THE GORELETTER:
Arnzen's Weird Newsletter
http://www.gorelets.com
+++ Vol 1.8, Mar. 3, 2003 +++
**Gorelish**
----
====BLATHER====
Blather. Wince. Repeat.
Revising the English Major
Anglish: The Speech of Suffering\\
Binglish: The Rhetoric of Friends\\
Dinglish: The Linguistics of Claims Adjustors\\
English: And Other Dead Languages\\
Finglish: How to Read Braille\\
Jinglish: Patriotic Wit during the War on Terror\\
Kinglish: The Language of Mad George\\
Minglish: Buck Rodgers' Guide to Alien Tongue\\
Oinglish: Australian for Beer\\
Penglish: Pittsburgh Hockey-speak\\
Quinglish: Scrabble Words for Profit\\
Ringlish: Translating Gollum\\
Singlish: Dating Codes and Customs\\
Tinglish: The Language of Love\\
Vinglish: What Rhames Really Means\\
Winglish: A Guide to McCartney's Cockney\\
Xinglish: Understanding Your Chinese Tour Guide\\
Yinglish: A Bartender's Guide to Beer Slur\\
Zinglish: Snappy Comebacks 101\\
[Don't get one? Don't ask me what it means... look it up!]
====INSTIGATION: TWISTED PROMPTS FOR SICKO WRITERS====
Freewrite a stream-of-consciousness
piece that muses on the color and
consistency of blood. But avoid the
obvious vampire or killer perspective--
start with a blank slate and move
toward developing an original scenario.
What did the cat drag in? Make it
disgusting.
If Hell were a travel destination, what
would a vacation there be like? Be a
tour guide for your characters -- or
describe it from the tourist's viewpoint,
from the moment they arrive.
====GORELETS====
Pecking Zombies
they nosh the corpse\\
meticulously pinching\\
at the buffet brain\\
with duckbill hand\\
gestures that cast\\
silly shadow puppets\\
upon the smeared wall --\\
the spectator child\\
never bats an eye\\
====NOT DEAD YET: PRINT REVIEWS====
Many people reading this are probably
familiar with the name Clark Ashton
Smith. His wonderfully creepy story,
"The Return of the Sorcerer" is a
classic contribution to the Cthulhu
Mythos that HP Lovecraft and his circle
constructed in the pages of Weird
Tales magazine. Yet Smith thought of
himself as a poet and -- indeed -- he
was a remarkably prolific and talented
poet of the fantastic.
In October last year, Hippocampus
Press released The Last Oblivion: Best
Fantastic Poems of Clark Ashton
Smith. If you haven't read Smith's
poetry, this is a great introductory book
to own and study (and if you're
studying up on Clark, I recommend
visiting eldritchdark.com). With a
superb introduction by the eminent
Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi and David
Shultz, the book collects Smith's most
important works from his fifty years of
writing, ranging from 1912 to 1962.
Smith was a brilliant imagineer,
constructing fantastic worlds with the
ominous voice of a dark Seer. It's the
voice of Smith that makes his creations
so damned believable...and scary. And
that voice derives a lot of its power
from formal structures of rhyme and
meter -- lyrical forms that few poets
today even dare tackle for risk of
sounding corny or artificial. Clark's
talent was his ability to tap into the
power of such forms, lending their
natural cadence a supernatural aura.
While it's true that his writing could be
called "purple" at times, the excess of
his style reflects the "spontaneous
overflow" of his wild imagination.
I'm usually impatient with long poetry
cycles, but reading Smith is like taking
a magic carpet ride through the skies
of nightmare. Among my favorites is
the opening poem -- "The Hashish
eater; or, The Apocalypse of Evil" --
which begins with a commanding voice
that will carry the reader throughout the
rest of the poem (and the book): "Bow
down: I am the emperor of dreams;/ I
crown me with the million-colored
sun/Of secret worlds incredible, and
take/Their trailing skies for vestment
when I soar,/Throned on the mounting
zenith, and illume/The spaceward-
flown horizon infinite."
When you read "The Hashish Eater,"
you probably won't notice that he's
writing strict iambic pentameter. You
probably won't recognize that he's
consciously working in the tradition of
the romantic poets (particularly
Coleridge and DeQuincey). Instead,
you'll be swept out of this world
altogether and delivered into the
palpably strange space of an imaginary
universe, where you can see "the
blooms/Of bluish fungus, freaked with
mercury/That bloat within the craters of
the moon."
Yes: freaked with mercury!
Typical Smith -- a visionary, true -- but
reading him makes you want to talk
with his tongue. I found myself
mumbling along as I read, needing to
feel such phrases in my mouth. And
that's just one exotic line in a poem
that runs about 500 lines (14 pages of
the 200 page book).
And there's so much more. Poems that
explore the settings from his prose
tales (like Zothique and Averoigne);
elegies to Lovecraft and Omar
Khayyam; must-read classics like "Ode
to the Abyss" and "Lamia" and "Nero";
and the touching love poems and
odes, like the "The Last Oblivion" itself.
There's even previously unpublished
works, drawings by Smith, and a
(necessary) glossary of strange terms.
Fans of Lovecraft -- it's time to take it
to the next level with Smith. Horror
poets, bow down before this "emperor
of dreams" and study at the feet of the
master. Smith is a challenging read at
times, but you'll find your very dreams
"freaked" with Ashton's imagery. Pick
up a copy for a mere $15 at:
http://www.hippocampuspress.com/
[Look for an exclusive discount on
Hippocampus Press books elsewhere
in this issue of The Goreletter!]
