Helen Lowe's Blog, page 197
January 10, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “Here’s SpecFicNZ–Christchurch”: Featuring AJ Fitzwater
This year, I ran two mini-series featuring fellow authors from Speculative Fiction New Zealand. Titled “Here’s SpecficNZ”, the one earlier in the year featured fellow members from Christchurch, while the one later in the year focused on Wellington-based members.
The interview with Christchurch writer, Amanda Fitzwater, made it into the ten most-read posts.
AJ Fitzwater
“Here’s Who:
How to pin down /who is Amanda (A.J.) Fitzwater is like trying to eat water with a knife and fork.
There’s the facts,...
January 9, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “Celebration: “The Gathering Of The Lost” Makes The David Gemmell Legend Award Shortlist!”
UK/AU/NZ Cover
USA
I posted this on August 15, although the shortlist was actually annpunced on the 11th (I believe) — but I was afraid to check out the result before then!
But seeing The Gathering Of The Lost on that list was probably the highlight of my year. To check out how I felt at the time, the post is here:
Celebration: “The Gathering Of The Lost” Makes The David Gemmell Legend Award Shortlist!
And sure, ultimately The Gathering Of The Lost didn’t win, but you know, although it’s easy to s...
January 8, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “One Of My “Most Disliked” Tropes Of SFF / Epic Fantasy”
I wrote this post because it was very much in my thoughts as I was plugging away on Daughter of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three — but it appears to have struck a chord. 
“One of the great dangers of writing SFF is what the great Ursula Le Guin calls the “Expository Lump”, ie in lieu of a Vulcan Mind meld between author and reader, the author downloads details of worldbuilding, backstory, or other essential plot information in a giant lump of text.
Urrgh, I hear you all cry, quite rightly.
B...
January 7, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “Tuesday Poem: ‘Female nude’ by Joanna Preston”
Joanna Preston
This is the only poem that made it into the most-read 10 this year—and because Joanna is both a good friend and a poet whose work I esteem immensely, I am very pleased to see Female nude receive such recognition.
As always with Joanna’s work, it packs quite a punch — just ‘imho.’ 
To read the poem, please click on:
Tuesday Poem: “Female nude” by Joanna Preston
To read other poems by Joanna, check out:
Cowarral Sequence ii—The Orange Tree
January 6, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “What Makes Fantasy Epic?”
UK/AU/NZ Cover
USA
Posts on “epic” topics did garner attention in 2013 and the one that appears to have been of most interest came later in the year, on October 7 — and certainly generated more discussion than the usual, with both regular blog readers and writers such as Kate Elliott and Elizabeth Moon all contributing comments.
From my point of view as the blogger, I do find such interactions very rewarding and it’s nice to know that you do, too.
“…with The Gathering Of The Lost making the short...
January 5, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “An Interview with Elspeth Cooper, Author of “The Wild Hunt” Series”
Elspeth Cooper
One of the great pleasures of being a writer is interacting with fellow authors — and on February 4th of last year I had the very great pleasure of interviewing my fellow epic fantasist, UK author, Elspeth Cooper.
The interview is also one of the ten most read posts for the year:
“… Elspeth Cooper, … like me, is a new name on the international Fantasy scene. Again like me, Elspeth is currently writing a four-book epic Fantasy series, The Wild Hunt (Gollancz.) Songs of the Earth, t...
January 4, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “My Favourite Standalone Novels”
On January 30th of last year I took a look at some of my favourite standalone, Fantasy novels—a discussion you appeared to find interesting:
“…the drive to pen lists was partly because I’d received a few communications along the lines of:
“I don’t normally read fantasy but I enjoyed your books (HL: thank you!) and would like to read more, so what would you recommend?”
The best way to recommend seemed to be sharing what I have liked over the years. With this list though, it’s just “Fantasy” becau...
January 3, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: “In Memory Of Sarah Broom, 1972 – 2013″
Sarah Broom
On April 23, I posted a memorian to Sarah Broom, a poet whom I esteemed greatly.
The obituary, I feel, speaks for itself, and I hope that you will take a moment to re-read it and commemorate Sarah by clicking on the link following the short intro:
“It is with great sadness that I record the death of New Zealand poet, Sarah Broom, who died last Thursday, 18 April, after a prelonged illness with lung cancer.
My first encounter with Sarah was through her poetry, when I read and loved her...
January 2, 2014
The Most-Read Posts of “…On Anything Really” from 2013: Starting Tomorrow
Days of Summer 1
Over the next ten days I’ll be featuring the most-read posts from “…on Anything, Really” during 2013.
As last year, the order within the top 10 will be random, but I still hope you’ll be as interested as I was in what you were most drawn to read throughout the year.
It might be interesting to see if there’s a change from reading patterns in 2012 as well.
But I’ll begin by looking at the posts themselves — starting tomorrow: I’m looking forward to it.
January 1, 2014
A Resolution For 2014 :)
When it came to resolutions, I didn’t think I could go past this one:
Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book...
