Helen Lowe's Blog, page 167
December 7, 2014
“My Life As A Foreign Country”—US Poet Brian Turner On NZ’s Sunday Morning Programme
In case you missed it, there was an excellent interview with US warpoet, Brian Turner, discussing his memoir, My Life As A Foreign Country on Radio New Zealand’s Sunday Morning programme yesterday.
The interview focuses on Brian Turner’s experience in the US military in Iraq and Bosnia. To hear the in-depth interview, which is well worth your time, click on:
US Poet, Brian Turner, On Sunday Mornings
Earlier, Brian Turner’s experiences resulted in two acclaimed poetry collections: Here, Bullet an...
December 6, 2014
What I’m Reading: Words Of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Right now, my book-de-jour is Brandon Sanderson’s Words Of Radiance, the second novel of the Stormlight Archive.
I am around about the middle with my reading, chipping away a few pages at a time—not because I’m not enjoying it but because I’m so busy right now I don’t have a whole lot of reading time.
So I am taking my time and really enjoying the read so far—I’m currently around half way through. (These are Very Big Books, mind you?)
How about you: what’s your reading matter-de-jour?
December 5, 2014
A Quote For Saturday, From Joni Mitchell
“Freedom to me is a luxury of being able to follow the path of the heart, to keep the magic in your life. Freedom is necessary for me in order to create, and if I cannot create I don’t feel alive.”
~ Joni Mitchell
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You may like to read more on Joni Mitchell On Freedom, the Source of Creativity, and the Dark Side of Success
December 4, 2014
Ruffians & Roughnecks: A New Post Series
credit: PJ Fitzpatrick
With the conclusion of A Geography Of Haarth I’ve decided on another—I suspect much shorter ;-)—series to fill the Friday space for now.
In it, I shall 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 books, either Thornspell, or The Heir Of Night or The Gathering Of The Lost.
As in the A Geography Of Haarth series, each entry will be accompanied by the identification of the characte...
December 3, 2014
The Alchemy of Alcibiades
There are some historical figures and periods that just seem to attract historical fiction.
One of these characters is the Athenian politician and general, Alcibiades, and the period of the Peloponnesian War—the conflict between the Greek states Athens and Sparta, from 431-404 BC., including Athens ill-fated expedition against Syracuse.
Alcibiades was a charismatic and polarising figure, both the darling and daemon of his native Athens and his era, who switched sides several times between Athen...
December 2, 2014
Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Penny Dreadful”
~ by Rebecca Fisher
Introduction:
First of all, what is a penny dreadful? During the 1800s growing literacy rates in Britain increased the demand for published material, particularly among lower classes whose wages could not readily be spent on expensive books. In response, a number of magazines and newspapers ran serialized stories over the course of several weeks. Due to their lurid and sensationalized subject matter, and the fact that they were sold for a penny, they soon became known as “pe...
December 1, 2014
The Tuesday Poem: Featuring Helen Heath & “Night’s Magic”
Night’s Magic ……………………………………………….. Sir Isaac Newton (1643 –1727)
"Newton was not the first of the age of reason.
He was the last of the magicians." – John Maynard Keynes.
When Isaac closes his eyes
he is hanging, arms outstretched
only faith keeps him
from falling – a magic trick.
In his left hand is the Book of Revelations
in the right, the Book of Nature,
written in geometry.
He opens his eyes to take note
of God’s will in action. Observations
must be interpreted –
bodies in motion, fruit from the tree....
November 30, 2014
Elegant And Enduring: A Salute To The Great Ursula Le Guin
Recently, the (US) National Book Association awarded Ursula Le Guin its Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, arguably one of the most distinguished awards in literature.
The citation included the following:
“For more than forty years, Le Guin has defied conventions of narrative, language, character, and genre, as well as transcended the boundaries between fantasy and realism to forge new paths for literary fiction…Among the nation’s most revered writers of science fiction a...
November 29, 2014
Some Random Blog Posts Of Interest
I found the following blog posts of interest over recent weeks, so decided to share the links—sort of like reading the weekend papers. 
Just click on the embedded links to read more:
Pulitzer prize finalist Lydia Millet shared Five Writing Tips on Publisher’s Weekly—which I thought were interesting, even if trying for quantity over quality stymied me completely when beginning writing Daughter Of Blood.
Lloyd Lofthouse reflected on how ebooks require a changed approach to book cover design — aga...
November 28, 2014
A Writing Quote For Saturday, From John Rogers
“You can’t think yourself out of a writing block; you have to write yourself out of a thinking block”
—
You know, I think this is so, so true…
