Helen Lowe's Blog, page 175

A Geography Of Haarth: Vertward

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is exploring the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. Each entry is accompanied by a quote from the books in which the place appears, currently either The Heir Of Night or The Gathering Of The Lost, or both.

This week we have one more locale in “V” to check out.

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Vertward: one of the six wards of the dukedom of Emer, Vertward lies to the southwest of the capital, Ca...

Celebrating Women Characters: The Gathering Of The Lost

Suffrage Memorial, Christchurch

This week, I’ve been celebrating my characters—all part of also celebrating NZ Women’s Suffrage week and the 121st anniversary of women getting the vote on 19 September, 1893.

On Monday, I looked at women characters from The Heir Of Night (The Wall Of Night Book One), and yesterday it was Thornspell’s turn—including my favourite villain, the Margravine zu Malvolin.

Today, it’s time to meet the fabulous, feisty, female cast from The Gathering Of The Lost (The Wal...

I Celebrate NZ Women’s Suffrage—By Celebrating My Women Characters: Part 2, Thornspell

Suffrage Memorial, Christchurch

On Monday, I posted to celebrate NZ Women’s Suffrage week—celebrating the 121st anniversary, on 19 September, of NZ women gaining the vote (the first country in the world to do so.) I have tried to do so in a personal way by celebrating the women characters in my novels: heroes, villains, and a few less prominent characters for good measure.

Again on Monday, I began with the cast of women characters in The Heir Of Night, The Wall Of Night Book One, in part becaus...

The Tuesday Poem: Australia Post

Australia Post

The location on the postmark

looks Aboriginal –

a smudged box number

provides no assistance.

I search for you in the gaps

between internet

and dog-eared telephone books,

the drift between continents,

listen to echoes,

bounce off satellites …

torn open,

your letter

lies unanswered.

.

© Helen Lowe

Published in The International Literary Quarterly, Issue 14, February2011

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I thought it could be time for another Helen Lowe poem before I resume my re-feature series next week.

Otherwise, you know the...

I Celebrate NZ Women’s Suffrage—By Celebrating My Women Characters: Part 1, The Heir Of Night

Suffrage Memorial, Christchurch

This week is NZ women’s suffrage week, celebrating the day NZ became the first self-governing country in the world to give women the vote in parliamentary elections—in a bill passed on 19 September 1893.

An “epic” event by world standards: so as a NZ author and an author of epic stories to boot, I decided that a very personal way in which I could celebrate 121 years of women’s suffrage was by celebrating the women characters from my books—the heroes, the villains...

I Celebrate NZ Women’s Suffrage—By Celebrating My Women Characters

Suffrage Memorial, Christchurch

This week is NZ women’s suffrage week, celebrating the day NZ became the first self-governing country in the world to give women the vote in parliamentary elections—in a bill passed on 19 September 1893.

An “epic” event by world standards: so as a NZ author and an author of epic stories to boot, I decided that a very personal way in which I could celebrate 121 years of women’s suffrage was by celebrating the women characters from my books—the heroes, the villains...

A Geography Of Haarth: Vast

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is exploring the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. Each entry is accompanied by a quote from the books in which the place appears, currently either The Heir Of Night or The Gathering Of The Lost, or both.

Last week we finally bade farewell to our traverse of territories beginning with “T” and have passed onto the final pass(age) of “V” before descending to the p...

Awkward Paper Cut: Writers On Writing—Fantasy and Adventure on Page and Screen

Michelle Elvy

My fellow Tuesday Poet Michelle Elvy wears several hats, including as a blogger with Awkward Paper Cut, where she curates the “Writers On Writing” page. The topic for September is:

“Creating Other Worlds: Fantasy and Adventure on Page and Screen.”

Way back in the euphoria of typing “the end” to the ms for WALL3, Michelle asked me to contribute specifically on “Finding Adventure in Fantasy” and (under the influence of said euphoria) I said “yes.”

And in fact it was fun—and even mor...

Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Firefly”

~ by Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

Oh, Firefly. One of the shortest and yet most mourned sci-fi shows of all time, Firefly stands as a monument to how an interfering network can completely destroy a show.

After Joss Whedon’s pitch for a sci-fi drama about a renegade crew on the losing side of a war was green-lit by Fox executives, the network went on to sabotage the show every chance it got: insisting on a different pilot that focused on action rather than character, airing the episodes out of or...

The Tuesday Poem: “July 1914″ by Anna Akhmatova

July 1914

I

All month a smell of burning, of dry peat

smouldering in the bogs.

Even the birds have stopped singing,

the aspen does not tremble.

The god of wrath glares in the sky,

the fields have been parched since Easter.

A one-legged pilgrim stood in the yard

with his mouth full of prophecies:

“Beware of terrible times… the earth

opening for a crowd of corpses.

Expect famine, earthquakes, plagues,

and heavens darkened by eclipses.

“But our land will not be divided

by the enemy at his pleasure:

the Mother-o...