Tag: HP Lovecast Podcast

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-01-15

Personal / Website News

Born of Blood #2 Writeup

The second issue of the neo-peplum comic Born of Blood was released late 2022 by MERC Publishing.

I’ve done a write up of the issue which can be read here.

Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

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

Personal copy of Emmanuelle 4 signed by Brinke Stevens.

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 Episode of H. P. Lovecast

A new episode of H. P. Lovecast is now online. This episode was recorded last month, but with all the moving and getting settled, we are publishing it now. It’s a recap episode where Michele and I talk about accomplishments of 2022, personal projects, and goals for 2023. Check it out at our Buzzsprout website, at the podcast player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

Ep 56 – 2022 Recap, Podcast News, Upcoming Projects – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

A Hero Will Endure Cover Reveal and Table of Contents

A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator has a (draft) cover reveal and a table of contents! Here is the cover (might be slightly changed):

Draft cover.

And here is the table of contents:

  • Introduction: On Comets, Cakes, and Toys – Marking ‘Gladiator Days’ for (More than) Two Decades – Rachel L. Carazo
  • Chapter 1 “A Vital and Adrenalized Contributor”: DreamWorks, Gladiator, and the Establishment of a Movie Studio – Kimberly A. Owczarski
  • Chapter 2 ‘Wailing’ and ‘Moaning’: Gladiator’s Music Phenomenon and Legacy – Matthew Hodge
  • Chapter 3 “What We Do in Life, Echoes in Eternity”: An Ecocritical Reading of the Scenery and Landscapes in Gladiator – Stefano Rozzoni
  • Chapter 4 Maximus – The Twenty-First-Century Hybrid Hero: The Bridge Between Traditional and Counterculture Hero Archetypes in Gladiator – Kristen Leer
  • Chapter 5 “Father! I would butcher the whole world, if you would only love me…”: The Character of Commodus, between Historical Reality and Cinematographic Representation – Livio Lepratto
  • Chapter 6 “Commodus is not a Moral Man”: Nemesis, Narrative Construction, and Historical Reconstruction in Gladiator – James Shelton
  • Chapter 7 Games for the Throne, the Thread of Love, and Women and Heroes: Mythic Gendered Arenas in Gladiator and Game of Thrones – Loraine Haywood
  • Chapter 8 “…But Not Yet”: Reflections on Juba, the Spirit Guide and “Eternal Echo” of Gladiator – Ashley Weaver
  • Chapter 9 Ecce homo heroicus! The Enduring Maximus, Twenty Years On – Peter Burkholder and Krista Jenkins
  • Chapter 10 Roman Religious Figurines that “hear you […] in the afterlife”: Maximus’ Lares, His Vilica, and the Pomerium of Elysium in Gladiator – Rachel L. Carazo
  • Chapter 11 Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling – Nicholas Diak
  • Chapter 12 Gladiator and Contemporary Roman Customs: The Myth of Maximus on the Roma and Lazio Soccer Fields – Antonio Valerio Spera

The collection is set to be published this February by Vernon Press which has a product/pre-order page.

Citation News

Just discovered that my essay “Assimilate and Manipulate: Industrial Music and Cyberpunk in the Comic Series ‘Shatter’” at We Are The Mutants was cited in an article titled “Soundtracks to a Dying World: Death Grips” at a website called Neon Dystopia. Very cool!

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Queen Esther (1948) Reviewed

Matt Page has a review of the newly resorted 1948 Biblical peplum film Queen Esther starring Ottilie Kruger (in her only non-stage acting role per IMDB) as the titular character (from the Book of Esther).

Screen capture from Matt Page’s article.

The review can be read at Page’s Bible Films Blog.

Double Pulver/Mamatas Lovecraft

This past Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day for me because I received not one, but two! Joseph S. Pulver. Sr. edited Lovecraftian anthologies that contain Nick Mamatas autographs.

The first is The Leaves of a Necronomicon which Nick Mamatas graciously autographed to me. Copies can be ordered via this link at Books Inc.

Next is the Dreamlands anthology New Maps of Dream. This anthology was actually released back in 2020, but the edition with autograph pages from the contributors was delayed due to the sheets being lost in the mail. However, this edition is now released and can be purchased at PS Publishing.

One of the autograph pages.

Michele and I did two episodes about New Maps of Dream on the H. P. Lovecast Podcast. The first was our deep dive into the short stories by Scott R. Jones and Matthew M. Bartlett.

