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Becoming Animals

reviews: 13
ratings: 15 (avg rating 4.60)

The FATOFF Conspiracy

reviews: 6
ratings: 18 (avg rating 3.50)

Harvest

reviews: 11
ratings: 18 (avg rating 4.50)

Suddenly, Paris (Many Worlds, One Life #1)

reviews: 6
ratings: 8 (avg rating 4.00)

Twin Time

reviews: 4
ratings: 5 (avg rating 4.40)

SciFi Bites: A collection of short stories.

Pipsqueak Articles, sci-fi bites, short story

Time travel, Hitler, and killing babies–a short audio story

by Olga Werby February 27, 2020

What if you could go back in time and kill Hitler? This is a premise of many science fiction stories. Here’s my version:

Time Travel Suicide Therapy

by Olga Werby July 14, 2019

“Can I help you?” Dax stood up and quickly covered the screen with his body. It was five minutes to closing time and he wasn’t interested in helping on yet another bored teenager, or house partner, or grandpa, or history student, or whatever to fulfill their sick time travel dream.…

Shifting Sands

by Olga Werby June 11, 2019

The wind howled northward, as normal for this time of the year. The angle of planetary spin resulted in a decreased amount of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere during this portion of the orbit cycle. The atmosphere precipitated onto the surface as ammonia and water snow, lowering the air pressure,…

Word Magic, narrated by Mariah Avix of 600 Second Saga

by Olga Werby August 2, 2018

Word Magic is a short story prequel to a larger piece of fiction I’m working on about language and its power to shape the world. I love Mariah’s work. She brings magic to my stories and to those of other writers. Please visit her site and subscribe to her work.…

600 Second Saga: The Perfect Gene

by Olga Werby January 3, 2018

“The Perfect Gene” — a short story about cultural biases narrated by Mariah Avix, 600 Second Saga Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy, found at http://insani-x.com/ Read along with the audio story.

600 Second Saga: The Test

by Olga Werby October 4, 2017

It was beside me on the bed when I woke up — the little bag to pack my most cherished belongings before leaving to take the test. Our dorm has eight living in one great room and none of us heard anything in the night. No one ever does. This…

Another Wave of Refugees

by Olga Werby October 3, 2017

“Another wave of refugees is arriving,” the TV news announcer said in a grave voice. George Tiggleson, the news anchor for XWTZ Christian Voice of Americas, has been practicing this voice — deep, resonant, with a slight lamenting quality — for almost twenty years. This voice got him this job.…

Cockpit_Design

by Olga Werby September 29, 2010

The design of a cockpit served as a launch-pad to the field of usability research.

← The History of Usability

Cultural Bias, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

The Eliminati

by Olga Werby July 11, 2023

We live in a society where people acquire vast amounts of stuff and then run out of space to store it all. Some respond by adopting minimalism; true believers embrace the clean aesthetics of clear floors, empty shelves, and bare closets. Of course, in our disposable consumer culture, these same…

Different Kinds of Stories

by Olga Werby May 12, 2023

I believe we can distill the plethora of story types into two main categories: feverish cliff hangers that compel their readers to read on through the night, and the more tranquil tales that follow a structure of “this happened, and then this, and then this.” Of course, many stories offer…

Developing a Story

by Olga Werby April 10, 2023

How does one choose a story? Or does a story choose its teller? For me, random triggers in my subconscious coalesce and spark inspiration that is not yet a story but rather the embryo of one. That seed, with time, might ripen enough to be worth planting. But the seed…

Playing with ChatGPT

by Olga Werby March 7, 2023

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I am a bit late to the ChatGPT bandwagon — people all over the internet are pointing out badly written prose. But I did want to give it a try. I have hundreds of story ideas that I have jotted down over the years. Most won’t ever be written into…

The Fragility of Normal

by Olga Werby February 12, 2023

We all want to go back to normal. We cry about it and complain: “Enough is enough. We want our lives back.” This need to “go back to normal” is always with us, although maybe on a different scale post-pandemic. But even before Covid, there were always things that disturbed…

Gift of Time

by Olga Werby January 10, 2023

Nothing is more precious than time. It’s not an accident that we celebrate birthdays — full orbit trips around our star — in addition to milestones of physical, mental, or social accomplishment. It’s also of interest to note that when we pledge ourself in marriage, we swear to be together…

Expanding Definitions

by Olga Werby December 14, 2022

I have taught children, teens, and adults for many years. And I am noticing a trend — as a people, in the name of a more just society, we try to make our definitions ever more expansive. Sounds like great thing, right? But consider this. Decades ago, children diagnosed as…

My Writing is My Phrontistery

by Olga Werby November 10, 2022

Phrontistery is an ancient Greek word meaning “a place for thinking.” I love cool words and phrontistery not only feels good on the tongue, but its meaning really appeals to me — it describes a space specifically dedicated to thinking! For many people, bathrooms are a perfect phrontistery. They are…

Witchy Readings

by Olga Werby October 8, 2022

Time flies and it’s October — witchy season is upon us! Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons — the need for a nice sweater and thick blanket, the ability to enjoy a nice fire, the smell of rain in the air, the bright colors of changing leaves.…

Love of Reading

by Olga Werby September 11, 2022

I assume that people who read my newsletters love to read as much as I do. Reading is the best form of escapism. It’s a way of stepping into another life, another world. It can be completely immersive and totally consuming. You can read to match your internal moods or…

Stress Response

by Olga Werby August 11, 2022

Stress is an actor in all our lives. As we grow up, our stress grows too. We perceive that stress as a sign that we are coping with more than our historical share. Every generation believes that their stress surpasses that of the generation before. So it is probably just…

Coming-of-age in the Modern World

by Olga Werby June 6, 2022

There is a whole genre of coming-of-age stories — stories that describe a transition from childhood to adulthood. The transition could be fast, forced by some external events, or painfully slow. And sometimes, it might not happen at all — we all know people who we charitably describe as having…

Emotion Field

by Olga Werby May 13, 2022

I saw a question on Twitter: Can readers become emotionally invested in a story if the main character is interesting but not sympathetic? My answer was that I need characters that I can care about. A superhero that has all kinds of cool and interesting superpowers is ultimately boring unless…

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