Michael A. Arnzen's Blog: News from Gorelets.com, page 28

Highlights from the HWA Stoker Award Weekend (June 2011)

I had a great time in New York last weekend, participating in the 2011 Stoker Weekend put on by the Horror Writers Association. The "Stoker Weekend" is an annual professional writer's conference that centers around the Bram Stoker Award ceremony, featuring business/professional meetings, public book signings, panel discussions for the national writer's organization, the Horror Writers Association. I took lots of photos this time around, to try to capture the spirit of the event. Here are some of the highlights from my trip to Long Island:

+ Was greeted by many old friends and new readers at the massive autograph session that began the second I arrived at the hotel. I had tons of copies of my new book, Many Genres, but for some reason most folks seemed intrigued by my tiny bilingual chapbook, Skull Fragments (which sold out). Photos here.

+ Ran a great writing workshop called 'Horror Unbound: Pushing Your Reader Off the Ledge'. I used an old comic strip I've always adored by Peter Kuper as a central motif in the class, where we discussed the "cautionary tale" and how to structure your story to generate surprises in readers…and I challenged everyone to "flaunt the license" that the genre gives a person.

+ On the "Pushing the Boundaries" panel, I got to shock the audience by reading a poem from Freakcidents ("Mutant Marcus"). We also had a pretty amazing conversation about various experiments with form that poetry offers genre writers. It was great sitting on this panel with Linda Addison, Kurt Newton, Chad Helder and Marge Simon.

+ Had lunch with Dacre Stoker, manager of the Bram Stoker Estate, and talked about his next book and the extreme efforts he's taking to try to get a Stoker statue erected in Ireland.

+ Got to share "Don't Stop Bleeding" and the traditional folk poem I made up from "The Ghost Bike on Childer's Road" (from the book Legends of the Mountain State IV) on another poetry panel (called "Pellets of Poison"), and had fun sitting alongside Christopher Conlon, Bruce Boston, Marge Simon, Jill Bauman and Kurt Newton who also read some viciously potent and moving work.

+ Hung out a bit here and there with the wonderful Michael Knost, editor of Writers Workshop of Horror. Also had really good extensive conversations with all sorts of folks, like S.G. Browne (who taught me a lot about new media and has just released a cool book, Fated), RJ Cavender (who is doing great things for authors over at the editorialdepartment.com), and Jonathan Maberry (who is working on an exciting new book!).

+ Had a bizarro over-the-top conversation about a horror version of "Rumspringa!" with Doug Clegg, Matt Schwartz, Kristin Dearborn, Paul Popiel and Jeff Strand.

+ Got to sample a fantastic Blue Point Toasted Lager from a gigantic baseball-bat-sized dispenser (sitting a top a giant baseball) with RJ Cavender and Boyd Harris from Horror Library/Cutting Block Press.

+ Ran a great book discussion and signing for my latest release (co-edited with Heidi Ruby Miller), Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction. Photos and report here.

+ Saw Lawrence Connolly masterfully run a panel on trends in new media for writers in the genre. Learned a lot here from the witty and hyper-intelligent folks on the panel — Matt Schwartz, SG Browne and Jonathan Maberry. What I learned made me feel good about my decision to start up the Michael Arnzen Social Network and encouraged me to expand some things beyond focusing so much on The Goreletter newsletter…though I really need to get the next issue out! Subscribe to get yours in the near future.

+ Attended the official book launch for Christopher Conlon's latest (and amazing) poetry anthology, A Sea Of Alone: Poems For Alfred Hitchcock (Dark Scribe Press, 2011). Everyone at the session read from the book — I may post a recording from this in the near future, if I'm able. All the poetry was mind-blowingly good. In addition to my reading of "Marnie Checks In," I heard poems from Michael Calvillo, Kurt Newton, Christopher Conlon, Norman Prentiss, Lisa Morton, Martel Sardina, and Marge Simon. Photos here. And here's an audio recording of Kurt Newton reading his poem "The 39 Steps" live.

+ During a free moment before the Stoker Award ceremony, I visited the famous Amityville house with all the Seton Hill alumnae (Sally Bosco, Kristin Dearborn, Paul Popiel) and faculty (me and Lawrence Connolly) from the Writing Popular Fiction MFA program who were in attendance. We stopped at Amity Harbor Spots Shop and found some cool team t-shirts. We now call ourselves "The Amityville Club" Photos here.