Ep 47 – New Maps of Dream: Scott R. Jones and Matthew M. Bartlett – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

The second was our interviews with contributors Kaaron Warren, Christine Morgan, and Matthew M. Bartlett.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 09 – Kaaron Warren, Christine Morgan, and Matthew M. Bartlett – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Emmanuelle à la Crepax

Italian erotic comics artist Guido Crepax has been having his body of work republished by Fantagraphics. At the tale end of 2022 the publisher released The Complete Guido Crepax: Erotic Stories 1 which contains all of his Emmanuelle adaptations:

I had trade paperback editions of Emmanuelle 1 and 3 but missing 2, so having this collection released was an excellent surprise.

Of course, if anyone wants to write about sequential art versions of Emmanuelle, I happen to have a CFP open…..

Funko Toga and Sandal Homer

Michele gifted me this rather adorable Toga and Sandal-themed Funko Homer Simpson named Obeseus.

It’s not shown in this picture, but he’s holding a drumstick. I love it!

Xiphos – The Rise and Fall of Athens

The Rise and Fall of Athens is the debut album of the martial/neo-classical outfit Xiphos.

As can be seen from the cover and title, the neo-peplum album is about Ancient Greece. Two of the members of Xiphos, Miklós Hoffer and Troy Southgate, and also a part of the neo-classical outfit H.E.R.R. who have an album called XII Caesars that explores the same subject matter.

Hoffer was gracious to autograph a copy of the album to me. Copies of the limited edition digipack can be ordered by PayPaling 11.99 euros to mgahoffer AT hotmail.com

Categories
News

2022 Accomplishments

Happy 2023 everyone!

As with 2021, 2022 was a crazy year. Lots of life stuff: got a new job after 16 or 17 years at my previous job, and bought a house – first house ever! It’s been quite a process and these last few months busy with cleaning, packing, and moving. However, that is all done (well, except unpacking and furnishing) and Michele and I get to start 2023 off in a home with our cats.

I did a 2021 Accomplishments List and looking back on those, I actually got most of them done! Some projects have been delayed, and of course I have items and reviews on my to do list that have been pending for a while.

Now that I’m all settled in in the new house, with my own office, and library of research material close at hand, I look forward to taking a big bite out of 2023!

2022 Accomplishments

Podcast Accomplishments

Publication Accomplishments

  • 5 physical/print publications
  • 19 articles at my website
    • 10 comic book/book/movie reviews/write ups
    • 6 interviews
    • 3 cocktail articles
  • I also made short film called Dinosaur Joke

Conference Accomplishments

  • Co-chaired with Michele the 5th year of the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference
    • This is also the final year we chair this conference
  • 1 Conference Presentation
    • AnnRadCon
  • 1 Convention Appearance

I’d like to give a shout out to the following folks who have given me platforms to share what I’ve been working on or given me venues to contribute to:

  • Bernie Gonzalez and Pete Charbonneau (Fan2Fan Podcast)
  • Hercules Invictus (Voice of Olympus Network)
  • Ken Holewczynski (Exotica Moderne)
  • James Chambers, Carol Gyzander (Galactic Terrors)
  • Jonathan Maberry (Weird Tales)
  • Kevin Wetmore (Twilight Zone book)
  • Hal and Dee Astell (CoKoCon)
  • Michele Brittany (partner in crime)

You are all greatly appreciated!

2023 Projections

Three days into 2023 and projects are already lining up. Some are carryovers from 2022. Some have been legacy to dos. Some will be brand new. We’ve already been in touch with folks for future episodes of H. P. Lovecast, so expect lots of cool stuff there. I got some looming deadlines for essays for anthology editors, so time to get to work!

Things to look forward to in 2023

  • Publishing of the debut issue of the Footage Fiends zine which contains my essay on the Mario Bava cosmic horror/exotica film, Caltiki: The Immortal Monster.
  • A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator is slated to be published this February. This contains my essay on industrial bands that sample the film. This book has been a long time in coming, so I am extremely excited to see it published!
  • My CFP for the Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle project will be open until the spring. Submit, submit, submit!
  • Essay to be published in Weird Tales. Proof was done and turned in.
  • New episodes of H. P. Lovecast Podcast
  • Appearances on the Fan2Fan Podcast
  • Appearance on the Scaredy Cats podcast discussing the film The Final Girls.
  • Being on panels for CoKoCon 2023.

