Readercon 20 Participant Schedule:
Mike Allen

Friday 12:00 Noon, Suite 930: Talk / Discussion (60 min.)
Poetry and Science Fiction. Mike Allen and Michael Bishop
Over the years, sf and poetry have intersected in myriad ways; the two art forms have significant ties, even when the poetry itself isn't SF. We'll discuss their joint history, from the pages of Planet Stories to Robert A. Heinlein's Rhysling; from the Nobel Prize-winning space epic "Aniara" to Judith Merrill's best of the year anthologies to the poet narrator of Roger Zelazny's "A Rose for Ecclesiastes"; from D.M. Thomas and the Eight Hands Gang to Asimov's Science Fiction to the rise of Strange Horizons and Goblin Fruit.

Friday 2:00 PM, VT: Group Reading
Mythic Delirium / Goblin Fruit Group Reading (60 min,.) Mike Allen, Amal-El Mohtar, and Jessica Paige Wick (co-hosts) with Leah Bobet, M. M. Buckner, Greer Gilman, Sonya Taaffe, Catherynne M. Valente, Joselle Vanderhooft et al.
Joint reading from Mythic Delirium, the biannual magazine of speculative poetry edited by Allen (which just published its tenth anniversary issue), and Goblin Fruit, the quarterly online zine of fantastical poetry edited by El-Mohtar and Wick (whose Summer 2009 issue is due out now).

Friday 6:00 PM, RI: Workshop (60 min.)
Speculative Poetry Workshop. Mike Allen with participation by Leah Bobet, Michael A. Burstein, Vylar Kaftan, Ernest Lilley
What is speculative poetry? How do you write it, why would you want to, and which editors will buy it? Come prepared to write on the fly.

Saturday 11:00 AM, Salon A: Panel
The Killers Inside Us. Mike Allen, Nick Antosca, Elizabeth Hand (L), Barry B. Longyear, Paul Tremblay
[Greatest Hit from Readercon 11.] There is no obvious division between normality and horrific psychopathology (a thought that occurred to us long before Littleton [Columbine], by the way). How have writers exploited this fact? What's it like to read a text that reminds you that you exist on a continuum with the monster?

Saturday 2:00 PM, VT: Group Reading
Clockwork Phoenix 2 Group Reading (60 min.) Mike Allen (host) with Saladin Ahmed, Leah Bobet, Mary Robinette Kowal, Barbara Krasnoff, Catherynne M. Valente
Readings from the second volume of the annual non-theme anthology (subtitled More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness) edited by Allen and just published by Norilana Books.

Saturday 3:00 PM, Salon A: Event
The Rhysling Award Poetry Slan. Mike Allen (MC) with Michael Bishop, Leah Bobet, Lila Garrott, Greer Gilman, Ernest Lilley, Darrell Schweitzer, Sonya Taaffe, Catherynne M. Valente
(A "poetry slan," to be confused with "poetry slam," is a poetry reading by sf folks, of course.) Climaxed by the presentation of this year's Rhysling Awards.

Sunday 1:00 PM, RI: Workshop (60 min.)
How to Give an Effective Reading. Mary Robinette Kowal with participation by Robin Abrahams, Mike Allen, Nick Antosca, Inanna Arthen, Daniel P. Dern, Laurel Anne Hill, Shariann Lewitt, Sarah Smith
You may be a good writer, but reading aloud is a separate skill. Learn to make your words sound as great out loud as they do on the page. Using both demonstration and audience participation, we will explore voicing, narration and pacing.

So, just like last year, I'm offering a review PDF to anyone willing to blog about the book. Tweet, even. Contact me at mythicdelirium@gmail.com if you wannit.

Second — my podcast of Tobias S. Buckell's rockin' new novelette "Placa del Feugo" is up at Clarkesworld Magazine. It was a last-minute pinch-hit sort of thing, so I apologize to Tobias if I mangled any of his evocative place- or character names. But it's a fun story (set in the universe of Buckell's novels) and I've glad I got to voice it.

And if you like my voice, this podcast is an hour long, so it should keep you in good supply.

Third — after delays due to factors completely beyond our control, the remainder of the 350-copy hand-stamped run of Mythic Delirium 20 is done! There will be no more of these made. We're not kidding — Tim Mullins is going to destroy the hand-carved stamp he used for the illustration of Neil Gaiman's "Conjunctions." (Photographic evidence to follow.) So, if you've ordered and you've been waiting, you're going to get it Real Soon. And if you haven't ordered and you've been wanting, there's no more reason to wait.

Overlooking the valley below McAfee's Knob.

Some guy standing across from me just in time for a decent composition.

Danny Adams (madwriter) taking a picture of me taking a picture of him in the "Boulder Maze." I was soon afterward to discover that jumping across rock chasms is still possible when you're 40, but a bit more nerve-wracking than in days of reckless youth.