Tag: Victoria Vetri

Personal / Website News

My birthday is coming up this Friday, so this website post also acts as a happy birthday to me (in advance).

Vanya #03 Comic Book Review

New comic book review is now online!

I continue to get through my backlog of to be read/to be reviewed comics, and I am now up to the third issue of the Neo-Jungle Girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior.

The write up can be read right here. The digital edition of issue eight of the twelve issue series just came out this past week, so I still got some catching up to do!

Scholars from the Edge of Time – Kings of the Sun

New Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcast is online.

In this episode Michele and I talk about the Mesoamerican peplum, Kings of the Sun. An intriguing film! The episode can be watched on Hercules Invictus’ Youtube.

For the next three Scholars episodes (June, July, August) we will be watching Clash of the Titans (Desmond Davis, 1981), Clash of the Titans (Louis Leterrier, 2010), and then Wrath of the Titans (Jonathan Liebesman, 2012).

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 there with the 7th U.S. Cavalry 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 the flyer for the 2025 event:

Here is the press release:

RENOWNED AUTHOR EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS’ CAVALRY SERVICE TO BE MEMORIALIZED IN WILLCOX, AZ

“Tarzan” Creator and Pop Culture’s Influential “Grandfather of Science Fiction and Fantasy” Commemorated for His 150th Birthday.

WILLCOX, AZ – The renowned “Master of Adventure” Edgar Rice Burroughs started his adult life as a cavalryman at Arizona’s Fort Grant in May of 1896. This September, as part of the late author’s 150th birthday celebration, his cavalry service will be memorialized with a monument at the restored Southern Pacific train depot in Willcox, where he arrived on his way to Fort Grant (35 miles north).

The influential creator of Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars, and The Land That Time Forgot series of stories wrote in his “Autobiography” that he specifically requested “to be sent to the worst post in the United States” and was then promptly assigned to Fort Grant in Arizona Territory, where his troop would spend some time hunting after the Apache Kid and other outlaws.

Many believe that Burroughs’ initial stay in Arizona influenced his first Martian story, Under the Moons of Mars, which begins with the first chapter titled “On the Arizona Hills.” The John Carter Martian stories would go on to influence generations of science fiction and fantasy books and movies, and would inspire many young people to become scientists, engineers, and astronauts. He would later author the books The War Chiefand Apache Devil, both set in Arizona during the Apache Wars of the 1860s – 1880s.

This Willcox Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering will take place from September 25 to 28, 2025, with the 7th Cavalry Historical Monument formal dedication ceremony on Saturday, September 27th from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon near the historic Southern Pacific Railroad Depot.

The monument dedication at the Willcox train depot will include guest speakers and participation of local Buffalo Soldier reenactors. All other convention events will take place at the Elks Lodge #2131 in Willcox, and will include discussion panels, a “huckster” (vendor) room, Guest of Honor and speaker Jeffrey J. Mariotte (author of Tarzan and the Forest of Stone), Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. speakers, a Saturday night banquet/ dinner, a Tarzan movie screening, and other surprises.

These events are sponsored by the Sulphur Springs Valley Historical Society and the Apache Devils chapter of The Burroughs Bibliophiles. The celebration is open to the public for free (except for the dinner and movie), but full attendees can register for a fee that covers a goodie bag, a huckster table, and the Saturday dinner.

This is a must-attend event for fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs and pop-culture historians alike. If you’d like to visit the place where it all began, don’t miss this very special celebration. (Note that some convention activities will require full event registration – the registration form is provided separately.)

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Willcox is offering a special daily room rate of $119 plus taxes for the nights of 25 to 27 September for attendees. The group name is “ECOF.” You can make reservations at this rate by calling the hotel at (520) 384-3333; rooms are limited. The address is 1251 N. Virginia Ave, Willcox, AZ 85643.

If you would like more information about the 2025 ECOF event, please call Frank Puncer at 520.281.1818, or email him at fwpuncer at gmail dot com.

Here is the registration from:

Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well. I’ll be doing a presentation on Tarzan as a Maciste-like peplum character in Tarzan and the Lost Empire. Hope to see yall there!

Publishing Recap

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

Calls for Papers/Proposals

Here are some new pop culture CFPs that have crossed my path or I am sharing on behalf of my colleagues. Links to these will also be in the CFP page on the navigation bar.

Horror Videogames – A Companion

This publication – which is planned for submission to Peter Lang’s Genre Fiction and Film Companions series – aims to provide readers with an accessible yet scholarly overview of the historical, cultural, technological and aesthetic dimensions of the horror videogame, organised around an extensive series of short case studies. Accordingly, we are seeking abstracts for a series of shorter chapters presenting critical analyses of key titles in the genre’s history.

Videogames should be chosen for their popular cultural impacts, uniqueness and innovative contributions to the horror genre and videogame medium. The collection will cover a variety of time periods, platforms, development contexts, countries of origin and sub-genres. It will also feature various manifestations of horrific content; from monsters, zombies, ghosts, and eldritch abominations to psychological horror, jump scares, and fourth wall-breaking cult games. Each chapter will justify its selected case study as a noteworthy horror videogame, while also embedding its chosen text within academic discussions of genre, storytelling, design and/or affect.

