Helen Lowe's Blog, page 158
March 3, 2015
Hey, I’ve Done It: I’ve Read “Ancillary Justice” by Ann Leckie
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie was definitely the SFF book everyone was talking about last year and when it came to awards I think it was shortlisted for just about everything going and won a fair few of them, specifically the :
Hugo Award 2014 for Best Novel
Nebula Award 2013 for Best Novel
Arthur C. Clarke Award 2014 for best science fiction novel of the year.
British Science Fiction Association Award 2013 for Best Novel (jointly with Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth Powell)
Locus Award 2014 for Best...
March 2, 2015
The Tuesday Poem: Focusing On Tim Jones & “Angela Carter”
Angela Carter
And then your portrait on the back
so neutral and complete
standing full-length
posed I don’t remember where.
Eyes sky black
you stood unsmiling
suggesting there were realer worlds within.
Your books dealt much in mirrors
which might have led me to suppose
that you were one yourself
and I’d step through the flimsy sheet
that held you to your words
and turn and, face inside your face,
watch the empty space where I had been.
.
© Tim Jones
Published in Boat People, HeadworX, 2008. Reproduced here w...
March 1, 2015
On The Supernatural Underground Now — & What Else’s Happening In March
On the 1st of every month, I post on the Supernatural Underground — which means I have a post up RIGHT NOW — and in the past month we’ve been having a bit of a revamp (heh, no pun intended! 
) of our look — so worth popping over just to check out the new masthead.
But over the past two months I’ve been running a Tuckerization draw to allow one fortunate ( 
) commentator to have her/his name immortalized in another piece of fiction to be featured on the Supernatural Underground this year — and...
February 28, 2015
More On Living Fictionally
One of my new year resolutions was to make 2015 my Year of Living Fictionally ina number of ways—but one of them was:
“…to have a wee bit more of a focus on Helen Lowe Fiction generally on the blog this year: so watch this space & we’ll see what transpires.”
A little later, I promised that:
“…once we roll around into February, I’ll also be starting the Year of Living Fictionally here, although I really commenced that on January 1, with Bird of Passage [on the Supernatural Underground].”
Well, I h...
February 27, 2015
Last Call, Last Chance, Last…Plus First Call For Tomorrow’s News
Nope, just checked and this be no Leap Year, which means today is last call time for all things February…
…and bidding farewell to February ’15 means it’s also your very last chance—up until midnight, US Eastern Standard Time—to avail thyself of the Tuckerization contest I’ve had running via the Supernatural Underground.
Tuckerization, mmm, yes… Blog readers nod wisely, then: “Um, what is Tuckerization, precisely?”
Precisely, it’s when someone’s real life name is used for a character in a work o...
February 26, 2015
Ruffians And Roughnecks: The Nemesis
credit: PJ Fitzpatrick
Currently, I’m taking a word that means either a “bad guy”, e.g. ruffian or rogue, or 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 current go-t...
February 25, 2015
Another Sneak Preview For “Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three”
A while back, I shared a sneak preview of the synopsis for Daughter of Blood.
I’m currently doing my very last read-through of the edited Daughter of Blood manuscript before it goes to production (that’s copyediting, proofing etc. as a precursor to the whole sales, marketing, publicity gig) and was struck by a couple of paragraphs that I hope may share a flavour of the text without giving away any spoilers.
So here they are—another wee sneak preview, to mitigate (if not make up for) this week’s...
February 24, 2015
Big Worlds On Small Screens & Fantasy/Sci-Fi Films You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Safety Not Guaranteed”
~ by Rebecca Fisher
In 1997, the following advertisement appeared in the classified section of the Backwoods Home Magazine:
The true story behind the ad is simply that magazine employee John Silveira was asked by his publisher for something extra to fill up the classified pages. He duly obliged, perhaps thinking his little joke would go unnoticed, or be dismissed as a scam.
But a few years later, after the advertisement made its way onto the internet, it exploded into a fully-fledged meme. As Si...
February 23, 2015
The Tuesday Poem: Focusing On Tim Jones & “The stars Natasha”
The stars, Natasha
Natasha, fundamentals are strong,
key indicators steady.
Leave your books, Natasha,
let your computer
draw patterns on its screen.
Walk with me through the heavens.
Along cold orbits
the spendthrift stars
squander their assets on light.
The World Bank
is unamused; the IMF
is noting down their names.
So take my hand
let’s drift away
into the cosmic background.
©Tim Jones
First published in Boat People (HeadworX) 2002
Reprinted in Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand (Interactive...
February 22, 2015
Some Not Quite So Good News For “Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three”
It’s seems like a very long time ago indeed, June 30 2014 in fact, that I was able to share the initial editorial feedback on the manuscript for Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three, with words like “tremendous” and “terrific” being bandied about—which was very heartening for me after what had felt like a very long slog.
At the end of last year, I confirmed that the edit stage was also “done and dusted”. In a subsequent post, titled “The Journey Of (Considerably More Than) A Thousan...
