Stoker 2004 Update

The winners of the 2004 Bram Stoker Awards were announced last weekend. Alas, this newsletter and my fiction collection, 100 Jolts -- which were finalists -- did not earn the trophy, but the old cliche is true: it truly was "an honor to be nominated" by my peers in the horror field. There are several highlights in the winner's list, and I applaud everyone. But I think I'm clapping loudest for Hellnotes newsletter, which won the Stoker for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction. As many readers of The Goreletter know, I contribute a weekly version of "Instigation: Twisted Prompts for Sicko…

Rigormarole Details

Just a quick note to say that my wacky zombie poetry collection Rigormarole is now up for advanced orders on the publisher's website and at my favorite online bookstore, Shocklines.com, for $9.95. It'll be a signed/numbered limited edition of 250 copies, currently on track for a July release. Update: Horror-Web just posted an excellent review of the book: "An eclectic and often inspired collection...Arnzen provides for both those who love zombies and those who are sick of them, because you cannot help but laugh at some of these while being amazed at the zen-like depth of others." You can also…

Driving the Sick Elephant: Free Audio File

Break out your "Die"-pod! You can now download and listen to me perform a spoken word piece called "Driving the Sick Elephant." It's pretty slick, coupled with some pretty wild music, self-recorded in the studio. A short sample is available to play online at gorelets.com, along with the complete file to download and the lyrics. You'll find it halfway down the "writing/previews" page at gorelets.com. Or if you just want to download the file right away, (click here (warning: it's 3.8 megabytes). Update: you can play it below! [audio:Michael%20A.%20Arnzen%20-%20Driving%20The%20Sick%20Elephant.mp3]

Coming Soon: Rigormarole!

Naked Snake Press is publishing Rigormarole later this summer! Here's the description from the back cover: Why do zombies lumber? What is the Resurrectal Cortex? What lurks in the Home Depot of the Dead? RIGORMAROLE is a score of poems for the walking dead by Michael Arnzen, the award-winning author of Grave Markings and Play Dead. Featuring original sketches by John Skipp, splatterpunk godfather and editor of Book of the Dead. "Reanimated flesh, cannibalism, brain succotash...the stuff that great poetry is made of! Mike Arnzen fuses humor and gore with a poetic sensibility to create his own fun subgenre! Come…

A Good Enough Box

He wants to put his head inside a cardboard box to keep him company. But it's problematic. Getting the right-sized carton is proving difficult because they make them for hats not heads, and he tumbles and thuds inside every one he's tried so far, bruising him ugly. Then there's matter of which side to face up since sometimes he doesn't want to look him in the eyes when they talk and at other times he wants to pull him out by the hair and pretend it's his birthday. And the cardboard is weak and the bottom keeps getting so soggy…