Michael A. Arnzen's Blog: News from Gorelets.com, page 36

Play Dead in Common

Lots of little things going on, so I thought I'd post a bunch of random news all in one batch:

+ WD Prescott is running a neat contest on his website with a chance to win a signed copy of my out of print novel, Play Dead!

+ You can now order the 'spoon river horror poetry anthology,' Death In Common, edited by Rich Ristow, on amazon.com

+ Speaking of Rich Ristow, I might as well sneak a little news to you: he will be editing my next poetry book, tentatively entitled Blood Bath & Beyond!...

Pluck Your Last Drink Bird Head

Last Drink Bird Head: Flash Fiction For Charity

Awhile ago I got the strangest e-mail message from World Fantasy Award-winning author (and old friend) Jeff Vandermeer. It read:

Who is Last Drink Bird Head? Story, anecdote, 500 words. Don't Think: just write.

And I did. My story was but one of a long list of short-shorts that now appear in Last Drink Bird Head: Flash Fiction for Charity — with all proceeds going to proliteracy.org.

The results are pretty astounding, ranging from...

Morbid Curiosity Cures The Blues

I love this dangerous and disturbing book, and highly recommend it…especially if you're getting bored with the run of the same old mills:

Learn more…

Read that book. And if you're still hungry for more, and you can find back issues of the (now defunct) magazine that spawned this book, you might find my memoir of Amityville lurking in Morbid Curiosity #7.

Twisted Prompts for Sicko Writers (28)

Funereal Fun

+ Describe an operation or autopsy that transpires in total darkness.

+ Reveal a secret during an open casket funeral.

+ Discover a "pattern" among the gravestones.

***

Review the entire "Instigation" department for more prompts. You can share your writing here on The Goreletter by clicking on the 'comment' link.

Book Trailer — The Writer's Workshop of Horror

I am hearing reports that Writer's Workshop of Horror has already gone into it's 2nd printing. This collection of advice from today's top authors of terror — from Brian Keene to Joe Lansdale to Michael Laimo to many more — is a virtual college classroom in a book when it comes to the craft of the crypt. I'm recommending it to all my students in our MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program at SHU. But even if you're not a writer, where else, I ask, can you get such "behind the scenes" insight fr

Freaky Facepaint

We Have Band (You Came Out)

James Kuhn Facepaint Videos

World Body Painting Festival

Congrats to the Thriller Award Winners

The International Thriller Writers organization has announced their 2009 "Thriller Award" Winners. Congratulations to:

The 2009 THRILLER Awards:

Best Thriller Of The Year:

THE BODIES LEFT BEHIND by Jeffery Deaver (Simon & Schuster)

Best First Novel:

CHILD 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)

Best Short Story:

THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN by Alexandra Sokoloff (in The Darker Mask)

ThrillerMaster Award: David Morrell

Silver Bullet Award: Brad Meltzer

Bravo! As a new member of this organization, I wa

Pithy Morbid Thought Contest Winners Announced

For the record, the Pithy Morbid Thought contest has officially ended and prize-winners have been selected! Winners were announced live with much drama on twitter.com/MikeArnzen this morning. I assigned all entrants a number and used http://random.org to pull random winners out of the virtual hat, then announced as I went a long live on twitter.

Below are the prize winners (visit their websites if they provided them) along with links to information about the titles they won. Congrats one and all

Bizarro Alert: Borderline France

Hot on the heels of Skull Fragments, comes another appearance in France. Borderline magazine has just published Jerome Charlet’s French translation of my short-short, “The Cow Cafe” (Au Vachement d’Cafe) in their 13th issue.

Of import: this issue is focused primarily on the BIZARRO genre, and includes translations of work by such over-the-top and outre writers as Jeremy R. Johnson, Kevin Donihe, Andersen Prunty, Jeremy Shipp, Carlos Gardini, artist Maxime LeDain, and an interview with horror w

The Writer's Workshop of Horror

Learn from 30 terrifying masters

I'm pleased to appear in this brand new book of advice for those who want to improve their horror fiction, called order The Writer's Workshop of Horror (ed. Michael Knost, Woodland Press, Aug 2009). It's focused exclusively and deeply on the craft of scary storytelling, with a stellar line-up of contributors that include the likes of Clive Barker, Joe Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Keene, Elizabeth Massie, and too many more to list:  from grand m