John's Writing: Books

Writings of John M Olsen

Novels

"Crystal King"

Gavin Stoutheart’s father the baron is missing, along with Gavin’s brother the heir. He must step up to lead his people as they flee before an invading army. His only hope is that a combination of prohibited animal magic and his knack for strategy will keep them safe as they make their way through a fractured kingdom with an army on their tail.

"Crystal Queen"

Princess Lilia Talendor finds herself promised to marry a foreign king to secure the release of her father as slavers take advantage of the chaos within the Graven Kingdom.

King Gavin Stoutheart wants desperately to meet and impress the queen despite traitors, spies, and uncertain advisers. Why is the princess late?

War looms, and Lilia could be the key to saving or destroying both their kingdoms.

"A Forgotten Promise"

A fictionalized biography of a couple who sinks deep into drug addiction and alcohol abuse, and of the relatives who raise their children.

To what depths will the parents sink before they act upon their promise to put their family back together?

Anthologies, magazines and web pages

"High Ground" (Storyhack Issue 2)

A mech pilot struggles to make it back to base alone through a destroyed town in no-man's-land while an enemy thwarts her every move.

"When Words Fail" (1st place award winner in Sibyl's Scriptorium Volume 5)

A superhero soccer mom learns what it is to be a real hero to those who matter the most.

"The Lure of Riches" (Unbound, The Clarion Call 3)

An underground troll defends his family from invaders coming down from the surface.

"The Art of Getting Lost" (Immortal Works Flash Fiction Friday #47)

Life changes when you get lost, especially when it's on purpose. This is a podcast where my story is read.

"Protector of Newington" (Storyhack Issue 1)

An inventor and his sidekick use a steam-powered armor suit to save a city that sometimes doesn't want to be saved.

"Market Rat" (on the Silver Blade web site)

Tarrel finds a key in the hands of a dead man and soon discovers it's more than it appears. How much trouble can a street urchin get into because of a magic key?

"Unlocked" (Intersections" anthology from the League of Utah Writers)

To make this poem more interesting, I set some limits. I wrote a one-sentence, iambic pentameter love poem eighteen lines long.

"Learning to Run With Scissors" (online late 2017 or early 2018)

An asteroid-mining family makes a discovery that will change everything and discovers an enemy who doesn't want the news to get out.

"Time to Think" (Award-winning anthology Apocalypse Utah)

A scientist's thought experiment has side-effects that grow stronger over time.

"Revolutionary" (Steel & Bone, Nine Steampunk Adventures)

A dirigible captain goes down with his ship, and wakes to find himself a captive of a sky-dwelling civilization. How much can he learn of their advanced society before he must escape?

"Exposure Therapy" (It Came from the Great Salt Lake: A Collection of Utah Horror)

A couple out for an afternoon of caving discovers more than rock formations in an ancient burial site sealed for centuries.

"The Blight" (Sibyl's Scriptorium Volume 3)

Elric and Jolynne follow mysterious ghost-like visitors through a magical gate to a world they’ve only heard of through rumors and stories meant to scare young elves. Visiting the Blight would be bad enough by itself, but Jolynne is captured by a foe from their own world. Now Elric must plot both a rescue and their escape in order for them to ever return home.