DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

† This coming Wednesday at The Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, I’ll be giving a presentation, “How to Run a Successful Kickstarter,” as part of PechaKucha Night Volume 3. The music starts at 6 p.m., the show at 7 p.m., space and tickets are limited. (The organizers would no doubt appreciate it if I finished my overdue PowerPoint and turned it in. I’m working on it, guys!)

† Speaking of Kickstarters, there are a handful of pledge levels that required the corresponding reward be given out in August. I wasn’t quite able to get this completed, not because I didn’t have the reward ready — I most definitely did — but because, I’ve learned, and I suppose this is a consequence of being so successful and having such a wide net cast, there seems to be a percentage of Kickstarter backers that just won’t respond to any message, even when the message is, “Hi, I want to give you the thing you paid for, how do I get it to you?” (So anyway, if you’re a backer who’s supposed to get an August 2012 prize and you haven’t yet, check your e-mail or the Kickstarter site.)

† Mythic Delirium 27, which I’m unofficially dubbing the “romance” issue, is at the moment in the process of being proofread. I’m hopeful to have it out this month, though I’m still waiting on cover art. (And, as above, subscriptions to Mythic Delirium are a Kickstarter prize, too, and I’m hopeful that set of backers will tell me where to mail their issues, hee. Messages still going out regarding this.)

† This past week has seen some very cool developments regarding the project I’ve been calling “the Claire-dare novel” (a tribute to Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney, C.S.E. for short, who is the reason it exists.) It’s not clear to me how much I can say yet, as the Person Ultimately In Charge is currently living it up at WorldCon, but hopefully things will be clearer in the coming week.

† Speaking of things I can’t share quite yet, I have a new web site in progress (finally!) that will, when it’s done, take the place of both mythicdelirium.com and clockworkphoenix.com. When exactly that will happen, I can’t say, because I’m nowhere close to finished yet. But it will happen.

† And speaking of web sites, I can say with certainly that the reading period for Clockwork Phoenix 4 will be Oct. 1 through Dec. 14. I haven’t updated the actual guidelines on the Clockwork Phoenix website yet because there’s a couple other details I want to work out. But that’s coming soon too.

That’s me these days, in a perpetual state of “Stay tuned.”

Posted in Appearances, Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Fiction, Kickstarter, Mythic Delirium, Novels, Writing

With LJ Crossposter

Posted in Strangeness

I’m pleased to report that my truly strange short story “Monster” that combines serial killers and fractals has sold to the new horror journal [Nameless] Magazine, and is currently scheduled for a Spring 2013 release.

I’ve got a number of other behind-the-scenes things going on right now in regards to my own writing that I’m dying to share but can’t yet, so for now this tidbit will have to do.

Posted in Fiction, Short stories, Writing

I apologize that this is so late in coming. For a number of reasons, neither Anita nor I have had much of a chance to stop and reflect since the Kickstarter for Clockwork Phoenix 4 reached such a stunning conclusion on August 9.

In case anyone needs a reminder what that conclusion was:

Reflecting back on the days leading up to launching the Kickstarter, and what my expectations were, this result wasn’t something I weighed as a serious possibility. More along the lines of “Wouldn’t it be wild if…”

This simply would not have happened without the amazing breadth and depth of support this community gave, to help Clockwork Phoenix, to help Anita and me, to help bring more art into the world.

It would not have happened without the help of all our backers — and as of this writing, as long as this thank-you list is (click here to view) this still represents just barely half of the people who stepped up to support us.

It would not have happened without all the people who chose to signal boost us, many more than once, from fans with 50 Twitter followers to bestselling authors. It all mattered. It all helped. It was all amazing.

It would not have happened without the platoon of friends and colleagues, fellow poets and writers and Clockwork Phoenix contributors and fans, who made suggestions and let me bounce ideas off of them in the weeks leading up to the launch. (I want to single out Rose Lemberg, Elizabeth Campbell and Ken Schneyer in particular for excellent advice, and Cherie Priest and Paula Friedlander for signing on for the game-changing chapbook project without hesitation. Thank you folks.)

And it certainly wouldn’t have happened without Anita’s artistic skills and sensible instincts. Thank you so much, sweetheart.

I’m already working on getting rewards to people. I have a lot to do in the coming months. (Our submission window’s going to run from Oct. 1 to Dec. 14, so recruiting slush readers will be a priority task.) But I’m grateful that I get to do these things. Anita and I are grateful for this wonderful mandate, this unexpected, stunning, beautiful show of support.

We did it. You did it. Thank you so much.

Extra bonus: if you’re interested in my thoughts on the nitty-gritty of Kickstarter, there’s an interview with me on that topic now posted at Twisted Scifi.

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter

Just one last reminder: there’s less than 24 hours to go in the Clockwork Phoenix 4 Kickstarter.

