ER 52 Sneak Peek and a Glimpse of What's Coming

Front & Back Wrap of ER #52!

Whew! That's pretty much all I can say.

Well, actually, I'm going to say some more.

At this moment the inside pages of Exploitation Retrospect #52 (?!) have been uploaded to CreateSpace and all we're waiting for is approval for the cover wrap (shown at right featuring artwork by Neil Vokes and colors by Matt Moore alongside a bevy of men's action novels from my shelves).

Once that happens the new issue will be available for sale through CreateSpace.com with other outlets like Amazon.com and Amazon.uk following suit.

I say that like I know what I'm talking about. This is actually our first on-demand publishing venture. ER #51 – still available directly from us – was an actual print project using small run, web-based publishers and it was pretty successful. We got great response to a zine that had been mothballed for over 13 years and to date there have been three press runs.

But I'm intrigued by the whole "on demand" printing concept, especially in light of how pals Tim Paxton and Brian Harris have embraced it for their Kronos Publications line featuring Weng's Chop and Monster!.

While the former has grown in size with each installment – the just-released Weng's Chop #6 weighs in at a whopping 200+ pages and is quite deserving of the "mega-zine" title – Paxton's revived Monster! has turned up with (infuriating) regularity since he announced its return. And while I'm not foolhardy enough to suggest that ER will return in anything resembling regularity, if this venture works out I'd guess that we'll be darkening your doorstep on a more regular basis than once every couple years.

And re-launching the print version of our sister publication The Hungover Gourmet, as well.

But enough about future plans. Let's talk about now! ER #52 is 64 pages (plus cover) of junk culture and fringe media glory complete with: David Zuzelo on Nikkatsu Erotic Cinema; Chuck Francisco examining the history of Nazi Zombie Cinema; Jonathan Plombon's explorations of WAVE Productions and the cult of death fetish films; a heaping helping of men's action (in both print and film); John Grace on Burt Lancaster: Big Screen Bully; and, reviews of the best (and worst) in sci-fi, horror and trashy sinema courtesy of a bulging review section.

Big thanks to all our contributors but special thanks to Neil Vokes and Matt Webb for the awesome cover art and to the man I affectionately call "Damn You!" David Zuzelo who pushed me over that last hump, told me it was okay to cut some stuff to get to print and sent down some of his Relentless HorrorDad Enthusiasm to help see the project across the finish line.