Rachel Roberts's Blog

Hello, dragon lovers.

This episode of Being Ozzie features the largest member of Team Magic and also one of the smallest. Yet they both claim to be dragons.

 

I’m your host, Ozzie.

And this my sidestick, Tweek.

Yo!

 

We had to move the couch and everything else to make room for our first guest, my big, red bro. Here’s Drake!

Hello!

And portal popping in is the small but mighty, Goldie!

… and Barney and Fred and Fiona and Blaze.

Barney: Oooooziie!

Ozzie: Fine. So, Drake, how’d you get so big?

Drake: Dragons are large.

Ozzie: Oh really, then how’d the d-flies get so small?

Goldie: Fairy dragon.

Ozzie: Dragon magic is very ancient and powerful. How about d-fly magic, is that strong?

Goldie: With Kara, we make lots of magic.

Fred: We turned her hair green.

Barney: And purple.

Blaze: And red.

Ozzie: Yet a dragon could argue you’re too small to be a dragon.

Drake: Dragons of Dragonhome are stubborn. Many don’t accept fairy dragons as real dragons. Debates have been going on for years.

Tweek: Dragonfly magic originated in the fairy realms, their purpose is to spread magic seeds.

Goldie: Phelowers.

Tweek: Strong concentrations of magic seeds can form powerful jewels.

Ozzie: Like the ones Emily and Adriane found in Ravenswood.

Tweek: Correctomental. Unicorns spread magic on the web, fairy dragons spread magic throughout the realms

Ozzie: So what makes a dragon a dragon, wings?

Drake: Some wyverns are wingless.

Ozzie: Breathing fire, then.

Tweek: No, sea dragons don’t breath fire.

Gah.

Tweek: Dragons are some of the oldest of magical creatures.

Ozzie: How old are you?

Drake: Three and a half.

Ozzie: Oh.

Drake: But dragon eggs can take thousands of years to hatch.

Ozzie: Wow, I bet you couldn’t wait to get out.

Drake: I knew someone special was waiting for me, my momma.

Tweek: Perhaps the common characteristic you are looking for is that all dragon eggs contain a dragonstone.

Ozzie: Like the one in Drake’s egg.

Drake: My bonded, Zach, has that now. It’s a red crystal. That’s why I’m called a red crystal dragon.

Ozzie: You mean dragonflies have dragonstones, too? There must be thousands buried throughout the Fairy Realms. Let’s go!

Tweek: Not so fast, my furry friend. When a dragonfly hatches, it absorbs the magic of its gem.

Ozzie: No magic crystals.

Goldie: Just me.

Barney: And me

Fred: And me me.

Ozzie: Do NOT sit on the ferret!

Tweek: With the exception of sea dragons, Drake and the five d-flies are the first dragons to bond with humans since the fall of Avalon.

Ozzie: Why is that?

Drake: Most dragons don’t trust humans.

Tweek: In ancient Avalon, dragons left the realms of humans never to return.

Ozzie: Yet Kara is bonded to Goldie and the d-flies. She’s even been to Dragonhome.

Tweek: Adriane is Drake’s momma.

Drake: Emily has helped dozens of baby sea dragons find their bonded mer-mages.

Ozzie: Good gah! This is a whole new era of magic!

Barney: I love Ooozie.

Ozzie: So let me summarize, you’re big, you’re small, you have a gem in your egg, your egg is a gem. What does it all mean?

Drake: You don’t have to be large to make big magic.

Goldie: And you don’t have to be small to make a loud noise.

Ozzie: No matter how big you are, the heart of magic is working with your bonded.

The post Being Ozzie Presents: Are You Too Small To Be A Dragon? appeared first on Avalon Web of Magic.

A cloud nymph. She lived high above the Fairy Realms in her own little kingdom, and is of the same race that Kanika is.

Hasn’t quite bonded yet, but has found a stone of her own.

She often lurks high above the people of Aldenmoor and the Fairy Realms. Nephele doesn’t really swoop in to help unless she has to.

She still retains her recluse nature, and is still anti-social. But if you manage to worm your way into her heart, she will protect you dearly.

World of Origin: Kingdom high above the Fairy Realms.Jewel: Clear quartz, sculpted in the shape of a cloud.Magic: Healer. Her magic is bright white, smoky like clouds. But when she's mad, it turns a dark gray.Element: Air, obviously.Bonded: N/APaladin: N/A

The post Nephele appeared first on Avalon Web of Magic.

Greetings friends, elves, mages, and bondeds. Welcome to another edition of Being Ozzie. I’m your host, Ozzie, with ace reporter, Tweek.

Hello, fellowmentals!

From the magical A-listers to our own home-grown talent, we will get the inside scoop. This week we have a one.one-on-one with a very special member of Team Magic. We all know him. We all love him. Give it up for Dreamer.

