Helen Lowe's Blog, page 213

Teresa Frohock Reports In On “The Heir Of Night”

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UK/AU/NZ

You may recall, a ways back in the mists of early this year, I did a “Just Arrived” post for Miserere, An Autumn Tale, the first novel by my fellow BookSworn author, Teresa Frohock. I then went on to give you my report back, here.

As I said at the time though, Teresa and I had done a book swap—and now Teresa has posted her report on The Heir Of Night.

Here’s a snippet of what she has to say:

“Lowe utilizes necromancy and other dark artsto givethe novelthe right touch ofdread for epic...

Tuesday Poem: The Wayfarer

The Wayfarer : Odysseus at Dodoma

Acorns lie strewn with old leaves, thick

as years beneath the shadow of spreading oaks

where an old woman stoops, picking up sticks

that are no more or less twisted than she, binding

them onto her bent back, and watching with one

bright, blackbird eye as the wayfarer approaches,

an oar balanced across his knotted shoulder, his eyes

narrowed between deep seams, as one who has looked

out to numerous horizons and seen wonders: the moon’s

twinned horns rising from a twilit...

Catalyst Open Mic Is Back: Yahoo!

And here, for more local readers, is the panui:

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Catalyst: Rolling Like Thunder Since 2003

(Yup, 10 years folks — spewing literary lava since 2003!)

Catalyst Open Mic
Wednesday 7th August, 8pm
The Darkroom 336 St Asaph St
Our new home is the glorious Darkroom on St Asaph St:
Come along, Bring your words for a big ol’ gathering of poets and friends.

SEE YOU THERE!

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www.catalystnz.blogspot.com

Find us on Facebook: Catalyst Literary Arts Journal

Comment Of The Week: from Wen Baragrey

“…you’ve kept going with the books even with all the quake and post quake stress. You should be really proud of yourself! ”

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Wen’s comment came via webmail—and it is certainly true that not just the 18 months of awful, from September 2010 through to December 2011, but also the aftermath of the earthquakes that shattered Christchurch has been stressful in the extreme. Because, dear readers, neither shattered physical environments, nor emotional ones, whether for individuals, families, or commu...

Our Third Book Quote for Saturday from Ursula Le Guin

“The sound of the language is where it all begins and what it all comes back to. The basic elements of language are physical: the noise words make and the rhythm of their relationships. This is just as true of written prose as it is of poetry, though the sound effects of prose are usually subtle and always irregular.”

~ Ursula Le Guin, Steering The Craft

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I am currently doing a series of Saturday quotes from Ursula Le Guin’s book on writing titled Steering The Craft. If you haven’t already enco...

A Geography Of Haarth: Grayharbor

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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Grayharbor: the northenmost settlement between the River and the Wall of Night

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‘ Malian narrowed her eyes at the flock of starlings swirling across the sky behind his head, a sure sign that evening was drawing in. “The Band has eyes-and-ears amongst the caravans that journey to the B...

“When Characters We Love Die”: I Post on BookSworn Writers

I’ve been so busy with writing, writing, that I haven’t done too many posts on the BookSworn writers site, although I am a member…

Right now though, I have a feature post up titled “When Characters We Love Die”, starting:

“Recently, a reader who had completed reading The Gathering Of The Lost, the second novel in my Wall Of Night series, wrote to me that:

“…my only gripe is you write great characters I love and then you kill them!”

…”

And there’s already some interesting and indepth comments, whic...

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

By Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

Two words: guilty pleasure. Back in the nineties, the runaway success of Xena Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer made network executives sit up and realize that there was an audience for fantasy-themed shows starring female protagonists. Perhaps with a little help from the current fad in New Age witchcraft and paganism, the concept of Charmed first aired in 1998, eventually becoming the longest-running hour-long television series with female leads. The...

Tuesday Poem: “Morte D’Arthur” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Morte d’Arthur
So all day long the noise of battle roll’d
Among the mountains by the winter sea;
Until King Arthur’s table, man by man,
Had fallen in Lyonnesse about their Lord,
King Arthur: then, because his wound was deep,
The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him,
Sir Bedivere, the last of all his knights,
And bore him to a chapel nigh the field,
A broken chancel with a broken cross,
That stood on a dark strait of barren land.
On one side lay the ocean, and on one
Lay a great water, and the moon was full.

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An...

Gemmell Legend Award Voting Closes This Wednesday, 31 July

UK/AU/NZ Cover

USA

Last year, The Heir of Night won the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer—and this year The Gathering Of The Lost is on the longlist for the open category: the Gemmell Legend Award, which is given for a novel, published in the preceding calendar year, in the epic, heroic, or high Fantasy genre.

And because the Legend Award is the open category, there are some pretty heavy hitters—i.e. well-established names—amongst the authors on the longlist, as well as newer f...