DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

As I’ve said, Amazon “bestseller” lists don’t mean much. That reiterated, Unseaming has so far been successful enough (by my standards) to afford me a fair amount of fun as it bobs up and down in the Kindle “Horror Short Stories” rankings.   This is

My horror story “Tardigrade” is out in Jason V. Brock’s A Darke Phantastique anthology, which as a physical object is easily the most opulently baroque thing I’ve ever been in. I know this because my copy arrived today:     Other contributors: Joe R. Landsdale,

I suppose I should start with the obvious: my first ever short story collection Unseaming is new this year and eligible in “best story collection” categories. Someone saw fit to suggest it be included in this completely unofficial list, which still tickles me to no

Continuing my gradual catch-up between projects (more on what those projects are in future entries):   I’ve sold a new short story, a sweetly nasty tongue-in-grotesque-cheek little short called “Tick Flick.” It’s kind of horror, kind of sci-fi, kind of within the margins of “the

My friend Michael M. Jones interviewed me for an impressive roundup article about how crowdfunding is changing the sf/f/h publishing landscape. The article, “Defying the Traditional Model: Crowdfunding in science fiction and fantasy,” appeared last week at Publishers Weekly, and contains quotes from a number

So, the successive obligational pile-ons of preparing for the 2014 World Fantasy Convention, then attending said convention (with the whirlwind of first meetings and reunions that entailed), then catching up on unfinished tasks afterward (which, actually, I still haven’t quite managed) all mean that I’ve

  #SFWApro  

It’s only fitting that Halloween was a busy week for me, beyond reading submissions for Mythic Delirium and all the little things I’m doing to promote Unseaming.   My editor at The Roanoke Times once again asked me to write an original ghost story for

My thanks to everyone who has bought Unseaming so far — by the standards of one of my books (admittedly not a high bar) the collection is doing quite well, especially on Amazon. Ordinarily I only get to play these sorts of games when I’m

So it turns out the rejuvenated Roanoke main library has a room that’s the perfect size for a reading. The first official launch reading for Unseaming turned out to be quite cozy. My thanks to Roanoke librarian Shalon Hurlbert (my good friend, whom the book