====OUR ODD TRIPLE FEATURE====
"Nazis Among Us"
For your next movie night, rent:\\
Marathon Man (1976)\\
Boys from Brazil (1978)\\
Apt Pupil (1998)\\
====ONLINE GIZMO OF THE MONTH====
"The Search for Satanic Lyrics"
No need to wear down your needle
playing those old record albums
backwards. Much like the "Search for
Intelligent Life" project online --
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
-- this silly gizmo uses the power of the
internet to help hunt for Satanic
messages in the lyrics of popular
music (eg., "Nevaeh Ot Yawriats!").
ssli.dimspace.com/
If you don't recognize the songs they
use, or if you're a budding dark
musician, perhaps Jay Lake can help:
jlake.com/reverse.html
====ARNZEN NEWS====
+ The e-letter you are reading has just
been added to the Preliminary Ballot
for the Bram Stoker Award in
Alternative Forms! I'm tickled as pink
as a freshly cut fish gill (Many thanks
to those of you out there reading this
with the power to make that happen).
See what else you should be reading
from last year here:
http://www.horror.org/stokers.htm
+ Look for "Amityville: Yet Another
Sequel" -- my short memoir on growing
up near the horror house -- in the next
issue of Morbid Curiosity magazine.
It'll be available at World Horror Con,
where a reading session is being
hosted by the magazine to include the
likes of me, Alan Clark, Brian Keene,
and other morbidly curious folk.
http://www.charnel.com/automatism/morbid.html
http://www.whc2003.org
+ Get your freak on! It's time to order
Freakcidents, my new poetry book
about mutants and other fiends, from
DarkVesper Publishing. If you pick up
Kurt Newton's acclaimed "Psycho-
Hunter's Casebook" while you're there,
you'll get a free mini-chapbook of extra
poems and stories by Kurt and I called
-- what else? -- "Freaks & Psychos"!
darkvesperpublishing.com
kurtnewton.com
+ I'll be attending the International
Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts
later this month. I'm presenting an
academic paper on The Exorcist,
(which I bet you didn't know is turning
thirty years old this year). I'm also
doing a fiction and poetry reading
(alongside the likes of Brain Aldiss and
Ted Chiang and David Sandner)
among other activities. I consider this
conference one of the "fringe benefits"
of working on the fringes of academia.
This year's theme is "Dark Myths" and
Ramsey Campbell, ST Joshi, and
Charles Delint are the special guests.
All smart Floridians are welcome to
attend:
http://iafa.highpoint.edu/
http://theexorcist.warnerbros.com/
+ Along with Piers Anthony and Mike
Resnick, I'll be judging the finalists in
the first Draco Awards. What's a
Draco? No, it's not a new James Bond
villain, silly. It's a hardcover & e-book
deal (now with a prize of $500!) from
Double Dragon Publishing for the best
book-length work entered in its genre:
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/
http://www.jamesbondmm.co.uk/bond-villains
====WEIRD SITES OF THE MONTH====
Creatures in my Head
http://www.creaturesinmyhead.com
Freakshows in my Pocket
http://www.thesoundoflincoln.co.uk/freak.htm
Voices in my Hand
http://www.voicesinmyhand.com
====NEW AT GORELETS.COM====
+ Jerry Schatz' is kindly allowing me to
archive a copy of his interview with me
(from the FlashFictionFlash newsletter)
on Gorelets.Com. Look under the "All
About Arnzen" section of the website if
you're interested in my thoughts about
flash fiction and my writing process.
+ The Goreletter is now ARCHIVED
ONLINE! Read the back issues you
might have missed here:
gorelets.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=goreletter
+ I've launched a new, simple,
newsletter for fiction writers, journalists
and editors looking for ways to make a
living off their wits. It started as a tip
sheet for the graduating journalism
majors where I teach and morphed into
this handy document full of fresh links.
gorelets.com/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi
========================
BOO COUPONS
It actually pays to scroll this far down.
SHOCKLINES.COM is giving
Goreletter readers an exclusive
discount on Clark's The Last Oblivion,
Lovecraft's Annotated Supernatural
Horror in Literature or any other BOOK
published by Hippocampus Press
presently in their stockroom. Enter
discount code GORELETHIPPO upon
checkout and you'll get $3 off. Go right
to the titles here (NOTE: only in-stock
books are eligible -- expires on April 1):
store.yahoo.net/shocklines/hippres.html
Take 10% off the new hardcover book,
CEMETERY POETS, by visiting this
hidden exclusive secret ordering page:
gorelets.com/demos/cempoesale.html
FLESH AND BLOOD magazine offers
YOU an exclusive discount! Subscribe
for only $12 ($4 off!) or pay just $3 for
one issue (1/2 off!). Make your check
payable to Jack Fisher and put the
word "GORELETTER" in the memo
field. For contact information, see:
fleshandbloodpress.com
FICTIONWISE.COM's 15% off page
for Goreleteers is updated weekly. This
week features books by Alan Clark,
Bruce Boston, Nick Mamatas, & more.
fictionwise.com/fwa/4004/
Are you a writer? Try WRITE AGAIN
manuscript organizing software and
get a 10% rebate when you register if
you tell them that Arnzen's newsletter
sent you! A very practical product.
http://www.asmoday.com/
====COLOPHON====
All material in The Goreletter is:
c 2003 Michael A. Arnzen, unless
otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to forward the
entire contents as a whole, without
alterations or excisions. For reprint
permissions of individual pieces,
please contact arnzen@gorelets.com.
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http://thesurrealist.co.uk/priorart.cgi?ref=The+Goreletter
====PITHY MORBID THOUGHTS====
"If my decomposing carcass helps
nourish the roots of a juniper tree or
the wings of a vulture -- that is
immortality enough for me. And as
much as anyone deserves."
-- Edward Abbey (died 1989)
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