Shelly Mazzanoble
Shelly Mazzanoble is the author of Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl’s Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game and Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons: One Woman’s Quest to Trade Self-Help for Elf-Help, (she loves a good, hearty subtitle), both published by Wizards of the Coast. Additionally, she co-hosts the official Dungeons & Dragons podcast, Dragon Talk.

She has exploited her son’s trials and tribulations (and will continue to do so until he fully understands the word “litigation”)  in exchange for great exposure on popular Mom-centric, parenting, and women’s humor sites such as Scary Mommy, Blunt Moms, In the Powder Room, Tribe, and Pregnant Chicken. Her essays have been featured by the TODAY Show and TODAY Parent editors and syndicated on BlogHer . One of her proudest accomplishments was finding a way to combine her two biggest loves-- The Bachelor and doling out unsolicited advice for the popular column Mother Rose Best, a weekly recap for (the now defunct, not her fault) In the Powder Room.

She was a cast member in Seattle’s Listen to Your Mother show, has published short stories and additional essays in publications like Carve, Whetstone, and The Seattle Times, had plays produced in Manhattan and Seattle (one time with herself as the lead because nepotism, hello) and was once “the lady sawed in half” in a small-town magic show. She’s still not sure how they did it.
She lives in Seattle with her husband, son, cat, dog, and sometimes foster dogs. Visit her at shellymazzanoble.com.

Featured titles
Welcome to Dragon Talk: Inspiring Conversations about Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Love to Play It

If it seems like everyone you know is playing Dungeons & Dragons, it’s because they are! After nearly five decades, the iconic roleplaying game is more popular than ever. Famous Hollywood actors and directors, therapists, educators, politicians, kids, parents, and grandparents all count themselves as fans. In Welcome to Dragon Talk, hosts of the official D&D podcast Shelly Mazzanoble and Greg Tito and their surprising guests show how this beloved pastime has amassed a diverse, tight-knit following of players who defy stereotypes. 
 
Shelly and Greg recount some of their most inspiring interviews and illuminate how their guests use the core tenets of the game in everyday life. An A-list actor defends D&D by baring his soul (and his muscles) on social media. A teacher in a disadvantaged district in Houston creates a D&D club that motivates students to want to read and think analytically. A writer and live-streamer demonstrates how D&D–inspired communication breaks barriers and empowers people of color. Readers will see why Dungeons & Dragons has remained such a pop culture phenomenon and how it has given this disparate and growing community the inspiration to flourish and spread some in-game magic into the real world.