Tag: Fan2Fan

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News

News Roundup 2024-12-22

Personal / Website News

Review: Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore

One more article up here at the website before 2024 ends and I am going out talking to what I believe is the video game of the year: Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore.

I had pre-ordered this game from Limited Run thinking it would be a fun little CD-i Zelda curio, but it turned out to be a fantastic adventure/Metroidvania that I could not put the controller down (I beat the game across all difficulties in just a few days). I loved this game and I hope you check out my write up about it here.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances

The cool kids at the Fan2Fan Podcast have dropped two episodes that I am a guest on.

First there is the episode “Nick Diak Recommends“.

Nick Diak's Movie Recommendations – Fan2Fan Podcast

And then there is an episode of me reminiscing about Scarecrow Video in Seattle back in the 2000s.

Scarecrow Video with Nick Diak – Fan2Fan Podcast

These episodes can be streamed via the links above, or the embedded players, or through your favorite Podcast App. Check them out!

Sincere appreciation to the Fan2Fan crew for having me on their podcast.

Vilioti Noir

Sincerely chuffed to find myself name dropped in the new book Vilioti Noir: Interviews with the World’s Greatest Neo-Noir Creatives. What an honour!

The book is the brain child of Lady Medusa and Jimmy Vargas. I’ve reviewed Vargas’ fiction in an issue of Exotica Moderne, and I’ve reviewed Medusa/Vargas’ prior collaboration, Vilioti Vintage, right here at my website. Give it a read!

I don’t think Vilioti Noir is out in the wild for purchase yet, but when it is, it will probably be found at the Vilioti Press website.

Citation News

The New Peplum has been cited in Ronald Blankenborg’s essay “The Wide Canvas of human Drama: Fantasizing Antiquity Through Graphic Novel” in the open source/access journal Thersites.

The essay can be read here – check it out!

McFarland Holiday Sale

Did you miss out on McFarland’s Black Friday sale of 35% off books? Well, worry not for the publisher is still doing an online sale, though at 20% off instead of 35% off. Still a great deal! During check out, use code HOLIDAY24 to get 20% off your order.

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

The New Peplum

New Peplum McFarland Page

Horror Literature McFarland Page

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

James Bond McFarland Page

Horror in Space McFarland Page

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

Twilight Zone Product Page

Uncovering Stranger Things McFarland Page

A Hero Will Endure Paperback Relese + Discount

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

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

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

ECOF 2025

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

Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:

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

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

Publishing Recap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks. I shared a lot of autographed swag on Bluesky, so I’m going to reshare them here.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Boxset

Last year I shared the tale of how my Local Comic Book Store back in Federal Way had Jeff Grubb as a customer and did a meet-n-greet and signing event with him. I shared that Grubb has signed one of my Forgotten Realms modules, “Endless Armies”. That recap can be read here.

Grubb signed lots of other stuff from Michele and I. One of the other items he signed was my Forgotten Realms campaign boxset. Check that bad boy out! And I still have everything in it too!

Space Truckers DVD

Someone on Bluesky did a post that shared their adoration of the Stuart Gordon movie Space Truckers, which afforded me the perfect opportunity to share my autographed copy of the film.

I’ve shared my autographed copy of RobotJox before (link here), but I never talked about how we met Gordon (RIP). He was a guest at a Monsterpalooza event in the LA Area, and here is a picture of all of us. He will be missed!

Cherry 2000 DVD

The 80s gave us lots of cyberpunk films, from Bladerunner to Akira to Max Headroom. Cherry 2000 is, I feel, a forgotten film of 80s cyberpunk. I have a copy of the DVD signed by cult actor Tim Thomerson and Connie Woods.

Connie Woods was in an episode of the original run of Twin Peaks. I met her at Twin Peaks reunion at a Hollywood Collector’s show where she signed my DVD:

Italian Sexy Comedy

A book from the collection, here is Italian Sexy Comedy. This book is 99% pictures from Italian sex-comedy films, so stockings everywhere. I love it.

But, I also love it in that its shore foreword is pretty informative in talking about how Italian horror films faved the way for the sex comedies. This actually become a big point in my masters thesis back in the day.

My book is also signed by starlet Barbara Bouchet!

Victoria Vetri Autographs

A couple months ago I sent off my Blu-ray sleeves of When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and Kings of the Sun to Hammer Glamour lady Victoria Vetri, and I just got them back. Check them out!

