DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

Monday brings me two new precious things. First, my new poem “La Donna del Lago,” dedicated to Claire (C.S.E.) Cooney, has appeared at Strange Horizons. Fitting, as it’s the last of the “Claire-dare” poems that she inspired (though not the last to appear in print.)

Some folks have already gotten the word. Guidelines here.

Writer/poet Francesca Forrest, who is also part of my volunteer “staff” for Mythic Delirium, is holding a guessing game contest. Enter it to win free copies of Issue 23 and Issue 24. For further details, click over to her blog.

The latest podcast from Hugo Award-winning StarShipSofa features the second installment of Diane Severson’s Poetry Planet, which, in the name of exploring the theme of “first contact,” contains two of my poems, “The Thing in the Gutter” and “On Discovery of a Habitable World.” The

I’m pleased to announce that the following poems by the following poets have been accepted for Issue 25 of Mythic Delirium, which I hope to have out in early October. • “An Unkindness of Ravens” • Rachel Manija Brown • “Claiming Tyche; Nemesis Rising” • Michael

If you sent me any poems to be considered for Issue 25 of Mythic Delirium and you haven’t received a response, you need to query. To my knowledge, at this moment, I have given everyone an answer. My hope is to see Issue 25 on

Presenting, at last, the cover art for Mythic Delirium 24: So, obviously, the issue itself won’t be reaching folks until June. We apologize sincerely for the delay. I can however offer some proof that the issue is worth the wait. Alexa Seidel has written a

Sam Tomaino at SF Revu tackles the stories in Apex Magazine 23 and makes mention of my “Button Bin“: “The Button Bin” by Mike Allen (originally appeared in Helix: Speculative Fiction Quarterly, 2007) is quite the horror story. Our narrator is after a man named

Mythic Delirium is now closed to submissions. We’ll reopen again Aug. 1. Those of you who sent in poems before the deadline … you’ll hear from me before the month is out.