Meet the Author
W. Olson (Glen Olson) is a fiction and nonfiction author. His two previous books are the science-fiction novel Desperate Endeavor and the nonfiction book Fifty Years of Polyamory in America. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles, California. He would have had an absolutely normal childhood except for one fact: His best friend’s father worked in Cold War aerospace and owned a mimeograph machine, allowing Glen and friends to put out a neighborhood newspaper—which they shamelessly did! This encouraged Glen’s lifelong love of writing. Along with this, Glen was a paramedic for the Los Angeles City Fire Department for over thirty years, where he had several roles, including disaster preparedness educator, inspector, and captain. Writing training manuals by day, he dove into his fiction by night. Today he is a full-time writer.
Details
Format: Paperback, E-book, Audiobook
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-966369-38-7
ISBN E-book: 978-1-966369-39-4
ISBN Audiobook: 978-1-966369-92-9
Pages: 219
Release date: March 3rd, 2026
Endorsements
Part Stargate, part Children of Men—but without the relentless violence—Tears of a Thousand Years is a moving and thought-provoking exploration of civilization’s cost. Glen Olson doesn’t just ask what happens when an intelligent species is held accountable for its actions—he dares to imagine that they might respond with grace, empathy, and transformation.
As I turned each page, I couldn’t help but wonder: Would we rise to the challenge like Olson’s beautifully crafted characters or falter under the weight of our history? The answer isn’t simple, but the hope is real. We may not have a thousand years to fix what we’ve broken—but maybe, just maybe, we don’t need that long.
Olson’s richly imagined worlds and unforgettable alien species offer more than escapism—they offer a vision. A future not rooted in despair but in possibility. Tears of a Thousand Years is essential reading for sci-fi fans hungry for something beyond dystopia—a future worth believing in and fighting for.
—Lauren Cipollo, co-author of the Parallax series
A triumph of far-future storytelling, Tears of a Thousand Years by Glen Olson is space opera at its most resonant. With the grandeur and intricacy of Asimov’s Foundation and the ethical clarity of Star Trek at its peak, Olson crafts a sweeping interstellar epic that never loses sight of its human core—even though there’s not a human to be found. The narrative rushes forward with the tension of the best noir mysteries yet leaves room for keen character work, political nuance, and haunting ecological insight. The characters are layered and memorable—I found myself mourning their absences as much as cheering their triumphs. For lovers of cerebral sci-fi that still know how to entertain, this is not to be missed.
—Matt Conant, co-author of the Parallax series
Glen Olson delivers a tour de force novel. Tears of a Thousand Years is a heartfelt tale of memory, empathy, and transformation wrapped in an epic science fiction adventure. Spanning a millennium, the story weaves the tales of two Remembers, nearly a thousand years apart in time, charged with preserving their culture amid apathy, waste, and carelessness. The task feels disheartening and tragic for the Remembers. But when a seer from a dying race creates a miracle, the soul of an entire civilization awakens. What happens when a race becomes enlightened and desires atonement and healing? If you want a thrilling page-turner with deep characters and unique, yet accessible sci-fi, Tears of a Thousand Years is for you.
—Brian Fitzpatrick, author of the Mechcraft series
