Greg Van Eekhout Books In Order

Publication Order of California Bones Books

Publication Order of Greg Van Eekhout Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Greg Van Eekhout Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Whispers from the Abyss Books

Publication Order of Daily Science Fiction Stories Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Greg Van Eekhout, is a San Diego based fantasy and science fiction writer. In 2003, one of his short stories,“In Late December”, had the honor of receiving a nomination for the prestigious Nebula Award for Best Short Story.

The Early Years

Greg Van Eekhout was born and raised by Dutch-Indonesian parents in the Los Angeles area. When he finally came of age, he attended UCLA, where obtained a BA in English. He then went onto to study educational media and computers, ending in full completion, resulting in a master’s degree in hand, while attending Arizona State, in which he also employed for a while designing multimedia.

In 1999, he attended, Viable Paradise, which was in fact a writing workshop. Two years later in 2001, he released his very first published work, “Wolves Till the World Goes Down.” which appeared in the short story anthology, “Starlight 3,” Although, later on the anthology was reprinted as, “Fantasy: The Best of 2001.” In 2003, as aforementioned, he had been nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Short Story. In several places his work has appeared, publications like, Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Magazine of Fantasy, Science fiction and last but certainly not least, Asimov’s Science Fiction.

The Novels

In May of 2009, “Norse Code”, an urban fantasy highlighted by adult themes, was the beginning for Van Eekhout. His first novel was published by Bantam Books and and then exactly one year later, his second novel,”Kid vs Squid,” was released. His third novel came virtually another year later with another kids themed story geared towards middle-grade age, titled,”The Boy at the End of the World.” Both “Kids” and “Boy,” were released by Bloomsbury Kid’s USA.

In June of 2010, he released his fourth novel, “California bones,” which happens to be the very first in a trilogy of books that was planned and based on the 2006 short story, “The Osteomancer’s Son.” The anthology that was the medium for the story appeared as,”Years Best Fantasy 7,” and also, “Best Fantasy of the Year: 2007.

Inspiration

When Greg Van Eekhout was a boy, he used his imagination was employed with creating character plots and themes behind his favorite characters of TV, film and the comics, as he would call proto-writing. He would produce entire list of space crews by the hundreds, each individual receiving their own personal identity, with uniforms and teams created, to boot. He never put his ideas on paper though, and it wasn’t until his college years that he then decided to pursue a career in writing. During that time he discovered discipline and then began to write stories and actually finish them, submitting them to publishers.

Early on what Van Eekhout really wanted of himself was to be a cartoonist or maybe even a comic book artist but according to him, there came a crossroads when there were things he could draw with brilliance and then there were other things that he absolutely fell flat on. With that in mind he approached writing with a force, certainly fortitude, discovering that he could write well but if he stuck to his guns, he would improve and reach the point when there were people out there who would actually pay for his brainchilds.

The influences at the forefront of Greg Van Eekhout’s list of heros are, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Dan Simmons, Elliot S. Maggin and Kurt Vonnegut.

His advice to aspiring writers is, “read, read, read, write, write, write and if it is making you miserable, quit. There is a lot of things to do in life that pay better than writing.”

Inside the Mind of Greg Van Eekhout

Many themes that arise from Eekhout novels, are ones of courage, survival and an against all odds heart at the core of things. His characters, even though are typically of the younger variety, are complex and insightful, way beyond their years.

Complex indeed, Eeckhout’s idea’s range from a thoughtful yet insanely smart and maniacal fashion. Mixtures of worlds and dimensions blend, journeys through the afterlife all the way to the depths of hell, the man can spin a yarn that is literally out of this world and then some.

To give you a little peek into Eeckhout’s world, here are a couple short descriptions of his first two works:

Norse Code

This is a short story with aspirations that far exceed it’s page content, a thrilling, tour de force urban fantasy. The story is surrounds itself around Mist, a resurrected Norse Code operative, whom ultimately loses faith in her direction after a devastating accident, she then goes AWOL. In the afterlife, Mist befriends a god, Hemod as he soons joins her crusade against the impending evil before them.

Norse Code is simply an intelligent and clever new take on mythical gods, as they become intertwined with shopping malls and baristas of the Souther California reality. Wandering gods and ponderous monster’s, futuristic Valkyrie’s, zipping through catastrophes that span the world. The story is an excellent example of Van Eekhout’s knack for short fiction that is crafted masterfully and down right brilliantly.

This large canvas paints us a picture of the depths of black infinity, that slides the downward spiral into the frozen basement of hell, all the while Van Eekhout never waivers or loses direction that looks inside the hearts and minds of the human and the humane.

The Boy at the End of the World

A survival story at it’s most fitting, The Boy at the End of the World portrays, Fisher, who is indeed the last boy on the earth, At his side is a Robot that goes by the name of Click. Fisher embarks on a treacherous quest with the goal of discovering if he is really alone, driving him. He must survive.

Fisher soon finds the realities of survival are a tough way of existence and things don’t get any better as he tries to keep his distance from man-eating beast, whose challenge is more posed now that humans are defunct and he is the one in charge of his destiny. The beast aren’t the only ones Fisher has to contend with, there is something more vastly dark and sinister, something of a fallen angel to the human race that was left in their wake….only from a mind like Greg Van Eekhout.