Posted inArnzen News

Teachers of Terror Take Note

Dissections: The Journal of Contemporary Horror just released their May 2009 special issue on "issues of teaching the horror genre in the classroom."  Sure, I'm in there with a discussion of "learning objectives" in a horror course, but with essays like Doug Ford's "The Sublime Trials of Jack Ketchum: Teaching 'The Girl Next Door' in the Era of Torture P**n" and poems about classic movie actors by Bryan Dietrich, you know you're getting something as fascinating as it is educational.
June 14, 2009Posted inArnzen News
Posted inWeblog Exclusive

Write Horror at Seton Hill University

How cool is my University? The above image is a sneak preview of an ad campaign they'll be releasing soon for our graduate program in Writing Popular Fiction, where students can earn a Master's degree for writing a horror novel. Instructors include luminaries in the horror/fantasy genre you might be familiar with, like Tim Waggoner, Gary Braunbeck, Timons Esaias and Lawrence C. Connolly and many others. We're currently brainstorming "taglines" to go with the above image (like: "Don't fear commercial success.") so if you want to recommend any (before my meeting with the powers that be on 1/28), go right…
January 26, 2009Posted inWeblog Exclusive
Posted inArnzen News

The Roundtable of Terror

You can now listen to the *complete* roundtable conversation between Lawrence C. Connolly, Lucy A. Snyder, Gary A. Braunbeck and myself, recorded in late September 2008, called "The Business/Life of Writing Horror and Dark Fantasy". It's one of the best panels on the genre I've ever been a part of, in professional studio-quality audio. The discussion goes into very deep, and sometimes very funny, territory, really showing the complexity of the genre and where horror fiction is headed. Hosted by Doug Dangler at the Ohio State U Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, you can download it from…
January 18, 2009Posted inArnzen News
Posted inArnzen News

Arnzen Podcast with “Writer’s Talk” — airing on WCBE (Ohio NPR) tonight

Halloween approacheth. Look for the "Writer's Talk" series on WCBE (Ohio's NPR station), which will be airing interviews with Michael Arnzen, Gary Braunbeck, Lucy Snyder, and Lawrence Connolly each Wednesday in October. The topic is "The Business & Life of Writing Horror" and all of us had a blast together answering questions about this crazy genre of dread and terror. The Arnzen session airs tonight on WCBE (10/8/08) at 8pm, and I think it turned out really well. If you miss it, don't worry:  you should be able to hear the podcast online, provided by Doug Dangler and the Ohio…
October 8, 2008Posted inArnzen News
Posted inSnippets of the Strange

Notes from Horror 101

I just finished teaching a wonderful "Horror & Suspense Writing" course at Seton Hill University. Under my office door last week, I found a slip of paper from an anonymous student, who was writing down the weirdest of the wacky things that came out of my mouth during lectures and discussions. Here's a select few snippets of profound wisdom: On point-of view in horror fiction: "You shouldn't be writing in First Person Singular all the time...instead, try writing in First Monster Singular." Responding to a question about sexual perversion in horror fiction: "What do you mean?  Necrophilia is the safest…
May 16, 2008Posted inSnippets of the Strange