Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Gary W. Olson

This week the book is so hot off the press,   I think the ink is still wet!

Buy links for “Brutal Light”:

 

Amazon.com (Kindle edition)

DamnationBooks.com (.mobi, .epub, .pdf, .pdb)

Links for of all other vendors (continually updated): http://BrutalLight.GaryWOlson.com

Print ISBN (for ordering paperback via bookstore): 978-1-61572-539-7

Digital ISBN: 978-1-61572-538-0

 

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Bio

 

Gary W. Olson grew up in Michigan and, despite the weather, stuck around.  In 1991 he graduated from Central Michigan University and went to work as a software engineer.  He loves to read and write stories that transgress the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, while examining ideas of identity and its loss in the many forms it can have.

 

Away from working and writing, Gary enjoys spending time with his wife, their cats, and their mostly reputable family and friends.  His website is at http://www.garywolson.com, and features his blog, A Taste of Strange (http://www.garywolson.com/blog), as well as links to everyplace else he is on the Internet, such as Twitter (http://twitter.com/gwox) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/gary.w.olson.author).

 

 

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Blurb for “Brutal Light”:

 

All Kagami Takeda wants is to be left alone, so that no one else can be destroyed by the madness she keeps at bay.  Her connection to the Radiance–a merciless and godlike sea of light–has driven her family insane and given her lover strange abilities and terrible visions.  But the occult forces that covet her access to the Radiance are relentless in their pursuit.  Worse, the Radiance itself has created an enemy who can kill her–a fate that would unleash its ravenous power on a defenseless city…

 

Rhea Cole is also on the run, after murdering her husband with a power she never knew she had–a power given her by a strange girl with a single touch.  Pursued by a grim man unable to dream and a dead soul with a taste for human flesh, she must contend with those who would use her to open the way to the Radiance, and fight a battle that stretches from the streets of Detroit to a forest of terrifying rogue memories.

 

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Excerpt from “Brutal Light”:

 

The heavy summer air clung to Nick Havelock as he stepped through the door. It had no lock, no sentry, no precautions and no need. The house was dark, and the world beyond the visible drowned in light and screams. No one had to tell him that he was too late.

 

He felt Gordon push against his back. Every step was a struggle against a current that ripped pieces out of his will to move. The sound of the current was a deep and ever rising hum.

 

Rhea stood inside the doorway, alarm frozen on her face. She made no move, even when Nick slid past. He tried to see what she was looking at, and for a second thought he recognized the unconscious form of Iris DuQuesne, but the hurricane of light coming from the hallway entrance overwhelmed all other perception. It was all he could do to take another step.

 

The howling rose. Nick could feel the beasts and their ecstasy.  Though he couldn’t see them through the raging light, he realized he knew them. He knew their flavor, their shape and their strength.

 

They were Kagami’s beasts, and they ran free. Through the swarm of those caught in the blossoming madness, through forest and sea and light, they ran.

 

The flow of power changed. Kagami emerged.

 

He couldn’t breathe.

 

She was before him, blinding and beautiful. He knew then that she could kill him and he would not resist. He was dimly conscious that Gordon had attacked her, and that Rhea was about to do the same.

 

The annihilating pulse erupted from her.

 

Awareness fled.

 

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 Interview

1. In three days, all electricity, everywhere will go out for a very long time, what will you put in your survival kit?

 

That, of course, depends on how very long a ‘very long time’ is.  There’s the usual stuff that would go into a ‘bug out pack’ (dehydrated food, water purification tablets, fire starters, pain meds and other first aid stuff, simple clothing, boots, gloves, a sleeping bag, knives, sharpening kits).  As many books with a ‘high re-readability value’ (for example, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, some of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, a few Clive Barker works, etc.) as I can make fit.  Paper and pens, naturally.  As much instant coffee as I can stand.  And an axe, for when I get an urge to re-enact ‘The Shining’ with my neighbors.

(From Sally – When the end of the world comes I am going to make it a point to stay out of mazes!)

 

2. Where did the idea for the work you are promoting arise?

 

The story has some very long roots, going way back to when I was writing Internet fiction in the nineties.  Its core–someone who has to contend with a massive power that others covet and that sometimes seems to have an agenda of its own–persisted through a number of iterations, padding and shedding a variety of story elements along the way.  The dangers and temptations of having too much power, combined with my longstanding fascination with questions of how we build our identities and the terror that can come when faced with the prospect of losing those identities, ended up being what drove the story.

 

3. What do you like to read?

 

Much more than I can ever keep up with!  I grew up on a heavy science fiction diet, with lots of books by Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, and Arthur C. Clarke, among others.  I never really caught the wave of ‘high’ fantasy, so not much of that, but I have been enjoying plenty of dark urban fantasy–Simon R. Green and Jim Butcher, for instance.  There are also the usual horror suspects–Stephen King and Clive Barker–plus some mystery novels and police procedurals–Jonathan Kellerman and Michael Connelly, as examples.

 

As much as I can, I also try to get some nonfiction in there.  I particularly enjoy works on history, neuroscience, and futurism, so long as they’re written on a layman’s level.  I also have an undying love of the gonzo end of the conspiracy theory pool–the more odd and implausible a notion is, and the more hell-bent a theorist is to distract from the gaping holes with wild handwaving and fire-breathing sophistry, the more it tickles me.  I’m looking at you, David Icke.

 

4. Tell us about the most exciting place you have ever visited?

 

My travels so far have been limited to the continental United States and a bit of Canada, so ‘exciting’ is pretty relative.  My favorite of the cities I’ve been to has been Toronto, as there’s always a lot to see and do, and they have a good mass transit system.  Seattle also sticks in my mind, though I’ve only been there once–the ‘Underground Seattle’ tour is fascinating.

 

5. What is the most mundane, day to day, thing you can share about yourself?

 

I exercize for close to an hour a day, six days a week (I generally skip Fridays).  The way I’ve found to stick to it is to do the exercise while watching DVDs of the TV shows, movies, and documentaries I’ve always wanted to see but never seemed to get around to.  Anything longer than an hour I break up and watch while exercising over two (sometimes three) nights.  Both Netflix and my local library have been endless sources of things to enjoy, and it’s a great motivator, too!

(From Sally – One of my wishes in my next life, besides coming back as a rich white guy who lives in a big city, is to be able to read on a treadmill.  At the moment I’ll topple over if I try to turn a page.)

 

6. What scares you the most?

 

That something might happen to me that would inhibit my ability to think or make me believe things that aren’t true–Alzheimer’s, brain trauma, and so on.  A close second would be something that happens to my body which leaves me essentially a prisoner in it.

 

7. Tell us anything but keep it G rated.

 

I’m reading up on a lot of insect science and folklore in preparation for my next book.  It’s fascinating and weird and only sometimes G-rated… and I can’t help but itch whenever I’m at it.  Even now, answering this question, I have the uncontrollable urge to… ahhhh! *skritchskritchskritch*

Buy links for “Brutal Light”:

 

Amazon.com (Kindle edition): http://www.amazon.com/Brutal-Light-ebook/dp/B006EVZYIC/

DamnationBooks.com (.mobi, .epub, .pdf, .pdb): http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615725380

Links for of all other vendors (continually updated): http://BrutalLight.GaryWOlson.com

Print ISBN (for ordering paperback via bookstore): 978-1-61572-539-7

Digital ISBN: 978-1-61572-538-0

 

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Come back next week for Travis Heermann.

Keywords:

Gary W. Olson, Brutal Light, Damnation Books, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, dark fiction, strange fiction, weird, occult, debut novel