Projects I’ll be starting in 2023

Projects I anticipate to be starting/working on in 2023:

  • Essay on peplum cats for a project for Simon Bacon about cats in cinema (due early spring!)
  • Essay on the Front Line Assembly album Implode and how it samples the films Mimic and Event Horizon (passion idea project)
  • Crossing fingers – get enough submissions for the Emmanuelle project to procure a publisher and get that book off the ground
  • Turning my Acylum/Vikings presentation in a journal article
  • And other legacy items on my to do list…

Thank you to everyone who has been with my on my academic journey, who has read and shared my material or given me platforms. You all rock socks!

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2022-08-21

Personal / Website News

New Episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast

We are running a little off kilter this month for podcasting (getting prepped for CoKoCon, other projects popping up). We are a week late, but our monthly episode is now online!

In the newest episode, Michele and I discuss two short stories from Douglas Wynne’s new collection, Something in the Water and Other Stories: “The Enigma Code” and “Tracking the Black Book.”

Ep 53 – Douglas Wynne's Something in the Water – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

The episode can be streamed via our Buzzsprout website, via the embedded player above, or through your podcast app of preference.

General Neo-Peplum News

Recent Acquisitions

This past week has been great for loot being delivered.

First, issue #2 of Band of Warriors, which was Kickstarted earlier this year, arrived. It came with a poster signed by Samuel George London, a copy of the issue proper, and a bookmark.

An ICYMI, I interviewed London twice about his Band of Warriors comic. Those interviews can be found here and here.

Next my preorder of the new Kino release of Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World arrived. It contains a reversible wraparound, so pictured here is the sleeve and the alternative cover art.

Finally, a copy of 1313: Hercules Unbound! also arrived. This is a David Decoteau film, and his modus operandi is young shirtless guys in their undies walking around (see Bigfoot vs. D.B. Cooper). I’m intrigued by his dabble in neo-peplum fare – we will see how campy it might get (Meet the Spartans campy?).

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2022-05-29

Personal / Website News

Born of Blood Interview

New article at my website, hot on the heels of my write up of Born of Blood issue 1, I had the honor to interview Dolan, the writer of Born of Blood.

Check it out here.

The Kickstarter for issue 2 is also in the interview, so consider supporting.

Cthulhu Mansion Voted for HP Lovecast Episode

It’s unanimous: 92.9% of voters on our Twitter poll selected Cthulhu Mansion as the film Michele and I will watch and discuss on the June episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast.

Blu-ray from my personal collection.

We have not seen it before, and though it is Spanish, it looks like it has all the right qualities of a fantastic 80s Italian horror film. We’re excited to watch it and talk about it.

For fans of Feed the Light, worry not! We will visit that movie down the road.

Thank you all who partook in our poll. We will do another in the future.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast Transmissions – May

The May episode of HP Lovecast Transmissions will be published Tuesday, May 31st. In this episode we interview writer Thomas Blakeley and director Matthew Toronto about their upcoming musical, A Dream at the End of Time, and Dorian Williamson and Jim Field of the dark ambient band Northumbria. Subscribe to our podcast via your app of preference to be notified when it goes live!

Scholars from the Edge of Time – Moon Knight

New episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online. This one is on YouTube (was done via Zoom) and has special guest Travis Lakata. We all talk about the Disney+ series, Moon Knight. I, unfortunately, had to take off mid-vidcast for unexpected phone call.

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

Witcher Short Story Review at Fanbase Press

In sword and sorcery news, Michele has a write up over at Fanbase Press on The Witcher: A Grain of Truth.

It can be read here.

State of Decay 2 – Neo-peplum Board Game

I’ve been playing a lot of State of Decay 2 on the ol’ Xbox lately, having a blast… blasting zombies.

Screenshot I nabbed. Might have to zoom in, it’s kinda dark.

Over the weekend I was looting a house and was kinda checking out some of the background elements in the game and I found a faux-boardgame sitting on someone’s table. It’s called The Aquaductor, and it looks to be a neo-peplum board game of sorts – probably like Carcasonne but with Roman aqueducts. I’d play it if it existed!

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2022-05-08

Personal / Website News

Seidr #1 Comicbook Review

I did a review/write up about the neo-peplum Viking comic, Seidr. Since doing my presentation on Vikings sampling and the band Acylum, I wouldn’t mind diving more into Viking scholarship. Maybe.

