Posted inArnzen News

Oh, The Horror: It’s Good for You

I spoke with acclaimed writer and cultural historian Michael Sims for the latest issue of REZOOM magazine, in feature story called "Oh, The Horror: It's Good For You": Arnzen credits Mad magazine and the self-referential world of horror film with helping inspire his own ironic worldview. "Everything's a parody to me — especially other texts. Sometimes I'll recast the characters by putting pop celebrities in the roles. What if Britney Spears were Rebecca in this novel?" He narrates his short-short fiction and poetry with a dry, ironic tone, leaving the reader to decide whether to laugh at the horrific (but…
November 14, 2007Posted inArnzen News
Posted inArnzen News

Little Things Mean a Lot: Arnzen in Post-Gazette

Kate Luce Angell's wonderful profile on my work, "Little Things Mean a Lot in Writing Horror" was just published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It includes a good photo from my reading at Zombiefest and some great elements of our interview. Excerpt: "I'm interested in potent nuggets of narrative, and horror has always been a shorter genre," he said. "Look at Edgar Allen Poe's stories and poems." The little things also loom large in the subjects of his work, in which he finds the frightening in minutely observed, everyday details, like a janitor's glove (or IS it a glove?) and a…
November 1, 2007Posted inArnzen News
Posted inArnzen News

Halloween Fever

Halloween Comes Early: [This just in: See the Post-Gazette article on this event.] I'll be attending Zombiefest in Pittsburgh this weekend (10/27-8) to kick off the Halloween-week frenzy early. I'll be presenting a reading on a panel with Greg Lamberson and Scott Johnson on Saturday at 2pm. Other guest writers include Gary Braunbeck, Max Brooks, Kim Paffenroth, Edward A. Holsclaw II, and the guys from Bloodtype Online. Zombiefest culminates in an attempt to break the world record in a zombie walk through the Monroeville Mall (setting for the original Dawn of the Dead) for charity. A Halloween Bargain: I was…
October 26, 2007Posted inArnzen News
Posted inArnzen News

Fear Zone on Audiovile

I really enjoyed reading Greg Lamberson's meaty review of my audiobook, Audiovile, which was published last night at the great new horror site, Fear Zone: "16 tracks of brain damaging terror. Stories like "Psycho Hunter," "Stabbing for Dummies," and "Six Short Films About Chauncey the Serial Killer" will have you alternately cackling and gasping. The brilliance of these tales -- amplified by Arnzen's pitch perfect delivery -- is that within the space of a couple of minutes, each one sets a grin on your face, then slaps it off, then kicks you in the groin and leaves you gasping (but…
October 23, 2007Posted inArnzen News