Hello. How are you?

I’m terrific. You see your badge, quite a handsome pup.

Yes, I am pleased so many mages are collecting the animal badges.

So let’s start with some facts. You’re a mistwolf bonded to Adriane, the warrior.

Adriane is not only my bonded, she is my packmate.

And packleader.

Adriane is packleader of Ravenswood. Moonshadow is packleader of Pack Home on Aldenmor.

Is he as grumpy as he looks?

Yes.

We know mage magic is based on emotional bonds between mages and animals. Warlocks have minions. We know blazing stars, healing magic, warrior power. But what is mistwolf magic, what makes it special?

Mistwolves are all connected by a strong spiritual force, the Spirit Pack.

Tell me more about that.

The Spirit Pack contains the magical essence of every mistwolf who has ever lived. They run the Spirit Trail on the astral planes. Living mistwolves have a special talent called world walking, which means we can run with the Spirit Pack, accessing their memories and magic.

A symbiotic interwoven force, the pack united is an awesome display of magical power.

Right, how far back do mistwolf memories go?

The Spirit Trail reaches back to ancient Avalon.

Unlike unicorns or dragons that pre-date Avalon, mistwolf magic seems to have formed when the spirit trail first started in Avalon.

The history of the mistwolves is filled with peril. The very nature of our magic lies hidden from the eye, cloaked between light and darkness.

Uncle Barth used to scare the pudding out of me with stories of mistwolf packs that hunted the Moorgroves. Mistwolves have not always fought for good, right?

It is harder to find the light when you run in shadow.

Fascinating…

Thank you.

Data crystals describe horrifying shadow creatures during the reign of Avalon. Humungous, foul things so diabolical, so fiendish, they twist your darkest fears into a cyclone of terror until you cry for – !

Lunch!

Adriane just opened a new bag of my kibble.

What’s she fixing for me?

Tuna salad and tortilla chips.

Let’s hurry this up.

Mistwolf magic is extremely powerful because it can be shared and amplified among the pack.

Yes, my pack may be small but together we can call on the power of the entire pack if we need to.

Use the force, Duck.

Get it?

No.

Nevermind.  Why does Adriane have such a strong bond with mistwolves?

Adriane is a very unique mage.

You’re telling me.

Tell me!

She is not only bonded to two mistwolves, but also to a dragon, one of the most powerful of magical creatures.

And Fred.

Yes. Adriane is also a world-walker. She runs with the Spirit Pack, an extremely rare talent for a human. And we are both tied to the spirit of Ravenswood, Adriane’s first bonded mistwolf, Stormbringer. All of which increases our magic.

A single member with unique powers benefits the entire pack!

Easy, Twighead, you’ll lose your bush. Being a member of the pack totally complements her unique abilities.  Am I warm?

Your body temperature appears normal.

Thank goodness. What do you do for fun?

I visit Pack Home and help train the young pups, preparing them to bond with mages. I also spend a lot of time with our pack at Ravenswood. We enjoy playing quiffle ball.

What’s your favorite part of the preserve?

Wolf Run Pass, fast run through the pass with nice views from the bluffs. Adriane and I hang out there after we train, enjoying the beauty of our home.

Excellent, this has been another incisive episode of Being Ozzie. Thanks to our special guest Dreamer for chatting with us.

And to all you mages, if you haven’t started collecting badges, go here ‘cause the contest winners are going to be announced in a few weeks! Don’t miss out on some great Avalon stuff.

Peace and love.

The post Being Ozzie Presents: Mages & Mistwolves appeared first on Avalon Web of Magic.

Some call him Mage

Some call him Knight of the Circle

Some call him Fuzzy

From humble beginnings as a plucky elf from the backwoods of the Moorgroves, to his amazing transformation into a magic-wielding, monster-fighting fer-elf, Ozzie has become a superstar of the web.

Now from Moose Gully in the heart of Ravenswood, it’s Being Ozzie! The show that goes in-depth, inside, and into the mind of a genius.



Stick with me as we probe into the minds of the stars of Avalon, bringing you close to the personalities you love!

Not that close!

Joining me on the interview couch today is someone you all know, Lyra.

Doesn’t this couch belong in the library?

Nevermind about that. What do you think of our new set?

These plants the Fairimentals sent us are acting peculiar.

Wise-grass. Pay no attention.  So, have you been following the badge contest? Lots of people are collecting me.

They are closer to winning.

You said it. And how about all that incredible fan art? I haven’t seen such artistry since Cousin Schmoot belted out the chorus of Elftown at the Farthingdale Community Playhouse.

Avalon fans are very creative.

Being Ozzie, tell me something I don’t know about you.

I have two sisters on Aldenmor, Rynda and Olinde.

