Helen Lowe's Blog, page 127
December 31, 2015
Hello, 2016 — & Daughter Of Blood!
USA
Happy New Year, everyone!
Although we can never know exactly what a year will bring, I am pretty sure about one thing — which is that on 26 January in the US and UK, 27 January here in NZ and the marvellous land of Aus, Daughter Of Blood will finally be published!
From where I’m sitting, that makes for a fairly auspicious start to 2016. I shall hope it also augurs well for a Year of Living Fictionally.
To swing more fully into fictional mode right now, you can check out the two early chap...
December 30, 2015
An Avid Reader Bonus: Janine Sowerby’s Top 3 Reads of 2015
To wrap up the year and the”avid reader” feature, I thought I’d being you one more installment — in this case my friend, and fellow avid reader, Janine Sowerby’s, Top 3 reads of the year.
As with the past installments, the books don’t have to have been published in 2015, just read this year.
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Janine Sowerby’s Top 3 Reads Of 2015Three books I enjoyed reading:
Perla, Carolina De Robertis Historical Fiction
A novel about a young woman’s growing realisation as to her father’s role in Argentina’...
December 29, 2015
Big Worlds On Small Screens & ” Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren’t That Bad”—Rebecca Fisher Discusses “The Neverending Story″
~ by Rebecca Fisher
Some films are not just films but formative experiences. With the long-awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally released to cinemas and the swell of nostalgia it left in its wake, it seems only right that my first entry in this sub-series,Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren’t That Bad, should be a movie that made up a considerable part of my childhood.
The Neverending Story is based on the 1979 novel by Michael Ende, originally written in German and translated...
December 28, 2015
Poetry News
I received some nice poetry news just before Christmas, which helped counteract the “sweet sorrow” of The Tuesday Poem closing its doors.
Several of my poems have been accepted for an anthology of earthquake poetry that is being put together by Christchurch poets and editors, James Norcliffe and Joanna Preston. It’s not certain that the project will get backing yet, but I hope it does. Not just because I will have poems in it, but because five years on from the Christchurch earthquakes it fee...
December 27, 2015
An Avid Reader Special: Karen McMillan’s Top 5 Reads Of 2015
December being the month of lists, and “best of” lists to boot, I decided I had better ask some of the most avid—but also discerning—readers I know to share their Top 5 reads of 2015.
One of the most indefatigable readers and reviewers I know is fellow author and publishing industry professional, Karen McMillan. So I was delighted when she said “yes” to sharing her Top 5 with you today.
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Karen McMillan’s Top 5 Reads Of 2015It was difficult choosing my top five books for 2015 as I have read...
December 26, 2015
“Fantasy Heroines That Rock My World” #12 on SF Signal , Plus A Great Deal More…
The 12th instalment of my “Fantasy Heroines That Rock My World” series posted on SF Signal this week—this time featuring Judge Rachael Boucher from Teresa Frohock’s Miserere: An Autumn Tale.
As I note in the post:
“When I first read Miserere, I wrote to Teresa afterward that it was a story which “spoke to my heart.” The character that spoke to me most strongly in that respect was Judge Rachael Boucher, whose former lover betrayed her, abandoning her to Hell and possession by a demon …”
To fin...
December 25, 2015
58 Eridani: Episode 3
~ by Andrew Robins
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58 Eridani Analogue Reference 1 – 407.958793 standard solar years since first embrace.
A new thing has just happened. A jump point has formed in system and a ship is in transition. Fascinating. My own sensors should confirm this soon.
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58 Eridani Analogue Reference 1 – 407.958812 standard solar years since first embrace.
My sensors confirm that the far trader “Mistral” has arrived in system. I assume that this vessel is still crewed as so far it...
December 24, 2015
It’s Christmas …
This is the first time since 2009 — basically since the 2010-2011 earthquakes — that I’ve actually put up a Christmas tree and it feels pretty nice to have taken that step into something a little closer to emotional normalcy. (And don’t you love that slogan, Eat Sleep Read, on the bag? 
)
Anyway, wherever you are today, I would like to take this moment to wish you joy in whatever you are doing, whether it’s spending time with family and friends, curled up with a good book, or movie, or music...
December 23, 2015
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players in “The Wall Of Night” Series — Sarus
USA
With a second chapter from Daughter Of Blood now released in the wild—the Prologue to Daughter of Blood on SF Signal and Chapter 2, The Serpent Prince on B&N SciFi—publication day (26 January) is beginning to feel close.
But that only makes it more fun to spend some time with characters from The Wall Of Night series, in the same way I featured worldbuilding in A Geography Of Haarth.
I’ve been focusing on minor players for now, because: “I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters...
December 22, 2015
Another Chapter From “Daughter Of Blood” Revealed—On B&N SciFi!
USA
UK/AU/NZ
Another early chapter from Daughter of Blood has been released into the wild—and this time it’s on B&N’s SciFi Blog
Here’s how it begins…
Chapter 2, The Serpent Prince“The three hooded figures came up Grayharbor’s Sailcloth Street just as the rain swept in off the sea for the second time that day. The deluge brought a swirl of leaves and rubbish down the deep gutters on either side of the cobbled thoroughfare, and all three leapt for the portico of Seruth’s temple where Faro had...
