Helen Lowe's Blog, page 181
June 29, 2014
Some Very Good News For “Daughter of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three”
I think you all know that I finished the manuscript for Daughter Of Blood (DAUGHTER), The Wall Of Night Book Three a short time ago, announced in a post titled O Frabjous Day (& indeed it was!)
Since then I have been reading through The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost — as discussed in Reading M’Own Books: How That Went — and finally the DAUGHTER manuscript, ahead of receiving detailed editorial feedback. I’m expecting that this week, which means the edit will then be “all on.”
In t...
June 26, 2014
A Geography Of Haarth: Temple In The Rock
The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick
The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. Each locale is accompanied by a quote from either The Heir Of Night, The Gathering Of The Lost, or both.
This week continues the focus on “T.”
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Temple In The Rock: one of the oldest shrines to the goddess Imuln in the dukedom of Emer.
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” “They are not in the village,” Raven said. “And their horses are gone from t...
June 25, 2014
A Writing Quote From Stephen King
“The glory of a good tale is that it is limitless and fluid; a good tale belongs to each reader in its own particular way.”
~ Stephen King
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I couldn’t have said it better myself. 
June 24, 2014
Inside Middle Earth: Taiaroa Head / Otago Peninsula
This is not a The Lord Of The Rings or The Hobbit film locale, but it’s still a favourite spot — and Taiaroa Head itself home to a Royal Albatross colony.
Plus other local residents: a Yellow-eyed Penguin –
And (I think) a fur seal:
June 23, 2014
The Tuesday Poem: I Refeature Kathleen Jones’ “Winter Light”
Winter Light
Horizontal strobes
across the russeting slope
disclose the contours of the land
the fierce geography of rock
the patterning of sheep through bracken
lipped water-marks on sand
The mountain’s shadow
bruises the lake.
The season is wintering in
and the cold is like loss:
a cramping hold on bone
muscle, thought, spilling in
from the east.
The air tastes metallic
like snow dissolving on the tongue.
This is the death month;
December’s Druid alphabet
that signified
the rebirth of the spirit.
Ash trees clu...
June 22, 2014
Two Recent Reads I’ve Enjoyed: “Heartland” by Michelle Leggott & “Mortal Fire” by Elizabeth Knox
Two books I’ve very much enjoyed recently are:
Heartland
by Michelle Leggott (Auckland University Press, 2014)I am a fan of Michelle Leggott’s poetry and I think Heartland is “even better” than its predecessor Mirabile Dictu, which I also enjoyed. I love the continuing theme of family heritage and intergenerational stories, an exuberant ‘who we are’ as much as ‘who are we?’ explored in poetry. I also love the richness of Michelle Leggott’s use of language and her command of the poetic form. A...
June 19, 2014
A Geography Of Haarth: Telimbras
The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick
The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. Each locale is accompanied by a quote from either The Heir Of Night, The Gathering Of The Lost, or both.
This week, after some time spent traversing “S”, we enter “T.”
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Telimbras: the braided river that runs the length of the Jaransor hills, separating them from the Gray Lands. It eventually becomes a tributa...
June 18, 2014
A Writing Quote from Harper Lee, With A Riff To Junot Diaz
“It takes time and patience and effort to turn out a work of art, and few people seem willing to go all the way.”
~ Harper Lee
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In a way, this reminds me of the Junot Diaz quote I featured last year:
“The whole culture is telling you to hurry, while the art tells you to take your time. Always listen to the art.”
I suspect they are both getting at the same thing, which is that listening to the art may take time — and to be true to the work, you have to be willing to go with that even if it doesn’t...
June 17, 2014
Big Worlds On Small Screens Features Miyazaki — & Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Princess Mononoke”
~ by Rebecca Fisher
Introduction:
It’s safe to say that Princess Mononoke is Hayao Miyazaki’s darkest film. I have a friend who still enjoys recounting the tale of a mother who was in the movie theatre with him, only to watch her flee with her young child in her arms when the first decapitated head went flying. This is definitely not a film you want to share with anyone under the age of ten, for not only does it depict fairly graphic violence, but also plenty of death, gore, and creepy demonic...
June 16, 2014
The Tuesday Poem: I Am Guest Editor On the Hub
Today I am the guest editor on The Tuesday Poem Hub and featuring Joanna Preston’s wonderful “Lucifer In Las Vegas.”
To read, click on:
Lucifer In Las Vegas
Please do consider leaving a comment there, as I always look forward to hearing what you think — although I have written a commentary as guest editor.
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To read the other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, check out the blog roll in the Hub’s left hand sidebar.
