Links Con Queso

It’s been a pretty warm winter up here in Michigan. There’s been nothing I’d really call a major snowfall, let alone a blizzard, when by this point in most years we’ve been held down and snicker-snagged upon repeatedly by Old Man Winter, Jack Frost, and Cold Miser. Not that I’m complaining, mind you… it’s just… strange. Strange weather… weeeeiiiird weather…

I’ve been busy, as per usual. I put my latest project, Entering Cadence, briefly on hold in order to pound out the first draft of a horror short that, if done right, will be very, very wrong. Entering Cadence itself has been chugging along pretty well, though it keeps trying to change as I type. Then again, that’s true of most anything I write.

But enough about me. Release the kra–er, release the links!

Last Sunday I put up a page on this site excerpting the full prologue for my novel Brutal Light. If for some gobsmacking, logic-defying, plausibility-stretching, disbelief-suspending reason you haven’t bought and devoured (or at least licked) Brutal Light, check it out!

Get photos sent directly from Mars on your smartphone! Because that’s what smartphones are for, when you’ve run out of funny cat videos.

If you’re like me, and I know I am, you’re worried about robots, AIs, and othersuch sentient artificial life rising up and destroying us all. But it turns out that cyborgs and mutants are more likely to do that. (How they compare to zombies, though, I’m not sure.)

Here’s the 6 Most Counterproductive PSAs of All Time, according to Cracked.com. YMMV, of course, but I’m suddenly craving some Gofer Cakes for some reason…

…and then I’ll wash it down with some coffee. 10 Reasons Coffee is Both the Best and Worst Beverage Ever Invented.

The battle goes on: If you opposed SOPA and PIPA, you should oppose ACTA, too.

Some news that put a big, Gumby-like smile on my face: the Monty Python crew is reuniting to appear in ‘Absolutely Anything,’ a SF comedy. While it won’t be a ‘Monty Python’ movie, per se, it’s probably as close to one as we’ll ever get…

Finally, you may think that 2-Headed Shark Attack is the bad shark movie of the year to watch for, but I contend that Sand Sharks is going to be so much worse. And by ‘worse,’ I mean ‘more awesome.’

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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.

Link-o-pation

So, we’re now six days into 2012, that exciting, unstable year with Roland Emmerich’s sweaty handprints already over it. I’ve just started on writing a dark science fiction novella, Entering Cadence, while continuing researching things in preparation for the sequel to Brutal Light. I’m determining which conventions I’ll make the extra effort to go to this year (beyond the Michigan-based ones I attend every year). I’m also working on some surprises for this month and next. Good times!

But you’re not here to listen to me be enigmatic, you’re here for a blog entry! Or possibly lutefisk. With that in mind, I direct your attention to these links…

Author J.E. Gurley’s new book of horror Blood Lust is now available for a very limited (that is, for today and the next three days) time for free as a Kindle download from Amazon.com. If you have a Kindle (or a Kindle app for your computer or phone), check it out!

Author Karina Fabian has launched the 30 Minute Marketer, a series dedicated to helping writers market their books. It’ll come out weekly (depending on donations) and breaks down marketing tasks into easy-to-fit-into-busy-schedule bits. Well worth a look if you’re a writer like me who wants to do more with marketing but can never seem to find the time.

A new anthology will soon be open for submissions: Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous, edited by Tim Marquitz. In a world where the light has faded, what creatures will make their presence known to man once more? Submissions are open from 1/15/12 to 5/15/12.

There’s a Facebook meme thingy going around where people are posting links to videos on YouTube featuring the song that was at number one on the pop charts when they were born. Here’s mine: In the Year 2525 by Zager and Evans. A song that somehow manages to be both haunting and annoying at the same time. (I think I would have liked it if I’d been born one week later, though, so I could claim the Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Woman. 😛 )

One more video, from the ‘Epic Rap Battles of History’ series: Gandalf vs. Dumbledore. Because it’s Friday, and it’s made of awesome.

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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.

Auld Link Sign

Hope everyone’s having a great holiday season so far. I am, thanks for asking, but I’ve also been busy busy busy. I’ve been keeping the site updated with links to all the various places where Brutal Light is available (a list that, in addition to the U.S., now includes Canada, the U.K., and Japan). I’ve been plying reviewers with requests. I’ve even been holding off on chugging eggnog and scaring passerby with my caroling.

So, to keep you distracted, and to keep me from posting a video of my rendition of Jingle Bell Rock, here are some links for you to partake:

Lincoln Crisler is still seeking people willing to chip in (via Kickstarter) to send him to his hometown for a book tour. There’s lots of good stuff that you get at various donation levels, including books (already published and upcoming) by Lincoln Crisler and Tim Marquitz. You get your money’s worth no matter what level you pledge at!