I know that.

 And a brother in the Fairy Realms.

I didn’t know that.

His name is Ryden. He’s been helping Prince Lorren at Castle Garthwyn.

Satori have a long history as defenders of good magic.  

Oh, cool. Wait – what’s a Satori?

Tasha showed me some ancient data crystals, books on the magical animals of Avalon. My species was called Satori.

Anything in there about fer-elfs?

Only a pancake eating mud-weasal.

Forget it.

Ozzie, you’re a total original, one and only.

Totally true. Best and worst thing about being bonded to Kara, go.

Excellent fur conditioner, too many baths.

What do you everyday when you’re not with Kara?

I patrol Ravenswood, attend Ariel’s Flight Training and Agility Course, and spend time working with the Satori kittens at the Garden, getting them ready to bond with mages.

Wow, I thought cats slept all day. Let’s hear some more. We can stay here as long as we like. We rule this gully!

I was kidding, there’s no moose.

How do you know?

I know every animal on every square inch of this preserve.

A griffin has landed.

What the – ?

Oh, well, everyone loves a griffin.

Thanks to our special guest, Lyra. Come back next week for an all-new, in-your-face, out-of-your-depth interview featuring another star of Avalon.

Finally, I got control of the blog! While that fer-elf is stuffing his furry face, I shall quantify and codify you with data the likes of which could electrify a dancing cat!

Hey, what are you doing?

Oh, just organizing.

Don’t delete anything!

Um…

Gah, where’s my winter catalog?

It is physically impossible for a snowshoe to fit a size .5 paw. Look, I saved all your new bonded pics.

You leaf pile! Those are from our friends. Don’t you know there’s a big contest going on to collect badges and win prizes?

What about some movie news? Everyone wants to know how the movie is different from the books.

About half the movie is from Book 1, Circles in the Stream, half is all brand new stuff. There’s going to be surprises for everyone, even the biggest Avalon fans.

I must extrapolate.

Fine, I personally guarantee that if this movie doesn’t have enough action, drama, monsters, funny bits, Lyra, Storm, me, mages – did I mention me? – I will eat this pancake!

What pancake?

Urrp.

Hello Mages and Bondeds,

Ozzie here.

The new Avalon HQ is now live! Now’s there’s more of me to love than ever. And to celebrate, we have something really special.

Do you know what the most asked question is for Avalon HQ?

Me either. But Tweek has extrapolated an answer. “How can I bond with a quiffle?”

No, that can’t be right. Ah, I had it mixed with most asked question from a mistwolf. The correct number one asked question is: “How can I bond with Ozzie?”

Well, now is your chance. Emily’s Pet Contest is now up!

Check out all those cool magical animal badges on the home page and start collecting them. And if you’re lucky enough to find me, you get an extra bonus: me! And make sure you have extra liver snaps. Oh, and there’s cool prizes and stuff, too.

It’s all about you and your bondeds working together, so get started.

Dark Mage is now up, ready to add to your eBook library! It’s all digitally cool and shiny and eTastic. Yay !– wait, isn’t that the book where I – gah! Whatever you do, do not read Dark Mage! I mean, whatever you do, you have to get Dark Mage!

I’m so confused. But there’s no time to nap, not when Rachel is so busy on the Avalon movie. That’s right, I said it. But I can’t talk too much about it right now, they have me under a gah order.

Suffice it to say, everyone at Avalon HQ is busy pulling all the pieces together so you can all see me on the big screen in all my fer-elf glory! More exciting news coming soon.

April 2013

Hello mages and Ozzie fans, my staff and I are on the case to bring you all the latest activities here at Ravenswood. With a quiffle, an owl, and a pile of twigs, what could go wrong?

I’ve been supervising the conversion of all the Avalon books to ebooks so you can take me everywhere. Book 8 was just released, here on Amazon. This is one of my favorites! I think I create a fire ferret and save the universe. Check it out.

So, anyway, unless you’ve been living in a bog, you might have seen this:

http://kidscreen.com/2012/10/01/minds-eye-to-bring-avalon-to-big-screen/

After years of work, the Avalon movie is coming together. I will be the first to bring you all the official announcements as they happen. I personally worked with the writers to craft a script so spellbinding, so terrifying, so electrifying, so full of Ozzie, I almost flipped my pancake.  Avalon: Quest for Ozzie!

No? Okay, I’ll work on that.

Later.

Happy Earth Day, everybody!

It’s a big world and you gotta start somewhere. So let’s clean it up! Me—I’m going to the beach.To get in the spirit, this weekend, I participated in a beach cleanup in Santa Monica, California. A charity called Heal The Bay organizes cleanups year round, and they’ve got it down to a science. There were hundreds of volunteers – totally awesome! – who worked in groups of five or six people. Each group got one big trash bag, and a checklist to record each and every piece of trash we picked up. Heal the Bay keeps extensive records, so each hunk of broken plastic, aluminum can, piece of glass, wad of gum, and picnic leftover was marked in its own category. This data shows if beaches are getting cleaner or dirtier each year, and identifies potential hazards to humans who visit the beach and the animals who live there.

