Review Republished: Awen’s The Hollow in the Stone
Last week I re-published another older piece of mine, a look at the album The Hollow in the Stone by Texas neofolk outfit Awen.
I originally published this on my neofolk blog back in 2020. It’s new home can be found here.
General Neo-Peplum News
Weird Tales #366 Cover Reveal
Issue #366 of the resurrected Weird Tales magazine will be devoted to all things sword and sorcery. The Weird Tales Facebook page revealed the cover art by Bob Eggleton:
The list of authors on the front looks epic. Keep an eye out at the Weird Tales official website when the issue becomes available to pre-order.
Gladiator 2 News
Article over at MSN/MovieWeb has a write up on all things known so far about Gladiator 2.
New Warkings Music Video
Austrian neo-peplum power metal outfit Warkings has a brand new music video online.
The song is called “Monsters” and has a guest appearance from Morgana le Fay. The video can be watched on YouTube or in the embedded player above. The song will be appearing on Warking’s next album, Morgana, slated to be released November 11th.
Michele and I will make an appearance at CoKoCon 2022 over Labour Day weekend.
CoKoCon is a local (Phoenix) sci-fi/fantasy fan con. More info on the con can be found at CoKoCon website, along with ticket and guest news.
Michele and I will be appearing on three panels over the course of the con. The schedule is below, but I also have the information on my Conference Appearances page:
Horror & Sci-Fi from Pre-Code Films Saturday, Sept. 3rd 10:00 am – 11:00 am Fiesta Ballroom 2
Your Mom is Lovecraftian: Why Cosmic Horror is So Hard to Get Right Sunday, Sept.4th 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm Coronado room
Swords, Sandals, Sorcery, and Other Planets Monday, Sept. 5th 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Fiesta Ballroom 1
Scholars from the Edge of Time
Michele and I will be appearing on our month Scholars from the Edge of Time show later this week. We will be talking about the 1996 film Dragon Heart. Keep an eye out for link to stream.
General Neo-Peplum News
Wind Rose Review
Hal C. F. Astell has a new review of a neo-peplum release.
This is on Warfront by the Italian power/folk/Viking metal band Wind Rose. The review can be read at Apocalypse Later.
Recent Acquisitions
Arrived last week was my pre-order of the Kino Blu-ray Maria Montez & Jon Hall Collection.
Personal Copy.
This collection contains a toga and sandal film, Sudan, and a tiki film, White Savage (also known as South of Tahiti). Excited to check out all three, hopefully even do a write up on them here at my website. DVD Beaver did a review with screen caps at everything, so check that out.
This weekly news report is a bit on the lighter side. Part of that is its the holidays, but the main reason is Michele and I are knee deep in projects that will bear lots of fruit in 2022:
Michele and I are conducting a top secret interview with another person for a book to be published in 2022.
Prepping for an interview with another author for my website.
I am starting an essay for a magazine that’s due at the end of January. My biggest magazine writing gig yet!
Knee deep in coordinating the interviews for this month’s HP Lovecast Podcast which is focused on the book Attack From the 80s.
Plotting the first three months of HP Lovecast in 2022 (take a look at the podcast page for a sneak preview).
AnnRadCon coordination.
Editing a previous essay of mine to submit to a journal.
So as you can see, there is lots of big stuff going on behind the scenes! Stay tuned as these projects come to completion. In the meantime, here is some general personal and peplum news.
McFarland Mythology & Folklore Book Sale
My publisher, McFarland, is having a sale on their books classified as mythology and folklore. Until December 19th, if you use the code MYTHOLOGY25 during check out, you’ll get a 25% discount on these books.
Cover art for The New Peplum
Included in this sale is my book, The New Peplum. If you’ve been curious about the book, (maybe as a Yuletide gift?), check it out at McFarland’s product page.
AnnRadCon CFP December Deadline
The CFP for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference closes at the end of the month.
I’ve scored lots of neo-peplum and adjacent loot this past week! Hey, it’s Yuletide season, I can treat myself, right?
First up, arriving in the mail last week, is a vinyl copy of the Ex Der album, The Thirteen Years of Nero, autographed by Maurizio Iacono. I love it! The new album is stellar and I love the song “Imperator.” Both Ex Deo and Warkings are the two prominent metal acts that are just slaying the neo-peplum genre when it comes to music.
Next up, we had a friend and academic colleague visit us on their road trip. We decide to treat them by taking them to one of the Zia’s in Phoenix, which of course we love to go to and scavenge for cool loot. First up, got some new Blu-rays to upgrade my copies of 300 and 300: Rise of an Empire.
For only $9.00 I plucked up this Troy DVD boxset. This was too good to pass up, it full of so much swag. I think I’ll do a separator unboxing post showing off its stately contents.
Lastly, I purchased King of Kings by Leaves’ Eyes and The Witch of the North by Burning Witches.
Leave’s Eyes is symphonic Viking metal that, to me, sounds like a cross between Corvus Corvax, Qntal, and Die Prophezeiung-era E Nominee. I really dig it.
Burning Witches isn’t really peplum-metal, but there’s trace elements of Norse, Viking, and Medieval, so I’ll allow it. Very catchy all-female heavy metal.
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.
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.
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.
Sorry folks, I missed a few weeks on doing a news roundup: holidays, other obligations, etc. This roundup will hopefully cover the last few weeks.
New Indie Peplum Comic and Interview
Comic book creator Samuel George London is currently crowd funding his newest endeavor, the neo-peplum comic Band of Warriors. I’ve interviewed London about his comic.
As a side note, expect more posts in the next few months as I do more write ups/reviews/interviews about sword and sandal comics I’ve Kickstarted. These include: Secret Rites, Aztlan, Teoatl, Isidora and the Immortal Chains, and S.P.Q.R.
Podcast News
Two new episodes of H. P. Lovecast Podcast are online. In the first episode Michele Brittany and I discuss “You Will Never Be the Same” by Erica L. Satifka and “Weird Tales” by Fred Chappell from Wonder & Glory Forever, edited by Nick Mamatas. The episode can be streamed at Buzzsprout or your podcast application of preference.
Second, our episode discussing Jason Parent’s Eight Cylinders is also online. Later this month we will be interviewing Parent about this novella.
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
General Neo-Peplum News
Dr. Jeremy J. Swist interviews power metal band Judicator about their concept album, Let There Be Nothing, which is about the Byzantine general Flavius Belisarius. The interview can be found at his Heavy Metal Classicist website.
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966)
Beowulf (2007)
Spartacus (1960)
Life of Brian (1979)
Asterix: The Mansions Of The Gods (2019)
Alexander (2004)
Barabbas (1964)
Hero (2002)
The Trojan Women (2004)
Centurion (2010)
The History Of The World, Part 1 (1981)
Agora (2009)
Confucius (2010)
Rest in Peplum
Animator Doug Crane passed away at the age of 85. He contributed to many animated sword and sandal, sword and sorcery, and sword and planet cartoons:
The Mighty Hercules (1963)
The Mighty Thor (1966)
Heavy Metal (1981)
Various He-Man and She-Ra projects in the 80s
The Pirates of Dark Water (1991)
Italian actor Corrado Olmi passed away at the age of 94. He was in Satyricon (1969, Gian Luigi Polidoro).
Bond Girl Tanya Roberts passed away at the age of 65. Known for her appearance in A View to a Kill and in Charlie’s Angels, for sword and sorcery fans, she stole hearts with her appearance in The Beastmaster (1982, Don Coscarelli).
Michele Brittany, Tanya Roberts, Nicholas Diak in 2013The Beastmaster DVD autographed by Tanya Roberts, John Amos, and Don Coscarelli.
