Helen Lowe's Blog, page 165
December 26, 2014
An Epic Christmas: On The Third Day…
On the third day of Christmas my true Muse sent to me… 
Three Weapons Of Power:
“So much lost,” Hylcarian murmured. “So much broken or gone forever.” The light-filled voice paused briefly. “The weapons of your power are lost, too. Sword, helm, and shield all vanished when you fell. Yet how can she hope to withstand the Darkswarm without them?”
“There is always hope, old friend,” the hero replied gently. “You should know that better than any. Just as you know that it is heart and wit that make th...
December 25, 2014
An Epic Christmas: On The Second Day…
On the second day of Christmas my true Muse sent to me…
Two Mysterious Heralds:
‘Absolute silence crashed down as every face turned toward the man and woman who stepped through the door. The man had multiple braids of chestnut hair flowing below his shoulders, while the woman was fair, with a single plait twisted around her head like a crown. They were both of middle height and clad alike in gray, their long cloaks cast back. A badge pinned each cloak on the left shoulder and a dagger was shea...
December 24, 2014
An Epic Christmas: On The First Day…
On the first day of Christmas my true Muse sent to me…
One Chosen Hero!
‘She lifted her face to the moon, caught in the net of tree branches. “It should not have been so,” she repeated softly, “for I was born to unite the Derai and lead them to the final victory against our enemy. That was the destiny written in the stars in the hour of my birth—but the Swarm, too, can read the stars. It brought the Worm against us to thwart prophecy, so that I had no choice but to slay it or see the destruct...
December 23, 2014
The Best Of The Season To You All
I have something else for the blog tomorrow, so I thought I’d take the opportunity now to wish you the very best of the Christmas and New Year holiday season.
Sadly, Christmas has come to be more closely associated with the jingle of cash registers than sleigh bells (regardless of hemispheres!)—but I like to remember author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader, Howard Thurman’s reminder that the “work of Christmas” is:
“…To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry...
December 22, 2014
The Tuesday Poem: An Earthquake Poem Diptych—”All Over” and “The Sparrows”
On that first afternoon
it was all about noise:
sirens, the continual tuk-tuk-tuk
of helicopters, and the slow drone
of freight planes airlifting in supplies—noise
and the smell of smoke
hanging in a pall
across the inner suburbs
as the CTV building burned.
But in the days following
I recall the silence of a city
where daily business had all but ceased,
cars off the road, people staying home
or fled—over 70,000 now
the pundits claim, since February 22nd—
and at night the profound darkness
of a power...
December 21, 2014
“I Meant It To Be A Poem About Sparrows”: Unveiling The Painting
work in progress; artist Claire Beynon
In 2013 I featured a Tuesday Poem series on ekphrastic poems (aka poems in response to works of art) and completed the series with a ‘counter-culture’: a work of art developed in response to a poem.
The poem was The Sparrows, from my sequence in response to the Christchurch earthquake of February 22nd, 2011; the artwork was by artist and fellow Tuesday Poet Claire Beynon and first shown as part of her 2011 En Masse exhibition.
This year, Claire gifted the p...
December 20, 2014
A Riff On Writing Process
So yesterday I posted about what this particular author does when the book is done (aside from *twitching*, that is!), including:
Tries not to even THINK about the next book!
But, of course, part of being an author is that you’re always thinking about the next book, i.e. “through the day, story; through the night, story…” Or a story in some form or other, whether short story, novella, play (et al.)
I believe that is part of the essential evolution of story, when it’s revolving and evolving in yo...
December 19, 2014
After The Book Is Done…
After the book is done, the author:
Spring cleans the house, disturbing the resident spider population and repaying the arrears of long months when mundanities such as housecleaning have been far more miss than hit…
Reclaims the wilderness aka known as the garden—because although gardens may be patient they are also occupied by species such as impatiens(the name speaks for itself) and a whole legion of stealth weeds…
Cautiously circumnavigates the TBR table, wondering of she dare begin reading,...
December 18, 2014
Ruffians And Roughnecks
credit: PJ Fitzpatrick
In a new Ruffians And Roughnecks post series, I’m featuring words that mean either a “bad guy”, eg ruffian or rogue, or a “rough diamond”, eg a roughneck, and matching a word a week with a character from my books, either Thornspell, or The Heir Of Night or The Gathering Of The Lost.
The definitions are taken from Merriam Webster Online.
—
Roughneck: “a rough or uncouth person”
The perfect lead-in to a first meeting with:
Raven: a hedge knight
“The rider did not look much more...
December 17, 2014
The Journey Of (Considerably More Than) A Thousand Words…
Last week I confirmed that the edit of Daughter of Blood was done and dusted in time for Christmas.
I’d also mentioned, just a little earlier in the day, that once it was done:
“After that (somewhen) I also hope to post some more about some of the hows and whys and wrinkles in the process — although there’s also the risk that once it’s done I won’t want to talk about it at all!”
Increasingly, I am very much of the view that “the book that can be spoken of is not the book” — but you have all been...
