Welcome!

My name is Roland Allnach, and my passion rests with the written word. I've published short stories in various genres, but I'm better known for my critically acclaimed books. Whether your reading interest is short stories or books, feel free to follow the 'Books' and 'Short Stories' menus on the side navigation menu to read book excerpts, stories in full, and essays on the creative processes for each of my published works.

I also believe in giving back to fellow authors. If you're an author or considering to be an author, my 'For the Writer' page has a list of publication topics for both short stories and books.

And what's my story? They say a picture is worth a thousand words. As an author, it's a little ironic that perhaps the best way to relate my aspirations, inspirations, and aims is through the following televised interview:

My taste for the written word is eclectic, as my short stories attest. If there's a general feel to my fiction, it's a sense of the surreal, with some 'darkness', most often portraying strange people in perhaps even stranger circumstances. My aspiration is to craft compelling characters in stories of sufficient depth to deliver additional insight upon repeated readings. As an author, I try to think of how a story presents itself not only on the initial read but on a second or third reading as well. If you're a reader looking for well crafted literary narrative, rich characters, and have an interest in genre fiction - whether it be horror, the paranormal, the supernatural, science fiction, fantasy, some humor, or even mainstream - I welcome you to sample my writing.

I keep a casual, conversational tone on this site, but the tone of my fiction can be quite different. I update on a regular basis, and highlight areas I've added, revised, or expanded in the news posts below.

For autographed copies of my books, visit the Bookstore right here on this site.

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Click a book cover for title relevant information, or use the side navigation menu:

Spanning science fiction, mainstream, fantasy, horror, supernatural, paranormal, and speculative genres - and recipients of numerous national book awards:

'Remnant', 'Oddities & Entities', 'Vessels' and 'Prism' published courtesy of All Things That Matter Press.
'The Writer's Primer', 'The Digital Now', and 'Angela's Arm' published through Tabalt Press.

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Questions or comments about my writing? Email me: fiction@rolandallnach.com

Stay connected! Join my newsletter for the latest publication news, appearances, events, and more:

Visit me at: Authors Den, Goodreads, and at facebook, at my page, www.facebook.com/roland.allnach

Check out my blog at: rafictionzone.blogspot.com

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News, news, news!
(for posts from previous years, check out my News Vault archive)

Spring 2022

Well look at that, now it's 2022. It seems like just yesterday I wrote the last post on this page...and now a whole year has passed!

To catch up on the last post I wrote....

1) I have now retired from my presidency of Long Island Authors Group. I'm still quite involved as the LIAG Event Coordinator and the LIAG Bookstore Manager. Yes, you read that right, a bookstore. Several years ago I conceived, built, and managed the LIAG Traveling Bookstore which I would take to town fairs in my area. This worked wonders for growing LIAG and for building sales for our member authors. The pandemic put an end to that, although in Summer 2021 I was offered a permanent home for the LIAG Bookstore courtesy of Islip Arts Council, a local organization in my county. I had worked several events with IAC in prior times and through this networking was offered a shared retail space for the LIAG Bookstore in a busy local mall.

2) After 31.5 years of working midnights I finally went to normal hours. Physically it just became too much to manage. New hours, new job, wow.

3) I had set my sights on another book publication for 2021 but as the year progressed and lingering uncertainties with the pandemic continued I decided instead to get back to writing. To that end I finished a two-part dystopian tale and have cleaned up another manuscript in my backlog. So, three titles ready to go. I'm currently researching a new publisher. After the pandemic wiped out everything I had built in terms of public and local outreach I want to move to a publisher that will give me the marketing support I need. We shall see.

4) Part of the very long delay in getting back to my website is that my old computer died a horrible death. Moving to a new computer is a major effort for me, as I prefer my software environment to function in a very specific way. The price for being finicky is creating far more work for myself than necessay.

