DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Page

I learned something today that leaves me especially tickled.

As a part of the “Mike Allen feature” in issue 4 of Fantastique Unfettered, the zine is reprinting my science fiction novelette “Stolen Souls.”

Whatever flaws it may have, this piece holds a lot of sentimental value for me. The opening scene was the final bit I came up with for my creative writing seminar at Hollins University when I was a grad student there. Five years later, fleshed out into an 8,600-word novelette, that story became my first SFWA-level pro sale (whatever stock you put in that.) It appeared in the Australian magazine Altair in 1999 and earned a sweet review from Tangent:

One of the two tales in this issue I felt stood far above the rest … Venner lives in the near future, where aliens steal living human brains to use as computers. His wife is such a victim, and Venner vows to recover her. So he allows himself to be cyborged, and tracks the brain thieves across the universe. But as he approaches closer and closer to his goal, he must surrender piece after piece of his humanity to gain the edge on his adversaries. In the end he succeeds, but it’s unclear if he is capable of understanding what his victory means.

There’s a minor tale of woe that’s also attached to this piece. Once upon a time there was going to be an American edition of Altair and it was supposed to launch with the very same issue “Stolen Souls” appeared in. The issue was actually printed (and I saw the proofs) but because of a financial dispute between publisher and printer it was never distributed to newsstands and presumably ended up being pulped.

So, I’m delighted that Alexa and Brandon at Fantastique Unfettered are giving this story a chance to appear before some new eyes.

Posted in Fiction, Short stories

My poem “The Shadow Train” has appeared in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine issue 6, which is now available at Amazon.com. It’s a curious place for it to end up, as it’s not particularly Sherlockian — it’s about railroad fatalities and ghosts. On the other hand, when I originally sold it in 2004 to H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror (where it never did appear) it wasn’t particularly Lovecraftian either, so go figure.

Posted in Poetry, Signal boosts

The upcoming fourth issue of Fantastique Unfettered has cover art based on my poem “Binary,” plus a feature devoted to my poetry. There may be other stuff, too, yet to be determined. Plus Scottish novelist and activist Hal Duncan!

They shared it on their website, so now I share it here. BTW, they’re open to submissions.

Posted in Fiction, Poetry, Signal boosts, Writing

Google shows me this blog review of my short story “An Invitation via Email,” which appeared in the July/Aug. 2008 issue of Weird Tales (#350), edited by Ann VanderMeer. I think the review is longer than the story!

Again, I include it for grins.

… while the idea of the story isn’t much more original than the title it is very well written and depending on your mood and personality either quite funny or quite disturbing.

To which I say, why not both? *g*

Posted in Reviews, Short stories

I’m pleased to be able to share that a poem I wrote just a week ago (and shared at last week’s No Shame Theatre) has sold to Rose Lemberg and Shweta Narayan at Stone Telling. It’s called “Surviving Wonderland” and it’s slated to appear in the “International and Mythpunk” issue.

ETA: Credit where credit is due: the poem was inspired by prompts provided to me by (of course!) Claire Cooney and Patty Templeton. Thanks, miladies!

Posted in Poetry, Writing

Within the past couple days I found this review of an issue of the 2006 issue of H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror (!!!) that contains a short story I co-wrote with Charlie Saplak, “Strange Wisdoms of the Dead.” I share it here merely for the grin it gave me.

“Strange Wisdoms of the Dead” – by Mike Allen and Charles M. Saplak – Loved this story! Waking dead, lost loves, philosophical realizations … definitely recommend it.

I note, despite the magazine’s name, there was nothing at all Lovecraftian about the tale.

Posted in Fiction, Reviews

Last night Anita and I sorted out the official table of contents for Mythic Delirium 25. And here it is:

Myths and Delusions • Editorial • 2
Elegy for Robert Sheckley • Florence Major • 3
Joseph Carey Merrick • Florence Major • 5
Babel Before Babel • Howard V. Hendrix • 6
The Description of a Wish • Sonya Taaffe • 7
The Melancholy of Mechagirl • Catherynne M. Valente • 8
The Magic Walnut • Sofía Rhei • Translation by Lawrence Schimel • 12
Little Girls, Atom Bombs • Jeannine Hall Gailey • 13
The tenured faculty meets to discuss the Moon’s campus visit • Rose Lemberg • 14
Alien Graffiti • Darrell Schweitzer • 17
Space Dogs • Ann K. Schwader • 18
Claiming Tyche; Nemesis Rising • Michael Fosburg • 19
Nobody’s Song • Jessica Paige Wick • 23
An Unkindness of Ravens • Rachel Manija Brown • 25
Yurei • Susan Slaviero • 26
Silence • Mari Ness • 27
Cloth Demon • Alexandra Seidel • 28
Moon Girl, Earth Guy • Mary A. Turzillo • 29
Trans-Neptunian Shores • Wade German • 30
Venus Crossing the Sun • Melissa Frederick • 31
Raven Singing • Mari Ness • 32

Interior art by Daniel Trout, 4;
Paula Friedlander, 7, 15, 22, 32;
Don Eaves and Terrence Mollendor, 16, 22, 30

Cover art and design by Tim Mullins

Posted in Mythic Delirium, Poetry

Monday brings me two new precious things. First, my new poem “La Donna del Lago,” dedicated to Claire (C.S.E.) Cooney, has appeared at Strange Horizons. Fitting, as it’s the last of the “Claire-dare” poems that she inspired (though not the last to appear in print.)

This marks my return to the SH poetry feed after an absence of almost two years. It’s good to be back!

Also, writer Tori Truslow has reviewed the latest issue of Mythic Delirium, No. 24, over at the Sabotage website.

“Its 24th issue contains some damn fine – finely crafted, finely balanced, finely nuanced – poetry; it also, in good speculative tradition, feels like an adventure from the get-go.”

She highlights works by Ann K. Schwader, Nima Kian, Sonya Taaffe, Theodora Goss, Serena Fusek, Ian Watson, Joshua Gage, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Elissa Malcohn and Shira Lipkin. Congratulations, all!

Posted in Mythic Delirium, Poetry, Reviews, Signal boosts, Writing

A new website, Versification, chartered by Erzebet YellowBoy Carr, posts reviews of speculative poetry. The site debuted this week, and three of its reviews, all reprints, concern me: there’s Amal El-Mohtar’s review of my last collection, The Journey to Kailash; Deborah J. Brannon’s review of the 10th anniversary issue of Mythic Delirium, which featured an original poem by Neil Gaiman (and of which I still have a double handful of copies left); and Alexandra Seidel’s review of the latest Mythic Delirium, issue 24.

Other items reviewed include Catherynne M. Valente’s collection A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects, two issues of Goblin Fruit, and quite a bit more. Please read; please support this new venture; and please consider contributing!

Posted in Poetry, Reviews, Signal boosts

Some folks have already gotten the word.

Guidelines here.

Posted in Mythic Delirium