+ Attending the Stoker Awards banquet is always a blast. The food was phenomenal. I got to sit with my compadres from Seton Hill's writing program, along with writer Tracy Sharp and her partner Jeff Van Worden. During the ceremony, I presented the poetry award along with the always-amazing Linda Addison, which was unforgettable. We read snippets from all the nominee's work, before announcing the winner (Bruce Boston for his great book, Dark Matters). I was also later "surprisingly" called to the stage by emcee Jeff Strand for a funny skit with him that involved giving him a mock "instigation" series of prompts when he suffered from "presenter's block"…I'll post a transcript of this soon to the Instigation department here on gorelets.com.

+ Hearing the testimony to my long-time publisher, Dark Regions Press (who released Proverbs for Monsters) when they won the Specialty Press Award.

Below is the winner's list of all this year's Stoker Awards. Be sure to visit my event gallery to see all the photos I took over the weekend.

HWA Announces 2010 Bram Stoker Award Winners

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL:

A DARK MATTER by Peter Straub

Superior Achievement in a First Novel (tie):

BLACK AND ORANGE by Benjamin Kane Ethridge

CASTLE OF LOS ANGELES by Lisa Morton

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction:

INVISIBLE FENCES by Norman Prentiss

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction:

THE FOLDING MAN by Joe R. Lansdale

Superior Achievement in an Anthology:

HAUNTED LEGENDS edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas

Superior Achievement in a Collection:

FULL DARK, NO STARS by Stephen King (Simon and Schuster)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction:

TO EACH THEIR DARKNESS by Gary A. Braunbeck

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection:

DARK MATTERS by Bruce Boston

HWA 2010 SPECIALTY PRESS AWARD GOES TO DARK REGIONS PRESS

ANGEL LEIGH McCOY AWARDED 2010 SILVER HAMMER AWARD

MICHAEL COLANGELO AWARDED 2010 RICHARD LAYMON AWARD

The Michael Arnzen Social Network

Social networking is a chaotic mess, so I've created a new weblog as a central hub for posting mobile photos, sharing errant items, weird notions, and personal items that don't quite belong here on The Goreletter. If you want to follow or friend me on your favorite social media site, drop on by:

The Michael Arnzen Social Network: http://michaelarnzen.com

My first plan for it is to post photos and more from the Bram Stoker Award Weekend in New York later this week.

2011 Stoker Weekend Coming to New York

YO, NEW YORK! In mid-June I'll be attending the Horror Writer Association's "Stoker Weekend" on Long Island and I invite you to the public book signing and more…

Join us!

Stoker Weekend 2011 will be held at the Long Island Marriott Hotel and Conference Center (101 James Doolittle Boulevard; [516] 794-3800) in Uniondale, New York, June 16-19. The multi-author book signing extravaganza is on Thursday evening, June 16, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the hotel's Grand Ballroom. In addition to myself, some of the authors planning to appear included Peter Straub, David Morrell, Douglas Clegg, Gillian Flynn, Sarah Langan, Heather Graham, Jonathan Maberry, Jeff Strand, Joe McKinney, Michael Laimo, Dacre Stoker, F. Paul Wilson, Stephen Graham Jones, Ellen Datlow, Lisa Morton, Vince Liaguno, Chad Helder, Michael Rowe, Greg Herren, Ronald Malfi, Lawrence Connolly, Michael Louis Calvillo, Lisa Mannetti, JG Faherty and Anthony Timpone. Writers will have books for sale there, but you can also bring your own, and you get book signed or take photos. Line begins forming at 6:00 p.m. outside the Ballroom entrance of the Marriott. For more information and directions to the hotel, visit the Stoker Weekend at http://www.stokerweekend2011.org

The book signing is free and open to all fans. But if you're a horror writer yourself living anywhere near New York, you should register to attend for the whole weekend. The guest list is amazing, and they have so many items on the program that this is a full-fledged convention for horror professionals! Registered attendees can also catch up with me at several events:

You can pre-register for a fun class I'm teaching Friday morning 9am-11am, called "Horror Unbound: Pushing Your Reader Over the Ledge" – which is billed as "a short course in making your reader feel the emotion of helplessness — that swimmy sense of panic we get when the floor drops out and we feel that gut-lurching sensation that something very, very bad is about to happen." Visit the workshop page on their website for more information if you're thinking about signing up last minute.

