Helen Lowe's Blog, page 218

Tuesday Poem: “The Death Of Lesbia’s Sparrow” by Catullus

The Death of Lesbia’s Sparrow

Mourn, O you Loves and Cupids

and such of you as love beauty:

my girl’s sparrow is dead,

sparrow, the girl’s delight,

whom she loved more than her eyes.

For he was sweet as honey, and knew her

as well as the girl her own mother,

he never moved from her lap,

but, hopping about here and there,

chirped to his mistress alone.

Now he goes down the shadowy road

from which they say no one returns.

Now let evil be yours, evil shadows of Orcus*,

that devour everything of beauty:

you’ve...

Moving Into Maintenance Mode Until The Book Is Done

Last week, I told you how I’ve been beavering away on Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three over the past month to six weeks, revising the manuscript-to-date.

But in order to get BLOOD done and dusted and out to readers, quite a few of whom are writing to let me know they’re hanging out for WALL3 (thank you, all!), it’s quite clear that the beavering has to continue unabated.

And in order for that to happen, I have to clear the decks a bit more than I already have. I will still be pos...

Guest Post by Ripley Patton: The “Ghost Hold” Cover Reveal

Introduction:

Ripley Patton

Ripley Patton is a friend and fellow speculative fiction author. We first met when Ripley was living in Christchurch and setting up SpecFicNZ. She was also busy writing her first novel, theYA paranormal-thriller, Ghost Hand—and although she and her family have since moved back to the United States, we have continued to correspond and I was pleased to support the release of Ghost Hand last year.

Today Ripley is back to share the cover reveal for her second-in-series: G...

Book Review: “Love Minus Eighty” by Will McIntosh—Reviewed by Karen McMillan

Today I’m really pleased to bring you another book review from Karen McMillan, whose reviews cross a range of literature genres.

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Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh — Reviewed by Karen McMillan

This is an original love story set a hundred years in the future, in a world where the dead can be revived, but only the extremely rich can afford the procedure. This is a world where you can pay insurance to be stored on ice at minus eighty, in the hope someone will bring you back. It’s a world where te...

A Geography of Haarth: Crosshills

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth—and today’s entry is the last in “C.” Next week—onwards to ‘D.’

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Crosshills: a small village on the Northern March of Emer, in the Southern Realms

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“…the squires were going to have to rise well before dawn for their vigil. The castle’s chapel to Serrut had not yet been reconsecrated after Maister Gervon’s death, so...

Introducing A New “…On Anything, Really” Feature: Rebecca Fisher On SFF TV Shows and Films

From next Wednesday, June 19, a new post series will begin here on “…Anything, Really”, focusing on SFF television series and films, both past and present.

The initial series will comprise seven features and run every second Wednesday over the next few months. It will be brought to you by Rebecca Fisher: writer, reviewer, all-round SFF fan, and in particular, lover of SFF and related shows and film. But initially, I thought the ideal introduction would be for Rebecca to tell you about herself...

“Here’s SpecFicNZ–Christchurch”: The Wrap Up

Over the past two months, I have been running a post “mini-series” titled “Here’s SpecFicNZ-Christchurch”, in which my fellow SpecFicNZ-Christchurch authors introduced themselves using a series of common headings:

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Here’s Who: a short, first person introduction to the writer

Here’s Why: the writer writes speculative fiction

Here’s What: an example of the writer’s work

Here’s Where: you can find out more about the writer and their work

By way of a reminder for those of you who may not be familiar w...

Tuesday Poem: “A Host Of Sparrows” by Joanna Preston

from Venery

ix. A Host of Sparrows
Observe the sparrows
………………………who cluster in drabs
and treat people as mobile dessert bars.
The sparrows who haunt our picnic tables

and wrestle with pigeons for crumbs and crusts,
who hop like beans in a frying pan,
one eye always perky for cats.

Study the sparrows
……………………..who nest among downspouts,
in drainpipes, in ragged holes in the hedges,
who flutter and scuffle at traffic lights

snatching fag ends and chips
and their own wing tips
out from under huge wheels.

Consi...

What’s Coming up “On Anything, Really”: Another Great Week!

First off, today—and every day, pretty much—I am beavering away on Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three. Over the past month to six weeks I am been revising the manuscript-to-date and making it even leaner and meaner than it was, but also—the good part—considerably more twisty and turn-y. The constituent parts are always there on a first cut, I find, but it’s always about how you put the parts together and for me that always takes quite a bit of reworking. Anyways, another post wil...

More Wine Wow: “One of the Very Best Pinot Noirs on the Planet”

The vineyard

Back in 2010 I did a couple of posts featuring my friend CP Lin, winemaker at Mountford Estate winery, located at Waipara just north of Christchurch.

The post where I introduced CP is here: Of CP Lin, Food & Wine Matches

Here’s where I shared some international opinion on CP’s wine: Wine Wow

And last year we made an Earth Day Visit To Wine Country

All good stuff!

But last week I received the following excellent news–that the 2009 Mountford Estate Pinot Noir came out in the top 3 at a b...