Voices Carry

Rules of Teaching:

1. Clone thyself

2. Learn teleportation. The sooner the better.

3. Trust no one.

These are the rules I learned as a middle school teacher, though it was the last one that drove me from the classroom forever. Like many educators, I couldn’t survive the politics. After thirteen years, I bailed. How did I, an abuse-surviving queer, end up teaching in the middle of the Bible Belt? Better yet, how did I survive?

New Rule of Life:

1. Neither my silence nor my identity is for sale at any price.

My former vice principal said it best (though I wasn’t supposed to see that email) when he asked, “Why does she always have to write a damn novel?”

So here I am. Writing a damn novel. As to the why…because I believe in changing the world, one word at a time.

Navigating discrimination, whether it’s from employers, medical professionals, colleagues, or family, is often fraught with uncertainty. Join Raven Oak on their journey of transition and self-discovery in a world built on silence.

Multi-international award-winning speculative fiction author Raven Oak is best known for Amaskan’s Blood (2016 Ozma Fantasy Award Winner, 2016 Epic Awards Finalist, 2019 Readers' Favorite Bronze Award Winner), Amaskan's War (UK 2018 Wishing Shelf Book Award YA Finalist), and Class-M Exile. She also has many stories in anthologies and magazines. She’s even published on the moon. (No, really!) Raven spent most of her K-12 education doodling stories and 500 page monstrosities that are forever locked away in a filing cabinet.

Besides being a writer and artist, she’s a geeky, disabled ENBY who enjoys getting her game on with tabletop games, indulging in cartography and art, or staring at the ocean. She lives in the Seattle area with her wife, and their three kitties who enjoy lounging across the keyboard when writing deadlines approach. Her hair color changes as often as her bio does, and you can find her at www.ravenoak.net.

Book will also be available in print.