I'll also be hosting a talk (along with attending contributors) called "Many Genres" on Friday, 6/17, 4pm in the Hempstead Room. It's an information and signing session related to my recently-released how-to book, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, which will be available for sale. Come on by and learn more about our book, the folks from the MFA program that contributed to it, and more.

I'm also on a panel, "Pushing the Envelope: Boundaries in Horror Poetry" (with Linda Addison, Marge Simon, Kurt Newton, and Chad Helder) which takes place on Friday 6/10 at Noon; and another one, "Story Capsules: Pellets of Poison" (with Marge Simon, Kurt Newton, Chris Conlon, Bruce Boston, and Jill Bauman) that will run on Saturday 6/11 at 3pm. And I'll be presenting an award at the big Stoker Award banquet on Saturday night (no, I'm not up for an award this year…just attending to enjoy the fun).

If you're at the Stoker Weekend, come say hello. If not, I'll try to post info about what you missed when I return. I hear a video of the Bram Stoker Awards will be livestreaming online Saturday evening, so be sure to drop by the Stoker Weekend website or watch their facebook page to learn more about that.

Dark Promptings: Murder Ballads from Jason Jack Miller

Order at Amazon.com!

"Dark Promptings" is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination's gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book's meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our first "Dark Promptings" come from Jason Jack Miller, author of the new "Appalachian Noir" novel, The Devil and Preston Black (available now on Kindle and Smashwords).

Jason's provided some opening lines for writers to develop into a full-fledged scenario, all infused with a little dark background music. He calls these prompts "MURDER BALLADS"….

25 MINUTES TO GO

      Well, they're building a gallows outside my cell. I've got 25 minutes to go.

PRETTY POLLY

      Polly handed Willy back his ring, and said, "I can't, Willy, I'm afraid of your ways. The way you've been ramblin', you'd only lead me astray."

      Willy shrugged and dropped the ring into his pocket. He said, "Sorry to hear that, Polly. Mama's always right. So it's a good thing I dug on your grave the best part of last night."

LONG BLACK VEIL

      The judge said, "Son, what is your alibi. If you were somewhere else, you won't have to die."

      I said not a word, though it meant my life. You see, I was in the arms of my best friend's wife.

THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK

      Preston Black went down to the crossroads. He tried to make the devil a deal, but the devil said he didn't have a soul to steal.

SOMEBODY GOT MURDERED

      Someone lights a cigarette in the back seat of the car. Someone else takes a swig and passes back the jar. Where they were last night, no one can remember. Somebody got murdered. Goodbye. For keeps. Forever.

Jason Jack Miller is a writer, photographer and musician who has been hassled by cops in Canada, Mexico and the Czech Republic. An outdoor travel guide he co-authored with his wife in 2006 jumpstarted his freelancing career; his work has since appeared in newspapers, magazines, literary journals, online, and as part of a travel guide app for mobile phones. He received a Master's in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University where he is adjunct creative writing faculty and he is an Authors Guild member. He's been a whitewater raft guide, played guitar in a garage band and served as a concierge at a five star resort hotel in Florida. When he isn't writing he's on his mountain bike or looking for his next favorite guitar. He is currently writing and recording the soundtrack to his novel, The Devil and Preston Black.

Jason's lessons in Many Genres include "Magical Realism" and "Painting Your Setting with Concrete Nouns."





To celebrate today's launch of the "Dark Promptings" series, I'm running a random draw contest today only over on twitter. Enter by clicking on this link and retweeting its message on twitter before 6pm on 5/29 and you might win a free copy of the book!

"Scary Things": An Address to the Class of 2011

"Scary Things"



Professor of the Year Acceptance Speech

by Michael A. Arnzen

Seton Hill University

Honor's Convocation



Friday, May 13, 2011

President Boyle, Provost Gawelek, distinguished members of the stage, cherished faculty colleagues, dear staff, close friends and — most importantly — future alumnae of Seton Hill University…I thank you all for this dubious honor. I also want to thank two other major figures in my life, without whom I would not be here today: first, my wife, Renate, who chose to move from Germany to America just to be with me in 1987 and has been more supportive of my work than my very own backbone ever since. And secondly, I have to thank that special group of people who have always been there for me, giving me everything I ever needed during my entire career, and that would be the Starbucks Coffee Company.

But seriously, again, I thank all of you for this significant award and I will gladly accept it, but only on behalf of all the faculty gathered in this room, for each and every one of us is a Professor of the Year, to someone in our own special way. It isn't fair that I am singled out when so many at Seton Hill work so tirelessly to contribute to your education, so I would ask everyone assembled to take a moment to think about a specific teacher (or colleague) who made a difference in your life this year, and I ask you to applaud those professors of the year right now.

