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| Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 | | 12:59 pm |
Doorways Interview/Bruce Boston & Marge Simon
Marge Simon is a past president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association (www.sfpoetry.com/) and is currently the editor of its journal Star*Line. Besides penning poetry -- “Variants of the Obsolete” won the long category Rhysling Award in 1996 -- and fiction, Marge is an artist and illustrator whose creations have graced the covers of more than 100 publications. Her most recent books include Vectors: A WEEK IN THE DEATH OF A PLANET*, a poetry collaboration with Charlee Jacob (Dark Regions Press, 2007), the flash collection Like Birds in the Rain (Sam's Dot Publishing, 2007), and Night Smoke, her collaboration with husband, Bruce Boston (Kelp Queen Press, 2007). Marge Simon’s website is: hometown.aol.com/margsimon/
When it comes to the who’s who of speculative poetry, Bruce Boston’s name tops the list. Not only has he won an unprecedented seven Rhysling Awards from his peers at the SFPA, but was also awarded their first Grand Master Award in 1999. In addition, he has received the Pushcart Prize, five Asimov's Readers' Awards, and two Bram Stoker Awards (most recently for his poetry collection Shades Fantastic, Gromagon Press, 2006) from the Horror Writers Association. Besides Night Smoke, Bruce’s most recent publications include the dystopian novel The Guardener’s Tale and the flash collection Flashing the Dark, both from Sam’s Dot Publishing (2007, 2006). The Nightmare Collector, a new book of Bruce’s poetry, is forthcoming from Doorways. Bruce Boston’s website is: hometown.aol.com/bruboston/ Bruce and Marge live in Ocala, Florida. Stephen M. Wilson: The most obvious question to open with is: How did the two of you meet? Marge Simon: We “met” in the early 1980s when I was editing various publications of the Small Press Writers/Artists Organization. I loved Bruce’s work, and he added me to his list of fans. In person, we met when I was president of the SPWAO and he was GOH at our first and only conference in Albuquerque, 1989. Bruce Boston: I’m afraid Marge’s memory is slipping. She’s older than I am, you know? We first met in an extended dream sequence when we were twenty-two and twenty-two-and-a half-years old respectively. Stephen: What is your take on conventions? Do you attend more for business or pleasure? What do you learn at these events? Marge: I like conventions. I went to a couple a year until marrying Bruce -– and 9-11 restrictions made air travel less than pleasant. In Florida, we have friends and fellow poets who attend and it’s great to get together with them at Oasis and Necronomicon. Of course, we also want to promote our books and the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Bruce: I can’t stand the bloody things. A bunch of geeks in funny costumes. Others singing silly songs. And still more of them maniacally playing childish games that most intelligent twelve-year-olds have outgrown. Lots of surplus population there, for sure. I go to genre conventions because for some inexplicable reason, a number of my friends are also in attendance at these ridiculous events…and you can sometimes encounter other writers who actually have something to say. Stephen: This has been a busy year for the two of you with Bruce’s second Bram Stoker Award win for poetry (Shades Fantastic), Star*Line’s 30th Anniversary and the release of Night Smoke, The Guardener's Tale, Like Birds in the Rain, and The Nightmare Collector. How do you find the time? Marge: I thrive on multi-tasking. I like to have several things going at the same time and I function best that way, always have. Bruce: Time is elastic in its periodicity, evanescent in its flight, elongated in its articulation. Ka-ching! Stephen: What are your day jobs? Marge: I retired from teaching art two years ago. Not that I was any less busy then than now! Bruce: I’m also retired. To get to this point, I’ve worked as a bibliographer, a computer programmer, a college professor, a technical writer, a copywriter, a furniture mover, a gardener, a retail clerk, a movie projectionist, a book buyer, a ghostwriter, and a reference book writer. That’s right, I couldn’t hold down a job. I figure that in another six months I won’t remember any of this. Stephen: Marge, as a past president of the SFPA, and current editor of its journal, Star*Line, as well as the poetry columnist for the HWA Newsletter, what do you think the importance of organizations such as the SFPA and HWA are for writers? Marge: I think the SFPA has far more to offer to poets of the fantastic (sf/h/f and speculative) than the HWA, but you asked specifically about writers. Many poets (like Bruce and me) are also writers. Many of us worked hard to get poets accepted into the HWA, and even though previous powers in office have tried to get poetry voted out of Stoker competition, or qualification for membership, it survives. I can’t address how the SFPA helps writers because it is for poets. I can say that I have a column in the HWA Newsletter for Dark Poets, which showcases essays by guest poets. If you want to improve your writing, you might explore what the SFPA has to offer. If you know something about genre poetry, it will open up new avenues for your creative exposition. Stephen: Bruce, your thoughts on that? Bruce: Writers organizations, manned mostly or entirely by volunteer labor, stumble along, generally take two steps forward, one back, and an occasional step sidewise. They often change directions completely when a new crop of volunteers takes charge. They are often rife with pointless tempest-in-a-teapot conflicts. That said, SFWA, SFPA, and HWA all serve writers and poets, such as setting pro rates of payment, auditing publishers whose honesty is in question, and promoting the fields they represent. (Stephen, where did you get these questions?) Stephen: You’ve both collaborated in the past with each other, most recently on the poetry collection Night Smoke (Kelp Queen Press, 2007), as well as with other writers [Bruce’s 1989 collaborative poem with Robert Frazier, "Return to the Mutant Rain Forest", was voted “Best All-Time SF/Fantasy/Horror Poem” in a recent Locus Poll]. How do you decided on when to collaborate and who with? Marge: When the mood strikes me. Perhaps I’m working on a poem or flash fiction and not making any progress. I’ll share it with Bruce, if he’s up for it. Or someone else whose work I think would mesh with my ideas. This also goes for art. For example, I’d done a series of paintings of otherworldly creatures that seemed very real to me. I don’t know where they came from. I shared some with Malcolm Deeley, and