Looking out at the sands, it didn’t seem like there was very much trash – but I was shocked that in less than an hour, my group found hundreds of tiny pieces of litter. Surprisingly, not all of it comes from careless people visiting the beach. In fact, the biggest source of pollution to our oceans, rivers, and creeks is urban runoff. That means all the trash and chemicals that travel from gutters in neighborhoods and cities into local bodies of water. All this pollution is endangering the delicate aquatic ecosystems.




Want to help? Don’t litter! Tell your friends and family that trash on the streets goes straight to oceans, rivers, and creeks when it rains.













You don’t have to read the Avalon books to know how connected we all are – that a single ripple spreads out to make circles in the stream. This Earth Day, and every day, commit to making your actions have a positive influence on the environment. Encourage your friends and family to do the same. With a little bit of effort, we can make the world cleaner and safer for ourselves and our animal friends.Go Team Avalon!Rachel

My passion for helping animals is a huge part of what inspired me to start writing the Avalon series. Recently, I had an experience that really opened my eyes to a big problem: homeless pets. A friend and I were walking home one evening and we heard meowing coming from a bush. I leaned over to see who it was, and this beautiful cat practically leaped into my arms!

 








He was dirty, skinny, and obviously asking for our help. After giving him water and a small amount of food, we took him to the vet to see if he had a microchip (a small computer chip implant that would have his owner’s phone number.) He did have a chip, but the phone number was a dead end. We asked everyone in the neighborhood, but nobody had lost a cat. So, here he was, a beautiful, healthy stray in need of a home.Unfortunately, none of our friends were able to adopt him, and every cat rescue organization told us the same thing: there are more homeless cats than ever before, and it’s extremely difficult to find people who are able to adopt them.Tragically, thousands of homeless pets are killed every year simply because there are not enough people who want them. Not willing to take him to a shelter, my friend committed to fostering the kitty until we could find a permanent home.After two weeks of phone calls, texting, tweeting, and emailing, we got some great news: A nice family wanted to adopt him! Off he went to his new home, where he’s loving his new digs. His people have named him Sebastian, and he’s gaining weight and as happy as can be!








Even though Sebastian’s story has a happy ending, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the other pets who aren’t so lucky. How could I do something to help them? I called my friend Heidi at the Humane Society, and we agreed to work together to get the message out. Here are great tips to prevent pet homelessness:

http://www.kindnews.org/Mission_Humane/help_homeless_pets.asp If we all put in a little time and effort, we can help homeless pets find the loving permanent homes they deserve. Please give your own loud and enthusiastic voice to this important cause.I can’t begin to tell you how much love and joy Sebastian has brought us and his new humans. My Circle of Friends know what I’m talking about :)Your fellow animal lover,

Rachel

Hoot hoot, everyone! It’s almost Halloween, a holiday filled with creativity, imagination, and magic. Since a lot of you Avalon readers love Halloween as much as I do, I thought this would be a good time to say hello and catch you up on what’s been happening.

Over the summer I visited two incredible National Parks, Glacier in Montana and Yosemite in California. Both parks feature soaring snow-capped mountains and incredibly lush valleys with lakes and rivers. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do, and I saw lots of furry, fuzzy creatures while on the trail. One of my favorites was a yellow-bellied marmot in Yosemite. He was in too much of a hurry to pose for the camera, but seeing a marmot in person was awesome!






This handsome guy sure didn’t mind posing. He’s a Columbian ground squirrel from Glacier National Park.






Here I am (lower left, that’s me!) stopping for snacks, of course, and admiring the amazing view at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. Ozzie packed a whole host of power bars, cookies, veggie sticks, cookies, juice, and cookies.There is nothing like the feeling you get being in these magnificent, truly magical places. I always feel inspired to dream big.  As I sat there, I imagined myself flying on the back of a glorious pegasus, soaring over the mountains, zooming in and around the tall trees.  It was then I got an idea for a whole new book series. Once I got home, I put my ideas to paper and created Sky Rider. And now, in addition to Avalon: Shadow Warrior, the Sky Rider series is set for a 2011 release. There will be a lot more on both book series coming soon. :)Now I’ve got to do some Halloween decorating, something I always look forward to. My kitties, Raider and Attila, always help me inspect pumpkins, choosing the best one to carve and sniffing out which one will make the most delicious pie. Mmmm, pie. Uh oh, I think I might be turning into Ozzie.Happy Halloween!

Rachel