Book of Lists Bonus: “The Hands of Horror”

THE BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR (edited by by Amy Wallace, Del Howison and Scott Bradley for Harper Paperbacks) is hitting the bookshelves across the country this week. It's a knockout collection of lists both quirky and informative, about all things horror, featuring an amazing roster of horror authors and filmmakers -- from Stephen King to Eli Roth -- between its covers. You won't want to miss it...and you can order it now from amazon.com. My contribution to the book is an annotated list of "The Top Five Horror Colleges" -- something you'd never find in the US News & World…

Horror is a Worldview: Arnzen Interview at Zombie Mall

Brian "Brains" Hardin asks me some deep questions about my audio cd, Audiovile, on the blog for his neat horror shop, the Zombie Mall. Here's an excerpt: Q: How do you cope with those people in your life that just don’t get it? Truth is, most people CAN be persuaded. First I try appeal to their reason: since horror is about fear, it is about humanity. If that doesn’t work, I try to educate them: many classic works of literature are horror stories. If that doesn’t work, I go for the gross-out joke. But there’s always going to be somebody…

Interview with the Tombkeeper!

"Tombkeeper" JL Comeau interviewed me on video at the bleary-eyed end of this year's HorrorFind Convention, and our conversation is now available on the fabulous Count Gore de Vol website. Here's the interview, care of Vimeo: Meet Author Michael Arnzen from Gore De Vol on Vimeo. It was great getting to meet Judy and the Count Gore crew. (Judy also just posted a knockout review of Proverbs for Monsters on her section of the site, as well). Count Gore, if you didn't know it, is not only a staple of HorrorFind weekend, but also the vampiric host of the old…

Work is Having Fun

A profile on my writing and teaching career, called "Horror Writer Does his Best Work Having Fun" was just published in the newsletter of the Textbook & Academic Authors Association. Their web site is for members only but they've kindly shared a .pdf file of the feature story that the public can read. Here's a short excerpt: Arnzen also credits his success with taking creative risks. “This is another way of saying I don’t mind embarrassing myself,” he said. “Genres rely on conventions and expectations, so many writers err on the side of repeating what’s been done before.” Arnzen said…