You’ve seen it in every carny movie ever made. Now’s your chance to throw blades at the person tied to a spinning wheel. It’s simple, childish, time-consuming fun — like darts for the demented.
Archive for February, 2006:
Twisted Prompts for Sicko Writers
+ Place a deaf person in a burning building. First sentence: “(S)He didn’t hear the alarm.”
+ Place a wheelchair-bound character on a sinking ship.
+ Dramatize the methods of a “slow” serial killer.
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Instigation is a WEEKLY department in Hellnotes newsletter…who also now publishes a new online magazine of stories based on my prompts, called Wee Small Hours!
Extreme Makeovers
For your next movie night, rent:
Circus of Horrors (1960)
Seconds (1966)
Johnny Handsome (1989)
Abomin-nominations
Just learned that my poem, “Those Who Landed, Surprised to Discover that Zombies Had Taken Over the Planet,” is a nominee for a Rhysling Award in Short Poetry. The Rhyslings are one of the few genre poetry awards out there; it’s given each year by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. “Those Who Landed…” first appeared in Dreams and Nightmares magazine this past Fall, and subsequently reappeared in my chapbook, Rigormarole: Zombie Poems. As a member of the SFPA since 1987, I’m very jazzed to be a part of this.
Since I’m tooting my own horn with these abomi-nominations, I guess I can play another note. I’m overjoyed that my novel, Play Dead, and my poetry collection, Freakcidents, are both receiving recommendations for the 2005 Bram Stoker Award. It’s still too early to know if they’ll make it to any official ballots, but it truly is an honor to be recognized this way by the Horror Writers Association.
I’ve also been nominated by my wife as the 2005 “Man Most Likely to Take Out the Garbage,” so I better go give my acceptance speech to the rats….
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