DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

Last year, on the Monday before ReaderCon, I launched a Kickstarter to revive the Clockwork Phoenix anthology series. It went better than I ever could have dreamed.

Today — on the Monday before ReaderCon — the Kickstarter to revitalize my other longtime publishing project, Mythic Delirium, has reached its funding goal. We’ll be able to keep publishing the new web and e-book version of the magazine at least through mid-2016. It’s like an anniversary gift!

This community is an incredibly generous, giving group to be part of. Thank you all.

Of course I have stretch goals, heh. For $750 more — $3,250 total — I’ll be able to publish a print anthology gathering the stories and poems in the first four issues of the new zine. Fortunately, perhaps, for those who’d like a break from my constant sales pitch, I’m not prepared to outline this second phase in full, as I have to finish prepping for our trip to Boston. #SFWApro

So instead I just want to point out that we have plenty of cool swag left that’s ripe for claiming. We have available:

Ten special color art prints from Paula Friedlander

Four copies left of the signed and numbered chapbook edition of The Immigrant by Cherie Priest

18 unclaimed jewelry pins that Anita is in the process of making — and will likely finish at ReaderCon

Two story critiques from myself and Anita

And lots of other stuff. I hope you’ll give it all a look.

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter, Mythic Delirium

So a year ago today, more or less, I launched my first Kickstarter, to make Clockwork Phoenix 4. And thanks to amazing support from this community, that ended up going really, really well.

Today, my second and much smaller Kickstarter is less than $300 away from being fully funded. If we reach full funding early I have a couple of fairly simple stretch goals. An additional $750 will cover the cost of a print anthology collecting Mythic Delirium 0.1 through 0.4, and if we get that far, another $750 would cover an anthology of the next year’s issues, putting us at a total of $4,000. #SFWApro

Anita’s been working on a special set of Mythic Delirium pins just for this Kickstarter (only one of the 20 has been claimed so far,) and I can finally give you a sense what they will look like. They’re not finished yet, but if you catch us at ReaderCon this weekend, you’ll likely get to watch her putting them together.

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Mythic Delirium, Reviews, Strangeness

I’m pleased to announce that the following poems have been accepted for Mythic Delirium 29, the penultimate print issue of our zine, due out around October. (And of course, I’m revamping Mythic Delirium as an electronic publication, the very first issue of which is available now through our very nearly fully funded Kickstarter.) #SFWAPro

Here are the poets poems that will appear in Mythic Delirium 29:

Constance Cooper, “Great-Great-Grandmother’s Recipe Box”

Lara Elena Donnelly, “Apocalypse Walking”

Preston Grassman, “The Edge of Visible Light”

Ada Hoffman, “The Siren of Mayberry Crescent,” “The Tooth Fairy Throws In the Towel” and “The Witch’s Courting Song”

Deborah P Kolodji, “Echoes of Futures” and “Seasons of a Time Traveler”

Jenna Le, “Tainted Wedding: A Palindromic Fairy Tale in Four Parts”

Sandi Leibowitz, “The Raven’s Invitation”

Kurt Newton, “The Stranger”

Laura Praytor, “Alternatives”

Alexandra Seidel, “The Ice Thief”

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, “Strange Monster”

Sonya Taaffe, “Hypnos and Thanatos”

Posted in Editing, Mythic Delirium, Poetry, Signal boosts

Anita’s been making dolls of the characters from my first novel, THE BLACK FIRE CONCERTO. These dolls are still in progress, but I can sure tell who they are. From left to right: a Grey One from the temple above Violet Bluff, my novel with its mystery sorceress on the cover, and my heroines, Erzelle and Olyssa. #SFWApro

Updated to add: Here’s Olyssa and Erzelle braving the wild territory atop the mantelpiece.

