Some bits and bites of news…
The new dark poetry webzine, Spiderwords, has posted a fantastic review of my Fairwood Press chapbook, Gorelets: Unpleasant Poems. Reviewer Geoffrey Goodwin writes:
In eleven lines or less, no line greater than eight words, Arnzen has created bite-sized bits of insistent terror…these poems are definitive and powerful as sexy as surgery. Bound by the little rules that shaped his dark vision, like Picasso embracing the constraints of the Blue Period or Cubism, these poems are stronger for their little glimpses into Arnzen’s febrile imagination.
Spiderwords is also running a fun contest for an essay about poetry. With all the wonderful poets and features, it’s really developing into a great magazine.
In other news, I just learned that two of my books from 2005 are officially on the Preliminary Ballot for the Bram Stoker Award: my novel, Play Dead, and my poetry collection, Freakcidents. It’s wonderful to be recommended for this award again. The final ballot will be announced sometime in April.
I took some time last weekend to update the Guestbook and the Refrigerator of the Damned on my site, gorelets.com. Please take a look-see, take ’em for a test drive, and leave me a note if you’ve got a moment.
I’ll be traveling to the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts next week (March 15-19, 2006 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL). The panel, “New Directions in Horror” will feature an academic discussion of my work in new media horror by Lawrence Connolly, Gina Wisker, and David Sandner. I’ll be respondent, along with delivering a paper that examines the way new media technology is represented in recent fiction and film (predominantly in Stephen King’s Cell, a story by David Schow from anthology Outsiders, as well as the films Cry Wolf, The Card Player, and Fear Dot Com). Should be fun. I’ve also got a fiction reading and a poetry reading scheduled. Come on by, if you’re in sunny Florida!