Posted inArnzen News

Exploring Dark Short Fiction Series 2018: Kaaron Warren #2 & Nisi Shawl #3

Following up on the success of the first study of contemporary writer Steve Rasnic Tem, 2018 saw the publication of two new entries into the Exploring Dark Short Fiction Series published by Dark Moon Books: Primers to Australian author Kaaron Warren (#2) and -- just released this December -- Afrofuturist Nisi Shawl (#3). Smartly edited by Eric J. Guignard and gorgeously illustrated by Michelle Prebich, these books are an excellent way to get to know (or if you know them, to better understand) the pre-eminent writers of SHORT STORIES in the horror genre, because they feature five-to-six selected stories that…
December 23, 2018Posted inArnzen News1 Comment
Posted inArnzen News

Exploring Dark Short Fiction Series #1: Steve Rasnic Tem

Dark Moon Books, newly acquired and resurrected by Eric J. Guignard, has just released the first in a series of primers and tributes to significant horror writers working in the short fiction genre, called Exploring Dark Short Fiction. I am the current academic consultant, contributing analytical commentaries on every story and a longer essay on the significance of the writer's work. The first book is devoted to the great Steve Rasnic Tem, collecting six of his shorts (one new): "Hungry," "The Last Moments Before Bed," "In These Final Days of Sales," "Rat Catcher," "The Giveaway" and a creepy new original…
July 21, 2017Posted inArnzen News
Posted inAmbulations

At the Lindemann ‘Skills in Pills’ Exhibit in Dresden

My wife and I snuck away to Germany early in July to visit with family and old friends, and during our stay, we took a side trip to the former east to spend a few days in the city of Dresden. It's a fantastic city, brimming with festive nightlife partying in the streets of the "neustadt" and overwhelming with architectural beauty and the high life of the "oldstadt." In the midst of it all, I had an unplanned encounter with Till Lindemann. Till is not only the lead singer of the uber-metal group Rammstein, but also the author of On…
July 20, 2015Posted inAmbulations

[caption id="attachment_7245" align="aligncenter" width="612"]Originally posted on Notegraphy Originally posted on Notegraphy[/caption] The message above was my overwrought response to a question posed on the Science Fiction Poetry Association's mailing list, that asked: "Is horror a genre or an attribute of literature?" It's heavy-handed, but that's kind of why I like it, so I turned it into a notegraphy post. [I've been using Notegraphy with students in my flash fiction writing course this summer. Here's my profile and I think you can see (though you may have to be a member first) some of my students work here ] Postscript, 7/31: Thanks to Diane Severson Mori for referencing this post in her recent review of Chad Hensley's latest poetry book at Amazing Stories.

The Nature of Horror: Horror is a Church…
Posted inArnzen News

Horror 101 – New Book for Writers

Horror 101: The Way Forward has just been released by Crystal Lake Publishing, and if you're a writer on the dark side, I highly recommend it. As Mort Castle wisely notes in the book's introduction, this book is a successor, of sorts, to JN Williamson's classic writer's guide, How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and enters the canon of "essential reference" for the dark fiction author, alongside the HWA's On Writing Horror and Michael Knost's Writer's Workshop of Horror. It's a great collection of "advice from seasoned professionals" on how to sustain a career in the…
April 29, 2014Posted inArnzen News