Helen Lowe's Blog, page 157

Some Fun Bookish Stuff — Plus What’s Coming Up

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I thought last Thursday was my linkage day—but then more happened! How does that work?

So first off, I was alerted to the fact that The Gathering Of The Lost played a starring role in this week’s SF Signal Mind Meld — so OK, you have to scroll down a bit, but Gathering is there, all the same!

The Mind Meld theme is:

SFF Series That Hooked Us After the First Book

And Courtney Schafer—clearly a paragon of good taste and discernment—was of the view that although she enjoyed The Heir O...

Ruffians & Roughnecks: The Malcontent (or —Obsolete—Malignant)

credit: PJ Fitzpatrick

In the Ruffians & Roughnecks post series I’m taking a word that describes a type 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 is accompanied by a relevant passage from the books, which could be drawn from one of the two Wall Of Night series novels currently published, or my Kids/YA standalone, Thornspell.

The definitions ar...

I’m Interviewed Indepth by Lorna Suzuki — Plus More On Women’s History Month!

Bein’ all authorial :)

I’m the featured author this week on Canadian YA author, Lorna Suzuki’s, All Kinds Of Writing blog.

Lorna has had the very great good fortune to have her Imago series optioned by a major film company — but she still has time to chat with her fellow authors. She asked some indepth questions about my books and writing life, but just to get you started, here’s a taster:

“LS: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned on the road to publication?
HL: Just this: it’s the st...

Big Worlds On Small Screens & Fantasy/Sci-Fi Films You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “The Company of Wolves”

~ by Rebecca Fisher

If you were ever to try retelling the story of Little Red Riding Hood whilst high on an acid trip, you might well end up with this film. With layered framing devices, nested stories-within-stories, and plenty of dream sequences, I guarantee that The Company of Wolves is one of the strangest movies you’ll ever see.

Directed by Neil Jordan, who specializes in dark-and-bloody films, and adapted from Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, a short-story collection that explores the...

The Tuesday Poem: “Meeting House Hill” by Amy Lowell, 1874-1925

Meeting House Hill

I must be mad, or very tired,

When the curve of a blue bay beyond a railroad track

Is shrill and sweet to me like the sudden springing of a tune,

And the sight of a white church above thin trees in a city square

Amazes my eyes as though it were the Parthenon.

Clear, reticent, superbly final,

With the pillars of its portico refined to a cautious elegance,

It dominates the weak trees,

And the shot of its spire

Is cool and candid,

Rising into an unresisting sky.

Strange meeting-house

Pausi...

Viewed & Enjoyed Lately: TV Shows & Films

In a riff on my usual “read and enjoyed”, today I’m sharing a few of the films and TV shows I’ve viewed and enjoyed lately.

This is in no way an attempt to muscle in on Rebecca’s Big Worlds On Small Screens (with us again this Wednesday) — mainly because these are in no way detailed reviews! Just a once over lightly.

Starting with the films — and the only SFF offering in the lineup — I finally got around to watching Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Concords) and Taika Waititi’s (Boy) What We Do...

Living Fictionally: “Ithaca” by Helen Lowe

Living Fictionally:

As promised last Sunday, today I’m getting fictional — and it is a story from among my “legendary history” works. This story, Ithaca, was originally published in JAAM in 2008 (the same year my first novel, Thornspell, was published), edited by Tim Jones.

Since today, March 8, in International Women’s Day, it seemed fitting to feature a take on one of the great legendary stories, told from the point of view of the woman at the heart of the tale.

Enjoy the first instalment toda...

A Writing Quote for Saturday From EB White — Plus Don’t Forget…

” A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”

~ E.B. White, 1899 – 1985

.

Is he right, dear “…on Anything, Really” readers? Yes, indeed he is.

—

Plus, don’t forget that tomorrow I’ll be living fictionally and posting the first instalment of a short story for your delectation. Almost certainly one of the “legendary history” tales, but the final choice may yet surprise both me and thee…

See you tomorrow!

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Ruffians And Roughnecks: The Bully

credit: PJ Fitzpatrick

Currently, I’m taking a word for some sort 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 is accompanied by a relevant passage from the books, which could be drawn from one of the two Wall Of Night series novels currently published, or my Kids/YA standalone, Thornspell.

The definitions are taken from Merriam Webster Online, my c...

“Pure Endurance”

“Pure endurance”

Last week, I posted that “I’m currently doing my very last read-through of the edited Daughter of Blood manuscript before it goes to production.” And production, as I also mentioned, will involve both copy editing and then a further proof-reading round.

Recently, I also received an email from a friend and fellow writer who had just completed the second draft of a novel and was waiting for feedback from beta readers. What she wrote was:

“…but I’m having trouble motivating myself...