Arnzen, Michael A.

Awards:

Proverbs for Monsters, Fiction Collection, 2007

Freakcidents, Poetry Collection, 2005

The Goreletter (email newsletter), Alternative Forms, 2003

Grave Markings, First Novel, 1994

Nominations:

100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories, Fiction Collection, 2004

The Goreletter, Alternative Forms, 2004

Gorelets: Unpleasant Poems, Poetry Collection, 2003

Paratabloids, Poetry Collection, 2000

BIO: Amityville-born horror writer Michael Arnzen currently holds four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his often funny, always disturbing fiction and poetry.  Aside from his novels, Grave Markings and Play Dead, the short-story collections Proverbs for Monsters and 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories collect the best of the minimalist horror and speculative flash fiction that he is especially known for.  Always experimenting, Arnzen’s work in the genre has appeared in everything from poetry magnets (Fridge of the Damned) and Palm Pilots (Gorelets) to playing cards (Play Dead) and moving pictures (Exquisite Corpse). He has also run a small press outfit called called Mastication Publications since 1991.

Arnzen holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Oregon and since 1999 has taught fulltime at Seton Hill University, near Pittsburgh, in their MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. He has mentored writers in the HWA and has taught sessions at many genre writing retreats, from Odyssey to Alpha.  He also has written helpful books for writers, including, Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side and, as co-editor, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction.

Arnzen has been an active HWA member since the late 1980s and continues explore the weirdness through his writing.  Follow him on twitter at @MikeArnzen to stay updated and to get strange poems when you least expect them. Extended biographical information and his award-winning newsletter, The Goreletter, is also available at: http://gorelets.com/about-michael-a-arnzen/