Helen Lowe's Blog, page 188

A Geography Of Haarth: River-Of-No-Return

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, the series continues its focus on features beginning with “R.”

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River Of No Return: another name for the river Telimbras, one of the major tributaries of the Ijir (the River), near Ar.

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‘”The river...

Guest Post: Karen McMillan Discusses Her New Novel, “The Paris of the East”

Introduction:

Karen McMillan is both a friend and fellow author, as well as doing the occasional review for “…on Anything, Really” (as well as many more on her own blog) so I am delighted to welcome her back today to share the excitement of her latest release The Paris of the East—and what it’s all about.

Welcome, Karen.

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Guest Post: Karen McMillan on “The Paris of the East”

I am very excited that my latest novel, The Paris of the East, is out soon. This is a historical novel that follows the liv...

Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”

by Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

Back in August last year I wrote about Xena Warrior Princess, calling her one of the two most famous feminist icons of the nineties. The second icon is, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Unlike Xena, who started out as a guest character on another show and was eventually deemed popular enough to warrant her own spin-off, Buffy had more premeditated origins. Created by writer/director Joss Whedon, the character was born out of a deliberate subversion of that old...

Tuesday Poem: from Fragment 542, Simonides Of Keos

“So I shall never waste my life-span in a vain useless hope, seeking what cannot be, a flawless man among us all who feed on the fruits of the broad earth. If I find him, I will bring you news.

But I praise and love every man who does nothing base from free will. Against necessity, even gods do not fight.”

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by Simonides, ca. 556 – 468 BC

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On Sunday, I discussed Mary Renault’s novel The Praise Singer, which is based on the life of the lyric poet, Simonides of Keos, during the classical Greek era....

Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2014: I Am ShortListed For Services To (NZ) SFF

As you will have gathered from last week’s O Frabjous Day and Finishing The Book — The Power Of Retreat (on the Supernatural Underground) posts, being ‘out of the world’ (i.e. on retreat) is a big part of how I have managed to finish Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three.

A case of priorities, but because of that I have not yet shared a very important piece of information that came through in the past few weeks: I have been nominated for the 2014 Sir Julius Vogel Award for “Services...

Gorgeous Words: Mary Renault & “The Praise Singer”

Mary Renault is another writer whose work I esteem immensely, particularly the way she brings the historical eras of ancient Greece—from the legendary-historical Athens of Thesues, through the “classical” Athenian period of 5th century BC Greece, to the Macedonian era of Alexander—to life.

She also has quite the way with words, as well as worlds, as I believe this quote from The Praise Singer—a book centred on the lyric poet, Simonides, but about so much more—shows:

“If a fine ship with a paint...

Hey, hey—Some Book Finishing Fun…

Hey, hey, I thought this was a lot of fun when Jan from SFFANZ sent it through…

Waddya reckon?

Of course, it’s much more fun now I’ve finished (yahoo!) Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three.

Now, at once, today… I do understand that feeling well!

A Geography Of Haarth: River

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, the series continues its focus on locales beginning with “R.”

—

River: the lands along the Ijir river system, mainly comprising city states such as Ij, Terebanth, and Ar. Also known as the River lan...

“Finishing The Book – The Power Of Retreat” Featured Now On The Supernatural Underground

Those of you who have been following my The Tuesday Poem posts (featured—yup, you’ve guessed it—every Tuesday! ), will know that since February 4 I have been featuring a haiku sequence developed (it’s still a work in progress) while on a coastal retreat finishing Daughter Of Blood (see yesterday’s O Frabjous Day — yippee!)

Yesterday being the first day of the new month, I also posted my regular Supernatural Underground post, in this case photos from the retreat locale. So if you like a bit of...

O Frabjous Day!

Rosie the Riveter

Yes, dear friends, the deed is done — some Rosie the Riveter-style writing muscle has been flexed and the vorpal pen has gone snicker-snack, inscribing those divine words “the end” to the Daughter Of Blood manuscript.

And in achieving that end, I did not have to go quite to my 1 April stretch goal—as discussed on January 20 in the post, “The Tao Of Writing: ‘The Book That Can be Spoken Of Is Not The Book.’” I typed those famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) fi...