the next thing we knew, we had started a saga with his responses to my artwork. Both of us took off writing short fictions and poems to match the voices of the characters. We hope to have Legends of the Fallen Sky completed by the end of this year. Bruce: Marge has collaborated far more and with more different writers than I have. Many of my collaborations have consisted of taking a story or poem that is incomplete by another author, finishing it, and making it work. My truest collaborations, in which both writers pass a piece back and forth, making changes and additions until they are both satisfied, have occurred on occasion with Marge, but most often with Robert Frazier with our poetry and fiction set in the world of the Mutant Rain Forest. Stephen: As a married couple, are the collaborative processes easier with each other than with other writers you’ve each worked with, or harder? Marge: Piece of cake. I write, Bruce writes, Bruce edits. Works for us! Bruce: She got that one right! Stephen: And what about that Locus Poll? Where either of you surprised that “Return to the Mutant Rain Forest” beat out Poe? Marge: I’ll let Bruce answer this because he speaks for both of us -– we’ve already discussed it. Bruce: I put about as much stock in electronic voting in most online polls as I do in the results of our last two Presidential Elections. Less than one hundred people voted in the Locus Poetry Poll, and on top of that, Locus, by its own admission, somehow managed to lose two-weeks worth of votes. And Locus isn’t even in Florida or Ohio! On the other hand, “Return to the Mutant Rain Forest” is a brilliantly realized SFnal vision. Check it out for yourself. http://chizine.com/return_to_the_mutant_rain_forest.htm Stephen: If I ever happen to be in Ocala, where do you suggest I go to get a bite to eat? Marge: Certainly you’d be welcome to visit, but then we’d take you to Rhondo’s, Harry’s Bar & Seafood, or Reno’s for southwestern fare. Rhondo’s is privately owned by a giant, and he serves giant portions from a huge selection. I always get a take-home box. Bruce: I always head straight for the Golden Arches, unless the Forest People are having a possum roast. Some mighty-good-eatin’ possum here in North Florida. Matter of fact, I think I can smell some cooking right now. Sorry, gotta run. *Winner of the 2008 Bram Stoker Award for Poetry Collection (tied with BEING FULL OF LIGHT, INSUBSTANTIAL by Linda Addison). | | Friday, February 1st, 2008 | | 8:38 pm |
Doorways Magazine - poetry submissions open Feb.1-March 15 DOORWAYS MAGAZINE IS NOW CLOSED TO POETRY SUBMISSIONS. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ENTER THE CONTEST. THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO JUNE 15. GUIDELINES ARE AVAILABLE HERE: http://doorwayspublications.com/Thank you, Stephen M. Wilson Poetry Editor *** I am now accepting poetry submissions for issues 9-12 of Doorways Magazine. Doorways is a "Journal of Horror and The Paranormal" so please keep that in mind when submitting poetry. Horror poetry should lean more toward the supernatural. Possible subjects: death, ghosts, UFOs, séance, tarot, psi, numerology, EVPs, distant viewing, secret societies, cryptozoology, fairies, angels—basically anything that fits under the broad "paranormal" heading. When using tropes, please be original. Science fiction and surrealism are acceptable as long as the poem is horrific or paranormal in nature. Doorways is open to any length poem, but prefers under 30 lines. Submission period Feb. 1st - March 15th 2008Please do not send submissions outside of these dates. Send submissions to DoorwaysPoetry@... (DoorwaysPoetry at yahoo dot com) and please address to Stephen M. Wilson.
Subject line should read: "DW SUB: Poem Title/Last Name"Paste poem in the body of the email and also include as a .doc or .rtf attachment. Send as many submissions as you like but please send each one as a separate email. I will respond within two weeks to let you know that your submission has arrived and will strive to let everyone know if their poem is accepted or not and which issue it will be appearing in if accepted by May 1st 2008. We will only be accepting a handful of poems per quarterly issue. Compensation is .50 a line and 1 contributor's copy. Thanks, Stephen Doorways Magazine: http://doorwayspublications.com/ | | Friday, January 18th, 2008 | | 10:35 am |
Doorways #4 Holiday Issue
Doorways Magazine #4 "Killer Holiday Issue" is now available for purchase. The Featured Poet is John Edward Lawson (includes an interview and three poems). This issue also features holiday themed poems from Michael A. Arnzen, Deborah P Kolodji, Bruce Boston, Marge Simon, John Edward Lawson, James S. Dorr and Terrie Leigh Relf, and fiction from Wayne Allen Sallee, James S. Dorr, Stephen Graham Jones, Bruce Holland Rogers, Stephen Mark Rainey, LH Maynard & MPN Sims, Eric Enck, R. B. Payne, Lee Thomas, John Everson, Joel Arnold, Nicholas Grabowsky and Slasher Contest winner Benjamin Kane Ethridge. Copies are $6.75 plus shipping ($1.25) and are available here: http://www.doorwaysmagazine.com/news.php Issues 1-3 are still available. | | Sunday, November 11th, 2007 | | 12:49 pm |
Doorways Interview w/Deborah P Kolodji  Deborah P Kolodji and Stephen M. Wilson
Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
September 30, 2007 Deborah P Kolodji is the president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and a member of the Haiku Society of America. Her poetry has been widely published in a variety of magazines and journals including MODERN HAIKU, STRANGE HORIZONS, DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES, FROGPOND, SIMPLY HAIKU, THE MAINICHI DAILY NEWS (Japan), ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK (Japan), STAR*LINE, TALES OF THE TALISMAN, TALES OF THE UNANTICIPATED, THE MAGAZINE OF SPECULATIVE POETRY, ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER MAGAZINE, POETPOURRI, PEARL, POETIC DIVERSITY, ECLECTICA, GIN BENDER POETRY REVIEW, and many other places.
Gravitating to short form poetry, she is the editor and co-founder of AMAZE: THE CINQUAIN JOURNAL. Kolodji has published four chapbooks of poetry, two of speculative poetry. SEASIDE MOON by Saki Press, her chapbook of mainstream haiku, was one of the winners of the 2004-2005 Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award. UNFINISHED BOOK, a chapbook of mainstream cinquains, haiku, and other short poetry was published by Shadows Ink Publications in February, 2006. SYMPHONY OF THE UNIVERSE by Sam’s Dot Publishing, April 2006 was her first chapbook of speculative poetry and RED PLANET DUST, Gromagon Press, July 2006 and illustrated by Malcolm Deeley, was her first chapbook of speculative haiku.