The phrase "ignorance is bliss" is a cop-out. An outright lie. Ignorance is a third grader behind the wheel of a car, blissfully barreling down the road during rush hour. The ignorant don't know any better — and always learn their lessons the hard way. (This is what I write about). The good drivers aren't just people above the age of three — they are the defensive ones, the ones who know how to predict where danger might lurk. But still they drive. That's what the college motto, "hazard yet forward," is all about. Make it your road sign on the journey of life.

Today is very special to me. Not only because of this honor, which is great, but because it's Friday the 13th and everyone is dressed in black. Now if only you were all wearing hockey masks, too…then it would be perfect.

You've been here at Seton Hill for four long years. I'm sure you've loved it for the most part, and you probably can't believe it's finally over. But it's also been hard. Just a few days ago you were probably wondering if the madness would ever end. There may have been days when you felt trapped, isolated, homesick and scared. Now, tomorrow you will be set free. We'll still be here, but you'll be gone, and the place will seem empty without you. No, not empty. Haunted. So I wrote a poem for you. It's called…

The Hotel La Setonia

On a dark Lincoln Highway,

cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of Velveeta,

rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance,

I saw a sycamore hill

My head grew heavy as I approached Admin,

then my heart stopped with a chill.

A griffin stood in the doorway;

I heard that weird grandfather clock's bell.

And I was thinking to myself:

is that lion or eagle poop that I smell?

Then he lit up an ipad

and he showed me the way.

There were voices down the corridor,

thought I heard them say:

Welcome to the Hotel La Setonia.

We wear a cap and gown.

But the fun stuff's downtown.

There's not much room at the Hotel La Setonia.

Now's "your chance to shine,"

if you can park in time.

The mascot's smile was twisted

up inside of his beak

with lots of pretty, pretty teeth…

you know, it's really kind of a freak.

And then we walked toward McKenna –

sweet Griffin sweat.

Pot holes to remember;

mud lots to forget.

I called out to the students,

"Fear nothing but a closed mind!"

But Griff said, "we haven't used that slogan here

since Two Thousand and Nine."

And still those voices are calling from far away,

They wake you up in the middle of the night

pounding on Steinways, singing…

Welcome to the Hotel La Setonia.

Logging on is rare,

in the Griffin's Lair

They're livin' it up at the Hotel La Setonia.

What a nice surprise,

breakfast with curly fries!

Workouts before the sunrise;

night classes run late.

And Griff said "we are all just prisoners here,

behind the GriffinGate."

And in the Greensburg Room Annex,

they gathered for the feast.

They cut the budget with their steely knives,

but tuition's still increased!

Last thing I remember, I was

"Hazarding Yet Forward";

I had to find the passage back

to where I first met that weird pawed-bird

"Relax," said the Griffin,

"We are programmed to achieve.

Grab a shuttle any time you like,

but you never can never leave!"

Here the griffin would play a fantastic twenty-minute guitar solo. But I promise to keep the rest of this speech a little shorter than that. And I probably should say a few more words, because I don't want you to leave Seton Hill with the impression that I am the Weird Al Yankovich of Higher Learning.

Oh no, I'm much weirder than that. Many of you know I write and teach horror fiction, so I want to share a few thoughts and lessons gleaned from my lifelong study of dread and disease, as something resembling parting advice.

The first is a reiteration of that famous line from Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: "Fear nothing but a closed mind." I love this slogan. I wonder if she ever was audited by the IRS, but I really do love those words. It's a great way to approach whatever it is you fear in your future after college. But more than that, we live in a world of scary things, where everything from terrorists to tornadoes threaten to topple our security. If you've been paying attention to the news, then you know that the 21st Century has so far been one big never-ending horror show. But the truth is that life is and always has been unpredictable and scary — the problem, I think, is that we're just more aware of it than ever, receiving all of our technology streams. It's easy to become hypersensitive to threats and respond with paranoia — or to be completely desensitized and react with zombie-like ennui. But fear is always the cause of closed-mindedness. You can't let fear immobilize you. You combat it with reason, ingenuity, education and humor.