And:

Since one film is a spear and fang movie and the other a Mesoamerican Historic Epic, Michele and I will probably wind up talking about them on a vidcast next year.

The Children of Gla’aki

Finally, one more sharing of autographed loot from the archives, is my copy of The Children of Gla’aki.

My copy is signed by the legendary Ramsey Campbell:

And the prolific Tim Waggoner:

If folks recall, Michele and I rebooted the HP Lovecast Podcast talking about stories from this book. That episode can be streamed at this link, the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.

Ep 26 – The Children of Gla'aki – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Categories
Peplum

Yor’s [Comic] World: Yor, The Hunter From The Future #01

Yor, the Hunter from the Future is a 1983 Italian Barbarian film directed by Antonio Margheriti (Castle of Blood [1964], Ark of the Sun God [1984]) and starring Reb Brown (best known as the lead protagonist in the MST3K-riffed Space Mutiny [David Winters, 1988]). The movie is a strongman/sword and sorcery film that came during a wave of similar other films (Ator, the Fighting Eagle [1982, Joe D’Amato], Conquest [Lucio Fulci, 1983], The Barbarians [1987, Ruggero Deodato], and so on), that were capitalizing on the success of Conan the Barbarian (1982, John Milius), though the added Star Wars-esque elements at the film’s end edge Yor into sword and planet territory. The film has enjoyed cult status, no doubt due to the presence of Brown and Margheriti’s special effects.

The film was adapted from a series of Argentinian comics titled Yor the Hunter that was created in the mid-70s by writer Ray Collins (Eugenio Juan Zappietro) and artist Juan Zanotto. For decades the comic has been inaccessible to an English-speaking audience, however Antarctic Press (Gold Digger and Ninja High School) is remedying this situation by publishing a translated edition of the original Yor comics. Slated to be released across four issues, the first was released in late August/September.

One thing that becomes apparent when comparing the two version of Yor is just how closely the film follows the plot of the original comic book incarnation. Issue one of Yor, divided into three episodes, corresponds to the first thirty minutes of Yor the movie. All the major narrative events and characters are there.

Film Yor vs. comics Yor:

Brown’s Yor is more lighthearted with a strong helping of naivety. Comics Yor is much more grimdark and serious. Film Yor is an outsider to the initial tribe depicted in the film while comics Yor is already part of the tribe and becomes a leader of it when he exposes a false god – a woolly mammoth encased in ice. Both are strong barbarians that wear a medallion and wield a stone axe. 

Film Kalaa vs. comics Kalaa:

Film Kalaa is played by Corinne Cléry (Bond girl Corinne Dufour in Moonraker [Lewis Gilbert, 1979] and O in The Story of O [Just Jaeckin, 1975]) who is both the love interest of Yor and the damsel in distress of the film. Film Kalaa does not have as much character development as comics Kalaa who is much more strong willed. Comics Kalaa initially rebuffs Yor when he selects her to be his wife, not holding a high opinion of him. Comics Kalaa is also a damsel character, who must be rescued by Yor. 

Film Pag vs. comics Pag

Cinematic Pag is played by Antonio Margheriti regular Luciano Pigozzi (Beetle in Ark of the Sun God, Francesco in And God Said to Cain [1970]) and pretty much is a one to one of comics Pag. Both are confidents/guards of Kalaa, proficient with a bow, and full of sage-like advice.

The major plot beats of the comic are present in the film.

Both the comic and film features a dino battle early in the story. In the film, Yor is introduced by him saving Kalaa and Pag from a triceratops. In the comic Yor saves Pag from a T-rex.

Ukan and his Blue People attacks Yor and friends, kidnap Kalaa and steal Yor’s medallion.

And after the battle throws Yor over a cliff, where he survives. 

Afterwards Yor and Pag enter the caves of the Blue People in order to save Kalaa. In the film Yor rides a pterodactyl in to make a grand entrance while in the comic Yor and Pag battle the pterodactyls en route to the caverns. An epic battle ensues and in both media versions end with Yor destroying a dam and flooding the caves of the Blue People.

While the film adapts the plot of the comics fairly faithfully, where it really deviates is in tone. The filmic version of Yor is much more lighthearted. Even though it has a fair amount of blood (from when Yor slays the triceratops), the overall atmosphere of the film is fantasy-adventure, akin to Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (John Korty, 1984) with a bit of spear and fang thrown in for good measure. Conversely, the comics version of Yor is much more dark, grittier, and violent. There are executions, rape, and the violence is less cartoonish. The comics version of Yor also narrates the inner feelings of Kalaa and Yor, and they ponder the nature of love in the hostile, primitive world.