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

So it’s not quite two weeks yet, and the Kickstarter for the new version of Mythic Delirium has only $500 more to raise to reach fully funded. And we haven’t even posted any images of the new jewelry pins Anita is making! (With any luck, we’ll be able to do that tomorrow…)

Mind you, I know $500 isn’t chump change. Still, this is pretty amazing, especially since my zine focuses so heavily on poetry. Thanks so much to all of you who’ve supported us so far!

Yesterday and this morning I started thinking hard about stretch goals. (Gee, I wonder why 😀 )

I promised Anita when I started working on this newfangled Mythic Delirium that we wouldn’t completely abandon print. Right now I have built into the new Mythic Delirium contracts terms for rounding up each year’s worth of issues into an annual trade paperback anthology, not unlike what many of the other online zines do, but it’s optional, not definite. If we reach full funding soon enough, I think I’ll change focus to making those books a certainty. It shouldn’t take much compared to what we’ve already raised. #SFWApro

Posted in Editing, Kickstarter, Mythic Delirium, Signal boosts

You can’t buy it yet, but you can “look inside,” and you can sign up for an e-mail telling you when you can purchase it.

#SFWAPro

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

This review of Clockwork Phoenix 4 at Strange Horizons pulls no punches.

But here’s how it ends:

… this anthology, and this anthology series, are serious about working on the edge of commercially viable fiction. There is room here for the confusing, intentionally or otherwise; for the unexplained; for the extremely different. When it pays off, it pays off spectacularly. The first three Clockwork Phoenix anthologies were published by Norilana Books, but this one was funded by a Kickstarter campaign run by Allen after Norilana ran into financial difficulties. It’s good to see that a community can come together and support an original endeavor of this kind, and delightful to see how well the results have turned out. Whether Allen continues this particular anthology series or not, this book is in several distinct ways a look into the future: the future of fantasy and science fiction, diverse, strange, and wonderful; the future of these individual writers, many of whom are at or near the beginning of careers which promise to be interesting; and, additionally, the future of publishing, in which a crowd-sourced publication from a very small press can produce, and can present professionally and beautifully, work which is at the height of what is being written in genre. This particular phoenix has risen from its ashes triumphant.

#SFWAPro

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter, Reviews

Anita has shared the first image of the pins she’s making as rewards for the Mythic Delirium Kickstarter (which has less than $1,000 to go to be fully funded; click the link for proof.) #SFWApro

She also offers this poem:

Twenty little pinny pins, all lined up in a row.
Twenty little pinny pins, whose faces I won’t show.
Twenty little pinny pins, a poet’s joy and pride.
Twenty little pinny pins, that I shall soon provide.

And she adds this:

( This is the beginning of the special Kickstarter pins for Mythic Delirium, our poetry magazine. Keep an eye out for updates as I create these little works of art. I hope to do them daily. Like the Clockwork Phoenix pieces, the style is similar, but each pin is unique. And Like the CP pieces, I won’t be making more of this style again. )

Posted in Editing, Kickstarter, Mythic Delirium, Poetry, Strangeness

I have a great schedule at ReaderCon. And a full schedule. And a ton of things to promote: my anthology Clockwork Phoenix 4 (now out!), my novel The Black Fire Concerto (almost out!), the new Mythic Delirium and its attendant Kickstarter (over halfway but still needs help!). Anita and I are holding a room party Saturday night to celebrate my double book launch — and we planned this even before word got out the hotel wouldn’t have a bar this year. Should be a blast. #SFWAPro

Thursday July 11

9:00 PM RI Write What You Know All Too Well. Mike Allen, Gemma Files (leader), Shira Lipkin, Sonya Taaffe. Gemma Files is currently making the transition from writing a series of novels (the Hexslinger series) to a stand-alone novel (Experimental Film), from historical fantasy to contemporary horror, and from something very separate from her life to something that actively riffs off it in a somewhat intimate, vulnerable-making way. She will discuss this process and invite others to talk about similarly intimate work they might have created or experienced.

