Raven Oak's Blog, page 52
September 3, 2015
Book Cover Throwback: Otherland #1
What I Love about This Cover: There is a level of rich detail to this cover that you don’t see a lot of on books anymore. (Too many rely on Photoshopped collages that lack the detail of an artist drawn cover.)
What I Don’t Love about This Cover: I wish this took up the entire cover rather than being a square on the cover (see image below).
The post Book Cover Throw...
August 31, 2015
Monday Night Gaming: Card Wars
Publisher: Kung Fu Factory
Game Type: Card Game
# of Players: Single player or against other decks via tournaments
The physical Card Wars game is a card game based on the Adventure Time episode entitled “Card Wars” (episode 14 of season four). It was released on 2/19/14, three days after the release of the mobile app. I’ve not played the physical card game, so this review is mostly on the mobile app version.
General Mechanics: In the mobile app, you play...
August 28, 2015
Flashback Friday: The Giver
The Giver is one of those classic sci-fi novels that tops the Banned Book List annually and shocks parents everywhere for daring to talk about puberty and euthanasia.
The book wasn’t published when I was in middle school, being that it was published in 1993, so the first time I read it was the summer before my first year of teaching back in 2001. I read it because it was one of several books we’d be teaching that year (and for many years af...
August 27, 2015
Book Cover Throwback: The Giver
What I Love about This Cover: The transition from black & white to color in the bottom left-hand corner. Simple and yet eye-catching.
What I Don’t Love about This Cover: I know this book is award-winning, a fact that they love to advertise with their golden seal, but the seal is in the way. It makes my eyes unsure of the focus.
Click here to view other Book Cover Throwbacks.The post Book Cover Throwback: The Giver appeared first on Raven...
August 21, 2015
Flashback Friday: My First Con
I was 17 when I attended my first writing convention. I drove myself from Houston to Austin for ArmadilloCon 16 (10/7-10/9/1994) and I felt so professional, let me tell you.
It looked very similar to this one.
Armed with a Sony Walkman, I recorded hours of panels such as “How to Stay out of the Slush Pile” and “Adding Decent Dialogue.” I took notes until my hands would fall off and asked “serious writ...
August 20, 2015
Book Cover Throwback: Jurassic Park
What I Love about This Cover: There is no mistaking what this book is about with a cover like this.
What I Don’t Love about This Cover: I actually like the movie logo with the black background more. They later re-released the book with that cover (seen below).
The post Book Cover Throwback: Jurassic Park appeared first on Raven Oak.
August 18, 2015
WorldCon Time!
This time tomorrow, WorldCon 2015 (Sasquan) will be in full swing! It’s officially WorldCon Time!
Packing for it last night was interesting, and by interesting, I mean CAT.
Look at that face.
The moment the suitcase came out, he was in it. He wriggled around and basically made it known that if I was going somewhere, he was going with me. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn’t have any of it. I was NOT allowed to go to this convention.
Riley settles in for the long haul.
Our kicking him out of...
August 17, 2015
Monday Night Gaming: Exploding Kittens
Publisher:Self-published via Kickstarter by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal,Elan Lee, and Shane Small
# of Players: 2-5
Best with: 3-4
Playing Time: 15-20 minutes
# of Expansions: 0 (brand new game)
We backed this game on Kickstarter because why not? When we received it, I couldn’t wait to open up the box and see what the special surprise was. I even video recorded it, but rather than wait to upload it to YouTube and all that, I found someone else’s...
August 13, 2015
Typical Writer Afternoon
So amidst the chaos of moving before they gut the condo to repair the flood damage, I’m trying oh-so-hard to get work done. I thought it was time that I share with you the typical writer afternoon…with cats.
I want to write. I need to write. Which is really hard when this happens:
Yo, Imma let you finish, but first I gotta stop this writing thing.
I thought maybe he’d settle down to sleep so I could work without his head and tail in the way. Of course not.
Instead, he decided I wasn’t paying enou...
August 8, 2015
Dead Gardens are Dead
I’ve never liked the phrase green thumb in regards to gardening.
It reminds me of fungal infections gone wrong, of which I could post some gruesome photos. In an effort to keep your vomit from your keyboard, I’ll post the picture to the left instead.
You get the idea.
I’m not a green thumb by ANY means. If it’s green, I kill it through neglect or I’m allergic to it and am wishing it dead anyways. Since I know this about myself, I’ve always hired folks with the touch to do what I cannot–garden.
I...
