DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

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 holding a Kindle giveaway:
 

Stephen King, Stephen King, & me

 

Hangin’ with Joe Hill

 
These Amazon “bestseller” lists don’t mean much, but they’re fun.

@mythicdelirium Ah, hey, c'mon – top 20 baby! You gotta feel good about that.

— Joe Hilloween (@joe_hill) October 24, 2014

Oh, yes, I do.
 
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Posted in Short stories, Strangeness, Unseaming

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 is dedicated to) for setting this up!
 

Photo by Dwayne Yancey. I believe at this point I’m taking a question from one of the gentlemen in the front row.

 

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Posted in Appearances, Editing, Fiction, Mythic Delirium, Novels, Short stories, The Black Fire Concerto, Unseaming, Writing

Jeff VanderMeer’s interview with me about my new collection Unseaming was republished last week at Weird Fiction Review. My thanks to Jeff (again!) and to David Davis, the new managing editor at WFR.
 

 
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Posted in Fiction, Interviews, Short stories, Unseaming, Writing

Anita and I are gonna be at the World Fantasy Convention in D.C. in two weeks, and I have my schedule in hand. Both of my scheduled events are Friday, Nov. 7:
 

Poetry in Fantasy: Yesterday and Today
Time: 11am-12pm, Nov. 7, Regency F
Panelists:Mike Allen (M), Maria Alexander, Rain Graves, David Lunde, Laurel Winter

Description: Including poetry in fantasy, both by the author and quoted from other sources, used to be more common, such as Alice in Wonderland, The Lord of the Rings, and The Worm Ouroboros. Why is poetry not as prevalent now as in the past? Are certain types of poetry, such as non-formal or non-rhyming verse, under-used in fantasy?

I have some bones to pick with the assertion made in this panel description, but don’t worry: the other panelists and I are already talking about how we’ll subvert it.

Reading: Mike Allen

Time: 5:30pm-6pm, Nov. 7, Arlington

 
I’ll be reading selections from Unseaming, of course, just before dinner. Folks interested in an appetite suppressant might consider attending, heh.
 

 
Fellow Antimatter Press author James Maxey (whose Bad Wizard came out the same day as Unseaming) will likely be joining Anita and me later that evening Saturday evening for a little meet and greet social kinda thing in our hotel room. Friday evening, he and I will take part in the mass autograph signing.
 
Other than that, we’re wide open. We look forward to seeing all of you there!
 
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Posted in Appearances, Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Fiction, Mythic Delirium, Novels, Poetry, Short stories, The Black Fire Concerto, Unseaming, Writing

My first official post-book-launch reading of Unseaming happens Tuesday, Oct. 28, 6 p.m. in the Parrot Room (heh) of the newly-renovated and reopened Roanoke Main Library. Naturally I’ll have copies for signing and selling. There will be light refreshments, though what I’m going to read may not be appetite-whetting (heh, heh.)
 

 
Here’s the Facebook event page, the newspaper listing and the Roanoke city website listing. My thanks to Shalon Hurlbert for pulling this one together.
 
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Posted in Appearances, Fiction, Short stories, Unseaming, Writing

Jeff VanderMeer took time out from his explorations of Area X to interview me about my story collection Unseaming, and graciously posted the results on his blog.
 

 
By the way, I’m hugely impressed with his Southern Reach Trilogy and recommend it without reservation. And I wasn’t induced to say that by hypnotic suggestion. So far as I know.
 
#SFWApro
 

Posted in Fiction, Interviews, Short stories, Unseaming, Writing

Last week Library Journal floored me with a starred review of Unseaming, included in a round up of authors way, way better known than I am (David Baldacci? Alexander McCall Smith? Well then!) — and here’s what the review itself said:
 

The stories in this debut collection range from the sly to the splatteringly horrific, with every nuance of dread and menace in between. It opens with Allen’s Nebula-nominated “The Button Bin,” which throbs with a guilty conscience highlighted by the use of second-person narration. From there, Allen sears readers with the visceral image of everyone on Earth waking each morning bathed in blood in “The Blessed Days.” Another gem is “The Hiker’s Tale,” a ghost story that does a wonderful job at misdirection. Grief turns to horror in the marvelous “Condolences,” in which a murderer offers empty regret to the daughter of his victims, triggering continuing horror in the young woman whenever she hears words of condolence. By the time “The Quiltmaker” rolls around and we get a bigger, even better story featuring the narrator of “The Button Bin,” Allen leaves readers with nerves jangling.
 
Verdict: These 14 stories show that Allen (The Black Fire Concerto) is an author to watch, as capable of wringing sadness from a tale as he is of causing chills. From his background in poetry, the author surely learned his deft construction skills, placing words and evoking emotions with impressive economy but maximum effect. —Megan M. McArdle, San Diego

 
Given the Publishers Weekly starred reviews for Unseaming and Mythic Delirium, I feel like I’m on a hot streak in a poker game. Given the many times in my career when I’ve felt the opposite, that’s not a bad thing!
 
#SFWApro
 

Posted in Editing, Fiction, Mythic Delirium, Reviews, Short stories, Signal boosts, Unseaming, Writing

A couple people have requested copies of Unseaming signed by me, and so I thought I’d share how folks can get one.
 
I have my own copies of the book now (snapshot at left is proof!) for my upcoming readings at the Roanoke Main Library (Tuesday, Oct. 28, 6 p.m., Facebook event page to come) and at the World Fantasy Convention in D.C. (Date/time not set but I’m told I’ll have one.) If you can’t make either of those and you want a signed copy, one can be yours, shipping included, for $20 (U.S.) or $35 (outside the U.S.), sent via PayPal (mythicdelirium[at]gmail[dot]com) or via check in U.S. funds made out to me and mailed to 3514 Signal Hill Ave. NW, Roanoke VA 24017. (And don’t forget to tell me your mailing address.) I’m happy to inscribe it however you wish, or you can leave that part up to me, heh, heh.
 
