Tag: Encounter with the Unknown

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News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-05-07

Personal / Website News

Another series of productive and hectic weeks. The big thing is the CFP for the Emmanuelle project closed at the end of April. I’ve sent out acceptances and am currently working on proposals to send to publishers. However, there is room for more essays in the book so I will probably reactivate the CFP and accept abstracts on a rolling basis. If you’re interested, reach out!

Weird Tales #367 Mini-Interviews

Last year for the sword and sorcery issue of Weird Tales I did a series of mini-interviews with a handful of contributors. That article can be found here.

I’ve done the same thing for the cosmic horror issue of Weird Tales that is being published later this month. Angela Yuriko Smith, Samantha Underhill, and Carol Gyzander all let me do a mini interview with them and they can be read here. Check them out and consider pre-ordering the issue.

“Strange Realities” Supplemental Material

Last year I had an essay about the movie Encounter with the Unknown published in The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone.

The final bit of the essay I make reference to the various VHS releases of Encounter. As a supplement to that essay I’ve uploaded pictures of these releases. Check it out here.

Footage Fiends #1 Is Out

The debut issue of Footage Fiends is out!

It actually was released a month or so ago and the copy I bought has been sitting in my PO Box for a few weeks. Oops.

This zine contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.” This first issue is limited to 50 physical copies, but I believe digital copies are available. The zine can be ordered via subscription from the Footage Fiends Patreon.

New H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Our monthly Transmissions episode for H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online!

In April we interviewed some cool comic book kids: Bernie Gonzalez (also of Fan2Fan Podcast fame) and Joshua Pruett. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout site, via the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 21 Bernie Gonzalez and Joshua Pruett – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Thank you Bernie and Joshua for appearing on our show!

Scholars from the Edge of Time

New episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online!

Michele and I talk about the 1954 proto-Raiders of the Lost Ark film, Secret of the Incas. You can hear our discussion on YouTube. I’ll be turning my notes into an article for Exotica Moderne in a bit, so stay tuned!

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 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.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Angela Sylvaine’s Frost Bite Cover Reveal

Angela Sylvaine (awesome friend and writer who we interviewed on H. P. Lovecast back in June 2021) has her debut novel, Frost Bite, coming out later this year. Her publisher, Dark Matter Ink, just did a cover reveal and it is the bomb dot com.

I am digging the 90s and shades of vaporwave going on here. And, it’s meteorite-horror adjacent, so I am triple excited.

Sylvaine’s book can be be pre-ordered at the Dark Matter Magazine shop.

Categories
Essays

In His Image: Supplemental Material to “Strange Realities”

In the final quarter of 2022, the edited collection The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise, was published by McFarland. Edited by Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. and Ron Riekki, the book contains nineteen essays that take a variety of academic approaches to different Twilight Zone texts. One of those essays is mine, “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown.” 

In my essay, I compare and contrast the original run of The Twilight Zone with the 1972 anthology-horror film, Encounter with the Unknown, which uses Rod Serling’s narration and Twilight Zone visual cues to, more-or-less, rip off the legendary series. While I consider the essay exhaustive and complete, I feel it could benefit from an addendum. The final section of my essay, ‘Voices and Images,’ I bring up examples of how VHS releases of Encounter of the Unknown mimic iconic visual elements of The Twilight Zone. While these descriptions are as detailed as possible, I figured readers of the essay would benefit from supplemental material that contains pictures of these VHS releases. 

  • Blu-ray that uses the Encounter with the Unknown Poster.
  • Cover of the Interglobal release of Encounter.
  • Back of the Interglobal release.
  • Front of the VCI release.
  • Back of the VCI release.

If you haven’t read my essay and are curious, (or the entire book sounds intriguing), The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone can be purchased at McFarland and Amazon.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-12-04

Personal / Website News

Life Stuff

Apologies in advance that original writing here at my website has been sparse. Michele and I recently bought a house and we are in the process of moving in. The vast majority of my library is in boxes at the new place. We will be moved in by the end of the month with January being spent unpacking and getting settled. After that, I’ll be up and running again, writing content here but for other venues and projects as well.

Despite this, LOTS of cool stuff is still going on. Read below!

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

The Call for Papers for the Emmanuelle, Black Emanuelle, and Emmanuelle derivative films is open.

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.

New H. P. Lovecast Podcast Episode

A brand new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online.

This is our monthly Transmissions episode, however we did a longer form interview instead of a handful of smaller ones. Our interview is with P. L. McMillan and her new novella, Sisters of the Crimson Vine. The episode can be streamed at the H. P. Lovecast Buzzsprout page, via the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 17 – P. L. McMillan – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

For December we are going to do a recap episode where Michele and I talk about projects completed this year, upcoming news, podcast news, and so on.

