Robert Arellano

Robert Arellano
Arellano, live on KLDK
Born	(1969-07-12) July 12, 1969
Nationality	American
Other names	Bob Arellano
Alma mater	Brown University, Bachelor (1991) and Masters (1994) degrees
Occupation	Author, musician and educator
Employer	Brown University
Organization	Electronic Literature Organization; Center for Emerging Media and Digital Arts, Southern Oregon University
Known for	The Internet's first hyperzine, LSD-50; the World Wide Web's first hypertext novel, Sunshine ’69; international music exchanges with Cuba; guitarist with Will Oldham

Robert Arellano (born July 12, 1969) is an American author, musician and educator. His literary production includes pioneering work in electronic publishing, graphic-novel editions for Soft Skull Press/Counterpoint, and four novels published by Akashic Books.

Life

Arellano was born in 1969 and raised in Summit, New Jersey. After earning both Bachelor (1991) and Masters (1994) degrees from Brown University, he taught for a decade on Brown's Literary Arts faculty. In 1993 he used Storyspace to publish the Internet's first hyperzine, LSD-50, on a Gopher server. In 1996, Sonicnet serialized his groundbreaking hypertext novel Sunshine ’69 on the World Wide Web. Arellano is a founding member of the Literary Advisory Board of the Electronic Literature Organization and founding director of the Center for Emerging Media and Digital Arts at Southern Oregon University.

His most recent novel, Curse the Names, about a reporter living and working in Los Alamos, New Mexico^[1] was published in 2012 by Akashic. He has published fiction and essays in Jane, The Believer, Tin House, and The Village Voice.

Works

• As Bobby Rabyd, LSD-50 (1993)^[2]
• As Bobby Rabyd, Sunshine 69 (1996)

the World Wide Web's first interactive novel,^[3] Sunshine 69

• Fast Eddie: King of the Bees (2001) ISBN 978-1-888451-22-1
• As Eddy Arellano, Dead in Desemboque: Historias de Amor y Sangre! (2008) ISBN 978-0-9796636-4-2

collaboration with artists William Schaff, Richard Schuler, and Alec Thibodeau on a graphic-novel tribute to Mexican comic books

• Don Dimaio of La Plata (2004), ISBN 978-1-888451-51-1
• Havana Lunar

Nominated for a 2010 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America,^[4]

• Curse the Names, (2012) ISBN 978-1-61775-030-4

Music

As Bob Arellano, he has played guitar with Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) on the albums I See a Darkness and Joya as well as in performance and on recordings with Papa M (David Pajo), Jodie Jean Marston, the Pathetics and Havanarama. In March of 2000, Arellano organized an international music exchange in Havana and Pinar del Rio, Cuba called "Rock the Blockade"^[5] featuring Cuban performers in concert with Will Oldham, Papa M, Speed to Roam, and Havanarama.

References