Helen Lowe's Blog, page 212

A Geography Of Haarth: Great 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. Today sees the last entry for “G”.

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Great River: the Ijir, the major river that flows through the center of the land known simply as the River.

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“She tapped her forefinger on the table, first on the sinuous vein of gold that was the great river Ijir and then on the vastness of the Winter Country.”

~ The Heir Of N...

Excitement: A BookSworn Legend Award Post & Giveaway

It’s all happening on the BookSworn authors’ site right now, with a post featuring the two books by BookSworn authors to make the Gemmell Legend Award shortlist: my own The Gathering Of The Lost and Mark Lawrence’s King Of Thorns.

The post also features an excerpt from each of our books, plus a reviewer’s quote and a link to where you can read more — which I hope you will, because although naturally I hope you may choose to “vote for GATHERING” for the award, a big part of the Gemmell Award pr...

Celebration: “The Gathering Of The Lost” Makes The David Gemmell Legend Award Shortlist!

UK/AUS/NZ

USA

On Sunday evening in the UK, the David Gemmell Legend Award shortlist for 2013 was announced—and The Gathering Of The Lost is on it! To see the announcement click on:

Legend Award Shortlist

I am sure I have no need to tell you, dear friends, just how tremendously exciting seeing Gathering on that list is! I also really want to thank each and every one of you who voted for “Helen Lowe – The Gathering Of The Lost”, because I absolutely could not have gotten this far without your ac...

Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Justice League”

By Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

This one is going to take a mighty big introduction. Where do I start? First of all, the Justice League animated series is actually part of a much larger collection of entertainment media. When talking about the DC Animated Universe, we’re actually referring to at least six different TV shows, several feature movies and a variety of web series, which in turn draw their inspiration from various comic books that have been around for decades.

Diving head first into J...

Tuesday Poem: “The Trojan Shore”

The Trojan Shore

Tonight, the wind blows bitter

from the stony heights

beyond the city, gusts

at the thousand cook-fires,

lifts dust and grit from the plain,

driving through tent flaps

and into eyes, rank

with the stench of a siege camp –

combined sweat, wounds and excrement

assault every sense, beat at him

where he stands apart,

one more shadow on the beach,

one hand pushed hard

against his black prowed ship

while his eyes strain towards

the long horizon, strive

to see beyond it to the forsaken wife

and unkno...

What I’m Reading: “The Ocean At The End Of The Lane” by Neil Gaiman

Yes, I’ve finally readThe Ocean At The End Of The Lane and this is the long overdue book report!

The delay from the Just Arrived post on June 26 is not because I found the book an arduous read, but simply that I have been buried so deep writing Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three) that reading has taken something of a back seat.

But now, onwards to my report back on this book, which really has been getting a lot of positive attention worldwide.

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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, by N...

Comment Of The Week: from Robin Sutton

“LOVE this!”

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Robin’s comment was made on this week’s Tuesday Poem, in which I posted my poem The Wayfarer, from my Ithaca Conversations sequence.

To read the poem, click on the title:

The Wayfarer

Fourth & Final Book Quote For Saturday From Ursula Le Guin

“The chief duty of a narrative sentence is to lead to the next sentence … [because] the basic function of the narrative sentence is to keep the story going and keep the reader going with it.”

~ Ursula Le Guin, Steering The Craft

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What can I say, except “Hear, hear!” and “Bravo!” and /or any number of other expressions of authorly enthusiasm and approval. Whenever I am tempted to overwrite (the temptation arising out of my love affair with language and words), i.e. at least every other sentence,...

A Geograpy of Haarth: Gray Lands

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. Currently, we’re in “G.”

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Gray Lands: the desolate plains that adjoin the Wall of Night

‘The wind was blowing again, no longer a full Wall storm but driving in gusts, bringing dust and grit from the jagged peaks that towered above the Gray Lands. It blew under the bivouac where the small band of fugitives lay h...

What’s A-Happenin’ In the Week of 5-10 August, Anno Domini 2013

Lots of writing, that’s what, for starters. I am now into the penultimate section of Daughter Of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book Three and there is not a great deal to report beyond that I shall keep writing, writing — in a fashion that makes authors otherwise very dull sorts of creatures indeed — until it is done. And hope to reach the shores of the magical realm encapsulated by those two words “The End”, as soon as may be…

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Lots of writing doesn’t generally make for lots of reading time, so I...