A Hero Will Endure Update

A few years in the making, but the collection, A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, is set to be published this February by Vernon Press. This book contains my essay, “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.” There is no cover art yet, but there is a product/pre-order page at the publisher’s website.

Footage Fiends Issue 1

Pre-orders are open for the first issue of the Footage Fiends zine. I have a short essay in this debut issue (tentatively) titled “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”

Issues are tied to tiers at the Footage Fiends Patreon: $5 digital and $10 for physical with issues being published quarterly.

A promotional clip for the Zine can be found on the Footage Fields Twitter:

Check it all out and consider supporting!

Awards Season

Horror/speculative award season is upon us. This year I really only have one piece of writing eligible for the various awards out there: my essay “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown” in The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise. Thank you for your interest/consideration!

New Scholars from the Edge of Time

Michele and I appeared on Hercules Invictus’ Sword and Sandal cinema the last Thursday of November. I talked about the “City of Evil” episode of Thundarr the Barbarian while Michele talked about Ouja Mummy and Luxor. The episode can be heard via BlogTalkRadio.

Tribel Social Media

With all the brouhaha happening at Twitter, I’ve decided to start checking out alternative social medias. Unfortunately my iPhone is at capacity so I cannot install the app-only Hive social media. I’m on a waitlist for Post. However, I did setup an account at Tribel, which can be found here. Tribel is pretty much a ghost town right now, but I’ll wait and see what happens. Come give me a follow if you’re on the platform.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Mimic Soundtrack (And Plans)

Record Store Day had a Black Friday event this year. There was one vinyl I was really, really gunning for, and that was the new LP of the Mimic soundtrack, composed by Marco Beltrami. When I got to Zia Records, there was only one copy on the shelf and I snagged that bad boy.

Michele and I talked about Mimic and Mimic 2 on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast (check them out – links on the titles) and plan on doing Mimic 3 next year.

I have other plans for the Mimic soundtrack. The first Front Line Assembly album I ever bought was Implode which contains much sampling of dialogue and music cues from both Mimic and Event Horizon. It’s been on the idea board to write *something* about this. We shall see what I come up with.

Elmer Batters Polaroid

I am a huge fan of the stockings photography of Elmer Batters. Back in 2015 Michele and I were able to visit an Elmer Batters and Eric Stanton exhibit that Taschen Books was curating in LA. Lots of great art and photography, and polaroids too!

There was an option to buy the polaroids, but at that point I didn’t have the funds to do so.

Fast forward to autumn 2022 and I was able to work with Taschen to procure a an original Batters Polaroid:

Elmer Batters, unknown model.

The polaroid was taken in the 1970s and it is awesome. The model is unfortunately unknown. It’s a fairly conservative Batters piece and I adore it.

The back of the frame the polaroid came in was autographed by Dian Hanson, known for many of the pinup books and Big Book Ofs that Taschen published (I cited her Big Butt Book for my masters thesis). Sincere thanks to Bernard at Taschen for coordinating all of this.

Rest in Peplum

French actress Mylène Demongeot passed away on December 1st (Deadline Article).

Promotional image from IMDB.

She starred in peplum and peplum-adjacent films such as:

  • The Giant of Marathon (1959)
  • Romulus and the Sabines (1961)
  • Gold for the Caesars (1963)
Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-10-23

Personal / Website News

Good day everyone! Final update for October. I hope everyone has a great upcoming Halloween!

The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone

The academic collection, The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone, edited by Kevin Wetmore and Ron Riekki has been published by McFarland and is now out in the wild!

Me!

My contributor’s copy arrived and it looks awesome. The TOC sports some great academics.

My essay is titled “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown” and is probably the most in-depth article out there on the movie. Note: this essay is eligible for various 2022 short non-fiction awards out there, so if it is a piece you enjoy, consider recommending it!

The collection is available to purchase at McFarland.

Galliano Mai Tai

I’ve got quite a handful of cocktail books from the 70s and 80s, most of them filled with recipes of a dubious nature. However, it’s fun to play cocktail archeology and try out some of the recipes in these books.

I have a new old school recipe exploration written up. It is on the Galliano Mai Tai. It can be read here.

H. P. Lovecast Transmissions

This month’s Transmissions episode for HP Lovecast will feature interviews with Erika T. Wurth and Chris Philbrook. This episode will publish on the last day of this month – Halloween!

Galactic Terrors Vidcast

Galactic Terrors is a monthly YouTube midcast from the Horror Writer Association’s New York Chapter. Each episode features three authors doing readings followed by Q/A. I’ve been invited to appear on the program, which will stream November 10th.

