Winter in the City A Collection of Dark Speculative Fiction

Mike Allen wears many creative hats, at least one of them tailor-made by his wife and partner-in-crime Anita.

An author, editor, and publisher of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, Mike has written, edited, or co-edited thirty-nine books, among them his forthcoming dark fantasy novel Trail of Shadows; his sidearms, sorcery, and zombies sequence The Black Fire Concerto and The Ghoulmaker's Aria; and his newest horror collection, Slow Burn.

Unseaming and Aftermath of an Industrial Accident, his first two volumes of horror tales, were both finalists for the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Story Collection, and his dark fable "The Button Bin" was a nominee for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Another collection, The Spider Tapestries, contains experiments in weird science fiction and fantasy.

As an editor and publisher, Mike has been nominated twice for the World Fantasy Award: first, for his anthology Clockwork Phoenix 5, the culmination of the Clockwork Phoenix series showcasing tales of beauty and strangeness that defy genre classification; and then, for Mythic Delirium, the magazine of poetry and fiction he edited for twenty years.

He's a three-time winner of the Rhysling Award for poetry. His six poetry collections include Strange Wisdoms of the Dead, a Philadelphia Inquirer Editor's Choice selection, and Hungry Constellations, a Suzette Haden Elgin Award nominee.

With Anita, he runs Mythic Delirium Books, based in Roanoke, Virginia. Their cat Pandora assists.

Xan van Rooyen is an award-winning autistic and nonbinary storyteller from South Africa, currently living in Finland. Xan has a Master's degree in music, and--when not teaching--enjoys conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. You can find Xan's stories in the likes of Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Daily Science Fiction, and Galaxy's Edge, among others. They have also written several books, including Waypoint Seven (Mirari Press), My Name is Magic (Tiny Ghost Press), and the forthcoming Dorian Gray retelling, Exquisite Decay (Tiny Ghost Press). Xan is also part of the Sauútiverse, an African writer's collective, with stories in the multi award-nominated anthology Mothersound, as well as the Sauúti Terrors anthology (Flame Tree Press). Xan has also had a number of non-fiction articles published, which you can find in the Locus Award-winning Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction (Bloomsbury, Australia), among others. You can find Xan online here: https: //linktr.ee/xanvanrooyen.