Helen Lowe's Blog, page 22

Q&A Thursdays #15: Andrew’s Question

For a while now, I’ve been reprising a Daughter of Blood (and by extension The Wall Of Night) Q&A series that featured in 2019.

Today’s question came from Andrew and concerns the “black blades” that feature throughout the series. The black spear is the one first seen by Kalan in The Heir of Night, which reappears in Daughter of Blood.

UK/AU/NZ

Andrew: Is there a difference between the “black blades”, which are swords, and the black spear?

Helen: The answer is that there may be, in terms of origi...

A Book Quote To Start Your Week — by Charles De Lint via Terri Windling

“Every time we make something out of nothing, that’s an act of magic. It doesn’t matter if it’s a painting or a garden, or an abuelo telling his grandchildren some tall tale. Every time we fix something that’s broken…that’s an act of magic.” ~ Charles de Lint

The source of this quote is Canadian Fantasy author Charles de Lint, famous for works such as The Little Country and The Blue Girl, but I came cross it when it was tweeted by another of the Fantasy greats, Terri Windling.

Terri has a site ...

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Nerion

The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist’s Interview, 2013

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alphabetical...

Just Arrived: “The Garden Of Evening Mists” by Tan Twan Eng

Recently, Marion Drolsbach — translator extraordinaire for The Heir of Night — recommended The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, which she has (also recently) translated into Dutch.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to secure a copy of The House of Doors yet. But fortunately, a local library was able to supply a copy of The Garden of Evening Mists, also by Tan Twan Eng, which won the Man Asia Literary Prize and Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2013, as well as being shortlisted for t...

ICYMI — There’s A “The Wall Of Night” Series Read-Along!

Just a reminder — in case you missed it! — that FB Group Haarth have embarked upon a WALL series read-along and all are welcome to join in.

The full details are in my August 17 post, so click on the link to “read all about it!”:

FB Group Haarth Invites You — To “The Wall Of Night” Read-Along!

The gist, though, is to a read a chapter a week and so far the convenor, Rosie Wadman, reports that readers “are covering a multitude of details, from individual characters and their relationships, to the ...

About Those Book Covers, Then…

Last Monday, I crossed to my latest post on Supernatural Underground, but also put a question out there, to see if anyone else spotted what I did about the first three covers featured.

In the absence of takers for that ‘challenge’ (so to speak), I thought I would share m’terribly important thoughts on the matter.

To get the ball rolling, here are the covers again, in the order posted:

Gardens of the Moon, #1 in the the epic fantasy series titled The Malazan Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson...

A Great Quote From Steve Jobs, 1955 – 2011

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

— Steve Jobs, 1955 – 2011

This is a reasonably famous quote — and since I’ve called it a great one as well, you’re probably ‘sensing’ (Deanna Troy empath style! ) that I agree with it.

I also believe it speaks for itself, so will offer no further exposition, but return to striving to do great work.

New on Supernatural Underground — A Few More “Band of Bro’s” Favourites

I know I always say this — but how can it be September already?!

Nonetheless, it is, which (naturellement) meant that on 1 September I posted installment #8 in the “band of brothers” post series on Supernatural Underground. Awesome, high five.

When it comes to brotherhood tropes, King Arthur probably has a lot to answer for.

I’ve traversed a reasonable amount of thematic territory with this series to date, so this month I’m revisiting a few favourite reads that I think illustrate the topic — e...

A Little Bit Of Poetry News — & Supernatural Underground

On Monday, I celebrated National Poetry Day with a poem, Fey.

In the meantime, I’ve had a little bit of poetry good news, which is that another (hitherto unoublished) poem, titled Last of the Wine, has been accepted for the NZ Poetry Society Anthology, which will come out later this year.

It’s been a long time since I’ve submitted any poetry (because of the multi-year, all-in project aka The Chaos Gate), so it’s gratifying to have an acceptance.

And tomorrow will be my Supernatural Underground ...

Celebrating National Poetry Day: “Fey”

Friday was NZ National Poetry Day, so what better time to feature a poem! Fey is one I’m rather fond of, especially those hurdy-gurdy trees.

Fey

your door
stands open still
at dusk, your light
a moth’s antenna
across
shadowed lawn

bare feet rustle
in last year’s
leaf drift, a wind
sways
through naked trees

you say
you will hang
a cricket cage
above your lintel,
burn apple wood
in the grate –
dance, the circle
of your skirt
reflecting
the moon’s dark face

I ride
a rocking horse
with patchwork e...