Michael Arnzen

NOW ON FLICKR! http://www.flickr.com/photos/gorelets/   WHERE AM I? | ¿noÊŽ ǝɹɐ ǝɹǝɥʍ Welcome to my haunted house in The Fiction Project neighborhood, organized by Art House Co-op.  In the months ahead, I, along with many others here on the site, will be posting pages from a handmade sketchbook that will contain a new short story and accompanying art on a randomly assigned theme I received in the mail:  "It's Not Easy Being Green". WHO ARE YOU? | ¿Ä± ɯɐ oɥʍ I am a professional horror author and writing teacher, who likes to explore and experiment with alternative media. I have won the Bram Stoker Award for "alternative forms" as well as for fiction collection, poetry and my first novel.  My recent books include Proverbs for Monsters and 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories.  I'm presently working on a non-fiction study called The Popular Uncanny.  I teach fiction full-time at Seton Hill University, which houses an MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. If you are a fellow dark dreamer, you might also be interested in the book, Writer's Workshop of Horror. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? | ¿sıɥʇ ƃuıop ı ɯɐ ʎɥʍ Horror writing is one of the most experimental of literary genres, but it is too easily packaged in predictable or conventional ways.  I like to challenge myself with public experiments like this sketchbook project to force myself to think differently and make new discoveries.  If you'll look in my "portfolio" page here, you'll see how I've tried to do this in the past, with my Gorelets poetry series and beyond.  I'm no "artist" in the traditional sense, and I can only imagine cruel uses for paintbrushes and tattoo guns (see my novel, Grave Markings), but I would say that trying to think like an artist  frees me....to unleash the weird stuff, more weirdly than I normally would.  I'm looking forward to sharing the results of my experiments here (click on "submission photos" above), and I do welcome your comments. WHAT ELSE CAN I SEE? | ¿ÇÇs noÊŽ uɐɔ ǝslǝ ʇɐɥʍ Browse around the Art House Co-op for some really impressive works of art.  If you want to see what else I am personally up to, come on by my website -- gorelets.com -- where there's art, stories, contests, blogging, and lots of weird surprises.  Enjoy!