Chippewa Falls Native Writes ‘Another Unwanted Adventure’
Stephanie Olson's debut novel is not your average fantasy story

When you finish the prologue for Still Chosen: Another Unwanted Adventure, you’d be forgiven for checking the spine of the book to see if you’d accidentally stumbled on the second book in a franchise.
And that’s kind of the point.
This fantasy romance work tells the story of a 16-year-old heroine who was chosen to save the world ... 20 years after she succeeds. A narrative flash-forward happens between the prologue, depicting the plucky teenage hero’s success and its aftermath; and the first chapter, depicting her reign as queen two decades later.
“Life doesn’t end when you’re done being a teenager,” author Stephanie Olson said in a recent interview. “It doesn’t peak when you’ve done the ‘big thing.’ It keeps going.”
A Chippewa Falls native who has worked at Renaissance Faires of yore, Olson has been a fan of fantasy literature for years. She's a part of the award-winning, fantasy-horror Ghost Wax podcast, and Still Chosen is her first foray into publishing a novel.

Because Still Chosen references events two decades in the past, there’s almost an entire other story embedded within it. “I did have to storyboard the entire initial adventure the characters went on,” Olson explained. “The story often references a lot of tropes that are common to young adult fantasy romance fiction – love triangles, chosen by deities, magical powers, and more – but ends up playing with them and bringing them to their logical conclusion,” Olson said.
“It examines those storytelling devices from the experience of an adult fan of the genre. I’m a big fan of fantasy and women-centered storytelling, but a lot of it that’s available is young adult literature. I wanted to tell a story of who those characters grew up to be.”
You can meet Olson at this year’s Booked Eau Claire event, which will be Sept. 12-13 at The Lismore Hotel. Still Chosen: Another Unwanted Adventure is available for purchase now.
Learn more about Stephanie Olson and order Still Chosen: Another Unwanted Adventure at stephaniegolson.com.