Mike Allen wears many creative hats, at least one of them tailor-made by his wife and partner-in-crime Anita.

An author, editor and publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror, Mike has written, edited, or co-edited thirty-nine books, among them his forthcoming dark fantasy novel Trail of Shadows, his sidearms, sorcery, and zombies sequence The Black Fire Concerto and The Ghoulmaker’s Aria, and his newest horror collection, Slow Burn.

Unseaming and Aftermath of an Industrial Accident, his first two volumes of horror tales, were both finalists for the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Story Collection, and his dark fable “The Button Bin” was a nominee for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Another collection, The Spider Tapestries, contains experiments in weird science fiction and fantasy.

As an editor and publisher, Mike has been nominated twice for the World Fantasy Award: first, for his anthology Clockwork Phoenix 5, the culmination of the Clockwork Phoenix series showcasing tales of beauty and strangeness that defy genre classification; and then, for Mythic Delirium, the magazine of poetry and fiction he edited for twenty years.

He’s a three-time winner of the Rhysling Award for poetry. His six poetry collections include Strange Wisdoms of the Dead, a Philadelphia Inquirer Editor’s Choice selection, and Hungry Constellations, a Suzette Haden Elgin Award nominee.

With Anita, he runs Mythic Delirium Books, based in Roanoke, Virginia. Their cat Pandora assists.

The Mythic Delirium Books imprint boasts titles such as the Clockwork Phoenix anthology series, Bone Swans by C.S.E. Cooney (World Fantasy Award winner for best story collection), Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace (named one of the best young adult books of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews), Snow White Learns Witchcraft by Theodora Goss (Mythopoeic Award winner, adult literature), The History of Soul 2065 by Barbara Krasnoff (starred review, Publishers Weekly), A Sinister Quartet by Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, Amanda J. McGee and Jessica P. Wick (Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List, Best Anthology), Dark Breakers by C.S.E. Cooney (World Fantasy Award finalist for best story collection), The Twice-Drowned Saint by C.S.E. Cooney (Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List, Best First Novel), The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss (Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List, Best Collection), and Like Smoke, Like Light by Yukimi Ogawa (named a best sf/fantasy/horror title of 2023 by Publishers Weekly).

Mike’s poems and stories have appeared in The Best Horror of the Year, Nebula Award Showcase, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, Science Fiction World, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Interzone, H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Cthulhu’s Reign, Solaris Rising 2, Tomorrow’s Cthulhu, Transmissions from Punktown, Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, Nowhereville, Pluto in Furs, Pluto in Furs 2, The Bible of Hell, Tales to Terrify, Podcastle, Pseudopod, StarShipSofa, The Drabblecast, Kaleidocast, Santa Clara Review, frisson, Artemis, Not One of Us, Lackington’s, Spectral Realms, The Deadlands, Tales of the Unanticipated, Postscripts to Darkness, Malevolence, and many more publications.

By day he works for Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

You can follow Mike’s exploits as a writer at descentintolight.com, as an editor at mythicdelirium.com, on Instagram at @mythicdelirium, and also on Facebook and Bluesky.

You can contact Mike at mythicdelirium[at]gmail[dot]com.