Stephen M. Wilson: How did you go from writing, editing, and publishing mainstream poetry to being president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association?
Deborah P Kolodji: My roots are in speculative poetry. In high school, I wrote some Star Trek poetry. After college, I didn’t write poetry for about ten years, concentrating my energies on my IT career, my marriage and my children. When I divorced in 1992, I started writing again – those first poems were about geological cataclysms – earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, calderas, etc, and they were almost all about divorce and/or failed relationships. I sold one of those poems to Star*Line in the early 1990’s – it was called “Cal Tech Divorce Study.” Some of the geological poems ended up in speculative venues – others ended up in mainstream journals. I’ve always written and published a mix of speculative and mainstream poetry.
I don’t see my speculative poetry and my mainstream poetry as separate entities. I think that some poets pigeonhole themselves into being a “speculative poet” or a “mainstream poet.” I consider myself simply a poet. I write mainstream poetry, haiku and tanka, science fiction poetry, fantasy poetry, horror poetry, science poetry, technology-based poetry, and any other type of poetry that the particular poem I’m trying to write needs to be. I participate in more than one poetry community. I’m a member of the Haiku Society of America (http://www.hsa-haiku.org) and the leader of our local haiku group, the Southern California Haiku Study Group (http://www.socalhaiku.org).
Recently, Samantha Henderson and I have launched a local quarterly workshop group of mostly SFPA members called the Southland Poets of the Fantastic (http://spf-news.blogspot.com). I’m also a regular at “Monday Night Poetry” http://home.earthlink.net/~mondaynightpoetry/) - a local poetry reading which meets twice a month at a branch of the Pasadena Public Library. The host, Don Kingfisher Campbell, launched an annual science fiction and fantasy poetry reading last year. This year, he’s producing an anthology to coincide with the reading. The contributors include well known names from the speculative poetry community as well as familiar names on the local Los Angeles poetry reading circuit. I spoke with one of those poets from the latter group at the last Monday night reading, who felt challenged by the idea and was thrilled that she had written her first “fantasy” poem. Unfortunately, I did not see her list on the final list of contributors.
One of my goals as president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association is to attempt to break down some of the walls between these separate poetry communities. There is richness in each poetry community and things we can all learn from each other.
Wilson: What do you think can be expressed in spec and horror poetry that cannot in mainstream poetry?
Kolodji: Science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry allows us to express our most fantastical thoughts, our deepest fears, and our wildest dreams and speculations. It opens the door beyond merely writing about what IS to exploring our thoughts about what could be.
It also allows us to tackle more controversial subjects by constructing modern fables to draw attention to a problem by drawing the mind first in a different direction, a different look at the problem. Wilson: What was the first poem of yours published and in what publication?
Kolodji: Several of my teenage “Star Trek” poems appeared in Star Trek fanzines and newsletters during the 1970’s under my maiden name.
The first poem I ever published outside of the fanzine world was a humorous rhymed poem about the gasoline shortage. This appeared in two newspapers – the Long Beach Press Telegram and the Daily Trojan (at USC) in 1978. The Press Telegram wrote a column around my poem. The Daily Trojan published it as a letter to the editor.
It was 1992 before I really started marketing and selling my work. My first sale was to “Our Family,” a Canadian Catholic family magazine.
My first genre sale was a poem which came out of my information technology career. “Lament of the Beta Tester” was published in Figment #15 in September 1993. “Ship Stowaway,” my first appearance in Star*Line (Nov/Dec 1993) was my first Rhysling Award nomination. Wilson: Do you write everyday (a haiku at breakfast; a cinquain before bed)? Kolodji: I have a little haiku notebook that I carry with me everywhere. I try to write in it every day.
Lately, I’ve been on a mission to learn the names of things – the names of birds, of plants, of constellations. I don’t want to write a haiku about the bird on the bare branch, I want to write about the mockingbird on the bare cottonwood. So, I’ve been doing a lot of nature hikes at local Los Angeles gardens and bird walks by the local Audubon society. I’ve made several trips to the recently reopened and refurbished Griffith Observatory. The haiku notebook always goes, too. Wilson: When writing in forms, does the final work always turn out in the form you intended? Kolodji: I don’t deliberately set out to write in forms. In other words, I don’t say, “I want to write a sonnet today” and then struggle to fit something in iambic pentameter. Instead, I brainstorm ideas on the page and if they seem to be of a certain form, I write in that form. Except for haiku I often write “in the wild” so to speak, I compose much of my work directly on the computer. I’m a firm believer that the form should fit the poem, versus trying to force a poem into a form. One of my pet beefs as the editor of a cinquain journal is receiving submissions of cinquains which really shouldn’t be cinquains, where the poet has just forced something into a 2-4-6-8-2 form and it shows. On the other hand, I think it’s good to practice forms so that if a poem comes to you that might fit a certain form, it’s easier to write it in that form. Cinquains and haiku come very naturally to me. I tend to “think” in those forms without really concentrating very much. Sometimes a cinquain will turn into a tanka. Sometimes a tanka will turn into a cinquain. Wilson: You are responsible for helping create a new award for sf/f/h poetry (The Dwarf Stars Award). How did this come about?
Kolodji: I enjoy very, very short poetry, write often in Asian forms and Asian inspired forms (like the cinquain), and believe that a person reads a short poem differently than he/she reads a long poem.