Regardless, my write up can be read here.

New Episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast

A new episode of our HP Lovecast Podcast was published this past Sunday.

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

This episode was supposed to go up in April, but we got his with an onslaught of other things (I started a new job, trying to finalize AnnRadCon stuff, a kitty doctor visit, and so on). Better late than never, here is our dive into David Rose’s novella Lovecraft’s Iraq. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout Podcast website or via your podcast app of preference. Don’t forget our prior episode episode in which we interviewed Rose followed by Jonathan Maberry. That episode can be streamed here.

Citation News

My introduction to The New Peplum has been cited in the essay “Olympos, gladiátorok, krémesség és Britney Spears: Az antikvitás megjelenése a kortárs reklámiparban” by Gábriel Nóra and Marton Máté. The essay can be read at Academia.edu. It is in Hungarian, so if you want to translate where footnote 29 points to and let me know, I’d be appreciative.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances

I was invited back onto the Fan2Fan Podcast to talk about Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

I not only got to hang out with the Fan2Fan crew of Peter and Bernie, but also with with Joshua Pruett, who has written and designed the door sequence for the new episode of MST3K (what an honour!). The dialogue got parsed into three episodes – check them all out:

Michele will be interviewed this upcoming week about James Bond (wish her luck!) and her Highlander episode will be dropping soon (keep an eye out!).

AnnRadCon and Raw Dog Screaming Press

The fifth annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference (AnnRadCon) is this upcoming weekend! Part of StokerCon, AnnRadCon contains the academic track of programming for the conference. This year there is both an in person and online component.

Anywho, you can still attend StokerCon and see the AnnRadCon presentations. More info can found at Stokercon.com.

A delight though is finding out that Raw Dog Screaming Press will be sponsoring AnnRadCon this year! This is amazing because I love RDSP. Here is the Tweet announcement:

But the full announcement can be found at the RDSP website here. We are sincerely grateful to Jennifer and John for all that they do for the writing community.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Recent Acquisitions

Shout Factory recently had a sale of their titles going OOP. The Lou Ferrigno Hercules films of the 80s were part of that list, so I plucked them up along with a few other titles. For some odd reason my order got split into two and this Hercules Collection arrived by itself and before the other items.

The DVD contains:

  • The Loves of Hercules (1960)
  • The Trojan Horse (1961)
  • Medusa Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
  • The Conquest of Mycenae (1963)
  • The Triumph of Hercules (1964)
  • Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)

I am certain I have double, nay, triple dipped these titles and there are so many bargain sword and sandal boxsets full of public domain pepla. My hope is that since this is a Shout Factory release, perhaps the image/sound quality on these versions might be better.

I also got my Kickstarter loot from backing Born of Blood #1. However, stay tuned for later this week for a write up on that. But for now, here is a preview of all the loot:

The following isn’t sword and sandal related but it is Emmanuelle related. Since I am dead serious on doing an anthology of Emmanuelle essays, perhaps I should list Emmanuelle loot/findings here too. Thoughts?

Anyway, Cult Epics did an Indiegogo a few months ago to fund a book about Sylvia Kristel. My copy arrived:

I have not had time to sift through the book proper, but it reminds of a FAB Press book: immaculate quality and every page in color. I got a version with an autographed dust sleeve. This also came with a boxset of some early Sylvia Kristel films too. Excited to dive into this proper and hope I get to use this for future scholarship!

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2022-01-23

Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot Listing

My essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft Through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth,” has made the preliminary Bram Stoker Award ballot in the short non-fiction category. Note: this does not denote I am nominated or a finalist. It simply means I am on the preliminary ballot and have a 50% chance to advance to the final ballot.

Active and Lifetime members of the Horror Writers Association who would like to read my essay for final ballot consideration find it online at Academia.edu. Note: if there is a big ad in the way taking up the screen, just hit the X at the top right. Academia.edu is silly that way.

New H. P. Lovecast Podcast Episode

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

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany. Mighty cat of Ulthar is Algernon.

In this episode we focus on two short stories from New Maps of Dream, released by PS Publishing and edited by Cody Goodfellow and Joseph S. Pulver Sr.: “The Dankness over Dylath-Leen” by Scott R. Jones and “The Malls of Ulthar” by Matthew M. Bartlett. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or via your podcast app of preference.