#SFWApro
 

Posted in Appearances, Fiction, Short stories, Unseaming, Writing

Of the three books I’ve released this year, my short story collection Unseaming is getting by far the most attention, a lot more attention I’m used to, frankly, which is a great thing. Unsurprisingly, though, my new poetry collection, Hungry Constellations (which, thanks to the editorial labors of Dominik Parisien, is my best yet, without question) has gone just about completely unsung. This is fitting in a number of ways; I’ve gone over the past ten years from someone who was at the dead center of all the exciting things taking shape in the speculative poetry scene to someone who feels almost no compelling connection to any aspect of it. As far as my own writing is concerned, I’ve been shown the way forward, and it doesn’t have much to do with poetry.
 
But that doesn’t mean I’m done with poems; and that’s why the review of Hungry Constellations by John Philip Johnson that appeared in the latest issue of Star*Line is so personally gratifying.
 

The poems in Mike Allen’s latest book, Hungry Constellations, make a rowdy, red-tinged tapestry, representing twenty years of work from one of the major creative forces in this genre. These poems are physical, expansive, and revolutionary. They are grand and dystopic. They seethe with the conflict of opposites. Allen likes the destructive side of creation as much as the emergent side. He likes dying gods, because they need to be revived or transformed. He writes about stars and legends and human beings contending with the monster-filled and glorious cosmos. He does it all with a relentless, energetic style, full of thought and invention. … even if you aren’t a fan, I urge you to reconsider, for I was a recent outsider to this clan, and from that outsider perspective, Mike Allen’s work was one of the things I saw that gave grace and importance to a genre that sometimes loomed too close to limericks.

 
This is a review that actually startled me more than once with its level of insight into the places my poetry comes from. Not as in, “Hey, somebody finally figured out what I’m up to,” but as in, “Wow! Somebody just mapped out something that I’m doing, and even though I’ve never articulated this approach even to myself, what he says is dead on.” So thank you, John Johnson.
 
(The full review is posted on the Science Fiction Poetry Association website. However, there is no direct link: you have to go to this page where all the reviews are posted and scroll down or search the page for “Hungry Constellations.”)
 
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Posted in Fiction, Poetry, Short stories, Unseaming, Writing

Reposted from the Mythic Delirium website:
 
I’m so thrilled to announce that the first ever Mythic Delirium trade paperback anthology, with its beautiful cover from Galen Dara, is available, if not quite everywhere yet, then enough places that there’s certainly no point in keeping it a secret! (It’s basically gone live a month earlier than planned, which we had to do to have copies available for launch at the World Fantasy Convention in D.C.) I am so proud of this book and all it represents — namely, the culmination of three years of fundraising and labor on our part, resulting in a beautiful showcase for new voices and established pros from around the world.
 
I don’t at all mind repeating what Publishers Weekly had to say in its starred review:
 

Rich word choices and settings that blend speculative concepts with quotidian reality highlight this stellar anthology of prose and poetry … This anthology is a winner from cover to cover.

 
This book has an electronic edition, I might add, and it is quite a bargain: taking the contents of four issues, a $12 value, and rearranging them into a full-blown anthology that we’re offering for a mere $5.
 
Here’s all the places you can get it (so far):
 

AMAZON: trade paperback • Kindle
AMAZON UK: trade paperback • Kindle
BARNES & NOBLE: trade paperback • Nook
iTUNES: ebook
KOBO: ebook
 
And once again, here’s who’s in it:
 

“Myths and Delusions: An Introduction” by Mike Allen
“This Talk of Poems” by Amal El-Mohtar
“The Wives of Paris” by Marie Brennan
“Cuneiform Toast” by Sonya Taaffe
“Hexagon” by Alexandra Seidel
“Unmasking” by Sandi Leibowitz
“Ahalya: Deliverance” by Karthika Naïr
“Katabasis” by Liz Bourke
“The Art of Flying” by Georgina Bruce
“Dreams of Bone” by Christina Sng
“India Pale Angel” by Robert Davies
“a recipe” by Lynette Mejía
“Anna They Have Killed” by Jennifer Crow
“The Two Annies of Windale Road” by Patty Templeton
“Zora Neale Hurston Meets Felicia Felix-Mentor on the Road” by J.C. Runolfson
“Princess: A Life” by Jane Yolen
“Present” by Nicole Kornher-Stace
“Old Bone” by Sandi Leibowitz
“Backbone of the Home” by Lisa M. Bradley
“Flap” by David Sklar
“Rhythm of Hoof and Cry” by S. Brackett Robertson
“The Silver Comb” by Mari Ness
“Milkweed” by Cedar Sanderson
“Never Told” by Jane Yolen
“Foxfeast” by Yoon Ha Lee
“Seeds” by Beth Cato
“Seedpaper” by Rhonda Parrish
“The Onion Prince” by David Sklar
“The Girl Who Learned to Live with Bees in Her Hair” by Brigitte N. McCray
“The Giant’s Tree” by Yukimi Ogawa
“Two Ways of Lifting” by Virginia M. Mohlere
“Levels of Observation” by Kenneth Schneyer
“Cat’s Canticle” by David Sklar
“Nisei” by Beth Cato
“Echoes in the Dark” by Ken Liu
“Voyage to a Distant Star” by C.S.E. Cooney
“WereMoonMother” by Brittany Warman

 
Here’s the full wraparound art.
 

 
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Posted in Editing, Mythic Delirium