Archive for April, 2010



scrawling

by Michael Arnzen ~ April 11th, 2010

I’ve added a new area to the gorelets.com gallery, called “scrawl”, to share visual texts and art work that doesn’t quite fit anywhere. Drop on by.
Visit the Gorelets.com Gallery

2009 Stoker Award Winning Books

by Michael Arnzen ~ April 3rd, 2010

The 2009 Bram Stoker Award winners were announced by the Horror Writer’s Association at World Horror Convention in Brighton, England, last weekend. I read almost all of these titles and I can vouch that they are superlative reads. (In fact, I lauded Lucy Snyder’s poetry-winning book here in The Goreletter). See the HWA’s announcement for a complete list…congratulations to all the winners!

I contributed work to two of the books (though the editors, not me, rightfully get the awards!). These are pretty amazing books to be a part of, so I want to celebrate them here (and share some breaking news along the way as well):

He Is Legend

Tribute to Richard Matheson


The winner in this year’s “Fiction Anthology” category was He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson. It includes stories by myself, Gary Braunbeck, Nancy A. Collins, William F. Nolan (who also received a Lifetime Acheivement Award at this year’s Stokers), Joe R. Lansdale, and, okay, too many great writers to list. This hardcover book is notable among horror collectors because it features the first published collaboration between Stephen King and his son Joe Hill, who have since released it as a part of an audiobook package of novellas with Matheson called ‘Road Rage’. He Is Legend is a great anthology, and — here’s the news I promised: I’m pleased to share that the book has recently been picked up for a trade hardcover by Tor Books releasing this September, and will also soon appear in Italian and Japanese editions! [You can see the illustration Harry O. Morris did for my tale, "She Screech Like Me," in the gorelets.com gallery, by the way.] Congratulations to editor Christopher Conlon and publisher Gauntlet Press!

WWOH-1

Learn from 30 terrifying masters


The winner in the “Non-Fiction” category was a fantastic instructional book called Writer’s Workshop of Horror, which includes essays on the craft by a long roster of today’s best horror writers. A coterie of us who teach in the MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University — myself, Gary Braunbeck, Tim Waggoner, and Lucy A. Snyder — all contribute work. (This book also won a “Black Quill” award earlier this year for Best Dark Non-Fiction). If you write, you need to get a copy! CONGRATULATIONS to editor Michael Knost and publisher Woodland Press!

The Bram Stoker Awards are given by the Horror Writers Association. A complete list of this year’s Bram Stoker Award winners appears on their weblog, Dark Whispers.

Cool April Fool

by Michael Arnzen ~ April 2nd, 2010

Dark Regions Press pulled a cool April Fool prank yesterday when their newsletter announced the Crypt Keeper would now be their spokesman, after reading my book, Proverbs for Monsters

Dark Regions Press Newsletter Surprise

Neyahahahhahahargh!

My own April Fool’s scare was pretty lame. But you can still see it on my twitter profile.

Visit Dark Regions Press for all sorts of great books that ARE worthy of the Crypt Keeper’s time. I suspect their collection, Nostradumus’ Fate, will be out in the months ahead. Keep you’re eyes on this press….they’re doing great things. In fact, if you subscribe to their newsletter you not only get funky pictures like the one above, but massively generous discounts on their titles.

Ignorance Is Bliss (For The Mole People)

by Michael Arnzen ~ April 1st, 2010

“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”
- C.S. Lewis (died 1963)