Helen Lowe's Blog, page 135

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players in “The Wall Of Night” Series — Ilor & Serin

USA

UK/Aus/NZ

The recent unveiling of the US and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood — and now the new look US covers for the whole WALL of Night series — has inspired me to spend some blog time with the characters from the first two books in the series, 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 ma...

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players in “The Heir Of Night” — Ilor & Serin

USA

UK/Aus/NZ

The recent unveiling of the US and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood — and now the new look US covers for the whole WALL of Night series — has inspired me to spend some blog time with the characters from the first two books in the series, 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 ma...

Portent and Fate: The Mythic Aspect of Dream in Contemporary Fantasy

USA

UK

Dream magic plays a relatively significant part in both Thornspell and The Wall Of Night series and one of its more important aspects is that of portent, with fulfillment locked into whether—or how—the foretold doom or destiny will play out.

This aspect of dream and fulfillment is an essential element of both the Greek and Norse myths, as well as folklore. We all recognize, after all, that if our hero or heroine is told something three times, especially by an oracle of some kind, then...

The Tuesday Poem: “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809 – 1892

Ulysses It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy’d Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; For always roaming with...

“The Wall Of Night” Series & Reflections On Characters

USA

UK/AU/NZ

Having a new book scheduled to come out “soon”(-ish!) gets you thinking about the books that have come before them, especially in a series—and Daughter Of Blood is very much part of the continuing The Wall Of Night story.

Partly, this is what made me embark on the recently commenced “About the Characters” posts—altho’ “meet the characters” might be another way of thinking about!—which has been focusing on minor characters, mainly in The Heir of Night (The Wall Of Night, Book One....

Patti Smith on Writing…

A writer can’t expect to be embraced by the people, you just keep doing your work—because you have to, it’s your calling.

~ Patti Smith

—

True dat…

Of course, Patti Smith is most famous as a musician—you can find out more on her official site, here:

Patti Smith

Share

It’s A SF Signal Week — “Fantasy Heroines That Rock My World” #9, Eowyn

My guest series Fantasy Heroines That Rock My World is still going full steam ahead on SF Signal — and this time the featured heroine is Eowyn from JRR Tolkien’s The Lord Of the Rings.

Eowyn

Because, as I say in the post, “I really don’t think it’s possible to have a Fantasy Heroines’ series and not feature Eowyn.”

To find out why I think so, though, you’ll have to check out the article:

Helen Lowe On The Fantasy Heroines That Rock Her World: Eowyn of Rohan

My other SF Signal feature this we...

What I’m Reading: Kate Elliott’s “Crossroads” Trilogy

The proof being done, I’m taking time to do some reading — and this week have been devouring Kate Elliott’s Crossroads trilogy, which begins with Spirit Gate and is followed by Shadow Gate and Traitors’ Gate.

I have heard Kate Elliott described as a master of world building, and the “Gate” novels certainly impress in that respect. The societies of The Hundred and its adjoining realms are diverse and textured, as are the landscapes and cultural mythologies, so that the world really springs to...

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players in “The Heir Of Night” — Gerenth

USA

UK/AU/NZ

The recent unveiling of the US and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood — and now the new look US covers for the whole WALL of Night series — has inspired me to spend some blog time with the characters from the first two books in the series, 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 mai...

Well, this is nice: “Making Covers New” Hits SF Signal’s Top 25 Posts for September

USA

On September 15 (US Central Time), Hugo Award-winning SFF site, SF Signal, hosted the exclusive release of the new-look US covers for The Wall of Night series. Now it turns out that it was one of the Top 25 posts for the month—which is Awesome!

Just in case you missed it the first time, this post-of-awesome can still be read here:

[EXCLUSIVE] Making Covers New: Creating An Epic Look For Helen Lowe’s THE WALL OF NIGHT Series

As those who have already seen it may recall, the feature was a...