The Gorelets Omnibus collects all the bloody little bits of Michael Arnzen's poetry written in the past 10 years into one big volume. From the contents of the original Gorelets chapbook and his classic "refrigerator of the damned" online magnetic poetry experiment, to Arnzen's latest flash fiction and brand new Zombie Haikruel series, this collection chronicles his revolutionary vision for the horror short form. He even received a Bram Stoker Award for Alternative Forms for some of the work included in this book. As one of the first writers to recognize the creative capacity of handheld devices, Arnzen's pioneering work to deliver gory entertainment in as few characters as possible is still eminently relevant today. Thus, a "casebook of criticism"-a collection of scholarly analyses of Arnzen's unique approach to the genre-is included alongside the poetry. The hardcover edition contains more than 50 pages of must-have bonus material, including: the hard-to-find Martha Stewart parody, "Michael Arnzen Dying," additional haikruel you won't find elsewhere, unfinished poems and pieces no longer available on his website, the "Borelets" parody, and an impressive "horror poetry workshop" of instructional essays by Arnzen on crafting terrifying verse, alongside over 300 "twisted" writing prompts specifically intended to instigate weirdness.
Michael Arnzen (http://gorelets.com) is an award-winning author of horror and dark suspense fiction, a poet, and an English professor. His trophy case includes four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his often funny, always disturbing stories. The best of these appear in the Bram Stoker Award-winning career-length retrospective, Proverbs for Monsters, which Dread Central called "a guided tour of insanity and the macabre, with a few moments of touching grace combined with repulsive terror...[which] serves to document the evolution of a great writer."
Arnzen holds a PhD in English from the University of Oregon (where he researched his non-fiction book, The Popular Uncanny) and he is presently a Professor at Seton Hill University, where he teaches horror and suspense fiction in the country's only graduate program in Writing Popular Fiction (http://fiction.setonhill.edu).
Arnzen resides near Pittsburgh, PA, with his wife of many years, Renate, and a brood of deranged cats.
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"In a little over a decade, Michael A. Arnzen has achieved what few writers manage in a lifetime. He has become the master of a brand of literature that is uniquely his own, and I do not doubt that his approach to horror will soon (if it has not already) be referred to as 'Arnzenian.' When you begin an Arnzen story, you embark on a journey where the old maps do not apply. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory, barreling through landscapes more fascinating and twisted than any previously encountered. Be assured, you will be amazed, startled, amused, and creeped out along the way, but whatever the road has in store, you will not be able to stop reading until the story ends. Horrifying, captivating, ironic -- Arnzenian! -- the works of Michael A. Arnzen are in a class all their own. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride!" -- Lawrence C. Connolly, author of Veins
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