Lance Olsen is een auteur van experimentele fictie, die zich verdiept in complexe thema's en formele innovaties. Zijn werk wordt gekenmerkt door onconventionele narratieve structuren en een diepgaande verkenning van de aard van realiteit en bewustzijn. Olsen streeft ernaar de grenzen van wat mogelijk is in de literatuur te verleggen, en creëert werken die zowel intellectueel stimulerend als emotioneel resonerend zijn. Zijn aanpak wordt gekenmerkt door een rusteloze nieuwsgierigheid en een verlangen om voortdurend nieuwe manieren van verhalen vertellen te ontdekken.
The narrative unfolds through three distinct voices, each represented by a unique font, exploring diverse aesthetic, political, and existential themes. This collage novel intricately weaves together sensations, observations, memories, and quotations, creating a rich tapestry of experiences. The innovative structure invites readers to engage with the text on multiple levels, offering a profound exploration of identity and perception.
Set in Berlin in 1927, this novel explores the convergence of renowned historical figures, including artists, actors, physicists, and autocrats, over the course of a single day. Through an impressionistic narrative, it delves into the vibrant cultural and political landscape of the time, capturing the essence of an era marked by creativity and upheaval. The intertwining lives of these iconic personalities reveal the complexities of their relationships and the impact of their legacies on the world.
Lance Olsen's discerning critique was the first extended study ever published on the work of William Gibson, whose mindbending science fiction novel, Neuromancer (1984), created the subgenre of Cyberpunk, and became the first novel to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards for best SF novel of the year. Olsen covers Gibson's major early works, including Neuromancer, Burning Chrome, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive. Complete with bibliography, notes, and index.
Exploring the final hours of Nietzsche's life, this book offers a vivid and intricate portrayal of his thoughts and emotions. It delves into the complexities of his character and the philosophical ideas that shaped his legacy. Through rich narrative detail, readers are invited to witness the profound struggles and revelations that defined his last moments, providing a unique perspective on the man behind the philosophy.
Skin Elegies uses the metaphor of mind-upload technologies to explore questions about the relationship of the cellular brain to personhood, memory, and where the human might end and something else begin. In a dystiopian future, an American couple flee their increasingly authoritarian country by transferring to a quantum computer housed in North Africa. The novel’s structure mimics a constellation of firing neurons—a sparking collage of many tiny narraticules flickering through the brain of one of the refugees as it is digitized. Those narraticules comprise nine larger stories intersecting with memorable moments in human time: the Fukushima disaster; the day the Internet was turned on; the final hours of the Battle of Berlin; John Lennon’s murder; an assisted suicide in Switzerland; the Columbine massacre; a woman killed by a domestic abuser; a Syrian boy making his way to Berlin; and the Challenger disaster.With his characteristic brilliance and unrivaled uniqueness, Lance Olsen delivers an innovative, speculative, literary novel in the key of Margaret Atwood, Stanislaw Lem, and J.G. Ballard.
A selection of short stories set in a future where America has become a channel-surfing nation, where pain has become home theatre and, with so many channels, watching TV beats sex.
Lance Olsen's fiction is celebrated for its innovative storytelling and unique narrative style, earning him acclaim as a standout figure in contemporary literature. His works challenge traditional conventions, engaging readers with thought-provoking themes and complex characters. Critics have noted his ability to blend the experimental with the accessible, making his writing both compelling and relevant in today's literary landscape.
Exploring the concept of creativity, this book challenges the notion that it is an innate talent rather than a skill that can be developed. Through practical exercises and insights, it provides readers with tools to enhance their creative thinking and problem-solving abilities. The author emphasizes that anyone can learn to be more creative, regardless of their background or profession, making it an invaluable resource for artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to innovate in their field.
Girl Imagined by Chance is a critifictional novel about a couple who find themselves having created a make-believe daughter (and soon a make-believe life to accompany her) in order to appease their friends, family, and the culture of reproduction. Structured around twelve photographs from a single roll of film, the book explores the nature of photography and the questions that nature raises about the notions of the simulated and the real, the media-ization of consciousness, originality, self construction, and the way we all continually fashion our faces into masks for the next shot. At its heart, Girl Imagined by Chance investigates the mystery of self-knowledge. The prevailing metaphor and structural device of photography examines the way images, in their magical ability to mimic memory, ultimately mock and eradicate it. The seemingly stable and fixed individual past turns out to be as protean and unknowable as the future. The body becomes strangely dispensable, perpetually adrift in a cybernetic world of hyperlinks and interfaces.
Exploring the diverse thoughts of audience members in an AMC theater at the Mall of America, the narrative weaves through multiple film genres, including horror, magical realism, and romance. As the minutes tick down to the start of the feature, the characters' inner dialogues reflect a broader commentary on society and its obsession with spectacle, culminating in an apocalyptic vision. This unique blend of perspectives offers a thought-provoking critique of contemporary culture.