Tag Archives: short stories

Fairly Wicked Tales has been released! [fairly wicked tales]

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

(Edit 4/24/15: updated links to point to current reissue of this anthology by Ragnarok Publications)

Fairly Wicked Tales“Once upon a scream…

“Think you know the real story behind those fables and fairy tales you read as a child? Stories are written from the viewpoint of the heroes, but the lines between hero and villain, good and evil, are often blurred.

“We’ve gathered twenty three tales that turn those stories you think you know on their heads by letting the villains have their say. What if Snow White wasn’t as pure as the newly driven snow? What if Red Riding Hood was far more dangerous than the Big Bad Wolf? What if Rapunzel was hell bent on revenge? Forget Disney, forget the Brothers Grimm, say hello to Fairly Wicked Tales—re-imaginings of both fairy tales and fables.

“Fairly Wicked Tales, a book for adults who harbor the wicked child within.”

(Click on the cover art by Rebecca Treadway to see it in full-sized wicked beauty!)

Fairly Wicked Tales, edited by Stacey Turner, is an anthology of dark fantasy and horror published August 6th, 2014, by Angelic Knight Press, and includes my horror short story Sweetheart, the Dream is Not Ended (a reimagining of the lesser-known Grimm fairly tale “The Robber Bridegroom”). I’ve got a blog post in the works regarding how utterly strange “The Robber Bridegroom” is and why I had to make it the basis for my tale, but for now, I wanted to get the word out that the anthology’s been released.

So far just as e-books, but fear not, dead tree lovers, physical book form is on its way. Fairly Wicked Tales is now available from Amazon.com for Kindle and in Print.

Here’s the table of contents, in the format of: “Story Title” by Author: Fairy tale it gives a good hard twisting to.

Table of Contents

“Song of Bones” by Vekah McKeown: A retelling of “The Singing Bone”.

“Red” by Katie Young: A retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood”.

“Sweetheart, the Dream is Not Ended” by Gary W. Olson: A reimagining of “The Robber Bridegroom”.

“Crumbs” by Adam Millard: A retelling of “The Crumbs on the Table”.

“A Thrice Spun Tale” by Suzi M: A retelling of “The Three Spinners”.

“His Heart’s Desire” by Fay Lee: A retelling of “Sleeping Beauty”.

“Little Beauty” by Matthew Hughes: A retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”.

“Hare’s Tale” by Jay Wilburn: A retelling of “The Tortoise and the Hare”.

“The Golden Goose” by Robert Holt: A retelling.

“A Prick of the Quill” by Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi: A retelling of “Hans My Hedgehog”.

“Sacrificed” by Laura Snapp: A reimagining of “Snow White”.

“The Glass Coffin” by D R Cartwright: A retelling of “The Glass Coffin”.

“The Price of the Sea” by David R. Matteri: A retelling of “The Little Mermaid”.

“A Blue Light Turned Black” by Wilson Geiger: A retelling of “The Blue Light”.

“Let Down Your Hair” by Eugenia Rose: A retelling of “Rapunzel”.

“The Wolf Who Cried Boy” by Armand Rosamilia: A retelling of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”.

“It Comes At Night” by JP Behrens: A reimagining of “The Billy Goats Gruff”.

“Bloodily Ever After” by Reece A.A. Barnard: A retelling of several fairy tales.

“Al-Adrian and the Magic Lamp” by Tais Teng: A retelling of “The Arabian Nights”.

“The Fisherman and His Wife” by Bennie L. Newsome: A retelling of the story “The Fisherman and His Wife.”

“Rum’s Daughter” by T. Eric Bakutis: A retelling of “Rumplestiltskin”.

“The Ash Maid’s Revenge” by Konstantine Paradias: A retelling of “Cinderella”.

“Gingerbread” by Hal Bodner: What happened afer “Hansel and Gretel”.

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and a contributor to the dark fiction anthologies Fading Light and Fairly Wicked Tales. His blog originates here. Cover art: Rebecca Treadway.

Fairly Wicked Tales Cover Reveal! [fairly wicked tales]

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

Fairly Wicked Tales

Alright, alright, I know it’s been far too long. And I’ve got a blog entry that explains everything, along with where those scratch marks on the sofa came from and why the basement smells like quicklime. But for now, I just wanted to show you all the cover of Fairly Wicked Tales, the next anthology in which I have a short story (“Sweetheart, the Dream is Not Ended”) included, with gorgeous art by Rebecca Treadway. Click upon it to see it in all its wicked glory!

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and a contributor to the dark fiction anthologies Fading Light and Fairly Wicked Tales. His blog originates here. Cover art: Rebecca Treadway.

My brain has decided… [writing]

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

WritingI don’t seem to be doing so well with the blogging; I suspect it’s because I’m too busy actually writing. Which is a good thing. Since my last missive (announcing a self-published short story, “The Body in Motion”), I completed three short stories–one of which (“Sweetheart, the Dream is Not Ended”) has already been accepted to an anthology, Fairly Wicked Tales, set to come out in late September or early October from Angelic Knight Press.

I’m also working on placing the other two, along with the one older work I’d really like to see land somewhere. Tunnel vision tends to overtake me once a work has left my hands… once I’m off to the next project, it can be hard for me to come back, dust off a piece, and send it someplace else. I’ve not always been the best for keeping at the slushpile shuffle, but of late I’ve gotten better at it.

Back when I was laying out my goals for the year, I tossed off the idea of writing four shorts. I’ve already got three done, and I know what the fourth one will be, which should mean I’m back to working on reworking The Morpheist, or plowing ahead on the first draft of This Island Monstrous, right?

Ha ha. Right.

My brain has decided that nothing would be so fine as to write an urban fantasy novella set in the world I created for one of the aforementioned short stories. I’d barely scratched the surface of all the ideas I’d had when writing that story, but they wouldn’t go and sit back down, so, out they come. No title yet, but I’m determined to get it out and on its way by summer’s end.

It’s also the first project I’ve started using the Scrivener writing program, which I downloaded from Amazon about a month ago when it was half-off its already reasonable $40 price. So far I’m really loving it. Instead of just starting at chapter one and seeing what came out of me, I’m using its corkboard setup to write up some character profiles. It started as just a way to consolidate what I already determined in the short story, but it’s blossomed into sort of an org chart of characters from that story, plus characters who’ll be appearing in that story, characters they know, and so on. I didn’t take this approach with This Island Monstrous, which may be why it foundered.

All this means, of course, that my other goals for this year are up in the air. I may or may not return to The Morpheist this year, but I’m definitely going to return to This Island Monstrous, this time with Scrivener to help me keep track of things. Plus one more short story to write, and a couple older short works to self-publish.

And then… light refreshments will be served.

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Gary W. Olson is the author of the dark fantasy novel Brutal Light and a contributor to the dark fiction anthology Fading Light. His blog originates here. Photo: Andres/Bigstock.com.