Friday July 12

1:00 PM RI Speculative Poetry Workshop. Mike Allen (leader), Margo Lanagan, Alex Dally MacFarlane. Speculative poetry can be defined a number of ways. One is that a speculative poem uses the trappings of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or more unclassifiable bends in reality to convey its images, narratives, and themes. Speculative poetry can unfold with the same subtlety and power that speculative fiction does, with considerably fewer words. Come prepared to write.

4:00 PM NH Clockwork Phoenix 4 Group Reading. Mike Allen, A.C. Wise, C.S.E. Cooney, Gemma Files, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Barbara Krasnoff, Shira Lipkin, Yves Meynard, Ken Schneyer. All of the critically acclaimed Clockwork Phoenix anthologies have officially debuted at Readercon since the series began in 2008. That bond deepened when editor and publisher Mike Allen launched the Kickstarter campaign for Clockwork Phoenix 4 at Readercon 23. The campaign was a smashing success, and the latest lineup of boundary-pushing, unclassifiable stories has been bought and paid for. At this official reading, the new anthology’s authors will share samples from their stories with everyone who helped make this book reality

5:30 PM VT Reading: Mike Allen. Mike Allen. Mike Allen reads an excerpt from the novel The Black Fire Concerto.

Saturday July 13

3:00 PM NH Mythic Poetry Group Reading. Mike Allen, Leah Bobet, C.S.E. Cooney, Gemma Files, Gwynne Garfinkle, Andrea Hairston, Samantha Henderson, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Dominik Parisien, Caitlyn Paxson, Julia Rios, Romie Stott, Sonya Taaffe, JoSelle Vanderhooft. Over the past decade, speculative poetry has increasingly turned toward the mythic in subject matter, with venues such as Strange Horizons, Goblin Fruit, Mythic Delirium, Stone Telling, Cabinet des Fées, Jabberwocky, and the now-defunct Journal of the Mythic Arts showcasing a new generation of poets who’ve redefined what this type of writing can do. This reading will feature new and classic works from speculative poetry’s trend-setters.

7:00 PM F Speculative Poetry Open Mic. Mike Allen. Mike Allen emcees an open mic for speculative poets. Sign up at the information desk.

8:00 PM F A Most Readerconnish Miscellany. Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, Lila Garrott, Andrea Hairston, John Kessel, Daniel José Older, Caitlyn Paxson, Sonya Taaffe. C.S.E. Cooney and Mike Allen emcee an extravagant evening of music, theater, and readings to benefit the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center and Operation Hammond. Bring cash or credit cards to make donations toward these very worthy organizations, all while being entertained by exquisite performers including Andrea Hairston and Pan Morigan, Daniel José Older, John Kessel, Sonya Taaffe, C.S.E. Cooney and Caitlyn Paxson, and a capella group Sassafrass. Don’t miss this unforgettable event.

Sunday July 14

12:00 PM E Autographs. Mike Allen, Rosemary Kirstein.

1:00 PM ME Crowdfunding: The Glory and the Peril. Mike Allen (leader), Kevin E.F. Clark, Matthew Kressel, Ken Schneyer, Cecilia Tan. In this troubled market, small publishers, authors, and editors are all turning to crowdfunding to get the backing for their cherished projects. Novelists, anthology editors, and magazine publishers are asking for funds on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other sites, and some are coming away triumphant. If you want to try it for yourself, how do you make it work? What do you avoid? What unexpected problems lurk? Author, editor, and publisher Mike Allen, veteran of a $10,000 campaign to fund the anthology Clockwork Phoenix 4, will lead a discussion of what works, what doesn’t, and what successful campaigners wish they’d done differently.

Posted in Appearances, Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Fiction, Kickstarter, Mythic Delirium, Novels, The Black Fire Concerto, Writing

The anthology Kickstarter built is available for everyone to buy.

