Reading/Panel at Nicola’s Books 5/7/12 / New Free Short Story to Newsletter Subscribers

Just to remind the locals following this blog, I’ll be doing my first ever public reading from Brutal Light at Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Monday 5/7 at 7 p.m (tomorrow). Also there doing readings that night will be Jim C. Hines, author of the popular Princess Novels fantasy series from DAW Books, Bethany Grenier, author of Sings with Stars, and Emmy Jackson, author of Empty Cradle: The Untimely Death of Corey Sanderson. Come on out and enjoy the multiple readings, signings, and lively discussion from four Michigan authors!

In other news, ever since I started up this newsletter, my horror short story The Body in Motion has been the free gift for subscribing. It’s about time it gets swapped out for something else… and that something is a dark fantasy story called Never Seen by Waking Eyes. In it, a woman with a connection to a strange power source is kidnapped, held hostage to obtain a certain rare book, and Nick Havelock must rescue her. Or must he?

If that sounds rather familiar, it should. Never Seen by Waking Eyes was a story I wrote about 8-9 years ago for an anthology that never saw publication, and became the seed for my dark fantasy novel Brutal Light. It was kind of fun for me to revisit the story and see what parts made it into the novel more-or-less intact (aside from being rewritten from first person to third), and what parts turned out to be very different. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it as well. Of course, the only way that’ll happen is if you subscribe (or if you’re already a subscriber)…

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and several previously published and forthcoming short stories. He can be found via his website, his blog A Taste of Strange, as @gwox on Twitter, and in many other far-flung places on the Internet.

Meanwhile, I’m over on Jake Elliot’s blog today, being interviewed re: BRUTAL LIGHT

I’m over on Jake Elliot’s blog today, being interviewed re: Brutal Light.

How the time/space continuum stayed intact is anyone’s guess… 🙂

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and several previously published and forthcoming short stories. He can be found via his website, his blog A Taste of Strange, as @gwox on Twitter, and in many other far-flung places on the Internet.

A Cup of Coffee and a Good Book — Tonight at 6:30 pm EST (3:30 pm PST)

I’m going to be on Jennifer Walker’s show on Blog Talk Radio, A Cup of Coffee and a Good Book, tonight, talking about Brutal Light, writing in general, dark fantasy, where I get my ideas, and other such things. It’ll run from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm EST, and will be streaming live during that time. If, for some implausible reason, you fail to gain the urge to rearrange your life so as to hang on my every erratic, meandering word, it will be archived there for you to listen to in your own good time.

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and several previously published and forthcoming short stories. He can be found via his website, his blog A Taste of Strange, as @gwox on Twitter, and in many other far-flung places on the Internet.

I’m Over on Ash Arceneaux’s blog…

I’m over on Ash Arceneuax’s blog, talking about the writing and rewriting of Brutal Light, and what the Deros had to do with it. I can’t promise it’s completely accurate–I based it off the notes the night gaunts kept–but it is something to keep in mind when writing. That and bacon.

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and several previously published and forthcoming short stories. He can be found via his website, his blog A Taste of Strange, as @gwox on Twitter, and in many other far-flung places on the Internet.

Free Brutal Light Tie-In Short Story Now Available From Smashwords

Something You Should KnowMy dark fantasy/urban fantasy short story Something You Should Know” is now available for free from Smashwords. It’s a stand-alone tale set in the world of Brutal Light, taking place a few months before the ‘present day’ action in that book:

A homeless woman, Rennie Kalick, has been given the ability to turn the painful memories of others into weapons, and has used this power to seek revenge for wrongs done to herself and those like her. But Kagami Takeda, whose connection to the merciless, godlike sea of light known as the Radiance was responsible for this gift, wants to take it back. A short story set in the Brutal Light universe.

Though technically it’s a prequel, in that it takes place before Brutal Light, it’s written as a stand-alone story that can be enjoyed without having read my book, with very little in the way of spoilers. (Of course, my hope is to attract more readers for that book, which is my ulterior motive for this whole deal…)

Formats available are .mobi (Kindle-compatible), .epub (Nook-and-many-other-ereader-compatible), .pdf (Adobe), and .pdb (Palm). There should soon be a version that can be directly downloaded from BarnesAndNoble.com for the Nook, and eventually one that can be directly downloaded from Amazon.com for the Kindle. All DRM-free, so you can freely share it, so long as the file is unaltered and remains free.

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and several previously published and forthcoming short stories. He can be found via his website, his blog A Taste of Strange, as @gwox on Twitter, and in many other far-flung places on the Internet.

All Said But Not Done: After the Tour

Well, how about that: after finishing my first virtual book tour, it appears that I am still intact, and my brain has not, as it threatened, burst out through my ears and gone to the Arctic in search of passage to the Hollow Earth. It was fun, of course–I got to ramble on at indecent length and in suitably pretentious style on things having to do with Brutal Light and writing in general–but I have never felt so thinly spread on the Internets as when I went through the promotion of every stop. Every day, I had one main blog, three ‘satellite’ blogs, three social media networks, a couple groups, and all my subterranean networks to cover. (You may scoff, but just believe me when I say you don’t want to be flamed by the Deros.) But it was worth the time, and like I said, it proved to be fun. And I’ll have a better idea what to prepare for next time.

You may wonder what is left for me this month. First thing has been soliciting book reviews–I knew there were a lot of book review sites out there, but I swear they must have multiplied, like amoebas or Kardashians, since the last time I looked.

Second, I’m getting back on to a regular blogging schedule–Tuesdays and Fridays, come Kardashians or high water–starting today. When I originally started this blog, I was aiming for once a week, and sometimes wasn’t even hitting that. But ever since attending ConClave back in September, I’ve been trying to up my blogging game. Twice a week turns out to not be that hard a target to hit. (That said, I will be taking off the week between Christmas and New Year’s, to relax and recharge.)

Third, I’m writing. I was strugging with an outline for the projected sequel to Brutal Light, but life, promotional stuff, and the like has been getting in the way. Then I sat down and considered the story for Entering Cadence, the sci-fi noir novella that’s been rattling around in my head for a while, and the outline just spilled out of my head then and there. Guess I now know what wants to be written most!

Fourth… AAAAAAHHH!! I STILL HAVE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING TO DO!! AIEEEEEEE!!

That about covers it. I think. I hope. Unless it was this weekend I was supposed to organize the chimera racing….

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and several previously published and forthcoming short stories. He can be found via his website, his blog A Taste of Strange, as @gwox on Twitter, and in many other far-flung places on the Internet.