Michael A. Arnzen (born May 17, 1967) is an American horror writer. He has won the

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since 1 ...

three times.

Early life and education

Arnzen was born on May 17, 1967, in

Amityville, New York Amityville () is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village near the Babylon (town), New York, Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New Yo ...

. After a brief stint in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

overseas, where he began writing horror stories to entertain his fellow soldiers, he moved to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, where he began his writing career. Arnzen received the

in 1994 for ''Grave Markings''. Shortly thereafter, he earned a master's degree while working on his second novel, soon followed by his Ph.D. in English at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, where he studied the role of horror and

nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...

in 20th-century culture in a dissertation called The Popular Uncanny. ''100 Jolts'' (Raw Dog Screaming Press) features 100 of Arnzen's

flash fiction Flash fiction is a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the six-word story; the 280-character story (also known as " twitterature"); ...

stories. His short story collection, ''Fluid Mosaic'' (

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland, United States. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both tra ...

) collects his best stories from the 1990s. His poetry chapbooks include ''Freakcidents'', ''Gorelets: Unpleasant Poetry'', ''Dying (With No Apologies to Martha Stewart)'', ''Paratabloids'', ''Chew'', ''Sportuary'', and ''Writhing in Darkness''. His most recent published work is ''Play Dead'', a crime thriller with a

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

theme. Arnzen holds a Ph.D. in English and presently teaches graduate studies in Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction Program and undergraduate English courses at

Seton Hill University Seton Hill University is a private Catholic university in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Formerly a women's college, it became a coeducational university in 2002 and enrolls about 2,200 students. History The school was founded in 1885 by the Sist ...

Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city lies within the Laurel Highlands and the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau (ecoregion), W ...

. Arnzen runs Mastication Publications, an umbrella imprint for creative ephemera, chapbooks, collector's items and independently published ebooks.

Bibliography

Novels and novellas

*''Grave Markings'' (

Dell Books Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

2004, ) Winner, Bram Stoker Award Superior Achievement in a First Novel * ''Play Dead'' (

Raw Dog Screaming Press Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

, 2005) * ''Bitchfight'' (

Bad Moon Books {{Infobox company , name = Bad Moon Books, foundation = 1992, founder = Roy K. Robbins , logo = , type = Publishing, location = Garden Grove, California, USA, key_people = , num_employees = ...

, 2008) * ''Grave Markings: The 20th Anniversary Edition'' (

, 2014)

Short story and flash fiction collections

* ''Needles and Sins'' (

Dark Regions Press ''Dark Regions Press'' is an independent specialty publisher of horror, dark fiction, fantasy and science fiction, specializing in horror and dark fiction in business since 1985 founded by Joe Morey. They have gained recognition around the world fo ...

, 1993) * ''Fluid Mosaic and Other Outre Objects D'Art'' (

, 2001) * ''100 Jolts'' (

, 2004) * ''Proverbs For Monsters'' (

, 2007) Winner, Bram Stoker Award Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Poetry collections

* ''Freakcidents'' * ''Gorelets: Unpleasant Poetry'' * ''Dying (With No Apologies to Martha Stewart)'' * ''Paratabloids'' * ''Chew'' * ''Sportuary'' * ''Writhing in Darkness''

Non-fiction

* ''Many Genres, One Craft'' (Co-Edited by Michael A. Arnzen and Heidi Ruby Miller) (

Headline Books The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...

, 2011) * ''Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side'' (

Mastication Publications Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, th ...

, 2013)

References

External links

Michael Arnzen's official site

Raw Dog Screaming Press

Pedablogue
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnzen, Michael American horror novelists 21st-century American novelists People from Greensburg, Pennsylvania University of Oregon alumni Seton Hill University Living people Novelists from Pennsylvania People from Amityville, New York American male novelists 1967 births 21st-century American male writers