A New Two-Part Series at Silent Motorist Media

At Silent Motorist Media, I have a two-part series detailing the history of the Residents, one of my favorite bands. Read them below.

Santa Dog’s a Jesus Fetus: A Look Back at the Residents, Part I

Santa Dog’s a Jesus Fetus: A Look Back at the Residents, Part II

Brief Thoughts 26

Beatnik Fascism by Brandon Adamson

The title of Brandon Adamson's second poetry book, released in 2016, has several possible layers to it. The most obvious on is that it's a tongue-in-cheek reference to this being a collection of beatnik-inspired poetry with many of the poems being political and coming from a right-wing perspective. As Adamson points out in the introduction, it's also a reference to a Twilight Zone episode where a group of aliens working for a fascist galactic empire disguise themselves as beatnik bikers. One could also interpret it as a jab at many self-proclaimed non-conformists becoming overbearing assholes when they gain power.

Despite Adamson's own right-wing beliefs, he finds himself ill-at-ease with other people on the political right in several of these poems. He expresses a lot of disdain for corporations and capitalism in general. He also finds himself skeptical towards right-wing mass movements in general. This is something I think many across the political spectrum could relate with. My own views are far more to the left than those of Adamson's and I find myself unable to relate to any left-wing mass movements which currently exist.

One thing that will get a lot of people to reject this book is Adamson's obvious disdain for immigrants. The poems here which talk about the issue read as The Camp of the Saints-style paranoia to me. These are my least favorites in the book, partly because of my disagreement with him that immigrants are a profound threat, but mostly because I found them the most heavy-handed.

My favorite poems in the book are the non-political ones, such as one about the killing of Harambe. One would think it would be impossible to take it seriously after all the memes and jokes, but it's actually an insightful look into the relationship between man and nature. The poems about frustrated romance also have a lot of emotional verisimilitude to them, avoiding condemnation of women or men and engaging in self-criticism where it's needed.

I believe Adamson is a very talented poet between this and his newest book, Skytrain to Nowhere, though I would recommend the latter over this one. I think Skytrain... works far better as a whole.

Buy Beatnik Fascism by Brandon Adamson here.

Prague by Maria Morisot 

Maria Morisot, aka Moan Lisa, is a highly prolific poet and artist from Iowa who has put out multiple poetry books, collage pieces, and paintings. Prague, released in 2015, collects three chapbooks; My Hidden Muse, Blue Collar, and Committed.

My Hidden Muse largely consists of love poems. A recurring theme in them is love and desiring consuming one like a fire, fire being a recurring motif in these poems. Longing is both a beautiful and miserable experience here. Morisot makes use of some interesting wordplay as well.

Would you want to place
your head upon my wrist,
write. Relax and write;
let all others reinterpret all
our varicose dreams.

In Blue Collar, love poems still make up most of the it, but religion and religious imagery are more of a focus. There is also more use of surreal imagery, much of which is often apocalyptic. It does not, however, present such a thing as the end, but a new beginning.

To shake the foundation
of life's miscarriages;
to sow the seeds of false
beliefs into the bosom
of the walking dead. 

Committed is the most pessimistic and downbeat of the three. Most of the poems here are about loss, grief, and the end of relationship. Many of them also speak about an inability to move on from this fractured relationship, leaving one trapped in a limbo.

This timelessness,
between beatings of a 
newborn's heart;
where her mask
fades, and I
see everything.  

Prague is a solid collection of poems with some nice imagery and real, intense emotion behind them. A few of them slip into melodrama, but nothing that brings the book to a halt. This is a book well-worth your time if you enjoy poetry. I'll be picking up more of Morisot's work in the near future.

Buy Prague by Maria Morisot here.

Best of Books at Cultured Vultures

Over at Cultured Vultures, my fellow contributors and I named the best books we read in 2018 and the best books published in 2018. See our picks at the links below.

6 Best New Books of 2018 You Should Read

6 Best Books We Read This Year

I also have a review of Shane Jesse Christmass's anti-novel Belfie Hell up.

Read it here.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye: Review Round Up

Here's some recent reviews of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye.

Review by Brandon Adamson at Stepkid

Review by Anita Dalton at Odd Things Considered

Review by Charlie Ceates at Cultured Vultures

Review by Zakary McGaha at Silent Motorist Media

Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed it! 

Buy The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye from Amazon here.

November Has Tied Me to an Old, Dead Tree

Today is the last day to get "The Tomato Garden" free on Kindle. the sky is black and blue like a battered child will be free on Kindle up until the end of Nov. 4th.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye from NihilismRevised is available on Amazon. If you have a copy, a review on Amazon, GoodReads, or your blog/website helps a lot. Also be sure to like NihilismRevised on Facebook to follow their future releases. They're doing great work and I'm happy to be a part of it. 