After comparing the two iterations of Yor, it is interesting to note just how faithful Margheriti’s adaption was to the source material, save for the tone. It is an interesting case study in how the same story can be told the same textually, but differ greatly in atmosphere and mood. Both film and sequential art incarnations of Yor compliment each other quite well. Fans of the film may not find the camp element in present in the comics version, but can certainly appreciate seeing the original source material of Yor and how it all came about. On its own, the comics version of Yor is fun, and feels like it could have been published in the early years of Heavy Metal. 

Yor, the film, definitely derails itself as it progresses and veers into Star Wars territory, so it will be interesting to see if it continues to be faithful to the comics when issues two through four are published.

Being a Yor superfan, I’ve accumulated some Yor artifacts over the years, and the publishing of issue one of the comic is a perfect opportunity to show off a bit of the collection, which include different home video editions (including a German version of Yor on DVD signed by Reb Brown himself) and soundtracks. Check everything out in the slide show:

I had the opportunity to talk about Yor on the Fan2Fan Podcast, which can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn.

For more information on the Yor comics, check out the following links:

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2024-07-07

Personal / Website News

Samson Writer Interview

Brand new interview up at this website!

I talk to writer Ben Lacy about their neo-peplum adjacent comic book, Samson. The interview can be read here.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance

The cool kids over at the Fan2Fan Podcast are continuing their marathon of episodes devoted to iconic horror director John Carpenter. They just published an episode on the Lovecraftian In The Mouth of Madness, with myself and Joshua Pruett as guests.

The episode can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn page, in the embedded player below, or in your podcast app of preference.

John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness – Fan2Fan Podcast

Sincere appreciation to Bernie and Pete for having me on. In case you missed it, Michele and/or I were on a few other Fan2Fan John Carpenter episodes, (Christine, The Fog, Prince of Darkness), so please check those episodes out as well.

Panthans Journal #326

The National Panthans Journal is a monthly PDF zine of Edgar Rice Burroughs-related reviews, essays, articles, artwork, news, etc.

Laurence G. Dunn, the editor/compiler of the Panthans Journal, has been gracious to give the many Edgar Rice Burroughs comic book reviews I penned in the late 2010s a second life. Issue #326 (pictured here, with artwork by Jim Burns) contains an updated version of my review of Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond #1. Sincere appreciation to Laurence!

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

Scholars from the Edge of Time

June’s episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is now online! In this episode we conclude our retrospective of the pepla career of Bella Cortez by discussing the final sword and sandal film she made, Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens.

Poster for Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens from Wikipedia.

The vidcast can be watched on YouTube here. Check it out!

Michele and I have also planned out the next two episodes of Scholars from the Edge of Time. For July’s episode we will be discussing She Is Conan (2023) and in August we will be talking about Pilgrimage (2017). Stay tuned!

Publishing Recap

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

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

From the Archives

This following podcasts episodes and articles were published from 6/24 to 7/7:

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-05-21

Personal / Website News

Heavy Music Mothers Authors Interview

First new article up at my website is an interview with the authors of the brand new book, Heavy Music Mothers: Extreme Identities, Narrative Disruptions.

I had the honor to talk with Joan Jocson-Singh and Julie Turley on their book. It can be read here.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast

New episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online!

Michele and I return back to the Lands of Dream to talk about the one-shot comic Dreamquest by Clay Adams and Mick Beyers. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website, via the embedded link below, or via your podcast app of preference.

Ep 58 – Dreamquest by Clay Adams and Mick Beyers – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

And for fun, here is my autographed copy from the original Kickstarter campaign:

Fan2Fan Appearance – Akira

2023 marks the 35th anniversary of the legendary anime Akira.

The cool kids over at Fan2Fan have invited me on their podcast to talk about the iconic Japanimation film. Part one can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn, in the embedded podcast player below, or via your podcast app of preference (Akira part 2 is with Allan and Rebecca and can be streamed here).

Akira 35 Year Anniversary Part 1 – Fan2Fan Podcast

Fan2Fan also did an episode in their 5 Minute Friday series, this one devoted to the famous motorcycle slide.

This episode can also be found at the Fan2Fan Libsyn, on your podcast app of preference, or in the player below.

5 Minute Friday – Akira Bike – Fan2Fan Podcast

And just for fun, here are my two copies of Akira, one of them autographed by old school Streamline folks, Robert Payne Cabeen and Wendy Horowitz.

