Advance reviews are already starting to come in for Audiovile. This is what HorrorWorld had to say about the project:

"No one can claim Michael A. Arnzen is not versatile within the genre. After winning a Stoker for Outstanding Achievement in 1 st Novel for Grave Markings, he followed up with Stoker wins in Alternative Forms (2004 for his website Gorelets) and Poetry (2005 for his collection Freakcidents). Drunk on power Mr. Arnzen decided to blaze new trails and produce his first musical creation. That’s right. Musical.

"Of course he crashed and burned, right? Right?

"Well Mr. Arnzen, you had me at 'He’s a madman in plaid flannel,' the opening line to the first track of AudioVile. Damn you."—Mike Myers

May 13th • 2-3:30
The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery, New York, NY 10012
212.614.0505
Eckhard Gerdes

May 25-27
MARCON (Multiple Alternative Realities Convention)
Hyatt Regency
Columbus, OH
D. Harlan Wilson

May 25-27
WisCon 31
The Concourse Hotel
Madison, WI
Forrest Aguirre

May 26 • 10:30-12
Writing Workshop
Purcellville Library
220 E. Main Street
Purcellville, VA 20132
Matthew Warner

May 26 • 2-4
Book Signing
Final Draft Book Sellers
192 N. 21st Street
Purcellville, VA 20132
ph. 540-885-4828
Matthew Warner

The Cocktail Party, a short film based on a story by D. Harlan Wilson, has won first place at the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee in the student film category! Over 500 films were submitted in this category. Here is the Jubilee's write-up of the film:

"A brooding man in a black hat flies into a room where the partygoers are oversized hors d'oeuvres munching on tiny people. It's a surreal masterpiece culminating in a non sequitur-heavy conversation between our leading man and a stoic barkeep. Amusing and marvelously weird. Dali and Magritte would have loved it."

Congratulations to filmmaker Brandon Duncan who received $1,000 and a big trophy for this honor.

You can buy a copy of the movie along with Wilson's signed hardcover novel for 37 here.

The initial meeting of the Bizarro Kult Book Club was a success with lots of people on hand to accept free goodies. The next two meetings will be May 2nd and 16th at The Willow House Cafe, 149 West McDowell Road
Phoenix, AZ 85003.

If you would like to start a book club in your own area and qualify for a 30 percent discount on our books please email Shelby, BizarroBookClub@yahoo.com

Subscribers to this newsletter can get signed hardcover copies of both Last Burn in Hell: Director's Cut and Discouraging at Best for just 35 dollars including postage by using this link: http://tinyurl.com/ywdoy5

Remember, if your order is going outside of the US contact us first to find out the cost of shipping.

How do you feel about Via Dolorosa compared to your other works?
I am utterly proud of the book and can’t wait for its release. More times than not, I will reread something I’ve written and think, man, does this suck. But with Via, each time I go through the text, I am impressed with it and content to see that it still holds up. If I’m ever remembered for a book after I’m dead, it will be Via Dolorosa.

Your description of Hilton Head is so vibrant that the place becomes a character. What about it inspired you?
In 2004, I spent about a week with my wife, who was just my girlfriend at the time, on Hilton Head Island. Our hotel was right on the beach and the scenery was gorgeous. I’m a fan of lazy days and lazier nights, so spending my afternoons relaxing on the beach and my evenings patronizing various restaurants and taverns really appealed to me. The place was an island in every sense of the word—I just felt completely encapsulated while I was there, hidden and remote, and I thought, “Man, this would be the perfect setting for a story.” It’s a fairly popular honeymoon spot, too, and I began to observe the couples hand-in-hand at the beach, frequenting the bars, or out having dinner with each other. And for whatever reason, I began thinking about honeymooning on the island, and about the lack of escape because, really, you are on an island and are essentially cut off from coming or going, at least symbolically. So what if that couple suddenly realized they needed to get away from each other, where would they go? You can’t escape; there’s no where to go.

Describe your writing process.
I’ve got a collection of writing shirts—old, raggedy button-down things—I wear when working on a book, usually accompanied by several pots of coffee, black with no sugar. I don’t outline, take notes, any of that. Usually, I’ll keep a story simmering in my head until it starts to boil, then I just start typing. Each book has its own way of coming to fruition. With Via Dolorosa, I found myself jotting down segments, or chapters, out of order, and the book initially came together in a hodgepodge. That’s also a good tactic for negotiating around writer’s block—to skip the section that’s giving you trouble and write, say, the middle of the book.

What impact does music have on your writing? Jazz in particular seems to play an important role in Via Dolorosa.
I’ve always suffered a love affair with music. I can’t help but equate emotion to sound, and that is no different when I’m writing. Every mood has a soundtrack. I find jazz more often than not suits that mood. Particularly with Via Dolorosa—it’s a very jazz-heavy novel. In fact, the jazz aspect of the book went beyond my conscious thought; it was already there with the story once I’d started writing it. During my trip to Hilton Head Island I spent some time at an incredible jazz club there, The Jazz Corner, which I highly recommend. The unrestrained feel of jazz music, in the novel, is used in direct contrast with the main character’s situation and, to a further extent, his whole life. Nick D’Nofrio is a moral, confined, and conservative individual whose notions of right and wrong, at least at the beginning of the story, are clearly defined. Moreover, the turmoil between him and his wife, Emma, has caused him to want to pull away, but he is confined and unable to leave both the seclusion of the island and the chains of his marriage. The concept of jazz, freeing and uninhibited, runs in direct opposition to those themes.