Author Spotlight: Prism

Roland Allnach has been writing since his early teens, first as a hobby, but as the years passed, more as a serious creative pursuit. He is an avid reader, with his main interests residing in history, mythology, and literary classics, along with some fantasy and science fiction in his earlier years. Although his college years were focused on a technical education, he always fostered his interest in literature, and has sought to fill every gap on his bookshelves.

By nature a do-it-yourself type of personality, his creative inclinations started with art and evolved to the written word. The process of creativity is a source of fascination for him, and the notion of bringing something to being that would not exist without personal effort and commitment serves not only as inspiration but as fulfillment as well. So whether it is writing, woodwork, or landscaping, his hands and mind are not often at rest.

Over the years he accumulated a dust laden catalog of his written works, with his reading audience limited to family and friends. It was only recently that he decided to become serious about publication and the pursuit of a writing career. After deciding to approach this as a profession and not a hobby, the first glimmers of success came along. Two and a half years after making the decision to move forward, he has secured publication for a number of short stories, has received a nomination for inclusion in the Pushcart Anthology, built his own website, and in November 2010 realized publication for an anthology of three novellas, titled ‘Remnant’, from All Things That Matter Press. He has since followed ‘Remnant’ with a second anthology, ‘Oddities & Entities’, also from All Things Matter Press.

Both titles have enjoyed critical acclaim and are the recipients of a combined seven national book awards.

‘Remnant’:
Finalist/Sci-fi 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards
Bronze Medalist/Sci-fi 2012 Readers Favorite Book of the Year Awards
Award Winner-Finalist, Sci-fi, 2012 USA Best Book Awards

‘Oddities & Entities’:
Bronze Medalist/Horror, 2012 Readers Favorite Book of the Year Awards
Finalist/Paranormal, 2012 Readers Favorite Book of the Year Awards
Award Winner-Finalist, Horror, 2012 USA Best Book Awards
Award Winner-Finalist, Anthologies, 2012 USA Best Book Awards

His published stories can be found at his website, rolandallnach.com.

His writing can best be described as depicting strange people involved in perhaps stranger situations. He is not devoted to any one genre of writing. Instead, he prefers to let his stories follow their own path. Classification can follow after the fact, but if one is looking for labels, one would find his stories in several categories. Sometimes speculative, other times supernatural, at times horror, with journeys into mainstream fiction, and even some humor- or perhaps the bizarre. Despite the category, he aims to depict characters as real on the page as they are in his head, with prose of literary quality. His literary inspirations are as eclectic as his written works- from Poe to Kate Chopin, from Homer to Tolkien, from Flaubert to William Gibson, as long as a piece is true to itself, he is willing to go along for the ride. He hopes to bring the same to his own fiction.

Roland’s publication chronology consists of the following:

Short fiction:

“After the Empire”, Summer 2008 issue of ‘The Armchair Aesthete’
“11”, Fall 2008 issue of ‘Allegory’
“Icon”, January 2009 issue of ‘Midnight Times’
“Creep”, Spring 2009 issue of ‘The Storyteller’ (Pushcart Prize nominee)
“Return”, Fall 2009 issue of ‘Lullwater Review’
“Flowers for Colleen”, April 2010 issue of ‘Absent Willow Review’
“Memento”, Annual 2010 issue of ‘Reed Magazine’
“Shift/Change”, July/August 2010 issue of ‘Aphelion’
“The Great Hunter”, September 2010 issue of ‘Foliate Oak’
“Apogee”, Fall 2010 issue of ‘Rose & Thorn Journal’
“The City of Never”, October 2011 issue of ‘Aphelion’, also selected Editorial ‘Best of 2011’
“Conquest’s End”, ‘Bewildering Stories’, Spring 2012, also selected Editor’s Choice, Spring Quarter 2012
“Turn the Wheel”, ‘Garden Nettles’ edition of Midwest Literary Magazine (2012)
“Beheld”, ‘Raphael’s Village’, Spring 2012

Books:

“Remnant”, anthology, November 2010 (All Things That Matter Press)
“Oddities & Entities”, anthology, March 2012 (All Things That Matter Press)