My first novel, The Story of the Y, is still on it's way from Cabal Books. No release date yet, but it should be out before the end of the year. Be sure to like Cabal Books on Facebook as well to keep up.

I've completed a second novel titled Music is Over!; or The Facts Concerning the Disappearance of Juntaro Yamanouchi. It's a spiritual sequel to The Story of the Y and it's about a Japanese noise artist who disappears when he boards a mysterious train. I'm currently shopping it around to publishers.

I'm starting work on a third novel called Elaine. It's a horror novel wherein a record store owner goes to a small town in the Porcupine Mountains of Upper Michigan to meet his girlfriend for her mother's funeral and finds there's no way to leave. I'm technically not participating in NaNoWriMo, but this is my "unoffical" entry in it.

Also, I'm still writing reviews for Cultured Vultures and I'll also be contributing to Silent Motorist Media more in the future, so be sure to follow them.

I've also taken over the Tumblr of author Shane Jesse Christmass for the remainder of the month. Follow my shitposts at http://shanejessechristmass.tumblr.com/

Thank you for everyone who has bought,reviewed, or shared my books, to the editors who have picked up my work, and to everyone who has supported me in any way.

Give word to April to rescue me

I Hacked a Tumblr

Okay, not really. But I have been given the password for the Tumblr of author Shane Jesse Christmass. I'll be posting various things there until the end of November.

Follow it here.

"The Unreprinted" at Silent Motorist Media

I'll be contributing a column to Silent Motorist Media wherein I discuss out-of-print books. In the first installment, I take a look at the cult erotic horror novel by Tim Lucas, Throat Sprockets.

Read it here.

Halloween Treats

 Happy Halloween!

Both my poetry chapbook, the sky is black and blue like a battered child, and my short story, "The Tomato Garden," are free on Kindle. The former until tomorrow and the latter until Nov. 4th.

Get the sky is black and blue like a battered child here.

Get "The Tomato Garden" here.

More at Silent Motorist Media

Bob Freville and I give you ten ideas for cheap Halloween costumes you can make if you're a broke motherfucker over at Silent Motorist Media.

Read it here. 

New Piece at Silent Motorist Media

Over at Silent Motorist Media I have a comedy piece up in which world-renowned art critic Lee Alvarez gives his thoughts on the first art show of the mysterious art collective abstract_FETISH.

Read it here. 

Bizzong! Interview

I had a very nice conversation with Frank Edler of the Bizzong! podcast.

Listen to it here.

The Story of the Y Book Trailer

Cover Reveal: The Story of the Y by Ben Arzate

Here's the cover for The Story of the Y, coming soon from Cabal Books. 

The cover art is by the always excellent Matthew Revert. 

Stay tuned. 

New Kindle Single: The Tomato Garden

I've published my short story, "The Tomato Garden," as a single on Kindle. It's only $0.99, but if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free.

Get it here.

New Poem Published at Horror Sleaze Trash

My poem, "bird call," has been published at the excellent Horror Sleaze Trash.

Read it here.

First Review of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye was reviewed by Brandon Adamson over at Stepkid.

He says of the book, "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Saying Goodbye both horrifies and entertains by briefly taking us out of our depraved world of delusions so that we may cringe and laugh at ourselves and everything around us."

Thank you, Brandon!

Read his full review here.

Buy One, Get One Free

From now until this Saturday evening (09/22/2018), if you email me proof that you bought The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye to benarz13(at)gmail(dot)com, I'll send you a free PDF of my poetry chapbook the sky is black and blue like a battered child.

Buy The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye at Amazon here.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye - Now Available

Buy it here

New Article at Lost in the Funhouse

Over at Daulton Dickey's Lost in the Funhouse, I talk about the books that I started but never finished.

Read it here. 

Don't forget that The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye is still coming soon from NihilismRevised and The Story of the Y is coming soon from Cabal Books.

Book Trailer for THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO SAYING GOODBYE

Cover Reveal for THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO SAYING GOODBYE

Art and Design by SC Burke

Coming this September: THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO SAYING GOODBYE

Reviews in Other Places

I've been trying to spread my reviews a little wider lately. I've decided to experiment a little with Medium. I'm going to use it to post things that I don't think fit anywhere else. One thing I'm going to do is back up the reviews there that were originally published on the now-defunct Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing, which is offline.

The first one over there is my review of Andre Duza's Technicolor Terrorists.

I also recently contributed a review to Lost in the Funhouse, run by author Daulton Dickey. The review is of M Kitchell's In the Desert of Mute Squares. 

