to go on for the entire month of December, but McFarland suggests placing orders before the 16th in order to receive them in time for Yuletide.

This is a perfect opportunity to scoop up books I’ve participated in. For editing:

And for contributing:

If you pluck up a book, thank you for your support!

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.

Monique Gabrielle as Emmanuelle in Emmanuelle 5.

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.

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

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.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

“Azathoth” song on Bandcamp

John 3:16, the composer of the HP Lovecast podcast theme song, “Azathoth,” has released the track on Bandcamp!

Here is the link to check it out, stream it, or purchase it via name your own price. Sincere thank you to John 3:16 for being a super supporter of our podcast, sharing our content, and of course, creating this awesome tune.

CFP: The Mummy Edited Collection

Michele is teaming up with Sean Woodard to do an edited collection on The Mummy series. They have a CFP listed at UPENN, but I am also sharing a copy below.

Editors: Michele Brittany and Sean Woodard

Contact email: mummybookproject@gmail.com

Abstract Deadline: December 15, 2023

Chapter Drafts Deadline: June 15, 2024

Essays sought for an edited collection focused on Universal Pictures’ The Mummy franchise.

The 1999 Universal reboot of The Mummy, starring the indelible duo of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, remains a tentpole of ’90s popular culture and cinema. Not only did The Mummy launch two sequels, a spin-off series, and a reboot, but it has lived on as a cult film, loved by fans for its mixture of horror, action/adventure, and humor. The film has also developed a strong meme culture on social media — one of the most viral examples contains a photo of a car bumper sticker proclaiming: “Honk if you’d rather be watching the 1999 cinematic masterpiece ‘The Mummy’ starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.”

While academic research has been focused on various releases of The Mummy (1932, 1959, 1999, and 2017), there has not been a singular scholarly text devoted to the film franchise. The recent “Brenaissance” in Fraser’s film career and the film’s anticipated 25th anniversary in 2024 make it an appropriate time to celebrate and re-evaluate the film.

The purpose of this edited collection is to place The Mummy into a cultural and theoretical context, as well as critically analyze the franchise, its connections to other genre films, and its continued influence.

We seek proposals for chapters that approach the subject matter with theoretical concepts that will appropriately meet the rigorous expectations of an academic work, but through a prose style that shall be accessible for both an academic audience and a general readership.  

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Resurgent interest in Brendan Fraser/“Brenaissance”
  • Stephen Sommers as an auteur
  • Representation of Egypt in popular culture and early filmic representation
  • Eastern mythology/culture/religion
  • Exoticism of non-western cultures
  • Post/De-colonialism 
  • Heroic representation
  • Body horror
  • Eco-horror/Ecocriticism
  • Gender representation
  • Toxic depictions in film
  • Queer/LGBTQ+ representation
  • Meme/GIF culture
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Generational nostalgia 
  • Element of music/film scoring
  • Genre hybridity
  • Film cycles/reboots/retcons (such as The Scorpion King, The Mummy animated series, Universal Classic Monsters, Hammer Studios, Dark Universe, etc.) and related adventure/archaeological-driven films (such as Ark of the Sun God, The Sphinx, The Librarian franchise, etc.)

Please send abstracts of 300 – 500 words with a working title and five (5) keywords, accompanied by a short third-person author bio (100 words max), to mummybookproject@gmail.com as a Word document. Final essays should be 6,000 – 8,000 words in length, including endnotes and bibliography, and be formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. The collection is being considered by a leading academic press.

Proposed Timeline

  • October 1, 2023 thru December 15, 2023 — Call for Papers
  • January 15, 2024 — Notification of abstract acceptances sent to authors  
  • January 15, 2024 thru June 15, 2024 — Book chapters drafting period
  • June 15, 2024 thru July 15, 2024 — Initial editorial review of submitted chapter drafts
  • August 1, 2024 thru October 1, 2024 — Double-blind Peer Review Period
  • October 1, 2024 thru November 15, 2024 — Contributor revision period
  • December 1, 2024 — Final editorial acceptance decisions
  • December 1, 2024 thru January 15, 2025 — Layout design, indexing, and proofing stage
  • January 15, 2025 thru February 15, 2025 — Copies of chapter proofs sent to contributors for copyediting review
  • March 1, 2025 — Final manuscript submitted in hard copy and digital formats to publisher

Editor bios:

Michele Brittany is a writer, editor, podcaster, and artist. She edited James Bond and Popular Culture and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Horror in Space: Critical Essays on a Film Subgenre. She co-edited Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays and co-hosts H. P. Lovecast podcast with Nicholas Diak. She lives in Glendale, Arizona.

Sean Woodard (MA | MFA) is a PhD candidate in English at University of Texas at Arlington. He also serves as the Assistant Editor for Global Insight: A Journal of Critical Human Science and Cultureand the Film Editor for Drunk Monkeys. He has contributed chapters to the edited collections Journeys Into Terror: Essays from the Cinematic Intersection of Travel and Horror and Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad. His research interests include horror cinema, the American West, psychoanalysis, fairy tales, and film scoring.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-11-19

Personal / Website News

Flesh Field Interview

New interview is online now!

I had the honor to interview Ian Ross from Flesh Field about their newest album, Voice of the Echo Chamber, their first album in album two decades! Back in the aughts I listened to Flesh Field all the time and even caught them live in Seattle in 2005. I’m so happy to see the project resurrected. So, check out the interview and check out the new album!

The New Peplum Citation

Dr. Connie Skibinski’s essay “Crazy Man-Killing Monsters: The Inimical Portrayal of the Amazons in Supernatural‘s ‘Slice Girls'” cites Valerie Estelle Frankel’s essay “Hercules, Xena and Genre: The Methodology Behind the Mashup” from The New Peplum.

Dr. Skibinski’s essay has been published in the open access journal Thersites and can be read 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 hereand it’s a major WIP.

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

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.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Skinny Dipper Kickstarter

Will Penny (Tiki Surf Witches Want Blood) has a new Kickstarter going on for the next project via his Sex and Monsters endeavor: Skinny Dipper.

From the Press Release:

Chillwave pioneer Nite Jewel is making her comics debut alongside a variety of talented writers and artists in Skinny Dipper. This 32-page comic zine launches October 31, 2023 from Sex and Monsters and is accompanied by an original soundtrack single from the internationally lauded singer/songwriter.


Inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, R.H. Barlow, and H.P. Lovecraft, Skinny Dipper is a meditation on love, death, and the mysterious lure of the ocean. The zine features the talents of Emily Roberts, April Snellings, Jelena Đorđević, and more – and is perfectly complimented by Nite Jewel’s hypnogogic
siren song, which serves as a haunting electro-pop soundtrack for

the story.

Both the Skinny Dipper zine and soundtrack single will be available from Sex and Monsters on Kickstarter starting October 31, 2023
(www.sexandmonsters.com/skinnydipper). The zine features 32-pages of art printed on silk matte stock with spot UV coating. The single will be available on 7” vinyl in a deluxe gatefold cover featuring artwork by Emily Roberts. The music will also be available to stream online and can be purchased digitally from Gloriette Records (https://nitejewel.bandcamp.com/music).

Skinny Dipper Press Release

The Kickstarter campaign can be found here.