The phrase "ignorance is bliss" is a cop-out. An outright lie. Ignorance is a third grader behind the wheel of a car, blissfully barreling down the road during rush hour. The ignorant don't know any better — and always learn their lessons the hard way. (This is what I write about). The good drivers aren't just people above the age of three — they are the defensive ones, the ones who know how to predict where danger might lurk. But still they drive. That's what the college motto, "hazard yet forward," is all about. Make it your road sign on the journey of life.

I think people like horror stories because they help us navigate the hazards and keep us alert to things that might surprise us along the way. When people ask me, "Why do you write such scary stuff? You're such a normal looking person," I always answer "The real question is, why on earth do people read it?" But if you want to find the answer, go to the horror movies, and look at the audience. People cover their eyes with their hands during the scary parts, and peer between their fingers. We play peekaboo with this stuff. The phrase "I can't believe my eyes" comes to mind. And that is the second lesson I have for you: Play peekaboo with the universe. You'll learn a lot. But it will always only be a partial view. So don't cover your eyes, but don't ever believe your eyes either. At least not entirely.

What do I mean by that?

Magritte's "Son of Man"

Are you familiar with the surrealist painter Magritte? You might recognize his painting, Son of Man, which simply depicts a generic man in a gray suit wearing a bowler hat, with a large green apple strangely floating in the space in front of his face. When asked why he blocked out his subject's face so weirdly, he said something simple but profound: "Everything we see hides another thing; we always want to see what is hidden by what we see."

I love this. Because it relates so closely to both horror fiction and the quest of education: to look beyond the obvious. Horror is art and — with the exception of my terrible poem at the beginning of this speech — art is not a car accident that invites rubbernecking, which people always compare it to. Art asks us to boldly look and understand our world differently. That's one of my missions as an author. I'm not saying you should all be a horror fan, but I do think you should pay more attention to art, even if it disturbs you. Because art is paying attention to things that the world chooses to ignore. We always are limited by our own perception, but art — especially the scary kind — allows us to see beyond the habitual worldview and the limits of our senses.

But artists are weird, I know. Weirdness will always make us uncomfortable. But you have to be courageous. Don't fear the weirdness. Embrace it in others and in yourself. Hug your inner freak and kiss it on its fang-laden mouth. And give a firm handshake to the strange people in your life. You can always use hand sanitizer. It's worth it because these strangers — no matter how scary they might seem at first — have lessons to teach you. If you are scared by someone who is different than you, who looks differently or acts differently, then that fear is a sign that you have a lot left to learn about them and everything they represent.

The truth is, everyone's weird, but few have the courage to admit it. So to the class of 2011 I say: "COURAGE, WEIRDOS!"

Congratulations and Happy Friday the 13th.

–

Thank you to all my students and colleagues for daring to dub me "Professor of the Year" and giving me this fantastic honor (which includes a nice parking spot next year!). I loved giving the above speech and hearing the laughter.  The poem has a lot of inside jokes about the campus, but I was so happy everyone "got it" — especially all the parents in the room — and that the jokes didn't bomb. Photos will be added as they come in.

On the Virtual Book Tour for Many Genres

Order at Amazon.com!

My latest book (co-edited with Heidi Ruby Miller) is Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction. It is a huge compendium of advice for people who write genre fiction, from horror and sf/f to suspense, mystery, romance and more — with over 60 amazing contributors. Many of the writers are participating in a "Virtual Book Tour" which essentially means they're writing guest blogs at various places all over the internet, sharing even more advice and opinions that aspiring authors will want to check out. Visit our weblog to explore all this.

For my part, soon guests will be stopping by The Goreletter blog to offer new entries to the Instigation department on a regular basis. I'm calling this event "Dark Promptings" and it should be interesting to see what ideas come out of this.

I'm also guest blogging here and there, and a few have already been published. I'll list them below for those who are interested, and then update this post when new ones come out.

Now online:

"Barcoding Your Book" — an essay on outlining the emotional shape of your novel. Available at author Teffanie Thompson White's "Free Cotton" weblog for writers.
"Spotlight on Many Genres" — an interview with Heidi and I on the process of collaboratively editing the book. Guest blog at Meg Mim's Lighthouse Mysteries weblog for mystery writers.
"N is for Networking" — an excerpt from my article in the book, "Genre Unleashed." Excerpt at the Seton Hill Writers weblog hosted by Lesley L. Smith and other SHU alumni.

Planned Stops on the Future Itinerary:

"Writers Who Make Music" entry on Jason Jack Miller's author weblog.
"Horror Writers" entry on Will Prescott's Non-Horror Reader Survey website.
"Label Me" entry on writer Ryan M. Williams' weblog

***

To learn more about Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, visit our weblog dedicated to the book, or order from Amazon.com today. The book is back from the printers and shipping in May!