Stay tuned to this blog or my social media for updates on my two forthcoming books.  

An Announcement and a Small Update on Story of the Y

I have some good news. My first collection of short stories, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saying Goodbye, has been picked up to be released by NihilismRevised. Right now we're planning a late August release date, but that might change. Be sure to 'like' the NihilismRevised page if you're on Facebook for future updates.

Also, Story of the Y is now going to be published through Cabal Books, the new imprint of Thicke and Vaney Books. Be sure to 'like' the Cabal Books page on Facebook as well for more updates on my novel and other great books coming soon from them.

Book Review: Zero Saints by Gabino Iglesias

(Disclaimer: Gabino Iglesias did editing work on my forthcoming novel)

Fernando never wanted to come to the United States, but when he chances to kill someone with connections to dangerous men, he flees Mexico for Texas to stay alive. Working as a drug dealer in Austin, he believes himself to be safe. That is until he's kidnapped off the street by some heavily tattooed gangbangers who drag him to an abandoned home and force him to watch them torture and murder a friend. They send him away with a message for his boss: this is their territory and others had better stay out.

Sometimes the best thing that happens to other people is an unloaded gun.

Zero Saints is a book that slams on the gas pedal from the beginning and doesn't let up until the end. That isn't to say that it's non-stop action. One of the best parts about the book is that it takes time building up to its most violent parts. However, even the comparatively quiet moments pulse with intensity. It's the kind of book that compels the reader to sit down and take it all in in one go.

Iglesias packs a lot in this book that's less than 200 pages through his use of precise and vivid detail. For example, as the gangbangers are torturing his friend by cutting off his fingers, Fernando hears a crunching noise when they throw his fingers in a bucket. He never learns what was in that bucket, but it's enough it scares him just as much as watching his friend die. It leaves in him a dread that the reader can feel as the story progresses.

A rudimentary knowledge of Spanish is helpful going into this book, though not absolutely necessary. Because the story is told from Fernando's perspective, he often slips from English into Spanish, especially when he's under pressure or praying. If nothing else, this book is helpful for learning Spanish curse words.

Zero Saints is an excellent novel that mixes crime, horror, and magic realism. If you want a book that's both intense and unique, this is a must read. I look forward to reading more of Iglesias's work. 

Buy Zero Saints by Gabino Iglesias here.

Brief Thoughts 25

The Summer Is Ended And We Are Not Yet Saved by Joey Comeau

While his mom is doing special effects work on a movie in another city, Martin is spending the summer at a Bible camp. While he's not religious, it seems like he's going to have a fun time. He makes new friends and even has his first kiss. What he doesn't know is that the Reverend who runs the camp is completely insane.

Comeau is probably most well-known as the writer of the now ended webcomic, A Softer World. He's also written several books, his first of which, The Complete Lockpick Pornography, I've reviewed on this blog before. The Summer Is Ended And We Are Not Yet Saved is a tribute to B-grade horror films, slasher films especially.

While it's not fair to this book, I couldn't help but compare it to another horror novel of Comeau's, One Bloody Thing After Another. That novel, like this one, also concentrated heavily on the characters and spent a lot of time developing the relationships between them. However, it was also much more abstract in its horror and more original. The biggest problem with The Summer Is Ended... is that it doesn't really balance out the relationships with Martin and his mother and his friends at the camp with the over-the-top, bloody plot. It feels like it can't tell if it wants to be a campy (ha!), blood-splattered romp, or a heartbreaking story. Given how well Comeau usually does heartbreak, that's a bit of a disappointment.

Despite that, I still really enjoyed the book. It's easy to tell that Comeau has a deep love for the slasher genre and it kept me reading in spite of its flaws. Not to mention that his simple but impactful prose makes anything he's written worth reading.

While it's not Comeau's best work, I still recommend it.

Buy The Summer Is Ended And We Are Not Yet Saved by Joey Comeau here. 

Psychosomatic by Anthony Neil Smith

Lydia is the ex-wife of a rich drug dealer who lost all her limbs in a car crash, Alan is a small-time criminal doing odd jobs to get by, Terry and Lancaster are a pair of fratty extortionists and car thieves, Norm is a drug dealer looking to muscle his partner out of the picture, and Megan is a thief who disguises herself as a nurse to steal drugs from a hospital. Their various schemes bring them crashing together in a way that leaves a lot of bodies and destruction behind.

Psychosomatic was Anthony Neil Smith's first novel, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. It's masterfully plotted, keeps moving at a fast pace, and never feels bogged down despite the number of characters. The characters are also repellent and yet compelling enough that I didn't want to put the book down.

