Helen Lowe's Blog, page 155

Another Wee Snippet From Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three

Earlier this month I was interviewed by Canadian YA author Lorna Suzuki and one of her questions asked what I could tell her about Malian of Night.

Malian, of course, is the central character in The Wall of Night series and she’s featured reasonably often in despatches over the past few years. So just to mix things up a bit, I snuck in another wee snippet from Daughter of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three, to be published January 2016—only 10 months away now!)

To read the full answer you wi...

Gorgeous Words From Margaret Mahy: Celebrating International Children’s Book Day (For Yesterday)

Yesterday, April 2, was International Children’s Book Day, which is also the birthday of renowned children’s writer, Hans Christian Anderson.

The purpose ofInternational Children’s Book Day is “to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books.”

What better way, I thought, than to celebrate a little of the gorgeousness that is Margaret Mahy, with a wee excerpt from The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate:

“The little man could only stare. He hadn’t dreamed of the BIGNESS of the...

April Foolery: “Never Have I Ever” On The Supernatural Underground—Plus Giveaway!

I indulged in my own wee bit of April Foolery yesterday, but now that US Eastern Standard Time has rolled over into April 1, I and some pals on the Supernatural Underground are having more April 1 fun.

Focusing on the “fun” aspect rather than the leg-pulling — although an element of tall storytelling does enter the mix — we’re playing a game of “Never Have I Ever.”

In the game, each Supernatural Underground author contributes a statement starting “Never Have I Ever.” We hope that our blog fol...

Just When We Thought It Was Over: Sir Peter Jackson To Make Tom Bombadil?

I’m not sure what I think about this to be honest, especially after The Hobbit was supposed to mark “the end”, but I saw a snippet that suggested Sir Peter Jackson may be poised to make a two-part film version of JRR Tolkien’s The Adventures Of Tom Bombadil.

Sir Peter to star as well as direct?

Hayley Westenra as Goldberry?

Interestingly, the suggestion was that Sir Peter may actually be going to do more than a fleeting cameo this time and play the part of Tom Bombadil as well as direct.

And...

The Tuesday Poem: “The Drum” by John Scott, 1730-1783

The Drum

I hate that drum’s discordant sound,
Parading round, and round, and round:
To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields,
And lures from cities and from fields,
To sell their liberty for charms
Of tawdry lace, and glittering arms;
And when Ambition’s voice commands,
To march, and fight, and fall, in foreign lands.

I hate that drum’s discordant sound,
Parading round, and round, and round:
To me it talks of ravag’d plains,
And burning towns, and ruin’d swains,
And mangled limbs, and dying gr...

Recommended Reading: “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel

When I was offered a copy of Station Eleven to read, my initial response was: “Another post-apocalyptic novel, I’m really not sure…” Because as with vampire lovers and alpha were-wolf love triangles, I have been feeling a tad over the whole future dystopia / post-apocalyptic deal. However, as Station Eleven proves, it’s not the genre but how the genre is executed that really counts.

For me, Station Eleven was an exceptional read—but let’s start with a quick look at what it’s all about, beyond...

What’s Coming Up, Plus Fun Links From The Week

Here in NZ summer is transitioning in autumn, and I imagine the far side of the world is in a similar state of flux with winter transitioning into spring.

A constant aspect of transitioning seasons for me is feeling that I have Far Too Much To Do — possibly, dear “…on Anything, Really” readers because this year, in the euphoria of completing the Great Daughter Of Blood Edit I said “yes” to doing far too many things…

However, some of the things wotz coming up are a lot of fun and I’m very plea...

“Staying The Course” With Gillian Polack for Women’s History Month

As mentioned a few weeks back, Australian author/editor, Gillian Polack, has been curating a blog carnival for Women’s History Month.

The carnival comprises women writers posting on the theme of“Staying the Course” — and there been some fabulous articles throughout the month.

My contribution posted on Thursday, under the title:

In The Case Of Big Life Decisions, Always Follow your Heart…

‘When Gillian invited me to post as part of Women’s History Month, her brief included the advice that all...

Ruffians & Roughnecks: The Sorcerer

credit: PJ Fitzpatrick

Since early December last year, I’ve been running the Ruffians & Roughnecks post series every Friday, taking a word that describes some variant of “bad guy”, e.g. ruffian or rogue, or alternatively a “rough diamond”, such as a roughneck, and matching it with a character from my novels.

As in the A Geography Of Haarth series, each entry has been accompanied by a relevant passage, either drawn from one of the two Wall Of Night series novels currently published, or my Kids...

Untold Stories I’ve Always Wondered About…

Last week I launched the first post in a new SF Signal series, Fantasy Heroines That Rock My World.

The heroine I started out with was Aravis from CS Lewis’s The Horse and His Boy. But you know how a post on one topic gets you thinking about another? In this case the riff was to all those books or series that complete but there’s an untold story in there, which you never get to read but always wonder about?

For me (as for many people, I suspect) that Narnia story is “Whatever Happened To Susa...