Posted inArnzen News

Attention Ebook Readers: Fictionwise.com to Close Shop

If you've been reading my ebooks since the early days (e.g., pre-Kindle), then there's a good chance you got them through Fictionwise.com -- one of the first successful ebook distributors, known for offering a wide array of genre fiction -- especially individual short stories -- for a very affordable price. You may have already known that they were "bought out" by Barnes and Noble a few years ago, to help support B&N's offerings for the Nook e-reader. Yesterday I was informed that I should backup all my own purchases and get ready for the site to close down. They have…
November 16, 2012Posted inArnzen News
Posted inArnzen News

To Write Well…

The following is an excerpt from the front page of my Fiction Writing syllabus at SHU, which I posted to scribd and soundcloud as part of the course. I was surprised to find out tonight that it was highlighted as a "Featured Document" by scribd.com! Neat. To Write Well Here's the audio version, recorded for the students in the class to respond to. Teaching does take time away from my writing, but it's just as rewarding to me, and it's fun to share in the students' creative spirits. Our class is going to be doing a lot of experiments with…
August 22, 2012Posted inArnzen News
Posted inWeblog Exclusive

On the Irrelevance of Genre Poetry [Live]

At the fun "Raw Dog Screaming Press Book Party" at the Morgantown Poets group in West Virginia last month, I opened my reading by sharing a piece I'd written for Locus Magazine, a poem about why I write poetry, which I contributed to their running Roundtable series on speculative poetry.  Here's my recitation of "On the Irrelevance of Genre Poetry," recorded during the reading. I don't often write things like this -- an opinion essay told in the form of a poem -- but the audience really seemed to laugh and also get charged up by the poem. Press the…
June 7, 2012Posted inWeblog Exclusive1 Comment
Posted inArnzen News Weblog Exclusive

“Scary Things”: An Address to the Class of 2011

[Here's a video of the speech cited below, posted by my friend, photographer/designer Bruce Siskawicz] "Scary Things" Professor of the Year Acceptance Speech by Michael A. Arnzen Seton Hill University Honor's Convocation Friday, May 13, 2011 President Boyle, Provost Gawelek, distinguished members of the stage, cherished faculty colleagues, dear staff, close friends and -- most importantly -- future alumnae of Seton Hill University…I thank you all for this dubious honor. I also want to thank two other major figures in my life, without whom I would not be here today: first, my wife, Renate, who chose to move from Germany…
May 13, 2011Posted inArnzen News, Weblog Exclusive5 Comments
Posted inArnzen News

Winter Chills: Arnzen Interview with Non-Horror Reader Survey

Like reading, but don't really like horror fiction? WD Prescott, is running an interesting website bluntly called The Non-Horror Reader Survey that is studying what today's readers think about the modern horror genre. It features interviews with various readers, writers, and scholars, along with a research questionnaire you can fill out, if you want to participate. It's an interesting idea and you should chime in and get the discussion going. Prescott interviewed me this week. See "Winter Chills with Mike Arnzen". I talk about The Popular Uncanny, teaching horror in college, horror's relationship with humor and poetry, and all sorts…
December 22, 2010Posted inArnzen News