Author Archives: Gary W. Olson

fussin’

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

I’m about done (for now, anyway) with my latest rounds of fussing over this website (GaryWOlson.com, for those of you reading this entry from the RSS feed or NetworkedBlogs or what have you, instead of the actual blog). The primary change was a change of template — while I liked the old one, I decided I needed a three-column setup, and that template was fixed at two columns. The one I have now needed a bit of modification (cutting down the way oversized top image, brightening up the text font so it would not get lost against the grey background, assorted other nit-fixing), but I think it’s ready to go.

I also changed my mind about creating a whole separate site to promote Brutal Light. On paper it sounds good, but I was imagining five or six books down the line how much maintainance I’d be doing on my six or seven websites — updating the Joomla installations, fixing broken modules, etc. So I’m setting it up so it’ll be within this site instead (another reason for changing to a template that gives me more display options), right about… here.

Outside of that, the book trailer for Brutal Light is coming along really well, and should be ready to be unveiled in October. I’m glad to be getting that done, as it means I can get to mapping out all the other promotey stuff I need to do between now and December 1st. And those two short stories I mentioned a couple weeks ago? Submitted. Productive Gary is productive!

The only thing I haven’t done yet is get back to outlining. Which will happen… soon. Yes.

Short Reviews: Naomi Clark’s Wild

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Wild (The Vargulf Trilogy, Book 1) by Naomi Clark

Lizzie, the protagonist of Naomi Clark’s Wild, is not unlikeable, but starts in a place where she seems that way. Addicted to hard drugs, trying to maintain in an abusive relationship on the verge of bottoming out, living for the next party–she inspires sympathy, and pity, but did not strike me as someone I’d want to get to know. But there are sides to Lizzie that have, it turns out, not seen air in a long time, and after a werewolf attack changes her body and her life, they come out. Along the way, she meets weres who encourage her baser instincts, and others who encourage her finer ones.

Naomi Clark presents this struggle with an unflinching realism that makes effective use of the fantasic elements of dark urban fantasy and werewolf lore without losing focus and wandering off into those elements. I ended up liking Lizzie more and more as the book progressed, and will be looking forward to see where she goes in the next book, and how she fares in facing the consequences of her decisions in this one.

The ants come marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah…

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

Yes, yes, I know. I skipped my federally mandated Update last week. I was away in strange, Internet-challenged lands (known here as “The Thumb”). Then I came back, and went away again. And again.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and toad-licking, though. I’ve been hacking away at a short story to be submitted to an anthology, which has taken much longer than I expected to settle into acceptable form. But it’s finally (almost) there, and it will be winging its way onward soon. I also polished up an older short work, Fabulous Beasts, and submitted it to a magazine. So, appendages crossed and all that.

I’ve also been working on the book trailer for Brutal Light. I’ve got the images picked out and arranged, and am trying to make a final choice on the music. Have to say, I’m having a lot of fun with Windows Live MovieMaker…

And if that wasn’t enough, I’m working on a website specifically centered around Brutal Light. This main GaryWOlson.com site will have all the info, of course, but as my career progresses, my new stuff will always displace the old, and I’d like to have a site hanging about where Brutal Light will always be front and center.

Then there’s the outline for the sequel I’m really really trying to get back to…

Short Reviews: Tim Marquitz’s Armageddon Bound

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Armageddon Bound (Book 1 of the Demon Squad series) by Tim Marquitz

Dark urban fantasy is a subgenre I’ve grown a taste for in recent years. Life in a packed city environment seems tailor made for stories mixing dark urges, tension, suspense, action, and the right amount of humor. Simon R. Green and Jim Butcher have both successfully mined this territory in their respective series (The Nightside series and the Dresden Files). Now Tim Marquitz has done the same, unleashing a fast, furious, and compelling story in the opening volume of his Demon Squad series.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding on display throughout, positing a world in which God and the Devil have both abandoned the Earth, leaving angels and demons and humanity to get on as best they can. Naturally, this results in scheming and plotting that brings the world to the brink of armageddon (hey, there’s a reason the book isn’t called “Puppies and Ice Cream Bound”…). It falls to Frank Trigg and his occult-wise, heavily-armed allies to somehow figure out how to derail it.

There is a lot of action in this book, and Marquitz does a very good job at keeping it clear and focused without lots of ‘telling.’ I also enjoyed the personality of Frank Trigg, who, while hardly an angel (part-demon, actually, and at times all-libido), has his limits, and knows when it’s time to take a stand against impossible odds. I expect I’ll very much enjoy the following books in the series.

Short Reviews: James L. Grant’s Velan the Reticent

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

One note before I begin this, the first reviews post in this here blog. If I review something here, it’s generally going to be something I like overall (whatever caveats I may express). Books I dislike get quietly pushed into dark corners where they can be food for the varmints that live there; any pleasure I might get from ripping on them is eclipsed by having to actually think about them for that length of time. I’d rather point people at books what I like.

That said, on to Velan the Reticent, by James L. Grant.

Barbarian sword-and-sorcery books have never been of great interest to me. It’s one of those genres, like military science fiction, high fantasy, and paranormal romance, where I can see where there are elements that other people might be drawn to (and are, in great numbers) without being drawn to those elements myself. So I came to Velan the Reticent, a novella suggesting a send-up of works such as Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja, I was not entirely sure it would work for me. Parodies I like; parodies of things I’ve never seen or read, less so.

Fortunately, James L. Grant has wrote a book that is both funny and entertaining regardless of how much or little one knows about the genre. He does it the old-fashioned way – by creating real, complete characters who deal with the strange situations they face (scavenging warbirds, scheming townspeople, hidden temples) in realistic (for the genre) ways. The humor flows from the characters and their situations, rather than any forced wordplay, joking, or overt silliness, and is all the more effective for it. While I suspect there are depths I missed due to unfamiliarity with the genre, I nevertheless thorougly enjoyed the book and look forward to Velan’s return.

The Source of My Ideas

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

I know where my ideas come from.

They come from the murky insides of my head, from the hole where I pour all the things I read and watch and think about. There are things that have been added recently, and things that have been fermenting for as long as I can recall. Many of these things have been in the soup so long all rememberance of where they came from before have eroded away, or become grossly distorted. Many of these things have combined with other things, becoming something else entirely.

They can see out of the hole. They know what’s going on, out in the Cartesian Theater where my illusion of consciousness and control hangs out, working the controls of the body. Sometimes, when something flashes across the stage, it draws these things. Makes them want to come out.

Other times, I have to reach in and haul them out, whether they’re done fermenting or not. The best bits are never quite ready for their showtimes… but I pull them out anyway. They come out in my words and my stories. In truth, they are also still in the hole, looking for new things to join to, to congeal with, and to ferment in.

That’s where my ideas come from. That’s why I read the strange things I love to read, knowing that even if I never consciously use what I read, it will still be down there, somewhere, becoming something else. Something that will one day come, willing or not, into words and light.