Joel Arnold's Blog, page 4

Envelope Glue

Paying bills and licking the flaps of return envelopes today, I noticed how different the glue tastes on each envelope. (It also reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George’s fiancé dies from licking the poisonous glue on their wedding invitations.) Some of the glue is fairly tasteless, while some is quite noxious; like what I imagine licking old rusty pitchfork tines would taste like. But every once in a while, I come across an envelope that has the good stuff;  sort of minty, like toothpaste. I could lick those all day. Um – in theory anyway.

Free Story

I posted a new free story on my other blog - a piece of flash fiction called 'The Soft Caress of Falling Bombs.'

Quarry Hill, Rochester, MN

I took the kids to Quarry Hill Park in Rochester today (down there visiting my parents) and posted a couple sets of photos of the caves, the old quarry and some of the ruins. They're over on my blogspot blog (or whatever the heck it's called) so check them out:

Part 1 - caves and other stuff

Part 2 - the quarry with dynamite shack ruins

Photographs of the Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone Natl Park

Lately I posted some pictures of the Old Faithful Inn from my 2010 Yellowstone trip, which was made possible from a Minnesota Artist's Initiative Grant (I was researching a novel.) Anyway, I had all these pictures sitting dormant on my laptop, so thought I'd share a number of them - these all being of the Old Faithful Inn. I did it in four separate journal posts, but if you go to this one first, it links to each of them.

I hope you enjoy these photographs of one of my favorite places in the US!

Ox Cart Angel - Midwest Book Awards finalist

Just found out today that my middle-grade/YA novel Ox Cart Angel is a finalist for a Midwest Book Award in two categories: Young Adult Fiction and Historical Fiction. They announce the winners at a shindig on May 9th. So yay!

Year of the Anthology

This year is turning out to be the Year of the Anthology for me. I have stories in – or soon to be in – the following anthologies this year:

The Canoe appears in The Gate; Tales of Isolation and Despair, which came out at the end of February.

My story Wicked Wire is soon to appear in A Big Book of Strange, Weird and Wonderful, Volume 1 – the release date is April 1st.

The Starlite will appear in Sky-Tinted Waters: Tales from the Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers, which is scheduled to launch at Mini-Con, April 6-8th.

My new story Hole in the Fence will appear in Writes of Spring, which will be launched April 7th at the amazing Once Upon a Crime Bookstore. I’ll be there from noon to one signing, and probably a bit longer just hanging out with the other writers.

Another never-before-seen story of mine, Bovine, will appear in Cemetery Dance’s Shivers VII – possibly this year.

And my newest story, Blue-Eyed Mary, just got accepted for The Minnesota Crimewave Presents: Sixteen Tales of Mystery, Malice and Murder from the Land of Nice, which should see publication this coming fall. I’ll let you know the details when I find out, but there will be a launch party and signings at bookstores around the Twin Cities and suburbs.

Strange Writing Experience

One of my writing projects involves many characters who are often inebriated. Last night, I worked on this particular novel at my local Caribou, and as I walked out the door, there was a brief flash where I started to compose myself as if I was drunk and didn't want people to notice. I had only had a cup of coffee, and yet I had been so into my character's head that for a second I felt like I was leaving the bar my character had been in. 

Like I said, the experience was incredibly brief - a second long, if even that. But wow! What a head trip.

Free Previews of New Collection

So I've been working on some short stories for another Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse collection. (Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse II? More Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse? Not sure, yet.) While the first collection contained mostly stories which had been originally published elsewhere, I'm going to let you, the reader, preview these new stories here on my blog for free, until I get enough stories together for the collection. I already have a handful written, and am working on about ten more.
I'll try to put up at least one new one each month. The first story up, fresh off the presses, is called The Mule, and can be found under the Free Story of the Month tab over at my Blogger site.


Spread the word! And thanks very much for stopping by.

Musical Influence

I grew up with two brothers, one who is nine years older than me, and one who is seven years older, as well as my big sis who is ten years older than me. My brothers, especially, had a big impact on a lot of the music I grew up listening to. They introduced me to the Beatles, AC/DC, the B-52s, Devo, the Clash, Warren Zevon, the Dead Kennedys, Bow Wow Wow, Oingo Boingo, the Plasmatics, the Runaways, Blondie, the Suburbs, Queen, Gary Numan...the list goes on, but it was never just the usual pop shit you’d hear on the top 40’s stations.

They had a stereo in the basement, and they’d crank the volume way the hell up so that the whole house would vibrate with the music. You could be upstairs and feel the music in the dinner plates set out on the dining room table.

My brothers were like the crack dealers of music. Come on – just try a little taste of The Clash. That’s right, just a taste.

My parents took me to musicals, like Bye Bye Birdie, The King & I, The Music Man, and West Side Story, and I’m thankful for those influences, too. Good to have such a wonderful introduction to a wide variety of music at an early age. I need to try harder to share that love with my own kids.

Fingers Crossed

Earlier this week I finished and sent off my murder mystery story for the next Minnesota Crime Waveanthology. They’re the folks who put together Resort to Murder, which I have a story in. I hope they like it. It was a bugger to write – I restarted the thing at least half a dozen times. I kept changing the point of view, the number of characters, etc. At first it was from one person’s pov, then another’s, then an omniscient pov, before I finally settled on the way I thought best to tell the story. I changed the beginning a bunch of times, cut out a scene I really liked (since it didn’t work with the pov I ended up using) but eventually the story shaped up, and I like how it turned out. I also learned what a pomander is.

So for now, I’m keeping my fingers crossed!