If you want to know more about Galactic Terrors, check out their Facebook group or have a look at their episode archive on their YouTube channel. Michele was a guest last month, so check that episode out for sure!

Miscellaneous Tidbits

New Edge Sword and Sorcery

Issue 0 of the new magazine, New Age Sword and Sorcery, it out.

Personal copy of the hardback edition.

The magazine looks like a great endeavor to make the S&S genre more inclusive. The digital copy is free (link here), while the paperback and hardback iterations are available at cost (Amazon link here). Consider plucking up a copy, show interest, so the magazine can get a great start.

Amon Amarth Album Review

Hal C. F. Astell has a new review up at his Apocalypse Later website.

It is on the Viking metal outfit Amon Amarth’s new album, The Great Heathen Army. Check it out here.

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2022-04-17

Personal / Website News

Encounter with the Unknown Interview

Chuffed to be featured on Bernie Gonzalez and Pete Charbonneau‘s Fan2Fan Podcast again!

They are doing a series of episodes about the Twilight Zone and I am on an episode discussing the movie Encounter with the Unknown. This episode can be heard at the Fan2Fan Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.

A reminder: later this year my essay, “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown” will be published in the collection The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise, edited by Ron Riekki and Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. The book can be pre-ordered at the McFarland product page.

Shudder Magazine Article by Michele

Michele has a new article up at her website: a review of a few issues of Shudder magazine.

Photo by Michele Brittany of her Shudder magazines.

Her write up can be read at her website.

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

Review of Kimaera’s Imperium

Apocalypse Later has a review at their website on Kimaera’s new album, Imperium.

The review can be read at Apocalypse Later while the album can be bought digitally at Kimaera’s Bandcamp page. I’ve bought the album and am giving it a listen: symphonic death metal with unclean vocals. Digging the music and the few instances where there are more clean vox. Album cover art is cool.

Review of Crusade of Bards’ Tales of the Seven Seas

With the hit streaming series Our Flag Means Death, pirates are officially back to being pop culture juggernauts since the Pirates of the Caribbean series lost the wind in its sails in the mid 2010s. The pirate genre has straddled the line of being considered pepla or not, but with films such as Morgan the Pirate (1960) and Hercules and the Black Pirate (1963), the boundaries are nebulous – so go for it! Pirate pepla!

In addition to the aforementioned Kimaera review, Apocalypse Later has a review of the new Crusade of Bards album, Tales of the Seven Seas. The review sounded complimentary, but actually listening to this band is a hard feat! Their Bandcamp page has only their old album, and you can only buy it, not listen. Their Discogs page is barebones. There are a few official videos on YouTube, and I dig it. Reminds me a bit of Leaves Eyes.

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2021-03-21

Personal / Website News

Cover reveals galore!

There is a cover reveal and a product page for The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise over at McFarland now! There’s no publishing date yet, but I am imagining it will be out late spring/early summer. To refresh, I have an essay in this book titled “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown” which does a deep dive into the 70s horror anthology film Encounter with the Unknown that Rod Serling narrated.

Issue 11 of Exotica Moderne has a cover reveal as well! In this issue I conduct an interview with Miss Pinup Miami.

Podcast News

Michele and I recorded a brand new episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast. In this episode we discuss William Eubank’s 2020 film, Underwater. Check it out on Buzzsprout or on your podcast platform of preference. Side note: we are finally on Pandora now!

General Neo-Peplum News

Sword and Sorcery Sketchbooks

Sword and Sorcery artist Gilead is selling sketchbooks of his fantasy art. If you’re in the US you can purchase them via PayPal for $12.00 at gilead@cox.net. More info in Gilead can be found at his Patreon.

Art copyright by Gilead.

Imperial Age to Debut New Song

Russian symphonic metal band Imperial Age, whose modus operandi is a melding of lots of different aspects of antiquity/mythology, has released a statement they will be debuting a new song on 2021-04-09 across all streaming platforms along with a music video on YouTube. The band is not doing preorders, and releasing the song’s title or cover art, though other things are being revealed via the band’s Facebook page and emails: screenshots seems to show the music video being vampire themed and Jane sings 100% of the vocals on the song.

Screencap of the new music video, promotional image made available on the band’s Facebook page.

Along with all of this, the band is working on a brand new album as well called New World.

The Midnight’s Horror Show Releases

Horror Show, the newest release from synthwave act The Midnight, was released this past Friday. The physical versions will be released later, but for now fans can enjoy digital incarnations at the project’s Bandcamp page. The release contains the track “Neon Medusa” which contains shades of mythology. Hope to dive into that track for a possible article.