The last day of this month we will post our Transmissions episode which will feature interviews with Matthew M. Bartlett, Christine Morgan, and Kaaron Warren. Stay tuned!

H. P. Lovecast Bram Stoker Prelim Ballot Recap

During 2021 Michele and I had the honour to review the works / interview the folks that have appeared on the preliminary ballot. A listing of those episodes (from both H. P. Lovecast and Scholars From the Edge of Time) will be listed below in an effort to promote the writers and their works in their respective paths to the final ballot.

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern Review

Michele’s and my co-edited book, Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays has a new review!

Shannon Scott at the Revenant Journal has reviewed the book in the journals newest online journal. It can be read here. Of course, the book can be purchased at McFarland.

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

Highlander Call for Papers

Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.

If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of. 

Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.

Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.

General Neo-Peplum News

Recent Acquisitons

Been a while since I plucked up some pepla films. I went on Amazon and procured these two items:

I’d never seen Ulysses before, but Justin Decloux mentioned it as an essential sword and sandal film in one of the supplements in his release of Fury of Achilles (read my write up) and it’s been on the wish list to get for a while, so time to scoop it up.

I was also in the mood for some 80s sword and sorcery. The new Blu-ray releases of the Deathstalker films from Shout Factory are already out of print! So this four pack will do instead, and that’s fine. But seriously, some Shout Factory Blu-Rays just go OOP right away. I recall last year trying to find their versions of Slumber Party Massacre 2 and 3 and what the hell?

While exploring the Transcending Obscurity Records Bandcamp site I happened upon the neo-peplum metal album Dust of Aeons by Towards Atlantis Nights.

I ordered this album back in November I believe and it came all the way from India, arriving last week. I’ll be giving it a listen this upcoming week. Cool cover!

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2022-01-02

Personal / Website News

2021 Accomplishments / 2022 Projects

I’ve aggregated all my 2021 accomplishments on this post while also listing projects I expect to realize in this new year. I thank the folks who have supported me or provided me platforms immensely.

H. P. Lovecast Transmissions Episode

Our last episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast for 2021 is online!

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany

This is our monthly transmissions episode where we interview a few folks. In this episode we interview Jennifer Barnes, Lee Murray, and Rena Mason about their work with Attack from the ’80s. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.

AnnRadCon CFP is Closed

The CFP for the 5th Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference at StokerCon 2022 has now closed. Thank you to all who submitted abstracts. Michele and I will be going over them during the first two weeks of January and sending out acceptances.

Highlander CFP

When one CFP closes another one opens!

Adrian Paul has way more charisma than Christopher Lambert.

Michele has a CFP that just opened on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays about 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

Recently I scored two Black Emanuelle vinyls from Light in the Attic records and it got me really nostalgic.

Two Black Emanuelle vinyls I procured. I just need a record player!

I grew up with the Sylvia Kristel Emmanuelle films and got into the Laura Gemser Black Emanuelle films when I started studying Italian genre films when I was working on my masters. One of my bucket list items has been to do a book on the Emmanuelle films and their various knock offs, sequels, and so on because no such book exists. I think it’s time to bite the bullet and get the process going for this project.

Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I’ll be publishing an official CFP for essays on Emmanuelle, Emanuelle, and the other Emmanuelles out there. 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!

Things in the Well Closing Shop

Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP.

The two books with Amazon links are:

Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.

General Neo-Peplum News

Bible Films Blog: Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem

Matt Page has a new review up at his Bible Films Blog.

It’s on the 2019 Italian Biblical neo-peplum film titled Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem. Page’s write up can be read at his blog.

Severin Caligula Releases

Severin Films is releasing two Italian porno-pepla in February.

The first is Joe D’Amato’s 1982 film Caligula: The Untold Story and the second is Bruno Mattei’s 1981 Caligula and Messalina. Severin is offering quote a few options on pre-ordering these films:

Yours truly, of course, has already pre-ordered these. Expect essays later on!

Born of Blood Comic

I only learned about this comic because it appeared in an update email from another peplum comic I contributed to on Kickstarter. Of course, upon discovery, it has 40 hours left of its campaign, so by the time this news post goes up it will have ended. Regardless, a newish publisher called Merc Magazine is putting out a neo-peplum comic called Born of Blood.

Sorah Suhng cover
Mike Krome virgin cover

It looks like Born of Blood was previewed in prior published comics of Merc Magazine, Miss Meow and Deathrage, so I am a bit out of the loop of plot. Looking at the cover art, I see lots of Spartan imagery, so I am definitely intrigued.

