About

Rob Callahan made his first professional sale to Gothic.net in 2003. The story was "Fruit Fly the Magician." He wrote and edited it in about 45 minutes. (Since then, he has completed many other stories, most of which took longer to write.)

Rob Callahan made his name writing made-up stories, but he enjoys some success writing nonfiction as well. He also worked as a question writer for the annual KVSC 50 hour trivia competition from 2004 to 2012, and as the host and writer of the weekly Sci-Fi Tuesdays pub quiz at Clubhouse Jager in Minneapolis from 2010 to 2012. In honor of his contributions to their weekly sales, the bar named a drink after him. Simply known as the Rob Callahan, the drink blends the flavors of Jameson whiskey, high end Amaretto and bitters together in a light, shaken coctail that reportedly tastes like men and old books.

Rob Callahan's work as a live storyteller has been broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio and KFAI in Minneapolis, and he has performed on the MPR stage at the Minnesota State Fair. He also appears as a regular member of the Minneapolis entertainment collective, the Rockstar Storytellers.

Rob Callahan is a recurring guest and speaker at several Midwest science fiction and fantasy conventions. He was a guest of honor at MarsCon 2012, and he introduced John Scalzi at Minicon 46. He spoke about the history of science fiction and fantasy literature in Minnesota for the State Historical Society's History of Hip series, and he continues to work with the Historical Society as a guest speaker on independent literature and science fiction.

In 2011, he wrote and performed the prose portion of Czeslaw's Loop, Act Three: Creation. The performance was conducted by Minneapolis producer Chris Strouth. Callahan and Strouth had previously worked together to record "The Limbo Clipper" for Jeremy Messersmith's Reluctant Graveyard remix album. He wrote and produced a one man show, Idiosynchronicity, for the 2010 Minnesota Fringe Festival, and co-wrote The Last Ditch with Allegra Lingo the following year.

His first short story collection, Damaged Goods, was self-published as an eBook in 2004 and in print two years later. His novel, Hellbound Snowballs, was released by Raised All Wrong Publications in 2008. In 2011, he released the limited edition chapbook, Grave Whisperer & Other Tales. His 2012 book, A Wish Upon a Fallen Sky, combines some re-edited stories from his previous collections with some new and previously unpublished work.

To date, he lists his favorite published work of fiction as "Every Act of Creation is a Self Portrait." This story originally appeared in the 2006 Sinister Bedfellows anthology, which collected short stories based on the online comic strip of the same name. It is reprinted in A Wish Upon a Fallen Sky.

Books:

"Damaged Goods" (2004/2006) - Short story collection, independently published. Out of print.

"Hellbound Snowballs" (2008) - Novel, published by Raised All Wrong Press.

"Six Stories" (2009) - Cchapbook containing short stories, independently published. Distributed free at CONvergence 2009. Out of print.

"PENT" (2010) - Chapbook containing 140 character stories, originally written as twitter content. Distributed free at CONvergence 2010. Out of print.

"Grave Whisperer & Other Tales" (2011) Chapbook containing short stories and illustrations by Whittney A. Streeter. Limited edition, sold out during Summer, 2011. Out of print.

"A Wish Upon a Fallen Sky" (2012) Short story collection, independently published. Contains the entire "PENT" chapbook as an Appendix.