At least, I do. When I read a haiku, I tend to savor it and let the juxtaposition of the two images expand in my mind. To truly experience a good haiku involves far more than what is written on the page. When I read a very long poem with complicated imagery, I need to break the poem down to understand it better. I end up charting a mental trail through its images and journey through the poem slowly as a means of understanding. It is an entirely different process. It had been bothering me for several years that very short poems were not being recognized in the Rhysling Award process. At some point I started a discussion on SFPANet, the Science Fiction Poetry Association listserv. At first people said that not enough very short poetry was being published, but then Ruth Berman and I did some studies of publications and found that, in fact, far more poems of 10 lines are less are published than poems of over 50 lines, which has its own Rhysling category. I began to push for a third Rhysling category and made a motion to that effect. As part of my campaign, I published the first Dwarf Stars anthology as a demonstration. Some members were saying that the reason very short poems are never nominated was because they weren’t “good enough.” So, I found 30 poems of less than 10 lines which I thought were exceptional from the previous year, which had not been nominated for a Rhysling Award. I produced the anthology out of my own money and mailed it to the entire SFPA membership at my own expense. The vote for the third Rhysling category ended up with a far greater participation than usual but ended up in a tie. So, there was some talk of having a re-vote. Then, Mike Allen, president of the SFPA at that time, approached me with the idea of having a Dwarf Stars Award. It seemed a fair compromise. Obviously, many SFPA members felt there should be a way of acknowledging excellence in very short poetry but an equal number of them did not want to change the existing award system. So, the Dwarf Stars Award was born. Wilson: Are any of your children involved in artistic endeavors?
Kolodji: My oldest son loves classical music and sings in a chorus. My younger son is an excellent writer but is not currently writing. My daughter enjoys theatre, but hasn’t had much time for it since she left high school. (She works in a DNA lab at UC Santa Cruz and is a science major). Wilson: Blood-stained cacao pods and rare legs aside, can you recommend some good restaurants in Temple City?
Kolodji: My favorite local restaurant is the Din Tai Fung Dumpling House in Arcadia which has the most unbelievably good juicy pork dumplings. For Mexican food, I usually go to Margaritas, in east Pasadena.
Wilson: Thank you for being a DOORWAYS MAGAZINE 'featured poet'.
Kolodji: It’s my pleasure!
DOORWAYS MAGAZINE is available to purchase at: http://www.doorwaysmagazine.com/news.php
| | Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 | | 3:41 pm |
Doorways Magazine #3 now available Hi all, Doorways Magazine #3 is now available for purchase. The featured poets for this issue are Marge Simon & Bruce Boston (this includes an interview I conducted with both of them, one poem from each and one collaborative poem). This issue also features two other collaborative poems one from J. Bruce Fuller & Ana Span and one from David C. Kopaska-Merkel & Kendall Evens. This issue also features fiction from: P.D. Cacek, Joe R. Lansdale, Kathryn Ptacek, Tracy L. Carbone, and Mort Castle. Copies are $6.75 plus shipping of $1.25 and are available here: http://www.doorwaysmagazine.com/news.php Issues 1 and 2 are still available, also. | | Sunday, October 28th, 2007 | | 12:34 am |
Doorways Magazine Poetry Guidelines
Doorways Magazine Poetry Guidelines
Starting in Feb. 2008 I will be reading for issues 9-12 of Doorways Magazine—issues 4-8 are
already full except for the quarterly contest (see contest guidelines below). Doorways is a “Journal of Horror and The Paranormal” so please keep that in mind when
submitting poetry. Horror poetry should lean more toward the supernatural. Possible subjects: death, ghosts, UFOs, séance, tarot, psi, numerology, EVPs, distant viewing,
secret societies, cryptozoology, fairies, angels—basically anything that fits under the broad
"paranormal” heading. When using tropes, please be original. Science fiction and surrealism are
acceptable as long as the poem is horrific or paranormal in nature. Doorways is open to any length poem, but would prefer under 30 lines. Submission period will be Feb.1st 2008 - March 15th 2008 Please do not send submissions outside of these dates. Send submissions to DoorwaysPoetry@yahoo.com Subject line should read: “DW SUB: Poem Title/Last Name” Please paste poem in the body of the email and also include as a .doc or rtf attachment. Send as many submissions as you like but send each one as a separate email. I will respond within a week to let you know that your submission has arrived. I will strive to let everyone know if their poem is accepted or not and which issue it will be
appearing in if accepted by May 1st 2008. We will only be accepting 2 or 3 poems per issue and this is a quarterly, so send only your best work. Compensation is .50 a line and 1 contributor’s copy. Doorways Quarterly Poetry Contest Submission period for the contest will be April 1st 2008 – May 15th 2008 Follow guidelines above. Send entries to DoorwaysPoetry@yahoo.com Subject line for contest should read: “DW CONTEST 2008: Poem Title” Contest winner will be published in the October 2008 issue (issue #8), will receive .50 a line, 1
contributor’s copy and prizes yet to be determined. Send queries to DoorwaysPoetry@yahoo.com With “DW: Query” in the subject line. Address to Stephen M. Wilson.
Doorways Magazine's webite: www.DoorwaysMagazine.com
| | Friday, October 26th, 2007 | | 7:30 pm |
Supernova
First published in Fig Leaf, April 2007
Supernova
by Stephen M. Wilson Dedicated to ‘The Summer of Love’ and to the memory of Allen Ginsberg. What thoughts we have of you tonight, Allen Ginsberg, as we drift down the dirt path, through the black machinery of night, with heartache—
consciously floating toward the bright comet. In our dreaming state and plying for inspiration, we stepped into the feculent waters of Styx. What leeches and what piranhas! Whole schools swim tonight! Waves full of sharks! Rays in the undertow, eels in the kelp!—and you, Laura Nyro, what are you doing down by the water? We saw you, Allen Ginsberg, childless, lonely, O Lion of Dharma(!), swimming among the stars in the reflecting water and eyeing Moloch. We heard you howl to him: My ass drags in the Universe! Throw ashes in the air! Holy the Bop Apocalypse! We waded in and out of the dark ripples of water following you and followed in our collective conscience by your echoing Howl. We stroked down the fast currents, together in our fancy Nike’s, feeling heart-broke, yet possessed by frozen delight and never passing judgment. Where are you going, Allen Ginsberg? Heaven’s Gate closes in an hour. Which way does your soul point tonight? (we touch your ka and proceed on our odyssey into the supernova and feel absolved). We will swim all night through celestial fires! The trees on the bank all darkness to the night, blocking out the moon. You’ll not be lonely. We will float, dreaming of a crashed A-10, past solar flares and meteors, to our comet, Hale-Bopp! Ah, dear beat-king, lonely old hipster, what America did you leave when Do’s cancer was nigh and yours as well? You got out a few days late. We still drift watching, waiting for your one soul to join our thirty-nine.
