Menu

ConGregate 10

Allen Wold image

Allen Wold

Guest Emeritus

In 2021, Allen officially retired from the convention game. We, at ConGregate, would not let that slide without honoring him in some way... so, yeah, he's now our Guest Emeritus. To that end, Allen may, or may not, appear at the con; may, or may not, sit in on panels; and may, or may not, say hello to you in hall. Okay, who are we kidding, that last part it is probably a "will say hello."  Anyway... thanks for many great years, Allen!  We look forward to you seeing you whenever possible.


Allen L. Wold was born a long time ago in south-western Michigan, where he began writing when he was about eight years old. He still has some of those early “stories” somewhere.
 
He finished high school in Tucson, Arizona, and graduated from Pomona College, in Claremont, California, where he later met his wife, Diane. They married in 1972, and moved to North Carolina, where he began his career as a full time writer. In 1986, he became a full time father, and gave up writing for about three years, then continued as a part time writer until 2003 when Darcy went off to college, also at Pomona.

Of his previously published novels, six of have been re-issued by ReAnimus Press. He wrote five non-fiction books on computers, and a number of articles, columns, and reviews about using computers. He also wrote stories for the Blood of Ten Chiefs anthologies.

Under his own imprint, Ogden House, he has published Cat Tales, Reminiscences, a series of essays; A Closet for a Dragon and Other Early Tales, the earliest of which was written in 1961; Stroad’s Cross, about an abandoned village which shouldn’t have been found; Dead Hand, about a neighborhood haunted by the consequences of an old man’s death; Freefoot, his collected stories for Blood of Ten Chiefs; Sturgis, a mystery concerning a supernatural serial killer; Slaves of War, a space-opera in six parts; and A Thing Forgotten, a pseudo-neo-steampunk faerie story.

Currently, Allen is working on The Empty House, a fusion of Lovecraftian cosmic horror and Shirly Jackson’s understated storytelling; Star Kings, a cycle of twelve stories set in a far future beyond George Lucas’s imagination; and Soul Stone (working title), a man’s quest through entangled worlds to free his father’s stolen soul. The six volumes of his epic-heroic fantasy, The Black Ring, have been published by Double Dragon Press.

Allen has been running his version of a writers’ workshop at various conventions for more than thirty years, and has had some success, since several people have not only finished their stories, and sold them, but a couple of those stories have won awards. He also runs a plotting workshop, which is an interactive lecture, and is a lot of fun, and which people have found helpful.

Allen is a member of SFWA.