Michael A. Arnzen's Blog: News from Gorelets.com, page 22

Every Horror Writer’s Nightmare

This clip from an episode of Futurama (found on the wonderful TvTropes.com) cracks me up, but it also encapsulates every horror writer’s dilemma: escaping the conventions and the dominant trappings of the genre.

This is one of the reasons why I continue to publish the Instigation series of “dark prompts for sicko writers,” even if my tongue is sometimes in my cheek. But here’s one for you now: WRITE WHAT IS CHASING THE CREATURES…or imagine what lies beyond the side of the frame.

Twisted Prompts for Sicko Writers (30)

+ Treat an everyday object as a magic wand.

+ Discover a collection of ears.

+ Play a horrifying game of pinata.

***

Review the entire “Instigation” department for more prompts. You can share your writing here on The Goreletter by clicking on the ‘comment’ link.

Winner of the Goodreads Gorelets Giveaway Announced

Congratulations to Samantha Mostek — winner of my Friday the 13th giveaway of The Gorelets Omnibus on the website for booklovers, GoodReads.com. [You can follow my profile here: http://www.goodreads.com/MichaelAArnzen

]. Samantha will be receiving a signed paperback copy as well as one of the rare broadsides I produced to celebrate the book launch.

Didn’t win? Sad? Well, contests for all sorts of things always appear in The Goreletter. Subscribe today! The Goreletter WILL run a contest for a few of the remaining broadsides I have on hand, so come join the mad party and stay tuned with all things Arnzen. [Click here to read a description of The Goreletter].

“Fuzzy Bunnies”: My First Book Trailer for The Gorelets Omnibus

Visit the book page for The Gorelets Omnibus or go directly to Raw Dog Screaming Press to order your copy today.

By the way: although I’ve messed about with animated poems in the past, believe it or not, this video constitutes the very first “book trailer” for one of my single-author titles. If you like it, please leave comments, post it on your site or your favorite social network, or subscribe to my new channel on YouTube to support my continued efforts in this direction. There are some other trailers in a playlist there for books I appear in. I will likely make more videos of excerpts from the Omnibus, so do let me know if there’s a favorite you’d like me to post.

I chose “Fuzzy Bunnies” because this is the poem that most people remember from the book for some reason. Truth be told, I wrote it because a relative once frowned at me when I told them of my successes as a horror writer, and replied: “Oh, why can’t you just write about happy little bunnies?” So I did.

Friday the 13th Giveaway: Win The Gorelets Omnibus on Goodreads!

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Goodreads Book Giveaway







The Gorelets Omnibus



by Michael A. Arnzen

Giveaway ends July 13, 2012.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

THIS GOODREADS GIVEAWAY IS FOR A FREE SIGNED PAPERBACK OF THE GORELETS OMNIBUS.

You must be a member of goodreads.com to enter. If you win, your book will be autographed and include an original handwritten haiku on the title page, and you will also receive one of the fancy and rare limited edition broadsides that were given only to those who pre-ordered the book a few months ago.

Contest ends FRIDAY THE 13th MIDNIGHT. Better get clickin’.

Reader reviews, and helping to spread the word, are really appreciated.

New in ebook: Many Genres, One Craft

A quick update to note that the massive fiction writing guide that I co-edited last year, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, is now available in an affordable ebook form for the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook.

You can learn more about this title, read an excerpt, and even order a copy from the new book page I’ve added to the jazzy new Books and Other Creative Works catalog here on gorelets.com.

Many Genres has not only swept up an astounding number of industry awards, it also is getting rave reviews from writers who have turned to the book for guidance in navigating their new novels. See the awesome array of customer reviews on amazon.com for the hardcover edition, and I think you’ll see why I am so proud of this book and its many amazing contributors.

The Fourth

You imagine

bruising the bully

who once burned you

with the firecracker

down your pants –

beating then cutting him,

exposing the bone and

watching him bleed

as you fork him

onto the barbecue –

as the coals

spit their fireworks:

everything red,

white and blue.

Grill marks stark

as prison bars

on the meat

as you celebrate

your freedom

and imagine.

 

 

The Books Page is Alive

I’ve made some good progress on the new bibliography/book catalog for gorelets.com — not complete yet, but most of the titles in print are ready to view. You can get to them through the “Books and Other Creative Works” button at the top of this page. .

I’ve been slowly updating the entire website at gorelets.com this summer. I recently updated my bio page with some funky photos and updates, for instance, and I’ve set up a youtube channel (see the micro-buttons in the top-right of this page) where I hope to add more book trailers in the near future. And then there’s also the “trending tweets” subpage that you can find as part of the newly fashioned twitter archive, The Nest. Please browse around with wanton abandon and feel free to leave some comments all over the house.

Photos from Seton Hill WPF Book Signing 2012

Our Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University took over the gymnasium and McKenna Center last night to host a mass book signing, and it was great to see so many new book releases from students, alums and faculty alike. It was fantastic to have two of my publishers in the house — Raw Dog Screaming Press and Headline Books. Here’s a few snapshots from the event. (You can see some from last year here, too.)

Thanks to all who visited campus, dropped by my table, and picked up copies of The Gorelets Omnibus, Many Genres, One Craft, Play Dead and Thou Shall Not.

Reminder: Signing at Seton Hill U on Friday 6.22

Just a brief reminder that I’ll be joining all the alums, students and faculty who are signing books this coming weekend for the In Your Write Mind workshop on the Seton Hill University campus in Greensburg, PA, this coming Friday, 6/22, from 7-9pm in the McKenna Athletic Center.

At the book event (which they’re calling a “Chocolate Covered Mass Book Signing”) on Friday, over thirty writers from an array of genres will be selling and signing their books, including: Kate Martin, Shelley Bates, Victoria Thompson, Meg Mims, Jason Jack Miller, Heidi Ruby Miller, Lawrence C. Connolly, William Horner, Rachael Pruitt, Scott A. Johnson, Sheldon Higdon, Gary Frank, Maria V Snyder, Patrice Lyle, Michael Knost, Geoffrey Fuller, Sally Bosco, Jessica Warman, J.L. Benet, Lynn Salsi, Lee Allen Howard, Lee McClain, Lana Ayers, Nicole Peeler, Ron Gavalik, Barbara Miller, Kristin Dearborn, Anne Harris, Rachell Nichole, John Edward Lawson, myself, and more. My indie publisher, Raw Dog Screaming Press, will be there with copies of my latest book (The Gorelets Omnibus) and launching alum Jason Jack Miller’s new novel (Hellbender). And there will be plenty of contributors to Many Genres, One Craft around to sign copies of the book Heidi Ruby Miller and I edited last year, as well. [We launched the book in a HUGE signing last year at this same event... see my photo coverage of it elsewhere on this website.

Our Writing Popular Fiction MFA summer residency begins this week, and our special guest this term is Donald Maass, agent and author of Writing the Breakout Novel. The alums are simultaneously hosting a feature rich workshop with many interesting guests and workshops -- they do this every June and it's open to all writers, but this year their guest will be the publisher of The Gorelets Omnibus, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and they're being supported by the Horror Writer's Association. See http://inyourwritemind.setonhill.edu/ for details about their workshops.

Some of the Horror Writers at the SHU Book Signing in 2011: Scott Johnson, Kristin Dearborn, Tim Waggoner, and JL Benet (standing, l-r); Gary Braunbeck and Lucy Snyder (seated, l-r).