In addition to the Akira 5 Minute Friday, Fan2Fan also has a 5 Minute Friday on Vampire Hunter D!

This episode can be streamed here, in the player below, or via your podcast app.

5 Minutes Friday – Vampire Hunter D – Fan2Fan Podcast

Also, here is my trustworthy, old school Vampire Hunter D DVD:

Book Reviews

A few reviews of some of the books I’ve been involved in have popped up.

First, there is a fairly positive review of The New Peplum that appears in Cadmo: Journal for Ancient History, 2022, No. 31., written by Inês Simão Sebastião. The review is in Portuguese.

Next, there is a review of Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern in the debut issue of The Incredible Nineteenth Century: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Fairy Tale. The review, by Hogan D. Schaak, is not a positive one at all. Take it with a grain of salt since the reviewer butchers Michele’s name as “Brittany Michelle.”

Publishing Recap

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

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

Vernon Press Product Page

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

Weird Tales Product Page

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.

Categories
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
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-04-23

Personal / Website News

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

Buzzworthy Book Review

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

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

Claus Larsen Interview

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

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

New H. P. Lovecast Podcast

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

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

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

The New Peplum Citations

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

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

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

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

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances

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

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

Our Favorite TV Theme Songs Michele and Nick – Fan2Fan Podcast

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

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

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

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

Emmanuelle the Private Collection Soundtrack.

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

Publishing Recap

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

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

Vernon Press Product Page

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

Weird Tales Product Page

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-04-09

Personal / Website News

March went by fairly quiet and BOOM!, first week of April do I have some epic and awesome news to share.

Weird Tales Issue #367

The big, big, big news is issue 367 of Weird Tales that is slated to be published this May. Yours truly got to contribute an essay to this legendary periodical!

Look at that! My name on the cover with some other titans of horror with a cover by Mike Mignola. Talk about a milestone, I am extremely elated.

My essay is about cosmic horror back in the 1920s and 1930s issues of Weird Tales. The issue is available for pre-order, so check it out at the Weird Tales website.

If you’re interested in some other aspects of Weird Tales, check out my article where I did some mini-interviews with some of the contributors to the sword and sorcery issue, and also my review of the relaunch issue I did for Fanbase Press back in 2019.

I’ll also be conducting mini-interviews for this issue as well.

Cinema Highball Writeup

New cocktail article is posted at my website as well!

As yall know I love diving into the esoteric, weird, forgotten, and sometimes, kinda nasty, cocktails. The PDT Cocktail Book has a recipe for the Cinema Highball which I actually gave a shot on Twitter back in 2021:

However that was made with Bacardi. The real recipe calls for Flor de Cana, and this time I am doing it for realz. Have a read!

New Episode of H.P. Lovecast

We have a new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast online!

As conveyed in previous posts, March was a pretty hectic month for Michele and I. We still are settling into the house and we had essays due at the end of the month (for the cats in cinema book) and just a few other obligations that popped up. Because of this, we didn’t get a normal episode of the podcast online, but we did get a Transmissions episode online. In this episode we got to interview weird fiction author Michael Cisco about his new novel, Pest, and one of our academic colleagues, J. Rocky Colavito, about his Giallo-inspired novel, The Night Scavengers. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout website, via your podcast app, or via the embedded link below.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 20 Michael Cisco and J. Rocky Colavito – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

We are hoping to be back on track in April as we will finally get our episode online of the Dean Stockwell Dunwich Horror.

Fan2Fan Appearances

Michele and I have made a few appearances on the Fan2Fan Podcast which have been published in the last two weeks.

First up is the Fan2Fan episode on the classic Larry Cohen film, The Stuff. That episode can be streamed via the Fan2Fan Libsyn page, via your podcast app of preference, or the embedded player below:

The Stuff 1985 – Fan2Fan Podcast

Next, Fan2Fan sometimes does short podcasts on Fridays called “Five Minute Fridays.”

Michele and I appeared on one to talk about what cosmic horror is. That episode can also be streamed via your podcast app of preference, at the Fan2Fan Libsyn, or via the embedded player below.

5 Minutes Friday – What is Cosmic Horror? – Fan2Fan Podcast

As always, sincere thanks to Bernie and Pete of the Fan2Fan crew for having us on their show. We sincerely appreciate them.

