About Mike Sirota

Mike Sirota, the author of the ghost stories, Fire Dance (2011) and The Burning Ground (2012), has published over twenty novels with houses that include The Berkley Publishing Group (Penguin-Putnam), Bantam Books, Pocket Books, and Kensington Publishing Corp. For fourteen years he was an award-winning feature writer and editor for a Southern California newsmagazine. Mike has facilitated many read and critique workshops, and has taught seminars and classes for various educational systems. He is an instructor for the University of California, San Diego Extension and is presently a workshop leader for the La Jolla Writer’s Conference. He has also served on the faculty of the Alaska Writers Guild Conference and, for two decades, the Southern California Writers’ Conference. As a freelance editor and writing coach, Mike has shepherded many writers to publication, including bestselling authors Anna Lee Waldo (Sacajawea) and Michele Scott (A.K. Alexander).

Mike’s journalism honors include a prestigious Simon Rockower Prize for investigative reporting, and an award from the San Diego County Medical Association. He was also honored as the first “Person of Letters” by the 2002 La Jolla Writer’s Conference “for his ongoing and unselfish contributions to and support of the writing community.” He is currently rewriting and reissuing his backlist of horror, Sword & Sorcery and Sword & Planet novels under his own imprint, Atoris Press. Visit Swords and Specters for details.