5) And speaking of computer things....during the dark days of the pandemic I went back to one of my old-time favorite hobbies, that of scale plastic model building. I got so into it, in fact, that I launched my own Youtube channel. If you're interested in the hobby, check out my channel at "Practical Plastic".

6) And now that I want to get back to normal, I will be working on this website to clean up old links and so forth.

Thanks for dropping by!

Spring 2021

Good grief, it's been far too long that I've been away from things!

My absence has not been without reason. My author's life was moving at quite the satisfying pace up until early 2019. At that time I was dividing my time between my own writing pursuits and the advancement of my other literary commitment, the continued growth of Long Island Authors Group. At the time (and currently), as president of the group, I had shepherded the organization through an expansive growth period. We had hit a mark I had envisioned from the start of my managerial effort with the group: 100 members, all local authors. Satisfying indeed.

Unfortunately not all of the picture was so bright. A very serious medical emergency effected my family and, though I'm very relieved and thankful to say that this situation was met with recovery, to say 2019 was difficult - especially the last few months of 2019 - is a glaring understatement. Not only did I have to set my work with Long Island Authors Group aside I also had to put aside all my individual publishing efforts - as evidenced by my absence from this site.

No sooner had this situation thankfully resolved than the COVID pandemic erupted. As I've mentioned elsewhere on this site I do work in healthcare. My life in 2020 was a period of unrelenting stress, demoralization, and outright depression. There was nothing in me capable of summoning the required optimism and energy to pursue anything in the literary world.

But as the saying goes that is the past and the past is behind us. I've made some dramatic changes to my life and I'm happy to say that has put me in a much better place physically, emotionally, and mentally. The toxicity of stress is never to be underestimated. And even though I'm in a much better "place" than I have been in quite some time, don't worry, you can still expect my writing to be filled with all the dark and strange elements that I've enjoyed so far.

Enough of that. It is now 2021 and time to get back in the game. I have returned to my publishing efforts!

To everyone, I wish you well, and hope that you have made it to this point in time safe and healthy. Best wishes!

November 2018

Yes, it's here! My seventh book has reached publication. I'm very proud to announce "Angela's Arm". In this strange tale of horror an austere reverend obsessed with his vision of doom clashes with his daughter Angela, born with one arm akin to a serpent. Set in the late 1800's mid-west, "Angela's Arm" will take you past any familiar territory.

As the promo image states, "Angela's Arm" is available now in print and Kindle at Amazon. Click here to go to Amazon.

As the days go by I will adding a dedicated page to the site for this new book, as I have with my previous books. Read, enjoy, and please do consider posting a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads!

Thank you, your humble author.

Summer 2018

Time has certainly flow by, especially after a Winter-without-end and the delayed arrival of seasonal weather. It's been longer than I prefer that I've posted a news update but I've been busy. All good things, so good things to share.

A great deal of my time is now devoted to my work with Long Island Authors Group. I joined the group five years ago, volunteered to help with event planning, and I'm happy to say that I've been voted as the new President. The group has great momentum as it continues to expand and build awareness.

If you live on Long Island and you're a published author, check us out at: www.longislandauthorsgroup.org

But wait, you say, what are you doing with your own writing? So glad you asked! I am on track for publication of my seventh book, Angela's Arm, with an October 2018 release date. Perfect timing, since it's a strange tale of doom and redemption set out West in the mid to late 1800's. I'm going to try something new with this book, which is to propel its production through Kickstarter. You can help publish a book! I will have information when the campaign launches. If you are not already subscribed to my newsletter (see above), now is a great time!

In them meantime, I will be performing house-keeping duties on the website, including some overdue streamlining and proofing of hyperlinks.

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For older news posts, I've archived them on a separate page in an effort to keep the homepage here as tidy as possible. So, if you're interested in how things have gone on a month to month basis, grab a flashlight and venture into The News Vault.

Site launch: June 2010
Last update: Spring 2021

*Header images: Northern lights and the Cat's Eye Nebula