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Archive for September, 2009:


Scuttlebuggery: Soccer for Scarabs

Published by Michael Arnzen in Online Gizmo of the Month on September 27th, 2009

Scuttlebuggery is a stylishly steampunk online promotional game for the goth band Johnny Hollow, brought to you by the geniuses at My Pet Skeleton Productions (maker of “A Murder of Scarecrows” featured here awhile back).

In this game you play a scuttlebug — a round beetle who must figure out how to push bubbles of absinthe toward a drain, dodging beetles and fluttering moths along the way. It’s like soccer for scarabs. And though it sounds like child’s play, it is a Sisyphean challenge that will likely make you appreciate the vast labor of the insect world, scuttling all around us when we’re not paying much attention. Happy Halloween!

http://www.scuttlebuggery.com/

[Thanks to Blue Tea for calling attention to this game in their 4th annual Halloween Roundup.]

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Play Dead in Common

Published by Michael Arnzen in Data+Errata on September 25th, 2009

Lots of little things going on, so I thought I’d post a bunch of random news all in one batch:

+ WD Prescott is running a neat contest on his website with a chance to win a signed copy of my out of print novel, Play Dead!

+ You can now order the ‘spoon river horror poetry anthology,‘ Death In Common, edited by Rich Ristow, on amazon.com

+ Two of my critical essays on THE EXORCIST will appear in Studies in the Horror Film: The Exorcist, which promises to be a fantastic — if not the definitive — collection of studies of this seminal shocker, from the always exquisite publisher Centipede Press.

+ Dark Regions is previewing their upcoming book, Nostradamus’ Fate! A must buy.

+ Writers! Don’t forget Writer’s Workshop of Horror…already in its second printing, this book is fast becoming one of the most important ‘textbooks’ on how to write for the genre of the unexpected, by masters of the craft.

+ Do you subscribe to The Goreletter yet? If not, do so. A new issue mounts.

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Pluck Your Last Drink Bird Head

Published by Michael Arnzen in Arnzen News on September 24th, 2009
Last Drink Bird Head: Flash Fiction For Charity

Last Drink Bird Head: Flash Fiction For Charity

Awhile ago I got the strangest e-mail message from World Fantasy Award-winning author (and old friend) Jeff Vandermeer. It read:


Who is Last Drink Bird Head? Story, anecdote, 500 words. Don't Think: just write.

And I did. My story was but one of a long list of short-shorts that now appear in Last Drink Bird Head: Flash Fiction for Charity — with all proceeds going to proliteracy.org.

The results are pretty astounding, ranging from hilariously surreal to pensively chilling to deeply touching. The publisher writes: “Last Drink Bird Head is a blues musician, a performance artist, a type of alcohol, a town in Texas, and even a song sung by girl scouts in Antarctica. Contributors include Peter Straub, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brian Evenson, Henry Kaiser, Gene Wolfe, Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Rikki Ducornet, Holly Phillips, Stephen R. Donaldson, K.J. Bishop, Michael Swanwick, Ellen Kushner, Daniel Abraham, Jay Lake, Liz Williams, Tanith Lee, Sarah Monette, Conrad Williams, and Marly Youmans.” …over 80 writers in total! The design of this collectible is great (it even features a neat flipbook in the margins) and the cover art by Scott Eagle is phenomenal.

And if you preorder this book (shipping early November from Wyrm Publishing) you not only get a $5 discount, and a warming of the cockles of your heart for being charitable, but your book will also arrive signed by some of the contributors.

Don’t think. Just buy!

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Morbid Curiosity Cures The Blues

Published by Michael Arnzen in Snippets of the Strange on September 21st, 2009

I love this dangerous and disturbing book, and highly recommend it…especially if you’re getting bored with the run of the same old mills:

Learn more…

Read that book. And if you’re still hungry for more, and you can find back issues of the (now defunct) magazine that spawned this book, you might find my memoir of Amityville lurking in Morbid Curiosity #7.

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Twisted Prompts for Sicko Writers (28)

Published by Michael Arnzen in Instigation on September 7th, 2009

Funereal Fun

+ Describe an operation or autopsy that transpires in total darkness.
+ Reveal a secret during an open casket funeral.
+ Discover a “pattern” among the gravestones.

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Review the entire “Instigation” department for more prompts. You can share your writing here on The Goreletter by clicking on the ‘comment’ link.