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

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

Recent acquisitions to the collection: Emmanuelle in Paradise and Emmanuele (single “L”) 3. Also notice the Silvia Castell vs. the iconic Sylvia Kristel.

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

Publishing Recap

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

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

Vernon Press Product Page

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

Weird Tales Product Page

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Sean Woodard Interview

Friend and colleague Sean Woodard has just had his first physical publication, his essay “‘But Illusions Don’t Kill’: An Examination of Giallo Tropes and Gender in Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue” in the newly released academic collection Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad.

The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana has an interview with Woodard in which he talked about his essay. I’m flattered that he mentions me!

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-03-12

Personal / Website News

Writing News

I don’t have much to share along the lines of writing and podcast news for the last two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I have been extremely busy, it just happens I didn’t get a chance to do an article for my website here. However, a quick run down of things that have happened/currently are happening:

  • Appeared on a handful of Fan2Fan Podcast episodes, taking about monster movies, anime, and TV show themes. Expect those to be published over the next few weeks/months. In the meantime, I encourage folks to check out the Fan2Fan archive, they have some great episodes with some cool people.
  • Turned my Rene Girard/”The Call of Cthulhu” presentation I did at a prior AnnRadCon into essay format and sent it to the new horror-lit magazine, Dark Dead Things. They launch their debut issue this month, check them out!
  • Completed an interview with the authors of the upcoming book Heavy Music Mothers that is slated to be published this May from Rowman & Littlefield. The interview will be published here the week before Mother’s Day.
  • Just interviewed Michael Cisco for the H.P Lovecast Podcast, slated to be released part of our Transmissions programming.
  • Currently working on my peplum cats essay that is due at the end of the month. Wish me luck! (Note: was turned in on 3/26, yay!)
  • Reviewing the book Buzzworthy. I’ve been posting cocktails I’ve made over on Twitter.
  • And, of course, the Emmanuelle CFP (see below). Working on promoting that everywhere I can.

So, lots of cool stuff going on! Also, expect Footage Fiends issue 01 to drop very, very soon! Excited to see that be published.

I also got my contributor’s copy of A Hero Will Endure.

Nice to have the book in my paws. It’s been a long journey!

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

The Call for Papers for 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.

Publishing Recap

Starting with this bi-weekly update I will be including a new section called “Publishing Recap” where I will keep a cumulative list of published texts (physical or at other venues) for the year so far. The idea here is to give more visibility to each text and not let them disappear into the website newsfeed.

A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator

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

Vernon Press Product Page

Miscellaneous Tidbits

The Night Scavengers

Friend and colleague J. Rocky Colavito has a new fiction book out called The Night Scavengers.

Honored that both Michele and I are mentioned in the front matter!

Colavito’s giallo-influenced novel can be found on Amazon. (Pssst – Colavito also has an essay on WWZ in Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern *wink* *wink* so check that out as well).

CFP for The Princess Bride

Signum University Press has an open CFP (that closes April 1st) on the 50th anniversary of The Princess Bride (both book and movie). Details on the CFP can be read at the downloadable PDF while press submission guidelines can be read at this link.

If you have a pop culture-centric CFP that need proliferation, feel free to share it with me and I’ll post it on my bi-weekly news updates. I’m here to help folks out.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-02-26

Personal / Website News

New Edge Sword and Sorcery #00

I have a write up/review up about the first (#00) issue of New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine. It can be read here.

Of important note, the Kickstarter campaign to fund the next two issues of this magazine ends in five days. Do check it out and consider backing the campaign.

Fan2Fan Appearance

Michele and I recently did an appearance on the Fan2Fan Podcast where co-host Bernie Gonzalez talked to us about H. P. Lovecraft. It was really awesome be asked to be on the podcast and to talk about Lovecraft things outside our own H. P. Lovecast Podcast. The dialogue has been broken up into two episodes.

The first episode can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn website or via the embedded player below.

Lovecraft 101 – Fan2Fan Podcast

And the second episode can be found here or in the embedded player below.

Lovecraft 102 – Fan2Fan Podcast

Sincere thanks for having us back on as guests, we appreciate it!

A Hero Will Endure Published!

A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator is officially out! The collection is available for purchase at the Vernon Press website.

This collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling”. When my hardcover copy arrives I’ll be sure to share it.

There are a few essays in the collection that cite content of The New Peplum. As soon as I can verify what and were I will add the citations to the The New Peplum page.

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

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

Personal copy of Emmanuelle vs. Dracula. Note: decades prior Kristel starred in Dracula’s Widow (1988).