Creasing His Collar

she leans into it

sweating over the board

pushing the pointed

weight with a smile

satisfied by the feel

of stainless steel

sliding smooth

across the neckline

she plunges her thumb

into the red button

savoring the drama

of the steam burst

the gurgling scream

of heat and horror

beneath her hands

the fabric fizzles

and his collar crisps

starched stiff

and nicely browned

with what's left

of his jugular blood

percolating in the steamer

Preorder: MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT

Many Genres...coming in May!

Readers of this blog who have the writing bug might want to hop on over to Amazon.com and put in an order for my latest book (co-edited with Heidi Ruby Miller), called Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction.

Modeled after the graduate program where I teach — the MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University — Many Genres is a thick hardcover collection of over sixty essays by prominent writers who look under the hood of both the craft of writing for a genre audience and the business of penning novels in today's publishing world. There are several essays focused on horror and suspense fiction, including chapters by Gary Braunbeck, David Morrell, Lawrence C. Connolly, Mary SanGiovanni, Tom Monteleone, Tim Waggoner, Tess Gerritsen, and, so many more. I contributed six pieces, covering everything from "the art of surprise" in horror to how to make writing workshops work best. I think this book is really something unique.

Many Genres will be in print in May! You might as well preorder it today if you want to get yours hot off the press, and get started on a book this summer. Here's the introduction and complete table of contents for your previewing pleasure (visit scribd.com, if for some reason you can't read the window below):

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: Introduction by Arnzen

We are keeping an active weblog about the book, featuring contributor profiles, bonus articles, and book news. I also hope to have guests appear on the "Instigation" department of The Goreletter as part of the title's Virtual Book Tour soon.

Currently orders can be placed at amazon.com and barnes and noble online with many more locations to come…

Better yet, please ask your bookseller to stock it! Here are the key specs:

Title: Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

Author: Edited by Michael A. Arnzen and Heidi Ruby Miller

Publisher: Headline Books Date: May 2011

Hardcover. 384 pages. List Price: $29.99 (US)

ISBN-13: 9780938467083

ISBN-10: 0938467085

Making Readers Squirm: Sensory Immersion Podcast

Last June, I went on a Summer Teaching Tour at various writer's workshops, and one of the highlights was my return as guest lecturer to the Odyssey, The Fantasy Workshop, run by Jeanne Cavelos annually at St Anselm College, in New Hampshire. My guest lecture topic at Odyssey was "Making the Reader Squirm: Sensory Immersion," which they have just released as a podcast on the Odyssey Podcast page (it is also available through iTunes).

In this lecture, I discuss ways that science fiction/fantasy and horror writers appeal to the reader's "sensorium" to generate a visceral effect. The class analyzed examples of how two very different writers went about describing an autopsy (one was from Michael Shea's "The Autopsy" and the other was from Dr. Ed Uthman's Description of an Autopsy), and though it's not on the podcast, the class also examined the tropes of horror in Black Sabbath's song, "Black Sabbath," in terms of how the song structures a horrific mood. It was a lot of fun.

Listen here.

I was also a guest at Odyssey back in 2007, when I lectured on "Humor in Speculative Fiction." You can still listen to that podcast here.

Writers who are looking for more instruction of this ilk should be on the look-out for Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, a large compendium of advice that I co-edited with Heidi Ruby Miller for Headline Books. It will be in print next month, and I'll be announcing preorder news shortly. It includes my article, "Tuning Up Your Writing," which expands on the ways that language can set a mood, through sonic effects…and several other pieces. Yesterday I shared the introduction on scribd.com.

Guest Blog at Disquieting Visions: "It Is Not What It Is"

Bonus blather: Head on over to Gail Z. Martin and crew's "Disquieting Visions" weblog, to read my guest blog essay, "It is Not What it Is"…where I rant about my dislike for this phrase, and the role of horror in dispelling such worldviews.

Gail is a terrific fantasy writer, and kindly invited me to contribute to the Disquieting Visions blog, as a sort of update to our very fun, chatty podcast interview she did with me about horror for her "Ghost in the Machine" series on her own website, shortly following the publication of my collection, Proverbs for Monsters. Her latest book is The Sworn.

Drop on by my guest blog and leave a comment if you're so inclined. If not, well, it is what it is, I guess.