| | Monday, August 13th, 2007 | | 11:13 pm |
| | Saturday, July 7th, 2007 | | 9:51 pm |
The Amityville Horror (writer)
Doorways Magazine's interview with Michael Arnzen
conducted by Stephen M. Wilson
Michael Arnzen has been a published writer for nearly 18 years with work appearing in a variety of diverse publications including: GAS, OUTLAW BIKER MAGAZINE, CEMETERY DANCE, and RHYSLING AWARDS ANTHOLGY 2006. Always the experimentalist, his writing has also appeared on Palm Pilots and postcards, creepy online multimedia, and even inspired the art film EXQUISITE CORPSE. Summer 2007 will see yet another Arnzen experiment come to fruition with the release of his Audio CD AUDIOVILE.
Arnzen has won three Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award. His books include the novels PLAY DEAD (which spawned a set of custom playing cards) and GRAVE MARKINGS, the flash fiction collection 100 JOLTS: SHOCKINGLY SHORT STORIES, and several poetry chapbooks, including the Stoker-winning collection, FREAKCIDENTS. Arnzen was born in Amityville, NY, home of the horror house and the shark from Jaws. He presently lives outside of Pittsburgh, PA, home of Romero's zombies and the students (possibly one in the same?) he teaches as a full-time professor of English in the "Writing Popular Fiction" program at Seton Hill University. You can learn more about Michael Arnzen by visiting GORELETS.COM
*** Stephen - First, as a horror writer, what are you thoughts on the supernatural? Michael - I was born in Amityville , NY -- home of the horror house -- so I feel like supernatural speculations have always been a part of my life. As I've aged, I've grown into quite a skeptic. Even so, I try to keep an open mind, because I know that there is far more to the universe than mankind could ever possibly know or comprehend. I think what I'm mostly skeptical of is not the supernatural, per se, but man's crappy explanations (and hokey special effect representations) of all the things out there that go bump in the night. If ghosts and other creatures really had the powers we give them in our folklore and in our fictions, they probably would have taken over the world by now, you know? But I do believe in powers, elements, and beings that are out there that we cannot explain. As far as fiction goes, the supernatural always calls the definition of the "natural" into question, and I like that. Same goes for reality. There is a lot of mystery circulating around us at every moment -- though I like to imagine that most of it is happening in the microcosm or in the great beyond, rather than on any human-sized, anthropomorphic scale. SW - Do you derive more satisfaction being a successful teacher and watching one of your student's writing blossom or being a successful writer and watching your own writing skills blossom? MA - I think of myself as a creative writer, so even when I'm teaching, I'm creating and growing, right along with my students. But teaching gets me out of my lonely little office and in direct connection with other people -- it's more immediately satisfying that way, because passion for ideas is contagious. So I love being a teacher. Witnessing a writer come of age and being a part of it is very satisfying to me; it makes me feel like I'm "giving back" to the world in some kind of positive way. Writing is similar -- it is a gift you give the world to some degree -- but it's harder to gauge the impact of your creative work on the world than it is to see a student thrive right before your very eyes. I'm always happy to play a small role in another writer's growth, especially a horror writer, because I got into this game as a fan more than anything else -- so teaching is like being a fan of new talent. I suspect the pride I feel in my students is a lot like an editor feels when they publish the early work of a hot new writer, who later breaks out. It sounds like I'm choosing "teaching," but I wouldn't say the two forms of satisfaction you mention are mutually exclusive -- one doesn't really come at the price of another. I do have to sacrifice a lot of time to teach when I might otherwise be writing, but then again, I like the stability of the "day job" of teaching. Knowing the bills will be paid lets me choose my own projects and I can write at my own leisure to some degree, without the reality of daily survival banging down my door, forcing me to do things like write greeting cards and things of that ilk just to buy milk and bread. Besides, helping others become better writers makes me a better writer in the process. I learn about mistakes and poor choices by watching others make them, and by helping them make better choices, I learn how to overcome those same challenges myself. Teaching writing is really an exercise in reading, ultimately, so it makes me a better reader of myself and others. So that's my long-winded way of saying that both are satisfying, and both feed into one another in ways I never would have thought. SW - Poetry is not a lucrative art form. Why do you write it when you could devote all your time to teaching or writing only fiction?
MA - I guess I just like traipsing down the unbeaten path. Poetry doesn't pay much in cash, but deep down inside I know it pays off by keeping me real. It demands a commitment to language and a willingness to take risks and wrestle with the difficulties of sound and structure. Poetry writing is much harder than it looks, but at the same time it gives me more freedom to explore ideas because there are fewer expectations and conventions -- there's no given narrative form and the writer can create whatever form best fits the ideas they're working with. Anything goes in a poem. A free verse one, especially. So it's kind of like playing in the funhouse of language. I don't write many lyrical forms because I feel more constrained by the structure, but when I do, I find pleasure in puzzling out the rhyme and meter. And I also enjoy working in the tradition of some really great poets, like Poe or Lovecraft or Baudelaire…I feel more people should read great poetry by people like them, so writing it myself shows how much I believe in poetry as form.
Horror poetry ultimately gives me a way to explore the very language for subtle meanings and nuances in a way that fiction often doesn't. I love telling stories, but I also love just musing over ideas without the need for building character or cause-and-effect driven plots. Horror poems have the potential to be profoundly scarier than any story that way -- they can be more philosophical, more bizarro, more crazy. If a story doesn't make sense, no one will really read it, but when a poem, a reader sort of expects things to be a little challenging and out of the norm. Poetry is closer to dreams and the realm of the unconscious -- and therefore nightmares and psychosis -- than fiction. And as a horror writer, I think that's pretty cool.
