Raven Oak's Blog, page 76
November 8, 2014
Dealing with Negativity
I’m a huge fan of confronting negativity with humor, especially smarmy sarcastic humor because that’s just my style. But writers often face a deluge of negativity by way of rejection letters, negative book reviews, hate-mail, etc.
In the past week alone I’ve seen over a dozen articles talking about the dangers of writers responding to negative reviews.
I’m of the camp that writers should remember:
a) to never respond and
b) that there is no such thing as negative publicity so let it go
That being...
November 7, 2014
Flashback Friday: John Bellairs
For this week’s Flashback Friday post, I’m honored to have Maia Chance, author of the Fairy Tale Fatal series, here to do a guest post on what speculative fiction novel influenced her as a writer.
If you haven’t checked out her new book, Snow White Red-Handed yet, you should. Think Brother Grimm + Mystery + 1800’s = WIN. So we know that the Grimm fairy tales impacted her as a writer, but what else? Here is Maia to answer just that!
When I was a kid, John Bellairs was my crack. I read and reread...
November 6, 2014
Book Cover Throwback: The Last Unicorn
This week’s Book Cover Throwback is The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. This is the cover on my copy of the book, and I absolutely love it. It reminds me of the art styles from particular artists during medieval times, particularly The Unicorn in Captivity (and the other 6 tapestries featuring the unicorn) from the late 15th century.
I also did a Flashback Friday on this book. Click here to read it.
The post Book Cover Throwback: The Last Unicorn appeared first on Raven Oak.
November 3, 2014
Monday Night Gaming: Blue Sun
Last week’s Monday Night Gaming covered the Firefly Board Game and most of the expansions. We finally had a chance to sit down and play the Blue Sun expansion.
If you thought this game took up precious real estate before, try adding in this latest expansion, which includes an addition to the board itself called Rim Space. The main board + add on now takes about 3 feet of space. Add in 18 or so card decks and their discard piles, plus your ship, crew, ship upgrades, gear, etc., and you need a v...
October 31, 2014
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
Tonight I will be getting my game on in costume, but in the meantime, I have some bits & goodies for you.
It probably won’t mean as much yet without reading Amaskan’s Blood, which I know you’re patiently awaiting, but in the meantime, I’ve added The Histories of Boahim. I’ll be adding bits and pieces to this as the series is released. Just click the link here to check it out.
And also, it wouldn’t be Halloween without a black kitty so here’s DiNozzo to say Happy Halloween!
The po...
October 30, 2014
Book Cover Throwback: Death
This week’s Book Cover Throwback is from the book On a Pale Horse
by Piers Anthony. The book’s main character is Death, who is featured prominently on the cover driving a snazzy sports car. I think what I love most about this cover art is how cool the grim reaper looks driving a “pale horse.”
I also did a Flashback Friday on this book. Click here to read it.
The post Book Cover Throwback: Death appeared first on Raven Oak.
October 27, 2014
Monday Night Gaming: Firefly
This week’s Monday Night Gaming is on the Firefly Board Game!
We love this game, and not just because we’re huge Firefly and Joss Whedon fans. This game allows us to play around in the ‘verse and be “bad guys” or be shiny, depending on which way we want to play it.
The base game consists of captains and ships doing jobs, while trying to avoid Reavers and possibly the Alliance (depending on which way you’re playing).
There are three major expansions now: Breakin’ Atmo, Pirates & Bounty Hunters, a...
October 24, 2014
Flashfoward Friday: Equality
Photograph Copyright © 2013
Huffington Post
Normally on Friday’s I’d be flashing back to some great sci-fi or fantasy classic that changed me as a reader and writer, or I’d be looking ahead at what great, future tech is happening in our world, but I’m feeling like neither today.
Felicia Day opened up yesterday about her thoughts on GamerGate in a very personal post that honestly shares what a lot of female gamers are feeling right now. Within minutes, Gamergate folks had doxxed her, meaning the...
October 23, 2014
Book Cover Throwback: Sandman
This week’s Book Cover Throwback comes with a twist: It’s the cover to Sandman: The Dream Hunters
by the always awesome artist, Yoshitaka Amano. (Plus, there’s a second bonus piece after that–promotional art from the video game series, Final Fantasy, which Amano is most known for.)
And here’s your Amano bonus.
Tidas and Yuna from Final Fantasy X. Click image to view it larger.
The post Book Cover Throwback: Sandman appeared first on Raven Oak.
October 20, 2014
Monday Night Gaming: Machi Koro
Recently, my husband and I had the opportunity to try out Machi Koro, a city-building card game out of Japan that has seen a resurgence in popularity with its re-release in the US.
This game was so popular before its US release that people were creating their own translation cards (from the Japanese game) and printing them at home to play with. When the awesome folks at Card Kingdom suggested we give it a go, we sat down over dinner at Cafe Mox and gave it a whirl.
The game plays with a similar...
