Posted inArnzen News

I Survived the Arnzstigation

  For the second half of January, Jennifer Barnes, my editor at Raw Dog Screaming Press, challenged readers and writers and students to post weird writing exercises, short responses to my Instigation prompts, and reflections, comments and pictures as part of a week long series she called "Arnzstigation Days." Those who answered the challenge were listed on a web hub page and got to bear the bloody badge (pasted up above) with pride.  Neat and weird and humbling! It's kind of weird being the subject of a creativity challenge -- like a "roast" -- only in this case, I was…
January 31, 2013Posted inArnzen News

"Just imagine a number of men in chains, and all condemned to die, some of whom each day have their throats cut before the eyes of others. Those who remain see their own condition in that of their fellows and, observing one another with grief and without hope, await their turn. That is the image of the human condition." -- Blaise Pascal (died 1662)

Probably Why We Watch TV
Posted inBlather

Ten Contemplations on the Facebook Like Icon

1) Interesting. Everybody who "likes" me seems to be a latex glove fetishist. 2) I'm not pulling over, hitcher. I'm stepping on the gas. Oh no. Get out of the way! 3) Who's got your nose? 4) If this hand were bearing an unbuttoned sleeve, everything you liked would seem ...dirty. 5) The universal symbol for social approval in the 21st Century is a dismembered hand. I like that. But it's kind of overkill. Surely just a single digit would do. 6) A grammatical sin is committed by our passive acceptance of this plurality of "likes" -- that is, the…
January 30, 2013Posted inBlather
Posted inArnzen News

Arnzstigation Days end January 31st

I am honored by this heart-warmingly weird tribute that surprisingly erupted as a meme over on Facebook yesterday. Raw Dog Screaming Press is sponsoring a fun creative celebration called "Arnzstigation Days" in support of our successful funding of The Fridge of the Damned (for which all backers receive a copy of my upcoming story idea lighter fluid, Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side). It's basically a creative writing challenge and a call for memories of weirdness we may have shared. If anything from my classes, workshops or posts in the Instigation department of this website (or the prompts in…
January 24, 2013Posted inArnzen News