The collection will be divided into several sections, which are detailed below alongside suggested entries. We welcome submission on the suggested videogames, as well as submissions on videogames that are not on our list of suggested entries. Please note that we do not require submissions on Left 4 Dead (2008) or Five Night’s at Freddy’s (2014), as these titles will be covered by the editors.

Sections and Suggested Entries

Early Horror Videogames: 3D Monster Maze (1981), Haunted House (1982), Carmageddon (1997), Clock Tower (1995), Alone in the Dark (1992), Doom (1993)

Canonical Horror Videogames: Resident Evil (1996), Silent Hill (1999), Fatal Frame (2001), Dead Space (2008), Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (2002)

Horror Videogame Sequels: Silent Hill 2 (2002), Alan Wake 2 (2023), Little Nightmares II (2021), Amnesia: Rebirth (2020), Resident Evil 4 (2005)

Adaptation in Horror Videogames: Alien: Isolation (2014), Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), The Walking Dead (2012), Dead Rising (2006)

Multiplayer Horror Videogames: The Outlast Trials (2024), Dead by Daylight (2016), Phasmophobia (2020)

Indie Horror Videogames: Mouthwashing (2024), Carrion (2020), Signalis (2022), Mundaun (2021), Murder House (2020)

Please send chapter abstracts of around 200 words (excluding references) alongside bios of up to 100 words to Connor Jackson (jacksoc1@hope.ac.uk) and Ewan Kirkland (ewan.kirkland@uca.ac.uk) by Sunday 31st August 2025 with the subject heading: “Horror Videogames Abstract”.

Abstract titles should follow the same format, with the game title and a subheading indicating the area/focus of horror to be addressed. For example, “Left 4 Dead (2008) – The Horror of Abandonment” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014) – Service Industry Horror”. Full chapters should be 2,500-3,000 words (excluding references).

If you are interested in covering more than one videogame, feel free to add a list of up to 3 other titles alongside your submission. Should your submission entry be in high demand, the editors may contact you to discuss your secondary options.

Also, if you have any questions, please send them to the above-mentioned email addresses.

Provisional Timeframe

• CFP Deadline: Sunday 31st August 2025
• CFP Feedback by end of September 2025
• Completed Chapters by end of January 2026
• Feedback with potential edits by end of April 2026
• Chapters returned by end of June 2026
• Submission of final draft to editors by end of August 2026

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Some fun things I shared online from these past few weeks. Highlighting things from my personal collection of pop culture artifacts.

Play MSTie for Me autographed DVD

Prior to Cinematic Titanic, Film Crew, and the resurrected MST3K, the landscape of getting your MST3K fix was incredible small. Jim Mallone owned Best Brains, and for a period in the early 2000s, the only place you could get official MST3K stuff was through their website, which really didn’t have much: stickers, post-its, small trinkets. They, for a brief period, explored doing new MST3K with flash animation called “The Bots Are Back” but it never caught on (though I enjoyed them!).

One of the DVDs sold during this dark ages of MST3K was a collection of musical numbers from the host segments from the series called Play MSTie for Me (I believe there used to be a VHS incarnation of this release). I bought this DVD way back in the day to go with what scant DVD boxsets Rhino was publishing. Later in the 2000s, when Cinematic Titanic was a thing and touring, they did a stop in Seattle. I bought a handful of items to be autographed by the Cinematic Titanic crew, (Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl), and this DVD was one of those items.

The Tartars autographed by Bella Cortez

Bella Cortez, the queen of pepla! Michele and I spent 2024 doing a retrospective of her career (check out our various Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcasts, my peplum ponderings, and my interview with her for the Burroughs Bulletin) and she is just an icon of the genre.

An opportunity came up for me to have some of my movies autographed by Ms. Cortez, so of course I jumped at the chance. Super appreciative that she took the time to sign these treasures for me.

The first I want to share is the DVD copy of The Tartars (which you can read my write up about the film here). Isn’t it awesome!?

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 and Travis have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast online at YouTube. They dive into the next few episodes of Lost.

Here is their discussion of episode 22:

And for episode 23:

And then episode 24:

New episodes drop every Friday on YouTube. Keep an eye on their YouTube channel, or give them a follow on Bluesky.

New Fan2Fan Episodes

Bernie and Pete have some new episodes of their Fan2Fan podcast online.

First up, Joshua Pruett is interviewed about his newest book, the kid peplum Gyro and the Argonauts.

Next horror director Charles Pinion is interviewed in a part one:

And then in a part two:

Older episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.

Bible Films Blog – The Ten Gladiators

Matt Page has a new sword and sandal movie essay up at his Bible Films Blog website. It is on Gianfranco Parolini’s 1963 peplum Ten Gladiators.

The write up can be read here, so give it a read!

John 3:16 Album – The Beast

This is a year ahead, but on 6-6-(202)6 Philippe Gerber, via his John 3:16, will be dropping his album, The Beast. Cover art below – it kinda looks like a panel from his Flesh Eaters comic (HP Lovecast review of issue one here).

The album can be pre-ordered at BandCamp (link here) with three of the tracks available to be listened to no. I’ll do a reminder email in the future when it gets closer to the release date, but do check it out, consider pre-ordering, or mark your calendar for 6-6-6! \m/

Global Indigenous Horror Book Trailer

Editor Naomi Simone Borwein has created a book trailer for her book, Global Indigenous Horror, which was published earlier this year by University Press of Mississippi (product page here).

The trailer can be watched here or in the embedded video above. Give it a watch!