Blog | Liam O'Donnell

Descent into Overworld gets a cover!

by liam | Sep 28, 2014 | media, writing news

Much happenings on the Battle for Minecraft front! First, I’ve just finished edits on book 1 in the series, Descent into Overworld. That means it’s off to the editor to squash bugs and fix errors. Before all that, though, there’s a cover to reveal...

Kano Arrived

by liam | Sep 27, 2014 | gamebasedlearning, Teacher's Guide, video games

Look what came in the mail today. Kano! 🙂 You might also enjoy: An Overdue Tour of the Multi-School Minecraft Server Cube World: the next video game your students will be talking about Minecraft Students are evolving. They’ll pwn teachers (and servers). And...

Minecraft, the paper clip and me

by liam | Sep 21, 2014 | education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy

This was meant to be a post about using Minecraft Pocket Edition with Grade 1 students. But given the giant paper clip in the room, that post will have to wait.

Instead, I’m going to write about what the recent Microsoft purchase of Minecraft could mean for educators, students and myself. [Click the post title to read more . . . ]

Why I was sad & scared on CBC’s Metro Morning

by liam | Sep 14, 2014 | appearances, gamebasedlearning, literacy

Last Friday morning, I took a detour on my way to school to the CBC building downtown.

I wasn’t lost. I had been invited to chat with Matt Galloway on Metro Morning to discuss, you guessed it, Minecraft.

Tank & Fizz’s slimy new cover (and how you can pre-order it, like, right now!)

by liam | Sep 1, 2014 | Tank & Fizz, writing news

I’m always a bit sad on the last long weekend in the summer. Soon, the warm nights and sunny days will give way to icy winds and endless snow shoveling. But I’m not sad this weekend and I have a group of monsters to thank (and Mike Deas and the folks at...

Battle for Minecraft Book 1 off to Beta Readers!

by liam | Aug 17, 2014 | Blog, gaming, works in progress, writing news

I’m having a blast writing Battle for Minecraft, my new series of Minecraft novels for kids. Book 1, Descent into Overworld, is finished and in the hands of my beta readers. I’m always looking for more feedback, so if you want to read the ebook for free...

How those Minecraft books got my students reading . . .

by liam | Aug 1, 2014 | education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, video games, writing news

[This post originally appeared on GamingEdus.org, but I figured folks dropping by here might like to read it too!] If you’ve been near a young Minecraft fan lately, you’ll know that this year’s must-have items aren’t the creeper hoodies or pink...

Happiness is a book reprinted

by liam | Jul 26, 2014 | comics, writing news

With all my experimenting with ebooks and print on demand (POD) publishing, there is still nothing that can replace the thrill of having your books get reprinted by your publisher. That’s what happened last week when the books in the photo above landed on my...