Raven Oak's Blog, page 62

H is for Hayao Miyazaki

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

H is for Hayao Miyazaki

The very first anime (or Japanese animation) film I saw wasKiki’s Delivery Service by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. In it, a thirteen-year-old (Kiki) leaves home to train as a witch. She takes her black kitty, Jiji, with her. She spends most of the movie delivering goods by broomstick while figuring out her powers. Like anyone finding their way in the world, she has a crisis of magic and has to regain confide...

Cover Throwback: The Hitchhiker’s Guide

This week’s Book Cover Throwback: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This past weekend at NorWesCon 38, I watched someone mangle this cover during an odd variation on Pictionary.

What I Love about This Cover: It’s absurdity. Humorous like the book.

What I Don’t Love about This Cover: Every time I look at that hand, I see butt-cheeks. Which may be the point.

Click here to view other Book Cover Throwbacks.

The post Cover Throwback: The Hitchhiker’s Guide appeared first on Raven...

G is for Grandmothers

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

G is for Grandmothers – The Shapers of Me

Not everyone gets along with their grandmothers, but as a child growing up without a mother, my grandmothers were both mother figures for my child-self.

My Great-Aunt Dot, My maternal grandmother, Lanoe, and Me

My maternal grandmother raised me when I was very young as my parents divorced, and she continued to do so until I was five-and-a-half. At that point, my father gained custody of me.

Grandma...

F is for Final Fantasy

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

F is for Final Fantasy

I’m a tad late writing this one as I’m still catching up from seven days of conferences (NorWesCon and Emerald City Comicon), but I’m slowly crawling through my lengthy to-do list.

Final Fantasy is a video game series that broke boundaries in regards to storytelling and character development in video games. It wasn’t alone, as this is a common idea in most RPGs and JRPGs, but Final Fantasy did it in such a way that...

Monday Night Gaming: Catan

This week’s Monday Night Gaming: Settlers of Catan, the gateway game for all Tabletop!

This past weekend at NorWesCon 38, I passed by a grizzled & heavily bearded man in a bandana playingCatan on his laptop via Steam. I wasn’t even aware this game had made it to Steam, but it goes to show how this game is a standard in the way that Monopoly and Clue are. It also makes a great gateway game to hook traditional board game fans into the diverse and rich world of Tabletop.

Publisher: Mayfair Games

#...

The Skiffy and Fanty Show!

Today, the Hugo nominated Skiffy and Fanty Show posted their episode on Agent Carter, in which I’m a guest. Feel free to check it out and geek out with us over Agent Carter, my books, weirdness in Seattle, and more.

You can listen here:
http://bit.ly/1MYZdKA

The post The Skiffy and Fanty Show! appeared first on Raven Oak.

E is for EXTERMINATE!

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

E is for EXTERMINATE!!

While I may have been late to the Doctor Who party, my love of the series is no less than any other Whovian. While many have grown tired of the Daleks, they are a new enemy to me, and I enjoy their plunger-and-whisk selves!

I know the questions you have:

Who was my first Doctor?Who is my favorite Doctor?

My first doctor was David Tennant. The first episode I saw was the episode where the Doctor has to wipe companion...

D is for Dragons

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

D is for Dragons

A dragon I drew in 6th grade (complete with map bleed-through from the scan).

I am not an author who writes about dragons (at least, not yet!), but I don’t have to write about them to love them. Like some girls grow up loving horses, I grew up loving dragons.

I blame this completely on the writings of Anne McCaffrey, whose Pern novels gave dragons a new depth. As an animal lover, I’d always wanted to live on a farm, surro...

C is for Connie Willis

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

C is for Connie Willis

Connie Willis at the 2014 Locus Awards.

Connie Willis is phenomenal. Inspirational. Amazing and then some! If I can be even half as bad-ass as she is at her age, I’d be incredibly happy.

I stumbled upon her works in college rather than middle school (when I devoured the majority of old-school science fiction & fantasy). As part of my English degree, I was in a “History of Science Fiction” English Lit. course and in i...

Flashback Friday: You Never Forget Your First Time

This week’s Flashback Friday: You Never Forget Your First Time…Watching Star Wars!

I’m happy to have science fiction author, Scott Whitmore, here for a guest post on how Star Warsinfluenced him as a writer.

I don’t watch many movies in the theater these days. Cost is certainly a factor (some perspective: when I was a kid, movies were a quarter to get in, popcorn was a nickel and candy and a soda were a dime … meaning my brother and I could catch a show for a dollar) but a much bigger considerat...