SW - Do you have a favorite 'genre' poet? Non-genre (whatever that is) poet? MA - There are just way too many to name...but I'll mention a few anyway, because I think anyone who is interested in horror poetry at all should seek them out. One poet I stumbled upon long ago in a college library sort of inspired me to try my hand at verse, because he proved to me that you could pull off being really weird with verse -- weirder than with fiction. His name is Paul Dilsaver, and he recently, unfortunately, died. I dare people to try to hunt down his work -- I think they'll be surprised. I've always been a huge fan of a poet named John Grey, who writes in plain language but always has a killer structure. His final lines always "get" me. I appreciate that. I don't see his work around as much as I used to, but he's published a book called What Else Is There? recently. Another poet I admire has won so many awards and accolades that it's almost pointless to point him out, but he's still one of the best, and that's Bruce Boston. I hand-picked Bruce's best horror poems for a book called Pitchblende a few years back, which subsequently won the Bram Stoker Award, and I've always felt blessed to be a part of that collection. So people should check that out. Other poets people should hunt down in horror include Tom Piccirilli, Linda Addison, Charlee Jacob, Mark McLaughlin, Wayne Allen Sallee, John Edward Lawson and the always excellent Kurt Newton. For formal verse writers, I admire the hell out of Bryan Dietrich and Jacie Ragan and Anne K. Schwader...damn, I could just go on and on forever, so I'll stop there. A lot of these folks also write horror novels and science fiction. They're clearly just people who love language, and you can tell that from how good their poetry is. And then there are the classic writers, the graveyard poets, the Romantics, the Beats, people working today in the mainstream like Sharon Olds ...argh, I better just stop now before I name ever single poet to ever pen something strange. SW - Aside from your students and your contemporaries, where else do you draw inspiration? MA - Tough one. I draw a lot of my ideas from daily life. I like contemplating the sickness and the darkness that surrounds us in the most banal of places, like shopping malls and so forth. And the ironies that surround us just crack me up. So... would it be cheating to say that the modern day reader inspires me most? I'm trying to communicate things with my writing, trying to get a reaction, trying to get people to think. Knowing that I might just change the way a person thinks about the world is inspiration enough. But my motives are different with every story and poem I write, so I would not say I'm motivated by any one particular agenda. I just like to raise issues in what I hope are new ways. Other inspirations include my family, of course. My dad, especially. He's a musician and a really smart guy -- and his sense of humor is just outrageous. He really helped shape me into the weird person that I am, doing everything from taking me to rated-R horror movies when I was very, very young to talking my ear off with stories about his own life. So I always think of him as an inspiration. And my wife, Renate. I like to push her buttons.
Hell, I think I like to push everyone's buttons a little bit.
SW - Speaking of pushing buttons, I'm going to give you an opportunity to push a few with the next question. We’re coming up on the 4h Anniversary of the start of America’s invasion of Iraq; as someone who spent time in the US Army, I wonder if you would mind making a comment on the current state of affairs in Iraq? MA - I served in Germany during peacetime (I like to joke "I was in the big one... the Cold War!"), so I'm in no position to really know what it's like out there in the desert heat with sand and guerrilla attacks right around every corner. But one thing I learned during my time overseas: you lose a little part of yourself the longer you're away from your home country and the longer you're immersed in the uniformity and groupthink that structures everything military. I feel sorry for the troops, but I feel sorry for everyone on both sides of the war -- any war. War is the most idiotic social act ever invented; I firmly believe that communication and education can solve any cultural difference or power struggle, and so to my mind any act of war is an arbitrary abuse of power and a waste. There is nobility in being a soldier, true, but only in being a protector or defender. I don't have a lot to say about it otherwise, other than that I think it's a cruel conflict and that -- win or lose or stalemate -- I hope America will be able to repair its image and reputation in the eyes of the world afterward. And I hope that we'll learn our lesson, somehow, without having to spill more innocent blood on either side of the fence. I'm not one to pick sides politically either -- I'm pretty independent -- but I do side with the protesters on this one. We shouldn't be over there; let's end it soon. SW - Amen!
SW - My self excluded, have you encountered any fans or situations that you would consider 'stalkerish'?
MA - Well, horror readers tend to be far nicer and saner than most people would imagine, so there hasn't been a lot of stalkery in my career. But there are always some crazies out there, in any random population sample, and I've had some strange encounters. I'll never forget the time when I was touring in support of my first novel, Grave Markings, a book about a "tattoo killer." At one event, a huge biker woman in the audience came up to me after one of my readings and demanded to see my "art." When I told her I didn't have any tattoos to show her, she got furious, and started pulling up my sleeves and lifting my clothes, trying to prove that I was a liar. She couldn't believe I'd written so deeply about tattoos without ever having one. I tried to explain that I was afraid of the permanence of them ("writers like to revise," I believe I said in my defense), but she wouldn't have it, and started pushing me around a bit. That's not really stalkerish, but a little scary, even though I know how wussy that sounds. Another fan of that book sent me a cassette tape with him singing a song inspired by the characters, sung more than a bit weirdly to the tune of Edgar Winters' " Illustrated Man. " I think it ended with a line that said "I'm the Illustrated Man, Mikey, and I'm comin' to get you." I wouldn't call him a stalker, because I'd met the guy at a con once and he seemed sane enough to me. The tape was really a cool compliment, like any kind of fan art. But when I shared the tape with my friends, they suggested I hire a bodyguard and take out a life insurance policy right away.
