Raven Oak's Blog, page 59

Y is for Yoshitaka Amano

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

Y is for Yoshitaka Amano

I swear I wasn’t aiming to put all the artists at the end of the A-Z Challenge, but that’s where they ended up. If you’re a fan of the Final Fantasy video game series, you already recognize the name (or should!) as Yoshitaka Amano has done the concept art for the series since the beginning. (You should also check out F is for Final Fantasy and U is for Uematsu.)

Yoshitaka Amanois an amazing artist and not just be...

X is for eXperiment

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

X is for eXperiment

I tried to find a synonym for experiment(al) that began with X, even in other languages, but I failed in this task. Hence, I’m cheating on the X like most other folks doing the A-Z Challenge.

Most of my childhood was comprised of instability, so it’s not a surprise to those who know me that I’m a Type-A control freak. Doing things spur of the moment or taking risks isn’t one of my strengths, yet writing Class-M Exile...

Portrayal of Victims in SF/F

This post is a bit different from my normal posts as I’m tackling a serious topic that isn’t discussed enough in geekdom–the portrayal of victims in SF/F.

Great Aunt Dott, Grandma Lanoe, & Me

My grandmother, a retired teacher, taught me to read and write a pinch before I was three. I read through the typical Dr. Seuss and by six, graduated on to books like Howliday Inn and Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing. I devoured my fair share of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, plus a little Shakespeare and...

What I’m…updates

I’m a little late as I’ve been very busy this month, but I updated the What I’m Reading, What I’m Watching, and What I’m Playing pages. Lots of beta-reading for Kat Richardson & critiquing for Gayle Clemans, watching Daredevil, and playing some new Pokemon 3DS games in my free time.

(FYI–Those pages are under the ABOUT RAVEN tab.)

The post What I’m…updates appeared first on Raven Oak.

W is for Whelan

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

W is for Whelan

When I do my weekly Book Cover Throwback Thursdays, it’s difficult not to fill post after post with art from Michael Whelan, mostly because he’s incredibly prolific and has created cover art for over 350 science fiction/fantasy novels.

He’s painted book/magazine covers for Stephen King, Anne McCaffrey,Piers Anthony, Edgar Rice Burroughs,Melanie Rawn,Michael Moorcock, C. J. Cherryh,Robert A. Heinlein, and Tad Williams. He’...

Monday Night Gaming: Ascension

This week’s Monday Night Gaming: Ascension.

Publisher: Stone Blade Entertainment

# of Players: 1-4 players* (yes, you can play with yourself)

Best with: 2 players

# of Expansions: 7 (as of 2015)

# of Parts: 1 board, 50 beads, 200 cards in the base set.

This game takes everything I love about Dominion and adds in the element of a center row. My first exposure to this game was via the iPhone App, but I enjoyed it enough to jump in on the physical deck builder.

General Mechanics: Like other deck builde...

V is for Van Gogh

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

V is for Van Gogh

Art has always weaseled its way into my world–either through my own creations or my love of nature, symmetry, and lines.

When I was a child, I was picky about art. Abstract art went over my head, but paintings with literal interpretations often bored me. My tastes and preferences changed as I aged, though it wasn’t until a particular episode of Doctor Who that I felt a connection to Van Gogh.

Before that, I thought he wa...

Scrivener Saturday: A Case for Scapple

This week’s Scrivener Saturday: A Case for Scapple. In other words, why should you bother with pen and paper around?

While I could tell you a million and one things about Scrivener, Literature and Latte’s second program, Scapple, is something I’m still sinking my pen into. Unlike Scrivener, Scapple isn’t made for writing a novel–it’s meant for brainstorming and planning, for organizing your thoughts before you write.

Writers have been using mind-maps to brainstorm since their invention, so why...

U is for Uematsu

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

U is for Uematsu, Nobuo

Earlier in the A-Z Challenge, I wrote about my love of Final Fantasy, and how it’s depth of characters and worldbuilding helped encourage me as a writer. Today, I’m focusing on one particular part of that world–Nobuo Uematsu.

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese video game composer and certainly my favorite. He’s most known for scoring the Final Fantasy series. He’s also a serious rocker with his bands, The Black Mages and...

Flashback Friday: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

This week’s Flashback Friday: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

I’m happy to have fellow author, Jeff Martin, here for a guest post on how the book, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, influenced him as a writer.

I was laying on my bed with my fingers curled around the crisp pages of a new book. New to me, at least, for the book,Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, had been out for a few years before I got my hands on it. I remember finding it at a local book store. It was like stu...