As an aside, there has been a great uptick in what I call “pandemic peplum” comics appearing on Kickstarter. I have interviewed many of those creators already at my website:

Not to mention many others I’ve Kickstarted as well that I either have not written about or haven’t received yet: Gilgamesh Eternal #1, Teoatl, and Aztlan.

Anywho, I hope once I get Born of Blood 01, maybe I can do a review or interview the team behind it. But it’s so curious that so many sword and sandal crowdfunded comics have come out since the pandemic began.

I put in monies to get two versions of the first issue: a cover by Sorah Suhng and a virgin cover by Mike Krome. As you can see above, they look really sweet!

Categories
News

2021 Accomplishments

2021 was definitely a crazy and hectic year. The global Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world with multiple variants. Michele and I continue to play it safe: we mask up, limit us going out, and received our vaccines, though we need boosters soon. The move from Orange to Phoenix also required some normalization. There was also personal ailments, family issues, work woes, and lots of anxieties. 

Despite all this, 2021 was a successful year on many fronts. I didn’t have any books published and outside my regular contributions to Exotica Moderne, nothing else saw physical print. However, Michele and I really ramped up the focus on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast. We launched an additional show and tweaked the format a little bit and the results so far have been quite positive. In 2022 we are going to concentrate on growing our audience, which right now as a cult following. But with 30 episodes published this year plus other podcast appearances, we were both successful on this front, and we hope the books and authors we featured also received a spike in promotion.

Vanity shelf at the end of 2021

What follows is a break down of all major 2021 accomplishments. 

2021 Accomplishments

Podcast Accomplishments

  • 50 podcast appearances

Publication Accomplishments

  • 6 physical/print publications
    • 4 articles for Exotica Moderne
    • 2 book contributions
      • Mark My Words
      • StokerCon 2021 Souvenir Book (co-written with Michele)
  • 16 articles at my website
    • 7 interviews
    • 3 book reviews
    • 6 articles/essays
  • Essay published at Academia Letters

Conference Accomplishments

  • Co-chaired with Michele the 4th year of the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference
  • 2 Conference Presentations
    • AnnRadCon
    • Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association

For some of the above accomplishments I’d like to give a shout out to: Brenda S. Tolian and Joy Yehle (Burial Plot Podcast), Sherri (Scaredy Cats Podcast), Hercules Invictus (Voice of Olympus Network), Ken Holewczynski (Exotica Moderne), Josh Viola (Hex Publishers), and Lee Murray (Mark My Words) who all gave me platforms and opportunities. I sincerely appreciate you all. Of course I have to think Michele for being my biggest supporter and partner in crime in these endeavors.

2022 Projections

Only a few days into the new year and 2022 is already filling up with new projects, opportunities, and publications!

Things to look forward to in 2022

  • Publication of Kevin Wetmore’s The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise which contains my essay “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown”
  • Publication of Rachel Corazo’s untitled Gladiator book which contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling”
  • Issue of Exotica Moderne that contains my interview with New Zealand Pinup model Miss Corsair Debonair
    • Other Exotica Moderne appearances will happen
  • Essays and interviews co-written with Michele for the 2022 StokerCon souvenir book
  • Co-chairing and presenting at the Fifth Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference
  • Secret magazine article (due at the end of January)
  • More episodes of H. P. Lovecast
  • More articles and interviews at my website

Projects I’ll be starting in 2022

Projects I anticipate to be starting on or working on in the next year:

  • Composing a Highlander essay for Michele’s Highlander Book (see CFP here)
  • My first monograph (which will be on Lovecraft and Rene Girard)
  • Publishing a CFP for the Emmanuelle and Black Emanuelle films
  • Editing my Acylum presentation into a journal article proper
  • And others tbd! 

Thank you everyone who has been along with me on my academic journey. 

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2021-12-05

Personal / Website News

Bram Stoker Award Eligibility

A reminder, as the timeframe for recommendations closes at the end of the month, my essay, “Cullzathro Fhtagn! Magnifying the Carnivalesque in Lovecraft through the Comic Book Series Vinegar Teeth” is eligible for the short non-fiction Bram Stoker award. Interested parties can read the 1,600 word essay at Academia Letters. Thank you for your consideration!

