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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…

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.…

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

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My Stories as Presented by 600 Second Saga

My Books, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Evolution of Empathy

by Olga Werby February 14, 2022

It’s Valentine’s Week and I thought to remark on empathy. First, a bit of a definition. Sympathy is when you relate to the emotional states of others. Usually, we sympathize with someone’s pain and suffering. It’s common to express (or invoke) our sympathies when someone is in a hospital or…

Memory Strings

by Olga Werby January 11, 2022

Our lives are filled with objects and memories we collect on our journeys. It is almost like there are strings of emotions that tie us to our lives’ cabinet of curiosities. It is almost uncanny how stepping into someone’s house and seeing their possessions and their arrangement to each other…

Holiday Thread

by Olga Werby December 8, 2021

I follow an Iranian woman on Instagram that demonstrates in short videos her embroidery techniques. She does beautiful work — intricate flowers, leaves, curlycues, snowflakes. Her pigment choices are amazing and she does very detailed art in that multicolored thread. I know how to sew and I had a vague…

2021 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition

by Olga Werby November 8, 2021

Writing is a very solitary activity. You sit alone for hours, lost in your own thoughts, hopefully putting some words down on a page. And at some point, if you are lucky, you will finish a story you set out to write or, more accurately, you will finish a story…

The Dance

by Olga Werby October 12, 2021

From Russia With Love This month, I’ve teamed up with a few other indie writers who wrote stories set in Russia. There are just the seven of us, and I hope you check out our stories. I, of course, have a novel Twin Time that is set in Old Pre-Revolutionary…

Mothers on The Hero’s Journey

by Olga Werby September 11, 2021

A Common YA Fantasy Novel Plots: A bunch of kids lead perfectly ordinary lives. One day they learn that the universe is full of magic (or strange science) and if they don’t put down their homework right now (like right now!), everyone they know and love will suffer horribly (or…

Women, Sex, and Plotlines

by Olga Werby August 11, 2021

I had this idea for writing a post about mothers and their children, but then I’ve decided that I’m too close to that subject at the moment and moved on to writing about sex. Sex sells, right? So here it goes: women, sex, and plotlines. Per statistica.com, 84% of romance…

Stories, Books, and How and Where We Get Them

by Olga Werby July 13, 2021

The world has accepted independent filmmakers. These auteurs — def: “auteur is a filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control over a movie are so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the author of the movie” — are strongly preferred over the “boring” regular movie directors and producers. Auteurs…

The Wrong Person, at the Wrong Time, Doing the Wrong Thing

by Olga Werby June 11, 2021

It happens to everyone from time to time — you are just not the ONE. Let me tell you a little story from way back in my high school. I skipped the eighth grade and most of the seventh during my family’s relocation from USSR to New York City. I…

New Book: Mirror Shards

by Olga Werby May 11, 2021

I found the pandemic not very conducing to marketing or facing the world in more public ways. I did write a lot and have several books in various stages of readiness. But there was one story I wanted to enter into a competition (the books I’ve entered last year, God…

Of Marshmallows and Masks

by Olga Werby April 13, 2021

Most everyone in my family, most of our friends, and a lot of our neighbors have received at least one COVID vaccination shot! It is starting to feel like this year-long nightmare is winding down. And we are lucky to live in the right country and in the right state…

Spring Back, an American Gothic

by Olga Werby March 14, 2021

It’s spring. It’s the anniversary of our collective isolation. And for the first time, it feels like things might be looking better, like we might be able to put this whole year behind us…spring back to normal. We are reaching towards a resolution point of this gothic horror narrative. Gothic…

Thoughts on Love

by Olga Werby February 14, 2021

What’s the main difference between humans and other animal mothers? It’s a strange question, I know. But give it some thought. We all watch videos of cute baby animals and their mothers online. We have all seen cross-species “adoptions” — ducks and that raise kittens; dogs that nurture bunnies; even…

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The Company Therapist
The Cost of Chicken