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.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Rest in Peplum Stella Stevens

Ok, Stella Stevens wasn’t in any peplum movies, but she was in an episode of Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman is a total peplum character and also The Poseidon Adventure (1972) being named after the Olympian, so I am calling it valid.

1960s kitten bombshell Stella Stevens passed away from Alzheimer’s at the age of 84 on the 17th (CNN Link). Stevens is probably best known for being in The Nutty Professor (1963). and the original The Poseidon Adventure. My first exposure to Stevens was in her Bond Girl-esque role opposite Dean Martin in The Silencers (1966).

I had the honor to meet Stevens at a convention back in 2010. She was a total doll and so swoonerific. She autographed my copies of The Silencers, Hard Drive (1994) (a straight to Cinemax erotic thriller) and a cute pinup photo of her. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate the items as of yet during my unpacking, but once I do I’ll post them here.

She will be greatly missed!

Fist of Jesus Blu-ray

A recent acquisition, I got my paws on a Blu-ray of Fist of Jesus:

Only 15 minutes long, I gave it a quick watch. It was funny: Dead Alive with Jesus. I’ll be doing a proper write up later (maybe for Easter?). The movie can be ordered at the Fist of Jesus website.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-01-29

Personal / Website News

A Game Called Quest

Digging through my archives I came across an article I wrote for my zine as part of S. T. Joshi’s Esoteric Order of Dagon APA. The article was in dire need of editing and spell checking, but it still seemed like a fun piece on retroism and sword and sorcery.

So, here it is, “Weekend Rental: 80s Sword and Sorcery and Retrogaming in A Game Called Quest.” Check it out!

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance

Our friends at Fan2Fan podcast are doing episodes about folks’ favorite vampire movies.

My top five list can be heard here or via the embedded player below.

Nick's Favorite Vampire Movies – Fan2Fan Podcast

Michele also has an episode on her top 5 vampires which can be heard here. Sincere appreciation for Fan2Fan for having us on as guests!

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

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

Collection of Emmanuelle comics by Guido Crepax (personal collection).

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.

Scholars from the Edge of Time

For our monthly appearance on Scholars from the Edge of Time, Michele and I discuss the 1959 Biblical plum film Solomon and Sheba (see below). The episode can be viewed on Hercules Invictus’ YouTube channel.

James Bond and Popular Culture Review

Michele’s book, James Bond and Popular Culture, has a brand new review online!

The review can be read at Boyce McClain’s Consumers’ and Collectors’ Corner blog. Of course, copies can be purchased over at McFarland’s product page for the book.

Forty Years a Black Metal Punk

Lex “Hugin” Karrila has an autobiography being published this year by Running Wild Productions: 40 Years a Black Metal Punk. The books covers his 40+ year musical career from his punk days to his later metal, industrial, dungeon synth, and other extreme genres with projects such as Uruk-Hai, Hrossharsgrani, BoneMachine, and many more.

Cover by Ruta Silders.

I had the honor to collaborate with Karrila on a few songs for his Ceremony of Innocence project and have done a deep analysis of his Hrossharsgrani album Pro Liberate Dimicandum Est which is part of my essay in the upcoming A Hero Will Endure collection (see below).

In conjunction with the book, a double album is being released that provides an aural sampling of Karrila’s musical career. Included on the compilation is the Ceremony of Innocence track “Our Fire Burns” which I did lyrics and vocals for, so that is very cool (note: my old website has a discography section, I might have to bring that back!).

The German edition of the book is slated to be released this April (Bandcamp page for Running Wild Productions, keep an eye there) while an English edition will be published later this year.

A Hero Will Endure Preorder

A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator is available for preorder at the Vernon Press website.

This collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling” and is slated to be released in February.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Rest in Peplum Gina Lollobrigida

Iconic Italian starlet Gina Lollobrigida passed away on the 16th this month.

My autographed 8×10 of Lollobrigida.

She didn’t star in too many historic epics, however she did star opposite of Yum Brenner in King Vidor’s Solomon and Sheba.

The barebones Blu-ray of Solomon and Sheba.

Michele and I decided to make her and this film the primary focus of our Scholars from he Edge of Time appearance this month (see above).

New Edge Sword and Sorcery Kickstarter

The folks at New Edge Sword and Sorcery will be launching a Kickstarter very soon to fund publishing of issue 1 (issue 0 can be found on Amazon).

Personal copy of issue 0.

You can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter goes live at this link.