DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

There’s a new issue of Goblin Fruit out, which is always reason to celebrate.
 

 
I have a special reason beyond the norm to celebrate this particular issue. The Goblin Queens have honored me by publishing “Hungry Constellations,” a light-hearted (for me) meditation on the stars, alternate realities, storytelling, theater and the banality of evil (or something like that) that you can read either as one long poem or a 10-poem cycle. The Goblin Queens have made it work both ways by making my poetic thingamabob their 2013 Fall Feature.
 
There’s also an interview with me and a nice essay about how I’ve bedeviled the Queens from the get-go.
 
#SFWApro

Posted in Appearances, Interviews, Poetry, Strangeness, Writing

The Raleigh Court Branch Library is holding the Roanoke launch party for my first novel, The Black Fire Concerto, the story of a pair of sorceress-musicians who fight necromancers and ghouls in a post-apocalyptic future. My friend Anne Sampson will provide some beautifully eerie music for the occasion. The event, which is free, starts Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 5 p.m. I’ll have copies of my book to sell and sign, of course. Refreshments provided, too, courtesy of the wonderful folks at the library.
 

 
#SFWApro

Posted in Appearances, Fiction, Novels, The Black Fire Concerto, Writing

I’m pleased to report that Strange Horizons is buying my new poem “The Paper Boy,” a grim meditation on a crime’s aftermath. Thanks go to Romie Stott for accepting it and to Dominik Parisien for motivating me to write it. #SFWApro
 
I’m also pleased to report another nice review for The Black Fire Concerto, this time from blogger Grace Troxal at Books Without Any Pictures. She writes:
 

The magical apocalypse envisioned in The Black Fire Concerto is unlike anything I’ve ever read. … Mike Allen’s imagery is incredible. He creates great machines fueled by rotting corpses, the friendly fox-like Vulpines, and villains that will give you nightmares and make you feel sympathetic at the same time. A blend of fantasy and horror, The Black Fire Concerto will leave you begging for more.

 
There’s a couple more Black Fire Concerto-related links I want to share:
 

• At SF Signal, there’s a guest post I’ve written where I talk in great detail about the book’s influences and the method by which it came to be published.
• At Black Gate, there’s an interview with Lauren K. Cannon, who created the amazing cover art for my novel, conducted by the book’s editor, C.S.E. Cooney!

 

Posted in Fiction, Interviews, Novels, Poetry, Reviews, Signal boosts, Writing

My “Tour of the Abattoir” column in the most recent Tales to Terrify podcast discusses the career so far of horror writer Joe Hill, including a lengthy review of his latest novel, NOS4A2. Fiction is by John Dodds. Click here to have a shivery listen. #SFWApro
 

Posted in Appearances, Audio

The reviewer behind the Just Book Reading blog just came out with a review of The Black Fire Concerto. Not all reviews are like surprise presents, but this one is.
 

I listened to the first part of this book when it was featured on Tales to Terrify. It was wonderfully creepy and I had a picture of this world in my head so when the book arrived I was anxious to get started. The world of Erzelle and Olyssa held true and I found myself rushing through this story full of ghouls, flesh eaters, magically driven harvesters of the dead … The Black Fire Concerto packs a lot into its few pages. I was satisfied by the end but I wanted more. It was just that good …

 
Earlier, Amy at Just Book Reading reviewed C.S.E. Cooney’s reading of the first part of my novel, “The Red Empress,” at Tales to Terrify.
 

The narrator, C.S.E. Cooney stuck the perfect tone. Her voice a perfect fit for the story … The first part sets the stage for more to come and I want more of this broken and deranged world.

 
#SFWApro
 

Posted in Fiction, Novels, Reviews, The Black Fire Concerto, Writing

I’m honored to have been invited to take part in the latest Mindmeld post on SF Signal, a roundup of fellow writers and editors discussing favorite women horror writers and current writers to watch. Other participants are Ann VanderMeer, Joe McKinney, Lisa Morton, Rhonda Parrish, Kenneth W. Cain, DeAnna Knippling, Nicole Cushing, Maurice Broaddus, R.J. Cavender and Jason V. Brock. Click here to check it out!
 
A special thanks to Silvia Morena-Garcia for her suggestions as to who I ought to mention. #SFWApro
 

Posted in Appearances, Interviews, Signal boosts

Locus Magazine short fiction review Rich Horton has some really cool things to say about my short story “Still Life With Skull” in his just-published review of Solaris Rising 2.
 

Mike Allen’s “Still Life With Skull”, set in the same very strange world as his “Twa Sisters” from last year, is about the most adventurous story here. As with the previous story, it’s not always easy to get what’s going on, which is part of the point, I think. It involves strangely sculpted people — the main character is a box with eight arms and two legs — but one thing is illegal, changing your core DNA. And so when the main character is asked to perform this service for a visitor — well, all heck breaks out. Neatly wild ideas, and a creepy ending.

 
Rich put my story on his Recommended Reading List. He also highlighted stories from the anthology by Eugie Foster and Kim Lakin-Smith. #SFWApro
 

Posted in Fiction, Reviews, Short stories, Writing

The folks at SF Signal are generously hosting a giveaway of my novel The Black Fire Concerto. There’s two trade paperback copies up for grabs. Anyone anywhere in the world is eligible. Click here to take part if y’wanna.
 
Also, Haunted Stars publisher John O’Neill asked me to plug the book a couple times more at his other publishing venture, Black Gate.
 
In “The Black Fire Concerto & the Monsters of Memory” I talk about my inspirations for the multitudes of undead ghoulies that populate the book.
 
In “Musical Mayhem and The Black Fire Concerto” I talk about how the book partakes of both heavy metal and classical music.
 
Keep this up, the sum of my posts about my book will end up being as long as the book, heh. It’s a short book, comparable to one of Roger Zelazny’s Amber novels or Michael Moorcock’s Elric compilations. And that no doubt is fodder for another post somewhere down the road. #SFWApro

Posted in Appearances, Fiction, Novels, Signal boosts, The Black Fire Concerto, Writing

My contributor’s copy arrived today of the Russian edition of Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year One, which contains my poem “The Thirteenth Hell.” This is the first time my work has ever been translated. It’s neat to see my name in Cyrillic. (Photos by Anita.) #SFWApro
 

 

 

Posted in Poetry, Strangeness, Writing

I’m pleased to announce that my strange somewhat science fictional poem “Dearly Beloved” has just sold to Canadian anthology series Postscripts to Darkness.
 
I’m especially tickled because “Dearly Beloved” is part of a series — it’s set in the same far future world as my short stories “Twa Sisters” (published last year in Not One of US #47) and “Still Life With Skull” (in Solaris Rising 2: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction, which appeared in March.)
 
I guess this means I need a name for this series, eh? In my mind it’s called the “Hierophant’s Daughter” sequence, for whatever that may be worth. #SFWApro

Posted in Fiction, Poetry, Short stories, Signal boosts, Writing