Helen Lowe's Blog, page 160
February 11, 2015
SFF Cover Art Love: More Favorites
A few weeks back I posted on some of my favourite SFF covers and shared some reflections on why they drew me in as a reader.
Then I realized I had missed some really important “covers of all-time awesome.” Oh no!
For example, like this cover, created by Michael Whelan, for Joan Vinge’s The Snow Queen:
And it’s companion jacket for The Summer Queen sequel:
Speaking of Summer themes, I have always really liked artist Martin Springett’s Celtic style covers to Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar trilogy: The...
February 10, 2015
Big Worlds On Small Screens & Fantasy/Sci-Fi Films You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Strings”
~ by Rebecca Fisher
I’m going to describe the premise of Strings, which you’ll recognize as following a very familiar adventure/fantasy trajectory. An old king commits suicide, only for his devious brother, Nezo, to make it look like an assassination, thereby spurring the young prince (Hal Tara) into a quest to avenge his father’s death. In his absence, the evil uncle (and his hunchbacked henchman) consolidates his power and takes hostage the beautiful young princess (Jhinna).
But when the prin...
February 9, 2015
The Tuesday Poem: I Am Guest Editor On the Hub
Today I am the guest editor on The Tuesday Poem Hub and the poem I have chosen to feature is by fellow Christchurch poet, David Gregory:
“Breathing You In
From up here it looked
as if the harbour’s lungs inhaled
the fog in through the headlands;
light as breathing, concrete coloured,
it set in for the day, giving us each a bubble vision
containing what little we know,
and out beyond the garden’s edge;
all life arrested.”
.
To read the poem in full, click on:
Breathing You In
Please do consider leaving a c...
February 8, 2015
What I’m Doing Right Now: Bookish’n’Writing Stuff
Yesterday I talked about what’s coming up in an “event” sense, so today I thought I’d update you on the bookish front.
On December 18 I confirmed that the edit of Daughter Of Blood The Wall Of Night Book Three was done and dusted — as noted in the title of the post, A Journey Of (Considerably More Than) A Thousand Words…
Since then I’ve been on holiday from writing, although since the new year holiday ended I’ve also been trying to catch up on all the things that get neglected when you’re far o...
February 7, 2015
What’s Coming Up
The Tuesday Poem:First up, I’m the guest editor on The Tuesday Poem Hub this week and am delighted to be featuring a poem by fellow Christchurch poet, David Gregory.
David is a man who has a mighty fine way with words, so I hope you’ll stop by the Hub on Tuesday to check out his poem—I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed.
—
Kate Sheppard Memorial — commemorating NZ Women’s Suffrage
Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month in Australia, the US, and the UK, corresponding with March 8...
February 6, 2015
Celebrating Waitangi Day & Cross-Culturalism In New Zealand Literature
In 2012, I talked about NZ’s chequered history of nationhood, but my belief that we still have something to celebrate every year on February 6. You can read more under:
Waitangi Day: “He Iwi Kotahi Tatou”
As a writer, one area where celebration is more than appropariate, in my view, is in NZ’s literature. In 2012, I looked at the significant contribution to NZ literature from authors who identify as Maori, with specific mention of Keri Hulme, Witi Ihimaera, and Patricia Grace.
Last year, I look...
February 5, 2015
Ruffians And Roughnecks: The Rogue, Part 2
credit: PJ Fitzpatrick
The idea with this post series is that I take a word that means either a “bad guy”, eg ruffian or rogue, or a “rough diamond”, eg a roughneck, and match it with a character from my novels. As in the A Geography Of Haarth series, each entry will be accompanied by a relevant passage from the books.
The definitions are taken from Merriam Webster Online, my current go-to dictionary when writing—which is why we have a Part 1 and a Part 2 for “rogue”, since there are two quite...
February 4, 2015
Fictional Favourites: The Pressure Of Choosing Only One Hero or Heroine
I talk a lot about books and stories here on da blog and I do lists as well, but I don’t focus so often on a single favourite character or book.
But a question on t’interwebs prompted thought as to whether I could narrow those lists down, for example to the one book I’d snatch up if fleeing the house in a fire (the closest to hand, I suspect!), or whether I had one favourite fictional hero or heroine.
The pressure of “only one” when here are so many great fictional heroes and heroines out there...
February 3, 2015
On Writing As Vocation: More Thoughts Sparked By Zadie Smith
On Sunday I quoted one of Zadie Smith’s 10 Rules On Writing from the 2010 The Guardian series:
“Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation.’ You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle.’ All that matters is what you leave on the page.”
I completely agree that in terms of writing, all that matters is what you leave on the page. And certainly there is no one writer’s lifestyle—the lifestyles will be as diverse as the writers themselves. I also agree that it does aspiri...
February 2, 2015
The Tuesday Poem: Refeaturing Tim Jones — “The First Artist On Mars”
The First Artist on Mars
Well, the first professional artist
There were scientists who, you know
dabbled
but NASA sent us –
me and two photographers –
to build support for the program.
The best day?
That was in Marineris.
Those canyons are huge
each wall a planet
turned on its side.
I did a power of painting there.
You can see all my work
at the opening. Do come.
Hey, they wanted me to paint propaganda –
you know, ‘our brave scientists at work’ –
but I told them
you’ll get nothing but the truth from me
I just p...
