Posts by Michael Arnzen

Cemetery Dance magazine issue #55 has just been published and will soon be delivered to subscribers and a magazine rack near you. It features a story I co-wrote with Mark McLaughlin, called "Help Yourself" -- a surreal and humorous tale about a very strange 'self-help' bookstore that preys on its visitor's self-esteem. Artist Keith Minnion's great illustration for the story is viewable on his website. You can order a copy of the magazine from the Cemetery Dance website; check out the book, Poe's Lighthouse, while you're there!

I had a great time in Morgantown, WV, last weekend for a fiction reading alongside Alyssa Sturgill (author of the FANTASTICALLY sick and surreal book of short-shorts, Spider Pie). We commandeered the stage in the children's book section of their Barnes and Noble bookstore, to read our dark fiction to a good-natured audience. Fantasy writer Andy Duncan was in attendance and gives a full and funny report in the article on his weblog, "Horror in the 100-Aker Wood", with more photos. So do Jason & Heidi Ruby Miller, authors of the great guidebook, Pennsylvania Camping, and the publishers who sponsored…

My next book, LICKER, is now available for preorder from Shocklines.com for just $10. To be published in a limited edition of 150 paperback copies by Novello Publishers, LICKER is a comedic horror novelette about a boy who is having some difficulties controlling his tongue...and the growths that are forming on it...and the weird people at the carnival who are compelled to want a piece of it. In an early review, Horror World calls it an "over-the-top, gross-out laugh riot....Arnzen clearly had a lot of fun in trying to outdo himself, from the very first paragraph all the way to…

I'm happy to report that my book of mutant character studies-in-verse, FREAKCIDENTS, has just won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection! This is my third Stoker, and I'm jumping with manic joy. Thanks to all who have sent me kudos, and many thanks to the Horror Writers Association -- this is probably the highest honor for horror literature, and I honestly am humbled to receive it. You can read a transcript of my acceptance speech on gorelets.com if you are looking for something to help you go to sleep this evening. I don't have any…