Citation News: Any Time But Now

Just discovered that back in 2019, my Stranger Things/Synthwave essay, “Lost Nights and Dangerous Days,” was cited numerous times in University of Cologne student David Hornyak’s bachelor’s thesis, “Any Time But Now: The Cultural Environment of Synthwave.” If you read German, their thesis can be read online. I am super flattered to find out I was cited 15 times!

AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline

The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.

AnnRadCon Logo by Greg Chapman

Details of the CFP can be found at the StokerCon website.

Ian Welke’s Jolabokaflod’s List

Honoured to have my book, The New Peplum, listed as a suggestion of Ian Welke’s blog as a book to contribute to the Jolabokaflod tradition. Michele and I interviewed Welke in April of 2020 on our Scholars from the Edge of Time Program, and then discussed his book, End Times at Ridgemont High on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast a month later.

PeplumTV Mention

The New Peplum gets a mention at PeplumTV. The PeplumTV proprietor is compiling a list of the various sword and sandal books and e-books in their collection, and they include mine. Check it out!

ICYMI – New HP Lovecast Episode

In case you missed it, Michele and I published a new episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast.

Michele at The Frida when we saw The Void back in 2016. Photo by Nicholas Diak.

Our new episode is on the cosmic horror/homage horror film, The Void. It can be streamed on our Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.

General Neo-Peplum News

Aexylium’s The Fifth Season Review

Hal C. F. Astell has reviewed the new Aexylium folk/Viking metal album, The Fifth Season, at his website, Apocalypse Later.

Medusa Horror Film

Per this article at Deadline, Anna Chazelle is looking to write and direct a horror film centered on the mythology of Medusa for Fangoria Films. This will be great!

Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity Conference

Dr. Jeremy Swist will be curating a virtual conference called Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity.

Registration for the conference is free and is being held via Zoom.

Recent Acquisitions

Went to the Book Gallery in Phoenix today and plucked up this autographed book:

It’s called Gladiator: Fight for Freedom and appears to be the first book in a series. I’d never heard of Simon Scarrow before, but it looks like he has a fare share of neo-pepla fiction out there, so I’ll have to check it out. I love the autograph and the stamp in this one. Copy 50 of 100, woo!

Categories
News

News Roundup W/E 2021-11-07

Personal / Website News

The Best Horror of the Year Volume 13

Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays, the academic anthology that Michele and I edited that is based on presentations from the first two years of our Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference, is listed in the non-fiction section of Ellen Datlow’s book, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 13.

The book can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference

I’ll be presenting a paper called “Victory Or Valhalla: Violence via Vikings Sampling in Acylum’s Kampf Dem Verderb” at this year’s MAPACA conference.

I am scheduled to present Thursday the 11th at 3:15 pm. I am not sure if the Zoom link to it is public or not, but here it is: https://zoom.us/j/94879057020?pwd=MzRjWEZwVDB2UnZ1Q2JqZ0pIU2F1QT09. More information about the conference can be found at the MAPACA website.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast in November

For November we will be doing an 80s-themed month for the H. P. Lovecast Podcast. We will be watching the film, The Void, and then looking at the Raw Dog Screaming Press anthology, Attack from the 80s. Keep an eye out for these episodes at our Buzzsprout website or on your podcast app of preference.

NanoWriMo

Michele is doing NanoWriMo! She’s working on a novel called Land of the Riverbank.

If you want to support her or follow her progress, her username is Mbrittany at the NanoWriMo website.

General Neo-Peplum News

Band of Warriors #2 Kickstarter

Samuel George London has officially launched the Kickstarter to fund issue #2 of his neo-peplum comic series, Band of Warriors.

I had the honor to interview London back in January. Stay tuned to this website for a follow up interview about issue #2. In the meantime, check out the Kickstarter campaign for the second issue.

Recent Aquisitions

Here are some new sword and sandal and neo-peplum artifacts I’ve procured.

Physical releases of sword and sandal films are drying up. These used to be very plentiful in the 2000s and early 2010s from budget companies. However, these mostly skipped the Blu-ray format and now exist on YouTube in even worse edits. Had an opportunity to pick up this 50 movie back of sword and sandal films which plugs a lot of gaps on my collection.

I really enjoyed Warkings’ Revolution that I bought from Zia’s Records a few weeks ago. I decided to buy their first two albums, Reborn and Revenge. Very nice power metal, though the lyrics at times are a little silly.