Freakcidents

by Michael A. Arnzen

Character studies of impossible mutants and imaginary sideshow freaks seen through Arnzen's dark and humorous poetry. Released in 200 trade and 26 limited hardcover editions from Shocklines Press in 2005. Winner of the 2005 Bram Stoker Award in Poetry from the Horror Writers Association.

Genres: Poetry, Horror

50 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Michael Arnzen has won multiple awards for his fiction and poetry, including four Bram Stoker Awards and the International Horror Guild Award. He teaches horror and suspense writing at Seton Hill University, as faculty in their unique MFA degree program in Writing Popular Fiction.

To catch up with Arnzen or hunt down collectable editions, visit the author's website, GORELETS.COM Or tune in his new podcast: 6:66 w/Michael Arnzen at http://6m66s.com/

Reviews

[Janie]

Welcome to an intensely gripping sideshow of poetry and short fiction. All of the subjects are bizarrely metomorphosized. Among them are Triple Face, Needle Baby, and Genetic Defect Jennie. Be a witness as the mutant acrobat loses his grip. Observe Theo the sword swallower as he ponders the exoskeletal life of crustaceans. View the inescapable nightmare that is the life of the man without eyelids.

Author Michael A. Arnzen chooses his words carefully to illuminate the horrors of mutation. At the same time, he illustrates the nearly unbearable pain of human existence. My favorite in this collection is the poem Boy's Heart is On the Outside of His Body. What is inside the boy's heart is liable to break yours.

This collection is wonderfully illustrated by the manic art of GAK.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks.

[Karl]

This chapbook is number 9 of 200 and is signed by Michael A. Arnzen.

cover and interior artwork by GAK.

WINNER of the 2005 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection from the Horror Writer’s Association.

Thirty disturbing, and perversely hilarious, poems of mutancy.

Contents:

Umbilicile
The Scab
Genetic Defect Jennie
Test Tube Tommy
Soft Spot Sally
Mutant Marcus
The Conjoined Triplets
Triple Face
The Hairy Baby
Spiderboy
Girl Abandoned at Birth Raised by Rattlesnakes
Siamese Blood Brothers
Needle Baby
Woman Gives Birth to Full Grown Man
Boy’s Heart is on the Outside of His Body
Born Every Minute
Werecat Wally
Mad Head
Polka Clots
A Personal Computer
Stripper
Freakshow Breakup
Freaky Deak’s Splatfall
Upon Suicidal Tendencies Among Sword-Swallowing Shellfish-Eating Circus Freaks
Claw Head
Venting Frustrations
The Incredible Edible Fred
Smoker
The Creep with No Head
Inside The Man With No Eyelids

[Michael]

Note to goodread(er)s: an ebook and audiobook edition of Freakcidents is slated for August 1st release from Mastication Publications! Sign up for the newsletter at: http://masticationpublications.com to be the first to learn how to grab it.

[Stephanie M. Wytovich]

Freakcidents is a homage to body horror and all things strange and unusual that give us pause and churn our stomachs. I enjoyed the hell out of this.

[Jennifer]

Freakcidents is a mad calliope of the grotesque that you just can't turn away from. The new audiobook version brims with Arnzen's trademark glee and is well worth a listen. While reading the poems on the page gives you more to time savor (?) these vicious vignettes, the audio format hurtles you through a carnival of psycho's delights all at once, piling one gut-wrenching image on the next like a game of corpse Jenga. The premise, poems about freaks, is genius and the perfect venue for a twisted imagination. There are more than just your average circus performers here though. Arnzen delivers in ways that make you cringe, giggle and feel slightly ashamed. But it's all in good fun, until someone loses their lunch, anyway.

[Kevin]

I don't often read poetry but I decided to give this a go because I love Michael's work and because I've seem to have been reading more horror poetry over the last year or two. I really enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed freak type horror and this book has so many different types of freaks in it. I'd have loved to see some of them worked into a full blown novel but this was a creepy and grotesque read and I highly recommend it.

[Lora]

This was a gift from a friend, and what a gift it was. It was like a cross between Garbage Pail Kids and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - both of which I adore. I'll be referencing back to this book a lot.