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My last website post for 2025! Starting in 2026 I am going to publish these news roundups monthly.

New Edge Sword and Sorcery

Awesome news to end 2025 on: issues five, six, and seven of New Edge Sword and Sorcery are now out!

I was honored to be asked to contribute themed cocktails to these issues, libations that celebrate different sword and sorcery and sword and planet characters. They are:

Issue Five – The Red Sonja or, The Scalemail Bikini
Issue Six – The Kai Lord or, The Lone Wolf
Issue Seven – The Brax or, Under the Warrior Star

Photo by Michele Brittany.

If you want to see the recipes proper you’ll have to pluck up these issues. They are available digitally and in soft and hardcovers. They can be bought at the NESS webstore. Sincere appreciation to Oliver Brackenbury for the opportunity to be a part of the NESS family.

Panthans Journal #343

The newest issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of issue five of of the adult/neo-jungle girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior. The original version of my review can be read right here.

Cover by Mark Wheatley. It depicts a jungle girl, with a knife in one hand and a vine in another, traversing across a large tree branch. — National Capital Panthans Journal #343

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

Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.

New Citations

It’s been a hot minute, but a new citation has popped up!

Journal cover has a blue border top and bottom. The image in the middle is of a movie theater called "Sun Pictures". — Studies in Australasian Cinema vol 18.

The essay, “Indigenous monsters and the spectres of assimilation: Jon Bell’s The Moogai (2024) as Aboriginal Gothic” by Niamh Gallagher sites an essay in Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern. I am 99% sure the essay cites Dr. Borwein’s essay “Synchronic Horror and the Dreaming”. I’ll see if I can confirm.

It always brings me joy when an author from this collection gets cited!

Update 2026-01-27: Confirmed! Dr. Gallagher cites Dr. Borwein! Citation page updated to reflect this. Sincere appreciation to Dr. Gallagher for the details.

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2025.

Cover art of the Panthans Journal #332. It depicts a woman and a man with a hawk head, hunkered in a hole, firing laser pistols. The art is by Mark Wheatley. — Panthans Journal #332

Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.

A continuation of the cover of #332. This cover shows the woman and the hawk man, defensively shooting laser pilots out of a hole in the ground, wile savage barbarians with bows and axes descend upon them. The art is by Mark Wheatley. — Panthans Journal #333

Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.

Cover art of Panthans Journal #335, done by Mark Wheatley. It shows Tarzan leaping from a tree branch. All the colors are very dark blue, so it might be night time in the jungle. — Panthans Journal #335

“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.

Original can be read here.

Panthans Journal #338. Cover is by Mark Wheatley. It shows Dejah Thoris riding atop a mountain against a red martian landscape with a domed building in the background. — Panthans Journal #338

“She’s Got the Killer Instinct: Vanya Issue 01” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #338.

Original can be read here.

Cover is by Mark Wheatley. It shows a 4 armed aliens holding two swords, in a dungeon, fighting John Carter and Dejah Thoris. — National Capital Panthans #339.

“Hunter – Lover – Killer: Vanya 02” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #339.

Original can be read here.

Cover of Panthans Journal #340. Art is done by David Michael Beck. It depicts Tarzan stabbing a dinosaur (A T-rex?) through the next with a spear, while the dinosaur stands atop a tree of roots and vines. — National Capital Panthans Journal #340

“Thunder in God’s Country: Interview with Jeffrey Mariotte” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #340.

Original can be read here.

Cover of Panthans #341 by Mark Wheatley. It's monochrome - black and brown. It shows Dejah Thoris in the center holding a sword and being her John Carter and a 4 armed alien. Behind them are the silhouettes of a city full of towers. — National Capital Panthans Journal #341

“Jungle Romps and T-Rex Chomps: Vanya 03″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #341.

Original can be read here.

Cover art of #342 is by Mark Wheatley and it depicts Tarzan sitting atop a tree branch, holding a vine in his right hand. The horizon is a big prairie with a lion and zebras. It looks as if the sun is setting. — National Capital Panthans Journal #342

“Going Commando: Vanya 04″ reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #342.

