Raven Oak (born December 21, 1977 in Riverside, California) is an American author and artist whose written works range from science fiction & fantasy to cross-genre. She is most known for her bestselling epic fantasy, Amaskan's Blood, and her space operas, Class-M Exile and The Eldest Silence. She wrote her first novel, a 320-page fantasy work at age twelve. She is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and is disabled from both a birth defect in the lower spine and an auto-immune disease. She is also a pianist and songwriter, whose musical works deal with the survival side of life. Currently residing in Seattle, Washington, Oak is currently focusing on writing and art full-time.
Early life
Oak grew up in many places around the U.S. including California, Michigan, Oklahoma, Florida, and Texas, where she eventually attended Richland College and later the University of North Texas as a music major. A military child, her family moved frequently until they settled in Texas in 1989. Her maternal grandmother was a public school teacher in California and under her tutelage, Oak was reading and writing at age three.
Oak knew "since the age of five" that she "wanted to be a writer," a wish that never changed through the years. "They said I could be anything, do anything. So I did!"
After high school, the rest of the family moved out of state, but Oak remained in North Texas to attend college and received both her Bachelor of Science Degree and Master of Science Degree in CECS from UNT.
Writing career
Early writings
Oak has written stories for as long as she can remember, and before that, she was telling them. She wrote her first novel, "The Cry of the Dragon" at age twelve. The novel was heavily influenced by Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels. Before that, she wrote a children's novel titled "The Fish and the Lion," which was published as part of a case study on childhood literacy for the University of Florida.
She spent middle and high school "devouring all the science fiction and fantasy novels" she could find, and her writing shifted towards the authors who influenced her most: Neil Gaiman and Connie Willis. Oak was the vice president of her high school's "Writer's Guild," a club for aspiring writers. Its faculty adviser was author Linda L. Donahue (writer of The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse), who mentored Oak on writing and invited her to join a local writers' critique group. While Oak learned how to critique, she struggled with finding her own voice. It wasn't until her late twenties that she felt her craft was up to par.
Professional writing
In the winter of 2012, Oak retired from teaching computers and moved to Seattle, Washington to pursue her full-time writing career. As part of Magnolia Chapter One, she has authored several articles on the craft of writing and writing life. In 2018, she became an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She is also a member of several PNW writing groups.
Her first fantasy novel, Amaskan's Blood, was published in January 2015 by a small publisher, Grey Sun Press, and was followed up in 2018 by its sequel, Amaskan's War. Oak also hinted in a recent interview at a standalone novel featuring the character Ida Warhammer from Amaskan's Blood. Class-M Exile, a science fiction novella, was released in June 2015. The Eldest Silence, which takes place in the same universe as Class-M Exile, will be released in 2023. Two stories, "The Ringers" and "Ol' St. Nick", were released in a mystery/speculative fiction collection with mystery author, Maia Chance, award-winning science fiction author Janine Southard, and fantasy author Gayle Clemans. The collection, entitled Joy to the Worlds: Mysterious Speculative Fiction for the Holidays was accompanied by a book tour with the four authors. Her short story "Q-Be" was published on October 1, 2016, in Untethered: A Magic iPhone Anthology by Cantina Publishing. The anthology is based on the book Cracked: A Magic iPhone Story which is set in Seattle, Washington and features gamers who find a magic iPhone. Her short story "Mirror Me" was published on October 15, 2016, in Magic Unveiled: An Anthology by Creative Alchemy, Inc. and later as a reprint in Issue 0 of Mercedes Lackey's Fantasy Quarterly Magazine. Three connected short stories from the Boahim Series were published in consecutive anthologies (Hidden Magic, Wayward Magic, and Forgotten Magic) by Magical Mayhem Press, and featured fan-favourite character, Ida, from Amaskan's Blood.