Helen Lowe's Blog, page 108
July 3, 2016
An Interview with Guy Gavriel Kay — & Giveaway of “Children Of Earth & Sky”!
Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay is the international bestselling author of twelve previous Fantasy novels and a book of poetry, as well as a considerable number of essays. He has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize for his work in literature of the fantastic and won the World Fantasy Award for Ysabel in 2008. In 2014 he was named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour. His writing has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.
I have...
July 2, 2016
A Week of Interviews: Guy Gavriel Kay & Kim Falconer!
The week ahead is going to be the week of the interview!
On Monday 4, I’m posting an interview with internationally renowned author, Guy Gavriel Kay focusing on his newly released Children of Earth and Sky.
More details are available here: An Interview with Guy Gavriel Kay
Plus there’s to be a giveaway, with two copies up for grabs from Hachette NZ (for NZ readers only, I’m afraid.)
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On Wednesday 6 (NZ time; Tuesday 5, US time) I’ll be going live on twitter to interview fellow Supernatural...
June 30, 2016
The Influence of Trees on Landscape in “Daughter Of Blood”
USA
Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how trees not only influence human creativity in terms of art and literature, but play an important part in defining the fantasy landscapes in my books.
In the follow-up post, I focused on Thornspell. In turn, I next focused on The Heir of Night and The Gathering of the Lost, Books One and Two respectively in The Wall Of Night quartet.
Today it’s the turn of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night, Book Two.)
Unsurprisingly, given the nature of the Wall of N...
June 29, 2016
Coming Up: A Twitter Interview with Kim Falconer!
KimFalconer
It’s all happening on the interview front right now: on Monday 4 I’ll be posting a blog interview with Guy Gavriel Kay — and on Wednesday 6 I’m doing a Twitter interview with Kim Falconer, discussing her new novel The Blood In The Beginning.
The Blood In The Beginning is paranormal urban fantasy with a ‘take-no-prisoners’ heroine, Ava Sykes.
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So I’m planning to ask Kim about her urban fantasy world-building, particularly the post-cataclysmic elements, and developing a(n awesome)...
June 28, 2016
Big Worlds On Small Screens & “Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren’t That Bad” — Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Gremlins”
~ by Rebecca Fisher
Whether or not you’ve seen Gremlins, I’d stake money on the chance you know the rules surrounding their existence. When bringing home an exotic pet called a mogwai, there are three things you must never, ever do:
Never expose it to bright light. Never let it get wet. Whatever you do, never feed it after midnight.
These are the rules that inevitably get broken when Mr Peltzer brings home a cute and cuddly mogwai for his son Billy. Although I’m always bemused by just how...
June 27, 2016
Tuesday Poetry: “To what shall I liken the world?” by Dōgen
To what shall
I liken the world?
Moonlight, reflected
in dewdrops,
shaken from a crane’s bill.
Dōgen, 1200 – 1253
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According to Wikipedia, Dōgen was a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of both Eihei-ji monastery and the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.
I first learned of Dōgen and Eihei-ji in Peter Matthiessen’s book Nine-Headed Dragon River which led me to visit the temple, located in a mountainous region of western Honshu, when I visited Japan.
The poem is among...
June 26, 2016
Coming Up: An Interview with Guy Gavriel Kay — Plus A Giveaway
UK/AU/NZ cover
A while back, I did a “Just Arrived” post for Guy Gavriel Kay’s latest novel, Children of Earth and Sky.
I said then that I hoped to be able to do an interview once I’d read the book—and I can now confirm that I have read the book and an interview will be forthcoming next Monday, 4 July.
In addition to the interview, Hachette NZ will also be doing a giveaway—so if you don’t already have the book then this could be your chance. 
In the meantime, just to whet your reading appetit...
June 25, 2016
The Influence of Trees on Landscape in “The Gathering of the Lost”
UK/AU/NZ
Recently, I reflected on how trees not only influence human creativity in terms of art and literature, but play an important part in defining the landscape of the fantasy worlds in my books.
In the following post, I focused on Thornspell. Next I turned the spotlight on The Heir of Night, Book One in The Wall Of Night quartet.
Today it’s the turn of The Gathering of the Lost (The Wall Of Night, Book Two.)
The opening scene in The Gathering of the Lost was with me for many years before...
June 24, 2016
Just Arrived: “The Blood In The Beginning” by Kim Falconer
Kim Falconer is a friend and fellow author from the Supernatural Underground, which makes the arrival of her latest book, paranormal urban fantasy, The Blood in the Beginning, doubly exciting.
And because I’ve taken a sneak peek already, I can tell you that The Blood in the Beginning features a heroine called Ava Sykes who is truly take-no-prisoners and kickass.
I can also tell you that this book is fast-paced and I love the world building already.
But since it’s a “just arrived”, what does t...
June 23, 2016
National Flash Fiction Day & ‘Flash In The Pan’ Fun!
On Wednesday night I was honored to be a guest reader at Christchurch’s Flash In The Pan event, celebrating National Flash Fiction Day.
The event was lively and it was a privilege to hear so much great flash fiction read.
Highlights included six guest readers:
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Gathering of the “Flash” crowd
Alice Andersen Doc Drumheller Jane Higgins Ciaran Fox Helen Lowe Frankie McMillan
The evening also focused on hearing finalists and winners from three competitions: for Micro fiction (< 100 words), the SIWA and NZ Flash Fiction competitions.
I thought all t...
< 100 words), the SIWA and NZ Flash Fiction competitions.