Aside from pre-orders of the anthology, two rewards have been especially popular: Anita’s hand-crafted Clockwork Phoenix pins (of which there are 5 remaining to be had) and the signed, limited edition chapbook of Cherie Priest’s fantasy story “The Immigrant,” illustrated by Paula Friedlander. The chapbook, in particular, will never be offered again outside this Kickstarter. Your last chance to get them ends 11:15 a.m. Thursday morning.

Then the celebration begins. Thanks, all of you!

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter, Signal boosts

Hello, folks! Please feel free to repost this.

As of this posting there’s less than 48 hours to go in the Clockwork Phoenix Kickstarter. It’s not at all clear to me whether we’re going to make our final stretch goal that lets us found a companion webzine for Clockwork Phoenix and Mythic Delirium; I guess that will come down to the wire. Regardless, I want to emphasize that whether we make this last goal or not, the book will still happen, we will pay pro rates, and every little bit we get still helps with assembling, printing and marketing this anthology.

I want to do one more quick rundown of the rewards we’re offering, too, because if any of them look tempting, you only have until Thursday morning to make them yours.

Of utmost importance, most all of the rewards involve a pre-order of the new book once it’s made, in e-book or trade paperback form.

A very popular new reward combines the pre-order of Clockwork Phoenix 4 with a special limited edition signed chapbook edition of Cherie Priest’s short story “The Immigrant,” which I originally published in an anthology series called MYTHIC, the precursor to the Clockwork Phoenix books. This chapbook will only ever be offered through this Kickstarter.

Another popular reward: Anita’s Clockwork Phoenix pins. The photo to the left depicts two of them in progress.

And there’s a whole palette of other things to choose from: some have been nibbled at, some are untapped.

Short story critiques:

Tote bags full of books;

Custom hats;

Poems to order and story Tuckerizations;

Your stories or novels formatted as e-books;

Books hollowed out and decorated to create e-reader cases;

The last remaining 10th anniversary issues of Mythic Delirium,featuring Neil Gaiman;

And lots more. I hope you’ll give them all at least one more look before we’re done.

And lastly, in case you missed it; during the course of the Kickstarter I promised to do something special if the campaign paused at $6,666. It did, and I did indeed do something off the wall. Here I am reciting my devilish poem from the pages of my collection The Journey to Kailash, titled “lis pendens“:

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter, Mythic Delirium, Signal boosts

The newest Tales to Terrify podcast contains my latest “Tour of the Abattoir” column, in which I and buddy Shalon Hurlbert tear the liver out of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus … but end up finding it somewhat tasty. There’s also a story from podcast overlord Larry Santoro, narrated in his inimitable style.

I’m also proud to report that in the midst of all this Kickstarter campaigning I’ve sold my anti-Persephone poem “Machine Guns Loaded With Pomegranate Seeds” to Sonya Taaffe at Strange Horizons.

Posted in Audio, Poetry, Signal boosts, Writing

Reposted from the latest project update.

WE DID IT! CLOCKWORK PHOENIX WILL PAY PRO RATES. AND NOW OUR NEXT GOAL: A NEW WEBZINE FOR POETRY AND FICTION. TARGET: $10,000.

Thank you all so much! We’re overwhelmed.

The next volume of Clockwork Phoenix will pay 5 cents a word for fiction. Again, thank you.

So, we’re here. Earlier than expected. And I think there’s time to try for something more. I’ve mentioned before that one of our stretch goals could be creating a new webzine for showcasing poetry and fiction. This is something we’ve wanted to do for years but completely lacked the resources.

But now, I think we could make it happen.

If this Kickstarter can reach $10,000, that should leave us with enough to fund 12 issues of a new Internet magazine. Each issue will hold one story (word limit 4,000 at 2 cents a word) and two poems ($5 each.) In essence, it will be a continuation of the MYTHIC anthologies we used to produce (that published stories like Cherie Priest’s “The Immigrant.”)

If we hit that goal, we’ll launch in 2013.

I can’t think of what else to say other than to repeat, again: Thank you!

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Fiction, Kickstarter, Poetry

The Kickstarter for Clockwork Phoenix is less than $450 away from reaching $8,000, at which point the anthology will be able to pay pro rates for stories. We have a week left.

Should we manage to go past $8,000, I have a new stretch goal in mind. I’ve wanted to try creating my own web-only market for poetry and fiction for a long, long time but haven’t had the resources. Now maybe it’s finally possible.

John O’Neill of Black Gate has generously allowed me to make a guest post explaining what drives me to edit Clockwork Phoenix, and why I personally feel it’s worth continuing. Click here to check it out!

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Kickstarter, Signal boosts

Reposted from Update #12 of the Clockwork Phoenix Kickstarter.

Posted in Strangeness