This Halloween season (and beyond), Associate Professor of English Dr. Michael Arnzen will be celebrating the release of his latest horror fiction project, Audiovile, with a number of live readings and signings across the region.

Audiovile, an hour-long CD of sixteen spoken word performances set to dark and quirky music, was released in October 2007 as a companion to the newly-published hardcover expanded edition of his popular book of "flash fiction," 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories, by independent horror publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press.

On Audiovile, Arnzen recites his disturbing and darkly humorous stories alongside a wide range of eclectic musical performances and bizarre effects of his own creation. Recorded at home during his sabbatical in 2006, Arnzen set out to explore and experiment with new possibilities in the audio format, seeking "to create an audiobook worth listening to more than once." The response has been positive, with reviewers comparing Arnzen's gruff style and tongue-in-cheek delivery to the works of Jim Morrison and The Doors, George Carlin, J.G. Thirlwell, Alan Ginsberg, and Henry Rollins.

Although Arnzen crafted most of the music himself, the compact disc also includes a banjo track performed by SHU Writing Popular Fiction alumnus Jason Jack Miller, and features interior sleeve art by SHU alumnus Sean Blair (which inspired one of the stories when it was first exhibited in Harlan Gallery).

Audiovile is now available on iTunes and the disc can be purchased at cdbaby.com. 100 Jolts is available on amazon.com and elsewhere. A new book, Proverbs for Monsters, is also forthcoming in November from Dark Regions Press, collecting the best short stories and poems of this Bram Stoker Award-winning author's career to date.

Dr. Arnzen has been celebrating the launch of all these publications with numerous readings and performances. He served as "Horror Guest of Honor" at Context Science Fiction Convention at the end of the September, where he read stories and taught a poetry workshop, in addition to talking about the film based on his work, Exquisite Corpse. On Oct 19th at 7:30 p.m. he'll be reading poetry at the BottleWorks Ethnic Arts Center in Johnstown, Pa., along with poet Gerry LaFemina, in a free public event. On Oct 20th at 8 p.m. he'll be a featured reader in the "Get Lit" poetry series at DV8 Espresso Bar & Gallery in downtown Greensburg, Pa. On October 27th he'll be a guest speaker at the new "Zombiefest" Convention in the Monroeville, Pa. Expo Mart, along with SHU's Writing Popular Fiction instructors Gary Braunbeck and Scott Johnson.

Dr. Arnzen will be reading at Seton Hill in an entertaining presentation of his latest creative work on Friday, November 30th, at 4 p.m. in Admin 308. This event will include an encore screening of the short film based on his poetry, Exquisite Corpse (a compilation of short-short art films which includes the recent 2007 Tabloid Witch award-winner for "Best Animated Horror Feature," called "The Scab"). This event is free and open to the public.