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Olga Werby's books on Goodreads

Becoming Animals

reviews: 13
ratings: 15 (avg rating 4.60)

The Fatoff Conspiracy

reviews: 5
ratings: 16 (avg rating 3.62)

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

reviews: 4
ratings: 6 (avg rating 3.83)

Harvest

reviews: 3
ratings: 5 (avg rating 5.00)

Twin Time

reviews: 3
ratings: 4 (avg rating 5.00)

SciFi Bites: A collection of short stories.

Cultural Differences, My Books, sci-fi bites, short story

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…

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.…

Flight #008: Miss

by Olga Werby September 28, 2017

“Sir. Sir.” “What?” I am having a hard time opening my eyes. I always take a sleeping pill before getting on a plane. I’m a light sleeper, and Tokyo to San Francisco is an impossible flight for me without a little pharmaceutical assist. My throat hurts too — dehydration. “Miss,”…

Conceptual Design, Cultural Bias, Cultural Differences, Pipsqueak Articles

Cultural Differences in Advertising

by Olga Werby April 12, 2013

How does one design a successful ad? That depends on the culture at which the ad is aimed. Here are a few example of ketchup ads. Spot the one NOT aimed at an American audience!

Tags:ad ad design branding emotional design emotional reaction marketing mental models product design social processing user satisfaction visual comprehension

← Daniel Kahneman, Customer Service, and Perception of Quality

How Do You Know When Contractors are Lying to You? →

My Stories as Presented by 600 Second Saga

Background Knowledge, Cultural Bias, Cultural Differences, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles, Users

The Wheel of Culture

by Olga Werby May 25, 2019

Societies continuously try to recreate themselves — shared holidays, shared news, shared traditions, shared language, shared music, shared myths, shared victories, and shared griefs. Shared origins… So by telling each other stories, we recreate ourselves over and over again. Where do we come from? Where are we going? Who are…

New Book: Harvest

by Olga Werby April 29, 2019

Almost a century after an asteroid impact and subsequent nuclear exchange nearly ended all human life on Earth, a strange artifact is discovered on one of the moons of Saturn. Dr. Varsaad Volhard, an evolutionary-socio-historian, is chosen to investigate an alien civilization that sent an artifact to Mimas some thirty thousand years ago.

First Lines

by Olga Werby April 14, 2019

There are readers (and book-writing gurus) who want the first few words of the story to grab them so hard that they can’t let go until the end. I thought I felt a little this way too, so I started to pay attention to the first sentences of the books…

A Year in Books

by Olga Werby March 10, 2019

I read a few books this last year, and like a good reader, I would like to recommend and review some of those stories. So here goes… “The Wheel of Time” (4 stars) The Complete Wheel of Time Series Set (1-14) This a big commitment… I want to start this…

Not So Random Musings

by Olga Werby January 20, 2019

I’m overdue for an update. Usually, I have ideas and themes all worked out (and ebook giveaways all set), but this time it’s different. I still have books to give out, but the main theme of this “sharing” eludes me. So I’m going to write about a few issues that…

Finding Inspiration

by Olga Werby December 7, 2018

Books are not just a collection of words on a page. It takes time to birth a story. When I write, I do a lot of research. In addition to reading, annotating, and creating bibliographies on the science in my science fiction novels, I also collect images. For years, I…

Of Food, Fun, Family, and Fiction

by Olga Werby November 12, 2018

I’ve stopped eating three times in my life… well, there might have been many other times — food intake is the easiest thing to control when life feels in turmoil — but those three times had very well defined triggers and so are easy to examine, evaluate, judge even. The…

Searching for the story…

by Olga Werby October 15, 2018

I’m in the middle of two books now — one finished and ready for the fifth round of editing; and one that requires me to finally write an ending. Endings are hard… even when you know how things are going to end. But here’s a few insights from the book…

What’s in a Cover?

by Olga Werby August 7, 2018

The design of the cover can make the book… or so I was told. Certainly, bad covers don’t contribute to sales. But good covers are difficult. And the thought on cover design has changed over the years… just like fashion. Since I tend to design my own covers (and I’m…

New Book: Lizard Girl and Ghost

by Olga Werby July 9, 2018

This is probably the strangest story I’ve ever written. The idea for the book came from reading endless articles on “singularity” — what would it really mean to pour one’s soul into the machine? What are some implications? What would it feel like? So this story is a cyberpunk adventure…

Meditations on Blockchain

by Olga Werby July 3, 2018

The internet is flooded with contemplations, broodings, and cogitations on Blockchain. One of the possible uses of this technology, Bitcoins and its ilk, has been the reverie, prayer, and speculation engine for endless get rich schemes and the constant fodder for media rumination. But what is it really? The direct…

Accidental Horror Story

by Olga Werby June 19, 2018

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a short story. The idea came to me upon seeing some blog post on how “I Love Lucy” and “Honeymooners” and “M.A.S.H.” are just some of the first shows aliens on a distant planet will watch as part of first contact…

Memory and Storytelling

by Olga Werby March 29, 2018

Our only truth is narrative truth, the stories we tell each other and ourselves—the stories we continually recategorize and refine. — Oliver Sacks, The River of Consciousness, page 121 Our memories are not static. Each time we reach for one, we refresh and form new neuron connections, in fact changing…

D.R.I.P.S. Project
Educational Evaluation
Pipsqueak Productions LLC
The Company Therapist
The Cost of Chicken