Freakcidents (2005)

FREAKCIDENTS

Shocklines Press, 2005

Poetry Chapbook

Out Of Print

No ISBN, 52 pages

Description: "Character studies" of impossible mutants and imaginary sideshow freaks in dark and humorous poetry.

Limited Editions:

  • 26 Signed/Lettered Hardcover editions
  • 200 Signed/Numbered trade paperback editions.

Art by GAK

HighlightWINNER of the 2005 Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry

Order from:

Contents:

  • Umbilicile
  • The Scab
  • Genetic Defect Jennie
  • Test Tube Tommy
  • Soft Spot Sally
  • Mutant Marcus
  • The Conjoined Triplets
  • Triple Face
  • The Hairy Baby
  • Spiderboy
  • Girl Abandoned at Birth Raised by Rattlesnakes
  • Siamese Blood Brothers
  • Needle Baby
  • Woman Gives Birth to Full Grown Man
  • Boy's Heart is on the Outside of His Body
  • Born Every Minute
  • Werecat Wally
  • Mad Head
  • Polka Clots
  • A Personal Computer
  • Stripper
  • Freakshow Breakup
  • Freaky Deak’s Splatfall
  • Upon Suicidal Tendencies Among Sword-Swallowing Shellfish-Eating Circus Freaks
  • Claw Head
  • Venting Frustrations
  • The Incredible Edible Fred
  • Smoker
  • The Creep with No Head
  • Inside The Man With No Eyelids

Praise/Reviews:

"Welcome to the barbed brain of Michael Arnzen, where every axon is a steel trap, every dendrite a hid-den snare, every synapse a cul de sac, and every myelin sheath an elixir enabling us to find affirmation in ugliness and to smile whenever the dog eats God's homework." --James Morrow, author of The Eternal Footman

"I imagine that if the British poet Ted Hughes had written the Garbage Pail Kids those cards might have read very much like Michael Arnzen's Freakcidents. These poems are cruel and sad at the same time. These figures appall us the way those kids in school appalled us: if we possssed a modicum of decency at that age (always debatable), we didn't know whether to laugh at them or cry for them. They wore their scars on their sleeves. They saved us from being embarrassed by our own wounds." --Steve Rasnic Tem, author of The Man in the Ceiling

"The human scab, the boy with a face full of eyes, the self-eating man -- proof again that Arnzen's outrageous imagination is mainlining our culture's nightsweats to engender a beautiful aesthetics of monstros-ity. These poems are maniacally energized, transgressively funny, and perpetually haunted by the sad-dest awareness of all: freaks are us, only inside out." --Lance Olsen, author of Hideous Beauties

"Mike Arnzen's Freakcidents is a wickedly gleeful kaleidoscope of hideous horrors. And yet amidst all this colorful carnage, one will find a heart -- beating with sympathy, even affection, for the bizarre characters that make up this amazing poetry collection." --Mark McLaughlin, author of Once Upon a Slime

“Michael A. Arnzen, award winning poet and fiction writer, can always be counted on to approach the grotesque and the visceral with wit and, often, compassion….but be prepared: Arnzen doesn’t hold back, and his imagery is both visceral and explicit. Freakcidents is smart, nasty, and very well-written – horror poetry doesn’t get much better than this!” – Tim Pratt, Star*Line “Tight and succinct…visionary fragments, sharp little pictures that make your stomach squirm…in regular English, avoiding the pretense that consumes so many other poets.” –-Mikey Huyck, feoamante.com

“SCARY. Achieves in your face, punching rhythmical effects. Coupled with Arnzen’s vivid visuals…these rhythms are confrontational, leaving readers no place to run and hide.” --Clayton Couch, Sidereality Journal

“If you are not a fan of poetry, then you are missing a new transcending voice in horror…shit, literature, okay?” –-Mike Purfield, B-Independent Zine

Reviews Online:

BOOK ERRATA: Some early reviews report that this book was published by Dark Vespers Press; a publisher who went out of business before ever going to press. The manuscript was picked up quickly by Shocklines Press who published the only and authentic first edition in limited edition hardcover and trade paperback.

See also: Awarded Works | Mutants