Shared Psychosis: An Interview with Sara Tantlinger

One of the things I enjoy about National Poetry Writing Month (aka "NaPoWriMo") is Gerald So's "30 Days of the 5-2" Crime Poetry blog tour. He asks poets and readers to contribute something for a calendar day related to his journal of crime poetry. I've participated in the past (and I also published a new piece at the 5-2 just last month for "Pi Day") but this time around I decided to do something different: conduct an interview. As luck would have it, I knew one of the recent contributors to the journal, because she's working with me as a…

Scary Movies (and More) by my Horror Writing Students (Spring 2013)

Since January, I have had the great fortune of teaching a 15 week course in Horror & Suspense Writing at Seton Hill University. As their final project, the students were asked to create a multimedia story. I am happy to share the great results below! Tyler Carter, "The Lost Man" (short film) Sarah Lago, "Eradicate" (short film) Sara Tantlinger, "When the Sky Turns Red" (short film) Michael Ingram, "Grave" (short film) Calvin Yoder, "Stuck" (short film) Jeannie Bujdos, "Germs" (short film) Jessica Walker, "Indulgence" (short film) Ashley Samek, "An Unexpected Guest" (short film) Brendan Monahan, "Sea of Bones" (short film)…

Outlaws At the Treffpunkt: the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly

In co-celebration of National Poetry Month with my friends at The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly, I'd like to take a moment to put the spotlight on a writer I am becoming fond of lately. His name is Angel Zapata. He doesn't know I'm doing this. And I don't know Angel at all. I only know him from a few pieces of writing I've seen online. And I think he's doing really interesting work. Angel Zapata strikes me as one of those guys who is writing for the love it. From my review of his website, I can tell that he…

Live from the “Poedown Throwdown” at DV8 11.10.2012

I had a wonderful time reading poetry alongside Stephanie Wytovich (who read a battery of amazing "psycho ward" poetry) at DV8 Espresso Cafe & Gallery in Downtown Greensburg, PA, this past weekend. It was standing room only, there were a lot of laughs, and weirdness was definitely in high abundance. Among other things, I got to share my current Mutterverse experiment, which featured a slideshow of strange images...until the power went out on the projector, that is. But I just continued reading in the darkness, which was perfect. Perhaps the highlight of the night was a "Poedown Throwdown" slam poetry…