I had previously read and reviewed one of Smith's later novels, XXX Shamus, which he wrote under the pen name of Red Hammond. I'm curious why he felt that one needed to be under a pen name when this is what he writes under his real name. I found many parts of Psychosomatic much darker and more fucked up than XXX Shamus, the ending especially.

If you like dark neo-noir stories, this is a must-read.

Buy Psychosomatic by Anthony Neil Smith here. 

New Review of the sky is black and blue like a battered child + An Annoucement

Brandon Adamson, author of the poetry books SideQuests and Beatnik Fascism, gave a very kind review of my chapbook, the sky is black and blue like a battered child, at Stepkid.com.

"the sky is black and blue like a battered child very much reminds me of 90s zine poetry, both in tone and style. It has a pre-internet quality to it that’s difficult to put into words, but one which someone my age will instantly pick up on. Even though Ben Arzate appears to be about ten years younger than me and firmly within the millennial demographic, this strikes me as a precociously Generation X book. Arzate’s refreshingly not trying to save the world, fight social injustice or do much of anything here. Still, the sky is black and blue like a battered child succeeds in punching above its slim weight.

You can read the full review here.

I've also been sitting on this for a little bit, but I figured I may as well make it known as I've told a few others individually.

My first novel, Story of the Y, will be coming out this year from Thicke and Vaney Books. We're currently working on putting together the final book, but, unfortunately, we don't have a set release date yet. It will be sometime this year, though. I'll keep you all posted.

Strange Behaviors: An Anthology of Absolute Luridity OUT NOW

Last year, I sat down late one night after I'd been drinking. I banged out a piece that was dark, surreal, and violent. To top it off, it was a one act play. I filed it away as something I figured would remain unpublished. Then a small, relatively new press named NihilismRevised put out a call for an anthology. They were looking just for the kind of thing like that play. I sent them the piece, and they accepted.

I'm sharing this anthology with some other great authors like Jordan Krall and Michael Faun, and I'm very excited for it.

There's a limited edition of only 100 and a regular edition. Links to them both are below.

If you pick it up, I hope you enjoy reading it!

I'll have another big announcement coming soon, so stay tuned.

Buy the limited edition here.

Buy the regular edition here.

Brief Thoughts 24

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The Top Five Reviewed and Non-Reviewed Reads of 2017

Normally, I do a top ten of the books I read at the end of each year. This year, however, I read far more books than I have in past years. Because of that, I've decided to do two top fives instead, one of the books I didn't do a full review of and one of the ones I did. Keep in mind, "full" reviews, if I did a Brief Thoughts on it or discussed it in my 31 Horror Book Challenge, I'm counting it as a non-reviewed one.

That may seem like an odd distinction, however, I go into books I plan on doing reviews on with a different mindset than books I read just for pleasure. So the division makes perfect sense in my mind.

Let's get into the books.

Non-Reviewed

5. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Part campus novel, part noir story. It took me some time to really get into this book, but once I did, I absolutely loved it.

4. Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson

A mix of bizarro, crime, and experimental fiction that moves through each genre flawlessly. This is easily one of the best short story collections I've ever read.

3. Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music by Irwin Chusid 

An entertaining encyclopedia of some of the weirdest music and the people who make it. 

2. Savage Night by Jim Thompson

Like Thompson's The Killer Inside Me, this book deals with repression in mid-20th century America in the guise of a pulp crime story. This has one of the most baffling, but beautifully terrifying endings I've read in a novel. 

1. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

This book is up there with Camus's The Stranger and Houellebecq's Whatever as one of the best existential works I've ever read. An incredible and painful work of genius.

Non-Reviewed Honorable Mentions 

- White Jazz by James Ellroy
-  I Am Suicide by Philip LoPresti
-  The Impossible by Georges Bataille

Reviewed

5. What We Build Upon the Ruins by Giano Cromley

Another short story collection up there with the best I've ever read. Sad stories about building upon a past that can never be revived. (Full review)

4. In the Woods of Memory by Shun Medoruma 

The first English translation of the Okinawan author. It's an amazing examination of how tragedy lingers with the people it directly affects and those around it. (Full review)

3. Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix 

An excellent and informative look at the books from the horror fiction boom from the 70s and the 80s. This book is a horror fan's dream. (Full review)

2. Hell Hound by Ken Greenhall

Existential horror from the 1970s that I'm thankful is back in print. (Full review in print) 

1. ANSWER Me! All Four Issues, edited by Jim and Debbie Goad

All four issues of the most offensive zine ever created in one volume. An absolutely essential read. (Full review)

Reviewed Honorable Mentions 

- Cartoons in the Suicide Forest by Leza Cantoral (Full review)
- Liquid Status by Bradley Sands (Full review)
- Sorry, Wrong Country by Konstantine Paradias (Full review)