DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

A perfect image for today, supposedly the first day of spring.     As a bonus, here’s some gratuitous staff shots of my assistants.

Last week I announced that Mythic Delirium is going to undergo a big change. More about that in just a bit. This week I get to announce that the newest issue of Mythic Delirium is almost here (and we’re on time for once.) Here are

Because I never have enough to do (heh, heh) I have proposed a discussion, a workshop and three group readings for the upcoming ReaderCon convention in July. As of last week, all have been approved. I share their descriptions below.   GROUP READING: CLOCKWORK PHOENIX

The Speculative Poetry Scene Guest Blog by Mike Allen (on the now-defunct Nebula Awards site) posted on October 05 2009 I was lucky enough to attend two award ceremonies this year related to speculative writing. First, the Nebula Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, where I

Writer and editor Rose Lemberg today posted a round-up of a weeklong project she organized in which editors of speculative poetry publications listed their top five favorite poems published in 2012 by venues other than their own. Individual recommendations come from Amal El-Mohtar (Goblin Fruit,)

I’m still asking myself this. In terms of writing, editing and publishing, this was easily my biggest year since 2009 (when I was up for the Nebula for “The Button Bin” and had released the 10th anniversary issue of Mythic Delirium and the second volume

My tongue-in-cheek anti-Persephone-poem poem “Machine Guns Loaded with Pomegranate Seeds” appeared today at Strange Horizons. My thanks to Sonya Taaffe for giving this piece a home. My thanks also to Amal El-Mohtar for this delightful Twitter review: Only @mythicdelirium could make me burst out laughing

I’m pleased to announce the poems that will be appearing in Mythic Delirium 28, scheduled to be published in Spring 2013. It’s a pretty eclectic mix, though road trips figure prominently. Día de los Muertos • F.J. Bergmann The Beast • Rachel Manija Brown Mice

My poem “The Vigil,” dedicated to Nicole Kornher-Stace — and also one of my “Claire-dare” series of poems from late 2010 — has just appeared in the newest issue of Goblin Fruit. Making this appearance extra special, the audio reading is by Claire Suzanne Elizabeth

Congratulations to poet Sofía Rhei (and translator Lawrence Schimel) whose poem “The Magic Walnut” from Mythic Delirium 25 is a contender for the 2012 Dwarf Stars Awards. (I’ve mentioned earlier that my own poem co-written with Anita, “Unland, Unlife,” is also in the running, along