Bryan Thomas Schmidt came up with this list of 16 Holiday Themed Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories, some by big names, some by new (to me) names, all free online. Ho ho ho!

If that doesn’t get you into the holiday spirit, here’s a YouTube video that might… I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth. If holiday shopping hasn’t already driven you insane…

And here’s another Mythos-oriented parody song: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fishmen. Happy holidays from Innsmouth!

One more? Okay, here’s Chewbacca singing Silent Night. Yes. I am ready for some eggnog now.

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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.

Get Yer Red Hot Links Here!

Publication day for Brutal Light (or, as I call it, ‘Light Thursday,’ clearly superior in every way to ‘Black Friday’) looms ever closer. Suddenly all the advance prep work I’ve been doing doesn’t seem nearly advanced enough. I’ve got guest blogs to finish! I’ve got a newsletter to pull together! I have excerpts to… um… excerpt! Oh, and I’d like to write in there, somewhere. Really, I would.

So, let us bring forth the links, to give me cover so I can scurry off and make with the doing of those things…

Author Karina Fabian has been writing for a good cause. Her ongoing story, Christmas Spirits: From the Case Files of DragonEye, P.I. is raising money for Food for the Poor.

Lincoln Crisler, meanwhile, was in the study with the lead pipe and… no, wait, I’m getting my notes mixed up. Lincoln Crisler just put an excerpt from his novella Queen up on Facebook.

Something of interest to writers who tweet, or tweeters who write: 60+ Favorite Twitter Hashtags for Writers. Not all of which I use, though I should use #amprocrastinating. A lot.

Here are 10 Crazy Scifi Plot Devices That We’d Would Like to See. ‘We’ meaning ‘Io9,’ in this case.

Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten what you went in there to do or get? Did you go into the room via… a door? That’s what you did wrong. Try teleporting next time.

Finally, in case you don’t have enough industrial-strength crackpottery in your life, take in this video that takes a look at what some say is THE TRUTH about our hollow Earth. Because knowing is half the… oh, never mind.

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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.

Link-o-mania

Busy times, folks! I’m gearing up for the December 1st release of Brutal Light, getting essays and interview answers prepped for the virtual book tour I’ve got planned, and also adding some bells and whistles to this here website. So you know what that means… clamato!

Er, links, rather. I meant links.

I’ve set up a Google+ Author Page for myself–it’s much like my Facebook Author Page, save that it doesn’t care if you like it. (It would, however, like to be plus-oned, and also scritched behind its ears.)

Lincoln Crisler, has been plotting a return to his hometown for a book tour, and has set up a Kickstarter page to fund the trip. Contribute and get some great books in return!

Here’s a link of interest to writers: Maximizing Digital Book Sales. There’s apparently more involved than just logging on and typing ‘supersize it!’

Here’s a link of interest to would-be vampires: Is It Safe to Drink Blood?. (Spoiler alert: no.)

Interested in taking an unusual getaway? Learn here how to journey to the center of the Earth.

Lastly, here are some cartoons that illustrate why (Human) Sex is Boring. I hate having to clean mucus off the ceiling…

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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 Intertubes. He lives under your bed.

Friday Bag o’ Links

So. Just 34 days to go until my debut novel, Brutal Light is unleahed upon an unsuspecting humanity–in both old-timey ‘paper’ format and a variety of shiny e-book formats for your convenience. (Actually, the ‘paper’ format will be available around mid-December, not straight up on 12/1/11 — but it will be still dripping with convenience.) I am hip-deep in assembling a virtual book tour and writing out fascinating essay-shaped and interview-shaped nuggets for it, which doesn’t leave much time for writing anything time-consuming today. Which means it’s time for… links! [Stock footage: people running in terror from giant locusts, an outhouse exploding, old ladies clapping.]

Here are some very true words on the virtues of patience and persistence if you’re lookiing to get published: What Do I Wish I’d Known… Or You’re Kidding, Right?.

Here’s Su Halfwerk on how she learned to stop worrying and love writing for multiple genres.

I was wondering when they’d take my homebuilding concerns into account: Architecture Contest Calls for Zombie-Proof Home Designs.

From the department of I See No Way In Which This Can Be Turned Into An Orwellian Nightmare: Real-life Inception: Army Looks to ‘Counteract Nightmares’ With Digital Dreams.

Surely there is a short story in here somewhere: Vampire Moths Discovered in Siberia.

And finally, for those of you brave enough to wade into the gonzo end of the conspiracy pool, I present this site, which is loaded with gobs of articles on the agenda of the interdimensional Reptilians who secretly control Earth. Whenever I’m worried that I’ve lost my marbles, I go here to reassure myself that, comparatively, I am a marble hoarder.