The son of two elementary school librarians, Joel Arnold grew up surrounded by books. The writing bug bit him early when he won a writing contest in his second grade class. His prize was a trip to the local A&W with his teacher.

Since then, his writing has appeared in dozens of publications, ranging from Weird Tales and Chizine to American Road Magazine and Cat Fancy. His collection Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse was released in 2009 from Sam's Dot Publishing.