Raven Oak's Blog, page 68
February 9, 2015
Monday Night Gaming: Lords of Waterdeep
This week’s Monday Night Gaming: Lords of Waterdeep.
# of Expansions: 1
# of Players: 2-5 Players
Best with: 3-4 Players
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Avg. Play Time: 1-2 hours
Parts: 430 pieces + board.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
This is probably one of my favorite strategy board games that I’ve played. A coworker of my husband’s introduced us to this game about a year ago, and I’ve been addicted ever since.
While it’s D&D based, role-playing isn’t required to play the game or have a good time. The Lord...
February 8, 2015
Book Club Takes on Amaskan’s Blood
The Sparkle Motion Book Club recently read Amaskan’s Blood as part of a special selection over the holidays. They met on January 13th to discuss my novel and invited me to join them virtually via Google Hangouts. We had quite the discussion!
You can read a transcript here:
Sparkle Motion Book ClubAmaskan’s Blood gets the Sparkle Motion stamp of approval!
The post Book Club Takes on Amaskan’s Blood appeared first on Raven Oak.
February 7, 2015
Scrivener Saturday – Importing Websites
This week’s Scrivener Saturday – Importing Websites.
This is another one of those undervalued offerings from Scrivener, and one I find especially helpful when I’m up against a deadline and don’t want to get sucked in by the realm of the Internet and social media.
Most writers have stacks of research for their current WIP (Work in Progress), and these days, most of mine consist of websites. But if I’m in the middle of writing, I don’t want to have to launch my browser, find my bookmark, and the...
February 6, 2015
Flashback Friday: Magic Tree House
For this week’s Flashback Friday post, I’m happy to have SF/F author, Stuart Thaman, here for a guest post on how the Magic Tree House series introduced him to the world of fantasy, and how those works influenced him as a writer.
I still remember my first fantasy book.
I was in second grade, and my teacher couldn’t find anything that I liked to read. I honestly wasn’t interested in books since they all seemed girly and predictable.
One day, she handed me aMagic Tree House book about kids going b...
February 5, 2015
Book Cover Throwback: Dune
This week’s Book Cover Throwback: Dune by Frank Herbert.
What I Love about this Cover: A nice, old-style sci-fi cover. That’s what it is. Simple and yet it gets the job done.
What I Don’t Love about this Cover: Based on this version of the cover (which is the edition I had), it looks like this takes place on 1960’s idea of Mars, or that the sand dunes are taller than mountains and buildings. A bit weird, but I forgive it.
Click here to view other Book Cover Throwbacks.
The post Book Cover Throwba...
February 4, 2015
Writer 2.0 Podcast
My “Top Ten Ways to NOT Write” was featured at the end of A.C. Fuller’s Writer 2.0 Podcast today. It’s quite the humorous list!
You can give it a listen by going here:
http://acfuller.com/episode-25-reporter-and-author-julia-park-tracey-2/
My list begins about 53 minutes in.
I’ll also be a guest on the podcast sometime in March so stay tuned!
The post Writer 2.0 Podcast appeared first on Raven Oak.
February 2, 2015
Monday Night Gaming: Five Tribes
This week’s Monday Night Gaming: Five Tribes.
Five Tribesis a simple, yet complex game that we played with our friend Will. After a rousing game of Discworld: Ankh-Morpork, we needed something simple to finish up our weekend visit to Cafe Mox/Mox Boarding House. The folks in the Card Kingdom side of Mox recommended Five Tribes as a game that would be easy to learn and quick to play.
While I greatly enjoyed this game, playing against two programmers who are well-versed in algorithms (much more t...
January 30, 2015
Flashback Friday: Bellairs & Alter Egos
For this week’s Flashback Friday post, I’m honored to have YA author, G. G. Silverman, here for a guest post on how John Bellairs‘ works influenced her as a writer and storyteller.
When Raven Oak asked me if I’d contribute aFlashback Friday piece to her blog, I eagerly said yes. I was ready to tell the world about a fantasy author from my childhood that has had a huge influence on me, not just as a person, but as a writer, too. That author is John Bellairs, who wrote the Lewis Barnavelt myster...
January 29, 2015
Quick Poll for Live Stream Event
Since quite a few of you out there don’t live in the Pacific Northwest and can’t attend my Book Reading/Signing event in February, I’m planning a live streaming event with a reading, followed by a Q&A session. You’ll be able to watch it via YouTube and Google Hangouts. But before I pick a date, I need you to vote in the quick poll below:
The post Quick Poll for Live Stream Event appeared...
Seattle Geekly
The wonderful folks of Seattle Geekly interviewed me aboutAmaskan’s Blood and various geeky topics like Dark Dungeons, Anne McCaffrey‘s Pern, D20’s, and more.
Also on the podcast is an interview with author Kristi Charish and the normal “How Geek was Your Week” segments.
If you’re in a huge rush, my segment begins at the 13:30 mark.
The post Seattle Geekly appeared first on Raven Oak.
