My NEW short story collection, Proverbs for Monsters — a meaty omnibus of thirty of my best stories and over thirty of my creepiest poems — has become available for sale online at Horror Mall, Camelot Books, The Genre Mall, Realms of Fantasy Books, and directly from the publisher, Dark Regions Press.

Visit the Proverbs page on my website, gorelets.com for more information about this new book. The trade paperback is 300 chunky pages for only about $20; a limited run of hardcovers will be available soon, too, for $40.

It would be wholly inappropriate for you to give this book — or my CD Audiovile — to anyone for the holidays. — Mike Arnzen

I’ll be giving an encore presentation of the film based on my poetry and flash fiction, Exquisite Corpse, at Seton Hill University (Greensburg, PA) on November 30th, 2007, at 4pm in room 308 in the Administration Building. This event will also include readings of new work and a listening sample from Audiovile.

Open and free to the public. Information is available here.

11/24 Postscript: Congratulations to producer Jim Minton for winning another award for Exquisite Corpse: the “Best Visual Effects” award at the 2007 Sansevieria Film Festival! [Exquisite Corpse is now available on DVD. To purchase in the US send $15 + $2 shipping/handling via paypal to jiminton@swbell.net or mail a check/money order payable to Jim Minton to: Jim Minton Design Studio, 3339 Merrell Road, Dallas, TX, 75229]

11/26 Postscript: THE ROOM # FOR THIS EVENT IS ADMIN 308 (not 204 as reported earlier)

The server of my website, gorelets.com is now back online. Apologies for the outage experienced this past weekend (11/16-17). If you sent an e-mail during that period and have not received a response, you may need to resend.– Mike Arnzen

Author Scott A. Johnson has written a marvelous review of my cd, Audiovile, for Dread Central:

For anyone who has ever heard it said that horror is not an art form, Arnzen fires back with the proverbial “up yours,” making himself out to be a twisted Ginsberg for the horror fan, Kerouac for the demented, and a Dylan Thomas for those of us with a dark sense of humor. And no, I’m not exaggerating….what you have is something that listeners will be playing for their friends, prefaced by lines like “You have to hear this!” and “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard!”

If you haven’t heard it yet, you can sample Audiovile on myspace, or even download snippets on iTunes.

I spoke with acclaimed writer and cultural historian Michael Sims for the latest issue of REZOOM magazine, in feature story called “Oh, The Horror: It’s Good For You”:

Arnzen credits Mad magazine and the self-referential world of horror film with helping inspire his own ironic worldview. “Everything’s a parody to me — especially other texts. Sometimes I’ll recast the characters by putting pop celebrities in the roles. What if Britney Spears were Rebecca in this novel?” He narrates his short-short fiction and poetry with a dry, ironic tone, leaving the reader to decide whether to laugh at the horrific (but often farcical) events occurring on the page.

I highly recommend Michael Sims’ writing. I’m currently reading his book, Apollo’s Fire, which would thrill any science fiction fan; his book Adam’s Navel is a wonderfully playful and informative and discussion of body parts, which I know horror lovers everywhere will enjoy.

The winner of the Goreletter’s “Virtual Halloween Costume Contest” is author JAMES NEWMAN for his creepy family portrait.

I actually adored ALL the entries…so why did James win? Ultimately, it came down to the scenario of the photo. I liked the vampiric relationship implied by the couple, but it was the “eyeball with fangs” child that did it for me… it looks like something out of one of those Robt. Williams art pieces…and how can the kid breath inside that mask? FREAKY!

James wins a limited edition hardcover of my new book, PROVERBS FOR MONSTERS, as soon as I receive one (the trade paperback is now out), along with a DVD of EXQUISITE CORPSE and a collectible surprise.

Since I only got a limited number of entries to this contest, EVERYONE’S A WINNER and I will be offering a free horror chapbook/magazine from the Arnzen coffers to all entrants.

What?! You missed your chance? Well, subscribe to the e-mail edition of The Goreletter and you won’t miss out on things like this in the future!

Congratulations James. I hope your blood thirst has been quenched until next year. — Mike Arnzen

Kate Luce Angell’s wonderful profile on my work, “Little Things Mean a Lot in Writing Horror” was just published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It includes a good photo from my reading at Zombiefest and some great elements of our interview.

Excerpt:

“I’m interested in potent nuggets of narrative, and horror has always been a shorter genre,” he said. “Look at Edgar Allen Poe’s stories and poems.”

The little things also loom large in the subjects of his work, in which he finds the frightening in minutely observed, everyday details, like a janitor’s glove (or IS it a glove?) and a pair of too-real bunny slippers.

“I’d like to think I’m doing the same thing comedians are, exploring our hypocrisies through observational humor,” he said, adding that horror is often funny as well as fear-inducing. “I crack myself up all the time when I’m writing.”