DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

Frequent Mythic Delirium contributor Sonya Taaffe has a new poetry collection out, her first since 2005’s Postcards from the Province of Hyphens, and that’s absolutely something I want to celebrate and support.

It’s called A Mayse-Bikhl, which means “a little book of stories,” and it contains twenty poems from Sonya’s considerable inventory, selected by author, poet and Stone Telling editor Rose Lemberg.

Publisher Erzebet YellowBoy Carr of Papaveria Press writes:

These poems, as Jeannelle [Ferreira] says in her introduction, are “are deeply and completely Jewish poems”. Sonya pulls her material from the deep wells of Jewish myth and history, combining words to create a landscape both familiar and strange. She follows in that tradition of Yiddish literature most popularly published as chapbooks: stories of the fantastic, stories of romance, stories for women. It is entirely fitting that the front cover image, by A. Glixman, is of the Torah scrolls in England that had been rescued from Eastern Europe during World War II. The photograph was taken in 1969 when the scrolls were being restored by the Westminster Synagogue.

You can buy it from Papaveria (click here to do so) for £6.00 — which for us Americanos converts to about $9.50 — plus shipping. Paypal will automatically make the conversion, so don’t let that pound symbol intimidate you.

Posted in Poetry, Signal boosts

There’s a lot of stuff going on in my writing career right now, a lot of “let’s do this and see where it goes” sort of things.

So here’s some ketchup:

I’ve sent out the first batch of agent queries for my new novel, Silver City, Shadow Beast. Wonderful, knowledgeable people have been coaching me as to how one goes about this. Wish me luck!

I am going to be publishing Kindle and e-book editions of all three Clockwork Phoenix anthologies. I have Norilana’s blessing and reprint permissions from all the writers, and am now in the midst of making the e-version of the first volume.

I’m also planning a Kindle collection of my best horror stories to date, The Button Bin and Other Horrors. More on this as details coagulate.

Mythic Delirium 25 is about 80% ready to go. At this point I’m still waiting on the covers, which will be printed on special paper in celebration of, well, us having a 25th issue!

Anita is still seeking participants in her collaboration with Erzebet YellowBoy Carr of Papaveria Press on the special handmade limited edition of The Quiltmaker, sequel to my Nebula-nominated “Button Bin.” Click here for details.

Tony Smith of StarShipSofa has asked me to join his crew as a monthly columnist, gabbing about horror, in anticipation of a new feature called “Blood on the Couch” (Ouch!) Though there’s a lot I can talk about, suggestions and tips most welcome. (Click here to listen to me narrating my horror story “Her Acres of Pastoral Playground” for the SSS.)

Speaking of podcasts, my dulcet tones can be heard at Clarkesworld this month, where I’ve recorded a narration of David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell’s thoughtful and suspenseful addition to the military sf canon, “A Militant Piece.” Click here to listen.

Last for the moment, but hardly least: Issue 4 of Fantastique Unfettered is due to appear next month, that features three new poems by me and a reprint of an sf novelette, and now, a round robin interview conducted by Alexandra Seidel with myself and novelist Hal Duncan. I won’t comment on my own answers to the role life has in art and vice versa, but Hal’s shouldn’t be missed.

Posted in Audio, Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Fiction, Interviews, Mythic Delirium, Novels, Short stories, Signal boosts, Writing

I’m delighted to announce this morning that Nicole Kornher-Stace’s weird mystical steampunk tale “To Seek Her Fortune” from Clockwork Phoenix 3 is available now as a podcast at the Hugo Award-winning StarShipSofa. Go, listen, enjoy!

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Short stories, Signal boosts

I’m pleased to announce that Erzebet Yellowboy Carr of Papaveria Press plans next year to create a limited (18-copy) special edition of “The Quiltmaker,” my novella that’s a direct sequel to my Nebula Award-nominated horror story “The Button Bin.”

And she’ll be working with my wife Anita to create these handbound volumes. This is really exciting … the last time Erzebet and Anita colluded, the result was the “Honey Corset,” created from the pages of Amal El-Mohtar’s The Honey Month for the author to wear.

The Honey Corset, side view

In that instance, a book got repurposed for wearing. In this instance … the books will wear you.

Here’s what Anita has in mind: she needs 18 people to send her fabric that matches their skin tone as exactly as possible. If you have a distinguishing birthmark, tattoo or other visual feature that marks your skin as distinctly yours, she’d like photos. She’ll recreate said mark on the fabric and use it to create the buttoned-together “Quiltmaker” book covers for Papaveria.

If you’re twisted enough to want in on this (and surely you must be if you’ve read this far) contact Anita at anita[dot]d[dot]allen[at]gmail[dot]com (replace bracketed words with corresponding characters) to get the finer details.

Posted in Fiction, Short stories, Signal boosts, Strangeness

Tonight I’m going to read three brief short stories as part of a Studio Roanoke event called “The Big Idea.”

I adore how they’ve billed me:

Featuring Death Newman, Chris Shepard, Illusions by Nelson Oliver, and creepiness from Mike Allen!

Sat. Oct. 29th, 8PM, $5.00 at the door

Yes, I’ll be performing in The Purple Hat.

Posted in Appearances, Fiction, Short stories

As well as some delightfully pulpy artwork. Cthulhu fhtagn!

The podcast also contains an interview with me afterward, full of awkward pauses, strange skips, and giggle fits. I reveal, among other things, that the inspiration for “Her Acres of Pastoral Playground” owes more to John Carpenter’s “The Thing” than H.P. Lovecraft, and Tony Smith praises me for making use of sound effects without screwing up the recording. He’s an expert, so I consider that high praise.

Posted in Audio, Fiction, Short stories

Don Eaves & Terrence Mollendor came up with this illustration for Darrell Schweitzer’s poem “Alien Graffiti.”

Posted in Editing, Mythic Delirium, Signal boosts

As of today everyone who submitted poetry to be considered for Mythic Delirium 26 should have gotten a reply of some kind from me. If you haven’t, please send me a query.

Posted in Editing, Mythic Delirium

The latest StarShipSofa podcast contains an interview with me that’s intended as a teaser for my upcoming audio adaptation of my horror tale “Her Acres of Pastoral Playground,” which will run Halloween week. I hope you find it as fun as I did! (Click to listen.)

Posted in Audio, Interviews

I’m pleased to report today that Claire aka C.S.E. Cooney’s popular novelette “Braiding the Ghosts” from Clockwork Phoenix 3 has been made available today for your listening pleasure as a “Giant Episode” at Podcastle. Go, click, listen, enjoy!

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Editing, Signal boosts