Original can be read here.

“(Saber-tooth) Cat Class and (Saber-tooth) Cat Style: Vanya 05” reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #343.

Original can be read here.

Cover art for "Merry Creepsmas - The Red Book". It is red with a large X-mas tree that appears to have small, globby bodies as ornaments. The cover reads: Wicked Shadow Press Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book Christmas-Themed Horror Stories Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty — Merry Creepsmas – The Red Book

“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.

Cover art for the Burroughs Bulletin #109 by Dan Parsons. The top says "The Burroughs Bulletin New Series #109 Fall-Winter 2024". The art shows a T-rex chomping on a dude in a striped shirt. Below him are explorers with rifles. Behind him his a prehistoric sky, jungle, and a waterfall. — Burroughs Bulletin #109

“Tagliolini al Tarzan: Interview with Actress Bella Cortez on Taur the Mighty” in The Burroughs Bulletin #109. Edited by Henry Franke III. February, 2025.

Cover depicts a woman warrior, holding a sword in her right hand, standing triumphantly over a fallen warrior at the tippy top of a pointing peak/cliff. — New Edge Sword and Sorcery #05

Cocktail recipe for The Red Sonja or, The Scalemail Bikini published in New Edge Sword and Sorcery, vol 1 issue 5.

Order at the NESS webstore.

Cover depicts a blood soaked woman bursting out of the belly of a slain giant snake. — New Edge Sword and Sorcery #06

Cocktail recipe for the Kai Lord or, The Lone Wolf published in New Edge Sword and Sorcery, vol 1 issue 6.

Order at the NESS webstore.

Cover depicts another planet's surface with a warrior in a green outfit, holding two swords, and a lion crossed with a scorpion chases at him. There is a blue skinned woman with a rifle and 4 armed monkeys. On the horizon is a rocky landscape and atop one of the mountains a city with domed tops. — New Edge Sword and Sorcery #07

Cocktail recipe for The Brax or, Under the Warrior Star published in New Edge Sword and Sorcery, vol 1 issue 7.

Order at the NESS webstore.

Autographs from the Archive

Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.

Steve Nazar and T&C Surf Designs NES Games

I am quite a few months late to finding this out, but artist Steve Nazar passed away in March earlier this year (article at Surfer.com).

Kids like me born in the 80s and with a NES system will remember Nazar’s work of “The Boys” for Town and Country Surf Designs, which made there way to two Nintendo games: Wood & Water Rage and Thrilla’s Surfari. I didn’t play Thrilla’s Surfari until much later in life when I started collecting retro games, but I played Wood & Water Rage many of times, and boy did that game kick my butt.

Two old school great Nintendo Cartridges. The one on the left is for T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage. It shoes a gorilla on a surf board, a man in a tiki mask, and a rockabilly dude with sunglasses and Elvis hair, both on skate boards, doing tricks on a skate ramp. The game on the right is Thrilla's Surfari, which shows the gorilla on a surfboard, rising a river of lava coming from a volcano while his buddies the tiki man, Evlis dude, and others run about, evading a shark and.... is that a hippogriff? In silver pen, both are signed "To Nick, Steve Nazar" — Nintendo games T&C Surf Designs Wood & Water Rage and Thrilla’s Surfari signed by artist Steve Nazar.

Getting into tiki culture in the 2010s made me appreciate Nazar’s artwork much more. He was a guest at a Yestercon event (RIP Yestercon, one of my all time favorite small affair pop culture shows), where I took my two video games for him to sign. He was a super cool dude.

News from Friends

Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.

New Ride the Stream Episodes

Michele Brittany and Travis Lakata are back with brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast and they dive into season 2 of the cult television series Lost.

Here is their discussion of Season 2 Episode 6:

And Season 2 Episodes 7:

Season 2 Episode 8:

And finally season 2 episode 9:

Prior episodes of Ride the Stream can be found on their YouTube channel, so please give that a subscribe. There is also a Bluesky account, so feel free to five them a follow.