SW - You've won several awards from your peers. How, if at all, has this changed your life? I know a lot of writers who have won the Bram Stoker Award who say it doesn't mean jack squat. Maybe that's true for them, but not for me. You don't really see a huge boost in book sales after winning a Stoker, but there are many more incidental rewards you'd never expect. One is simply respect, especially from those who haven't read you yet. Getting such clout helped me get accepted into graduate school and, later, also helped me land a teaching job; it's also helped my case when I've asked for a merit raise from my college -- which is more than you'd see in any royalty check. And I'd like to think it's gotten me invitations from book/magazine editors. I know having a Stoker in my bio always cracks the publisher's door a little bit wider when I come knocking. But beyond all that, winning an award from your peers is a HUGE confidence-booster. I approach a lot of what I do as an "experiment" -- and that can be risky because sometimes people don't know how to respond to unfamiliar forms or approaches, editors included. Doing a newsletter like The Goreletter can backfire if people think it's just crass commercialism or pure narcissism; for me, it's a creative playground more than anything else. So winning the Stoker for that experiment meant that I was doing something right, and that it was worth the effort to follow my own intuition about it. Same goes for the books that won, because I was consciously trying to push myself to do something new in both cases. Now I feel like I've got a huge pat on the back from peers I respect, encouraging me to keep up the good work. It's an expression of support and trust. Knowing that the other writers I admire, respect, and worship have the same statue on their shelves that I've got on mine...well, that reminds me that I'm not as terrible as I might think I am, when I'm having a bad writing day. And it also makes me feel responsible, too, for doing my best and delivering on the promise of that award-winning status, in everything I work on. I used to feel like I had to compete against other writers to get into books; now I feel like I'm in competition with myself, trying to write better than I ever have, and trying to warrant the reputation I've gotten, by virtue of having those trophies. But like they say, you're only as good as your latest book, so I try not to think about those past accomplishments too much. SW- You mentioned that, as a writer, you like experimentation. Does this carry over into other aspects of your life? Do you have any strange kinks or fetishes?
MA - Fetishes? You mean aside from the soiled celebrity diaper collection I keep in my attic? Ummm...no, I better take the fifth on this one. As far as mad experiments go, you only have to sit in my classroom to see that it's a way of life and that weirdness is a worldview for me. SW - Okay, back to “literary’ experiments -- talk a bit about the audio cd you're working on. What's the title? When will it be available? MA - Audiovile is the name of my "pet project" right now and I think it's going to surprise a lot of people. It's a collection of stories and poems read to music -- and it's turning out freaking great! I've always tried to approach fiction reading as a sort of "performance," and Audiovile is my way of trying to do that with recording. It will be out on compact disc sometime this summer from Raw Dog Screaming Press (who also published my books 100 Jolts and Play Dead) -- they're a great publisher, always testing new ground with literary experiments and entertaining artifacts like this, along with publishing some awesome books. Anyway, basically, we were getting a handful of requests for an audio book version of 100 Jolts, so I decided to make one on my own that would really be unique -- and much more than just 100 Jolts for the ears. It includes an array of different pieces, from an assortment of sources. One of my motivations for doing this is that most audio books these days seem to basically be throwaways: you listen to it once, get the gist of the story, and toss it. In the horror genre, there have been a few interesting CDs put out by writers, but you either get novel-length readings with very little drama, or full-fledged radio plays with corny sound effects. But I'm trying to do something completely different than either of these approaches. I'm trying to try to make an audio book that is worth listening to multiple times, one which will entertain on different levels and take on new nuances each time you listen. So I started doing funky musical structures behind my readings over the microphone and discovered that many of my short-shorts and free verse poems can function sort of like songs. Only they're not really songs, either. The whole thing is like spoken word on steroids. I'm composing and making virtually all the music myself for Audiovile, and I'm learning a lot about not only music, but also the music of language, in the process. An excerpt will appear in the February edition of "Pod of Horror" over at horrorworld.com that people can download as an mp3 file and listen to. So far, I'm just having a blast creating Audiovile and it's turning out really eclectic -- full of humor, funny voices, dark images, and different musical styles. I'm really not trying to live out any rock star fantasies or anything like that, but there is some heavy guitar and bass in a few of the pieces that goes over the top and it probably sounds like I'm some kind of heavy metal wannabe. Oh well -- I'm making it all up as I go along and that's the thrill. It's all in good fun, but I'm hoping to do something of real quality, too. So far, so good! SW - What about Exquisite Corpse? How did this project come about? How can people get a hold of a copy? MA - A great filmmaker named Jim Minton contacted me out of the blue and asked if I had any poems I'd like to see adapted into a movie. I sent him a batch of things to pick from, and he had so many ideas for all them that together we decided to make an anthology film. Jim reached out to the indie horror movie community on the internet and eventually assembled about a dozen directors and animators from around the world to "collaborate" blindly on the project. That's what an "Exquisite Corpse" is -- a piece of art or poetry made by many hands, when one doesn't know what the other one is doing. In the end, the movie turned out great, featuring eleven "mini-movies" in different media, based on selected stories from 100 Jolts and poetry culled from Gorelets and Freakcidents. There are claymation pieces, animated stills, digital ditties, and live-action performances, all bound together with a great musical score by Michael Mouracade and two narrators who read the stories and poems over the images. It's a lot to digest in just 20 minutes, but it's really unique for a horror film! I'm very excited about it; Exquisite Corpse is screening at various film festivals around the country right now -- and there will be academic presentations delivered about it at the International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts ( http://iafa.org) this March. I might be able to show it at World Horror Convention. It's not available for sale yet; that'll be up to the directors and distributors. There may be copies given away through my newsletter and on eBay eventually; perhaps we'll be lucky enough to get a DVD in distribution within a year. But no promises. For now, you can catch it online at http://www.exquisitecorpsemovie.com SW - What other weird shit can we expect from you in the coming year? MA - It's all weird! Aside from Audiovile, Raw Dog Screaming is also re-releasing 100 Jolts in a hardcover edition with some extras. That's been a really popular book, to my happy surprise. And there's a lot of brand new weirdness ahead: a big short story collection, called Proverbs for Monsters, is being published by Dark Regions Press in limited hardcover and trade paperback. Proverbs is a self-selected "Best of Arnzen" sort of book, including not only regular horror fiction, but also poetry, short-shorts, humor, and a few original pieces written just for this collection. One of my favorite artists, Matt Schuster, is working on illustrating it as we speak. I'll also be appearing in a number of anthologies, too, but I'm under oath not to speak about most of these yet. One of them that I'm really looking forward to reading myself is Until Someone Loses an Eye, the comedic horror story book edited by Jeff Strand and John McIlveen, due this year from Twisted Publishing. You'll also see me publish a new chapbook or two this year, but, again, it's too early to talk about them. If anyone is interested, drop by my website and please subscribe to my quirky newsletter, The Goreletter, for free at SW - Lastly, can you suggest some good restaurants in Pennsylvania? MA - Look for a place called Primanti's. It's a notorious Pittsburgh diner that's so damned good, it's now expanding into a chain that is spreading out all over Western PA and beyond. Order the house special -- a "Pittsburgher Sandwich" -- or just get the huge Egg Sandwich for something outrageously wild. Virtually everything they make has an enormous pile of cole slaw and French Fries on it. It'll drip weird liquids down your sleeve, but it's well worth the cholesterol spike and laundry bill. SW - Thanks, Mike, for popping my cherry as an editor (and for the interview). MA - You bet! You're doing good stuff with Doorways, and I think it's great that the magazine is so supportive of poetry. It's rare out there -- and so this is important stuff. SW - Can you leave Doorways’ sicko writers (and readers) with one of your famous Twisted Prompts? MA - Heh-heh…sure. Let's see, doorways...hmm…how about this: "They say eyes are the doorways (or alternatively, windows) to the soul. Compose a poem or story involving a character who has discovered a way to lock them!" | | Friday, May 4th, 2007 | | 9:26 am |
| | Monday, April 9th, 2007 | | 11:19 am |
Rhysling Awards and Doorways update Just a quick post.
