Allen Mulherin Steele, Jr. (born January 19, 1958) is an American journalist and science fiction author.

[1] Before he established himself as a science fiction author, he spent several years working as a journalist.

His early novels formed a future history beginning with Orbital Decay and continuing through Labyrinth of Night.

Some of his early novels such as Orbital Decay and Lunar Descent were about blue-collar workers working on future construction projects in space.

Since 1992, he has tended to focus on stand-alone projects and short stories, although he has written five novels about the moon Coyote.