Kindle Price $4.99 Canada $5.07 UK £3.28 Watch Weightless Books for e-book editions in alternate formats. Trade Paperback $15.95 (Discounted at some stores) Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.com.uk Barnes & Noble Powell’s Indiebound Don’t see it on the shelves at your local store? Ask for it. If you want to get a signed copy direct from me, go here. #SFWAPro

The tone ranges from dark to heartwarming and simple. The overall quality is high … Several of the pieces are quite challenging. Readers will do well to pick up a copy. — Locus Online

What makes this fourth edition so special is that it belongs to an impassioned community of writers and readers who went above and beyond to make it happen. … All eighteen [stories] have the power to pull the reader out of his own reality and transport or transform them entirely. — Cabinet des Fées

This 4th volume of Clockwork Phoenix contains an excellent diversity of speculative fiction ranging from cold and hopeless to harsh but victorious and warm and fulfilling. It was a pleasure to read. — Tangent Online

What kind of stories will you find in Clockwork Phoenix 4? Only those that are magical, imaginative, heart-wrenching, just plain bizarre, forward-looking, backward-looking, biological, romantic, hopeful, darkly funny and openly frightening. All the words that describe the best speculative fiction you’ve ever read apply. In fact, if this isn’t the epitome of speculative fiction, I don’t know what is. — Little Red Reviewer

Clockwork Phoenix 4 is a collection of 18 stories edited by Mike Allen. Who, I will tell you now, is a master editor. And the authors, all masters as well. This collection is really fantastic. I took my time reading it and was rewarded each time a new story began. You can call it speculative, fantasy, science fiction, but what it is, is good reading. — Just Book Reading

The stories are diverse. Yves Meynard’s “Our Lady of the Thylacines” is a tale of a young woman embracing her adrenalin-filled destiny. Alisa Alering’s “The Wanderer King” depicts a society collapsed into mutual extermination, and Barbara Krasnoff’s “The History of Soul 2065” manages to find a happy face for encroaching mortality. Of particular note is Gemma Files’s “Trap-Weed”; in its way the mirror image of the Meynard, it follows a Selkie determined to reject both the ways of its people and those of the humans it encounters. — Publishers Weekly

This volume contains eighteen original stories which can only be classified as speculative; most of them blur or even reject genre lines altogether. The common thread which runs through these stories is a sense of unsettling strangeness. There were several moments when reading that I felt physically altered, only to realize that it was the story and not my body which was causing the queasy feeling in my gut. … That is not to say that these stories are not enjoyable; they are, in a discombobulating, shiver-inducing kind of way. And there were several of the tales which left me thinking on them long after I had finished reading. — Short Story Review

The cover promises “tales of beauty and strangeness” and by god it delivers. This is a collection of stories to boggle the mind and exercise the imagination. A must read for fans of weird speculative fiction. — Goodreads review

You read Clockwork Phoenix books the way you would eat a meal prepared by a master chef: trusting that every ingredient is placed precisely and with a purpose, even if one bite is bitter, it is to allow you to savor the sweetness of the next. In that way, the book absolutely succeeds and is a triumph. — Goodreads review

Table of Contents
“Our Lady of the Thylacines” by Yves Meynard
“The Canal Barge Magician’s Number Nine Daughter” by Ian McHugh
“On the Leitmotif of the Trickster Constellation in Northern Hemispheric Star Charts, Post-Apocalypse” by Nicole Kornher-Stace
“Beach Bum and the Drowned Girl” by Richard Parks
“Trap-Weed” by Gemma Files
“Icicle” by Yukimi Ogawa
“Lesser Creek: A Love Story, A Ghost Story” by A.C. Wise
“What Still Abides” by Marie Brennan
“The Wanderer King” by Alisa Alering
“A Little of the Night” by Tanith Lee
“I Come from the Dark Universe” by Cat Rambo
“Happy Hour at the Tooth and Claw” by Shira Lipkin
“Lilo Is” by Corinne Duyvis
“Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer” by Kenneth Schneyer
“Three Times” by Camille Alexa
“The Bees Her Heart, the Hive Her Belly” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
“The Old Woman with No Teeth” by Patricia Russo
“The History of Soul 2065″ by Barbara Krasnoff

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter, Reviews, Signal boosts