Helen Lowe's Blog, page 161

Now On The Supernatural Underground: “Bird Of Passage” Part 2—Swinging Into 2015 With Story

credit: B Miller

Last month, I kicked into the new year with fiction, posting Part 1 of the short story Bird Of Passage on the Supernatural Underground.

Today I’ve posted the second and final part:

“The following morning was grey and overcast, threatening rain, and the house was so quiet I thought Debbie must have already gone out. “Fry up time,” I said out loud, and broke some eggs into the pan. I was buttering the toast when Debbie appeared, yawning mightily and looking pale above a man’s old...

Zadie Smith: “All that matters is what you leave on the page”

“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.”

~ Zadie Smith

—

“All that matters is what you leave on the page”—you know, I think that is so true. The full quote comes from Zadie Smith’s 10 Rules Of Writing, published by The Guardian newspaper in 2010.

Maria Popova described Smith’s 10 Rules as her favourite of the series, “an exquisite balance of the practical, the philosophi...

What I’m Reading: Next Up Is “Ghostwritten” by David Mitchell

As I observed last week, one of the great things about being on holiday is having the time to catch up on your reading—and as you will know from that post I have a nice stack of books to get through. Next up is David Mitchell’s debut novel, Ghostwritten.

I thought I had better start at the beginning since Mitchell has said he’s writing an uber-novel—and the backcover of Ghostwritten does sound intriguing:

“An apocalyptic cult member carries out a gas attack on a rush-hour metro, but what links...

Ruffians And Roughnecks: The Rogue, Part 1

credit: PJ Fitzpatrick

Back in December, when I started this series, I promised you that the scope would extend beyond the Wall Of Night series and include Thornspell, which was my first novel published (even further back in 2008.)

So today I thought we’d kick off for the new year with two characters from Thornspell to illustrate the “rogue.”

Just to remind you what the series is all about, for each entry I’ll take a word that means either a “bad guy”, eg ruffian or rogue, or a “rough diamond”,...

SFF Cover Art Love: Some Favourites—& Reflections On Why They “Work” For Me

I first posted on some of my favourite SFF cover art a-ways back in 2010.

Those featured included the first, US mass market cover for A Game Of Thrones, by artist Stephen Youll. As I posted at the time, “…the whole look of it [the jacket] just reached out to me and said: “Buy me, I’m your kind of story!” And it really was!”

I also mentioned the Mel Odom cover for Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana and the wonderful Kinuko Craft jacket for Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing.

Others I’d throw into the “fav...

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

~ by Rebecca Fisher

Most of our most beloved animated films come from three big studios: Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks and Studio Ghibli, who altogether have produced hundreds of animated classics over the years. They’re so prolific that we run the risk of forgetting that there are other innovators out there – such as Cartoon Saloon.

In 2009 they released The Secret of Kells, a film set in 9th century Ireland that gives a fictionalized account of the Book of Kells, a real manuscript and national tre...

The Tuesday Poem: “The Lotos Eaters” (Excerpt) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Lotos Eaters (Excerpt)
“Courage!” he said, and pointed toward the land,
“This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon.”
In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemed always afternoon.
All round the coast the languid air did swoon,
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;
And like a downward smoke, the slender stream
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,
Slow-dropping veils of t...

Just Finished Reading: “Among Others” by Jo Walton

I’ve just finished reading Jo Walton’s Among Others—and it was “brill.”

As you may recall from my “about to read” post, Among Others is about Mori (Morwenna) Phelps, who sees fairies and was lamed in a battle against her witch mother that also killed her twin sister, Mor (Morganna.) As a result of these events, Mori is first sent to live with her father, and then to boarding school in England, where she takes solace in reading SFF.

The Among Others story comprises several interwoven strands. Th...

A Few Fun Links From The Past Week Or So

Firstly, I absolutely love this, via Daniel Dalton & Buzzfeed:

If Hermione Were The Main Character in Harry Potter

But—wasn’t Hermione the main character-wot-did-stuff in all those books?

—

I also really enjoyed this post from Charlie Jane Anders on io9:

10 Great Novels That Aren’t About What You Heard They Were About

This post also crept into the discussion on:

My TBR Stack Today

—

Another great post was Nicki Pellegrino’s Good Reads’ reflection on finishing her upcoming novel and saying goodbye to...

This Definitely Resonates: Georgia O’Keeffe On Artistic Integrity, Longevity, & Form

“You and I don’t know whether our vision is clear in relation to our time or not—No matter what failure or success we may have—we will not know—But we can keep our integrity—according to our own sense of balance with the world and that creates our form … I want to create my own [form] and I can’t do anything else—if I stop to think of what others—authorities or the public—or anyone—would say of my form I’d not be able to do anything.

I can never show what I am working on without being stopped—...