Helen Lowe's Blog, page 134
October 25, 2015
The Author Gets Her Buzz On
UK/AU/NZ
USA
It seems amazing to think that it was way back in July when I posted “And So It Begins — Again”, marking the official beginning of the current work in progress: The Chaos Gate, The Wall Of Night Book Four.
Since then there have been a few intervening events, such as releasing the new US covers for the series and proofing Daughter Of Blood—and it’s amazing how time slips by when there’s plenty happening.
New, USA
New, USA
Nonetheless, work on The Chaos Gate has been chugging away...
October 24, 2015
The Power Of Thirteen: AKA A Giveaway So Big, It’s Spooky!
As you (may) know, I’m a member of the Supernatural Underground, a community of high profile speculative fiction authors—and Halloween (imminent!) is absolutely our favourite time of year.
So much so that we couldn’t let it pass without handing out a few bookish treats.
For our Frightfully Delightful All Hallows Giveaway, three (3) lucky readers will receive a total of 13 books apiece! That’s right, this year, “13” could be your lucky number! 
Entry is simple: just leave a blog comment on the...
October 23, 2015
The Quest For the Holy Grail…
…the perfect orange cake, that is.
Yup, I’ve decided that I need to hunt down the “perfect” orange cake recipe.
And that means I have to find the contending recipes and bake ‘em all until I find the best.
I started yesterday with this little beauty, the Orange & Almond Syrup Cake from (The Best Of…) Annabel Langbein‘s Great Food For Busy Lives.
I have to say, it tastes pretty durned good–but is it the best and greatest, i.e Orange Cake Optimus Maximus?
Only the great orange cake recipe trial...
October 22, 2015
Writing & The Ever-Changing “Rules Of Engagement”
I’ve been reading a range of novels recently, some contemporary, some from previous eras—as long ago as the 1970s and 1980s: oh, my!
One of the changes in the writing “rules of engagement” that has particularly struck me relates to point of view. It’s not just that a novel can be written in First Person or Third, or even “Closed” Third Person (that is, only one Point of View character, so as readers we only know what that character either knows or will admit to)—or even Second Person, or Thi...
October 21, 2015
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players in “The Wall Of Night” Series — Innor
USA
UK/AU/NZ
The unveiling of the US and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood — and more recently the new look US covers for the whole WALL of Night series — has inspired me to spend some blog time with the series’ characters, in the same way I spent time on the worldbuilding in A Geography Of Haarth.
I also decided to focus on minor players to begin with, because: “I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”
Today, me...
October 20, 2015
More Fabulous Fantasy Settings
On Monday, inspired by a recent TOR.com post, I checked out three awe-inspiring Fantasy settings.
Although I suggested that I might return with some equally are-inspiring Science Fiction examples, I am going to stick with Fantasy milieus for today, because the more I thought about it, the more I realised how many truly fabulous worlds exist at our reading fingertips.
Starting with the Rain Wild milieu of Robin Hobb’s Liveships novels—and more recently her Dragon series. From the outset I fell...
October 19, 2015
The Tuesday Poem: Argos, from the “Ithaca Conversations Sequence
.
Lying nose to paws in the shadow of the arched gate,
eyes fixed on the white, twisting road to the sea,
listening for the familiar footstep, the beloved voice
that urged me on as we raced together, over
the rocky mountainside, both young, both strong
of heart – how my voice echoed in the craggy
heights, belling out for stag, or wild boar: all done,
all done with now as I twitch in half-dreams,
remembering, feeling that intoxicating rush again,
while the young men shout their curses –...
October 18, 2015
Awe-Inspiring Settings
I’ve been away for a couple of weeks, so when I saw Matthew Kressel’s October 12 post on TOR.com, on the fascinating topic of “Five Fantasy Books With Awe-Inspiring Settings”, I longed to do my fangal thing and comment saying, “Yes, of course—and also…!”
But I couldn’t remember my TOR.com user id and password—so instead, especially now I’m home again, I thought I’d better post on a few Fantasy worlds (other than those mentioned by Matthew) that I consider awe-inspiring.
Starting with my frien...
October 17, 2015
Being Here: Ocean to Sky
Yesterday, I talked about living in New Zealand—and here’s a few pics of one particular spot where I’ve been spending a bit of time lately.
I don’t think it made it into any of the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit films, but who cares—it’s still pretty durned special in my book.
.
Low Tide at Tahunanui
.
Sand. mountains, sky…
.
Toward Nelson Haven
.Beats the Grey Havens, I reckon…
October 16, 2015
What’s the best thing about living in New Zealand?
A visitor asked me this the other day — and I thought it was a pretty difficult question, since it’s always hard to “look in” objectively when you’re already “inside Middle Earth.”
So there’s that for starters—living in the country that Sir Peter Jackson has transformed into JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth. And there is still a lot of open space, compared to other countries I’ve visited—areas where you can drive for miles and not see another person, or a house. I really like that.
But because NZ i...
