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New Online Course: Treacherous Settings

"Treacherous Settings": Live Monday, Jan 31st 2022, 8 P.M. EST -- Horror University Online Also Available Asynchronously Following the Event! DESCRIPTION: In space, no one can hear you scream. Here there be monsters. Who’s behind the door? Settings can be as scary and surprisingly deadly as the creatures and killers who populate our books. From craggy caverns to undersea cities, haunted houses to alien landscapes, they can threaten characters with their very lives, and their inherent fear factor always offers a potential stage for delightfully dangerous action, creative conflict, and shocking surprise. In this 2-hour session we'll discover different methods…
A Holiday Video for You

A Holiday Video for You

https://youtu.be/GMVbWDjZ9hY Here's a seasonal reading of my short-short, "All Naughty, No Nice" (from the book, Collected Christmas Horror Shorts Vol. 1), and my expression of well wishes to all my friends and readers as we wrap up one hell of a crazy year. Kudos to all of you reading this. You survived. May your 2022 by the year of something grand, something new. Happy Holidays, Mike Arnzen
This Holiday Season Enjoy…The Filling

This Holiday Season Enjoy…The Filling

Happy Holidays to all my friends! I've got a new audio story out in a special Thanksgiving issue of The Wicked Library, called "The Filling." It should carry you over till the New Year. Enjoy all the pie. The Wicked Library is a professional podcast run out of Pittsburgh by Daniel Foytik of 9th Story Studios (producers of The Lift), and I'm proud to appear in their dark archives. This episode features Jeanette Andromeda as guest host, the story is read by the amazing actor and voice performer Graham Rowat, and there's also a musical score by Nico Vettese. While…
Halloween Season 2021

Halloween Season 2021

Image by Jeff C. Carter Happy harvest time, loyal readers, old friends and new visitors! October is always the busiest month of the year for horror fiends, and my Halloween season this year is no exception. If you've seen my events page, you know I'll be reading at such places as the Chatham University library and a PARSEC panel of horror writers, along with an outdoor session by the fire at the annual Seton Hill University English Club spooky story night. I'll be co-organizing a meeting of the Pittsburgh chapter of the HWA at the Horror Studies archive at U…
Creating Something From Nothing

Creating Something From Nothing

At the heart of creativity is innovation -- that is, the ability to originate, or to act on the impulse to make something new. I recently was interviewed by my friend in the creativity business, author Matt Betts, who I think of as an innovative writer because he channels his fannish glee for genre literature and movies into some very fresh takes on familiar tropes, often by mashing them together and seeing what happens. He's written some wildly imaginative novels for Raw Dog Screaming Press, is authoring a sasquatch series, and is continuing the saga of Carson of Venus from…