Arnzen's "Instigation": Creative Prompts on the Dark Side

New ebook for writers: $3.99

Michael Arnzen's latest book for writers, Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side is a treasury of over 500 twisted tips, strange scenarios and disturbing sparks to help ignite the fuel in your creative furnace. Its aim? To push you into the danger zone of your imagination, by thinking in unconventional ways and trying things you never thought — or dared — to try before in your writing, art, or dreams.

Writers, especially, will benefit from this book of “story starters” that can shatter writer’s block and possess your fingers with an impish creative spirit. Arnzen’s Instigation — filled with unique prompts drawn directly from his fiction workshops at Seton Hill University, his columns from Hellnotes and his Bram Stoker Award-winning newsletter, The Goreletter — has already helped hundreds of horror writers, dark “creatives” and unconventional artists…many of whom have not only crafted original material, but published it as a result of responding to these twisted prompts.

Contents include: Prompts: 365 Sick Scenarios | Spurs: 31 Turns for the Worse | Resurrections: 13 Radical Revisions | Memoir Mayhem: 151 Prompts for Journaling | The Devil Made You Do It Yourself: 6 DIY Exercises | Essays on Writing on the Dark Side: “In the Mood: Getting Ready to Write”; “Binge Writing and NaNoWriMo”; “Discovering Your Hidden Intentions”; “Question-Storming”; “Making Modern Monsters”; “What Corrupted Me”; “The Five Laws of Arnzen” | Tips For Further Instigaton | Apps, Websites, Related Readings, and Writing Communities

See the catalog page for more information on this dangerously helpful ebook. Or visit scribd.com for a meaty 30 page preview, with a heaping supply of prompts and an article on "Binge Writing and NaNoWriMo" excerpted from the book.

Just $3.99! Now available direct from Mastication Publications, or on the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook.

 Writers inspired by Instigation are inspired to share and promote their work on the Instigation Showcase.

The Fridge of the Damned!

Many Genres co-editor Michael Arnzen reports a successful kickstarter campaign (that doubled its goal) for The Fridge of the Damned: a quirky horror poetry magnet kit that draws words directly from his book The Gorelets Omnibus. Magnets have been distributed to all backers, and you can read the strange-yet-fun results in the active online gallery.

While supplies last, Raw Dog Screaming Press is selling remaining magnetic tins for just $12.

One of the many incentives for the kickstarter is a new ebook from Arnzen, called Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side, which genre writers might want to look into. It should be released from Mastication Publications, on March 15th.

Support the Fridge of the Damned and Get Instigation Prompts

Many Genres editor Michael Arnzen has combined forces with indie publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press and horror flash fiction site Microhorror.com to launch a Kickstarter campaign to make The Fridge of the Damned -- a twisted refrigerator magnet poetry set -- a reality. Help fund the fridge and get some fun word magnets to mess with...and an ebook filled with offbeat writing prompts (Arnzen's trademarked "Instigation") to inspire your fiction! Pledges need to be received before February 1st, so don't delay.

MGOC Contributor News: Tim Waggoner and Mary SanGiovanni on Literary Mathem's 2012 Top Reads

Many Genres, One Craft contributors Tim Waggoner and Mary SanGiovanni made it onto Literary Mayhem's 2012 Top Reads List.

Tim's book The Men Upstairs was published through DarkFuse.

He finds her crying in the lobby of a movie theater and takes her home to his apartment, a strange, beautiful woman with no last name, a mysterious past, and a powerful sexual allure. He wants her, and she wants him. There's only one problem: the Men Upstairs. She used to belong to them—and they'll do anything to get her back.

"Waggoner delivers a tale of cosmic and body horror at its most disturbing. The Men Upstairs is a fascinating study of the ancient tension between repulsion and desire." – Laird Barron, author of Occultation

Mary's book For Emmy was published through Thunderstorm Books.

Sometimes no matter how vigilant you are, you can't keep loved ones save. Dana McCluskey and her father know very well that there can be dangers around every corner. They wanted to keep Emmy safe. But it is impossible to see some dangers coming. And there are those corners that you'd never see, out-of-the-way places just beyond our grasp where loved ones can get very lost -- and the danger there is very real indeed.

"chilling, heartbreaking, and quietly terrifying"
- Kevin Lucia, SHROUD magazine

Arnzen's New Book Features "How-To" Articles and Dark Prompts

A quick note from Many Genres co-editor, Mike Arnzen...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Many thanks to everyone who has read Many Genres, One Craft over the past six months, and who has been posting reviews, sharing comments, and sending feedback. As editors, Heidi and I are thrilled that the collection has received awards but it is even more rewarding to us to know that the book is making a difference in writers' lives.

I wanted to let you all know about something special in my newest book, The Gorelets Omnibus, which is a "collected works" volume of all my twisted horror poems from gorelets.com and elsewhere over the past decade. I'm proud of the book, which includes not only hundreds of pages of short-short horror poetry (reminiscent of the flash fiction from my book, 100 Jolts), but also -- available only in the special hardcover edition -- a variety of miscellaneous pieces that should inspire anyone who is interested in writing dark fiction or adding a little strangeness to their work.

For instance, there are five articles written by scholars from America and the UK, analyzing what makes the poems tick and what makes today's "new media" horror special. There is also a collection of "how to" articles on the crafting of horror poetry that I've published over the years. And -- perhaps best of all for the creative writers reading this -- this book includes the entire collection of my "Instigation" prompts from over the past ten years (including the impossible to find Instigation columns from Hellnotes magazine from years ago).

In other words: though it isn't apparent on the cover, the hardcover edition of this book hides a short-course from me in writing horror. If you're a horror/mystery/dark fantasy author, I think this book will prompt your dark imagination in ways you might appreciate, even if you have no interest in poetry. (Though look out, future Poes and Lovecrafts -- this collection might change your mind!)

End of the sales pitch. Go check it out at Raw Dog Screaming Press (if you act quick, you might be able to get a collector's item bonus for pre-ordering!) or sign up for my newsletter on gorelets.com for insight into what this book has to offer.

Many Genres Signing at Confluence (Pittsburgh, 2011)

Last month, Many Genres authors were highly active at Pittsburgh's annual Science Fiction/Fantasy convention, Confluence 2011. Attendees included Heidi Ruby Miller, Jason Jack Miller, Lawrence Connolly, Diane Turnshek (pictured above), Timons Esaias, and Michael Arnzen. Arnzen and Miller held a small "literary beer" to discuss issues raised in the book, and everyone from Many Genres sat on several panel discussions or participated in a lively book signing. Scott A. Johnson was also a special guest lecturer at the Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers, a summer writing camp that is discussed at length in Diane Turnshek's article from our book, "Teaching Young Writers."

Confluence and Alpha are held annually in late July.

See photos from the Many Genres signing, Confluence and Alpha at Michael Arnzen's social networking site, michaelarnzen.com. Photos and coverage are also available on Confluence's facebook page.

MGOC Contributor News: Mary SanGiovanni's Novel Thrall

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT contributor Mary SanGiovanni's new novel Thrall is coming out from Thunderstorm Books.

You can pre-order it now!


Thrall by Mary SanGiovanni

"Thrall is a feast of both visceral and existential horror—the gut tightens and the mind reels. Mary SanGiovanni joins that select cadre of women writers who are ignoring the safe old tropes and pushing the genre in new directions."
—F. Paul Wilson

Other works by Mary SanGiovanni:
Found You
The Hollower
Under Cover of Night

posted by heidi