I have three poems from '06 nominated for the current Rhysling Award from the Science Fiction Poetry Association.
"Phantasia!" from Bondage Tales of Obsession (long)
"Frost Bitten" from Dark Wisdom #10 (short)
"Atom's Apple" written with Roger E. Naylor from Scifaikuest 4th Anniversary Issue (short)
***
The second Doorways Poetry Contest is over. The winning poem "Dali's Nightmare" was submitted by Terrie Leigh Relf. There were four honorable mentions submitted by Marge Simon, M. Frost, Duane Ackerson, and Christopher Danaher. The five poems will appear in Doorways Magazine #2 due out in May. The featured poet for this issue is SFPA President Deborah P Kolodji.
The feature spot in Doorways Magazine #3 will be filled by Bruce Boston and Marge Simon who I will be interviewing simultaneously. *** The anthology Raw Meat should be available soon. It includes one of my first gay erotic horror stories "Here There Be Tygers."
That's all for now.
Stephen
| | Friday, February 2nd, 2007 | | 9:08 pm |
Doorways Poetry Contest I am poetry editor for the new paranormal/horror quarterly Doorways. The first part of my job is to pick a featured poet, which includes 3 poems and an interview.
The featured poet for #1 is Michael A. Arnzen.
The second part of my job at Doorways is running a poetry contest. Each contest is themed around 'doorways' and written in a traditional form. The 'form' for contest #1 was the acrostic.
James S. Dorr submitted the winning poem and there were 3 honorable mentions.
Doorways #0 and Doorways #1 are available at:
http://www.doorwaysmagazine.com/news.php
The featured poet for Doorways #2 will be SFPA President and Editor of Amaze: The Cinquain Journal, Deborah P. Kolodji. The form for the new contest is the cinquain. Entries must be a five line cinquain in the usual 2-4-6-8-2 syllable format and must somehow incorporate "doorways" (whatever that means to you, be it supernatural, paranormal, and/or horrific in nature). No entry fee is required.
Here is the Encyclopedia Britannica definition of a cinquain:
Cinquain
A five-line stanza. The American poet Adelaide Crapsey(1878–1914), applied the term in particular to a five-line verse form of specific metre that she developed. Analogous to the Japanese verse forms haiku and tanka, it has two syllables in its first and lastlines and four, six, and eight in the intervening three lines and generally has an iambic cadence.
To Submit:
Paste poem in the body of an email, hit return once and put (END), hit return10 times and put your name, byline (if different), mailing address, and email address.
The reason for this formatting is that the contest will be blindly judged and the editor wants enough blank space between the end of the poem and the author's name to keep it blind. For this reason, please DO NOT include an intro letter or bio(if your poem wins, you will be contacted for a bio).
You can send as many entries as you wish, but please send each entry as a separate email.
Mail entries to: DoorwaysPoetry(at)yahoo(dot)com with "DW Contest Cinquain"in subject line.
The winning entrant for contest #2 will receive:
* Publication in Doorways (plus contributor's copy)
* $10 (equals $2 a line this time around)
* Bondage: Tales of Obsession, Ed. Tyree Campbell
* 8 issue of The Fig Leaf Monthly broadside (Sept. 2006-April 2007)
* Four books from Featured Poet, Deborah P. Kolodji:
Dwarf Stars
Dwarf Stars 2006
Red Planet Dust
Symphony of the Universe
DEADLINE: April 8, 2007 | | Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 | | 9:55 pm |
2006 In Review - 2007 Forecast Publications Fiction "Swallowed!" - Wicked Karnival #7 "Pombo Finds His Waterloo" - Connections Poetry "Phantasia!" - Bondage: Tales of Obsession bomb ku - - Scifaikuest 4th Anniversary Issue
"Atom's Apple" (w/Roger E. Naylor) - Scifaikuest 4th Anniversary Issue
"Crane's Eye" - Fig Leaf Monthly "Icky, Lime Ricky" - Poet's Espresso "Frost Bitten" - Dark Wisdom #10 "Uroboros" - Doorways Magazine #0 "Conqueror Worm" - Doorways Magazine #0
"The Plainfield Ghoul" - Doorways Magazine #0 Other: Translation "Silver Anniversary" - Fahrenheit SFPA's 1st podcast (Halloween Poetry Reading) "Crane's Eye" Rhysling Award Nominations "American Requiem"
"O is for October" Dwarf Stars Award Nomination haiku "Listen to the wind..."
John B. Baker Award Nomination
"Atom's Apple" (w/Roger E. Naylor)
Honorable Mention YBFH #19 "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate" (f) 1 of 10 Finalist in The Harrow's Dark Fiction Contest
"Bodice Ripper" (anthology due in '07) Publications accepted for 2007 (so far) "Here There Be Tygers" (f) - Raw Meat
"Pele" (p) - Black Petals "Apocalyptic Sonnet" (p) - Black Petals | |
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