Helen Lowe's Blog, page 225

Celebrating “The Gathering of The Lost” & Women in Genre Month: Writing Strong Women

UK/AUS/NZ

As you know, with the mass market edition of The Gathering Of The Lost recently published in the UK, I’ve been re-posting a few of the features from last year’s Blog Tour.

This post was first published on American writer Mur Lafferty’s blog and subsequently translated into French as well—but since Mur has subsequently revitalized her blog it is now only available in English here.

Given it is also “Women in Genre” month, it seems particularly timely to re-post the article now.

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“Writing...

A Book Quote For Sunday from Saint Augustine

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

~ Saint Augustine, 354 – 430 AD

New Zealand National Flash Fiction Day Is Happening Again—And There’s A Contest!

New Zealand celebrated its inaugural Flash Fiction day last year—with events from Northland to Canterbury and many places in between that included regional writing competitions, a 24-hr write-in, workshops, flash presentations and readings.

The good news is that it’s happening again this year, on June 22nd, 2013.

And once again, there’s going to be a competition—it opened on 1 April, in fact, and runs to May 31.

Judges are still to be announced, but here’s the contest low-down to date, as receiv...

A Geography of Haarth: Barrowdun

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth series features locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth.

This week the series is continuing with placenames—and places—that begin with the letter “B.”

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Barrowdun: a clan territory of the Emerian Hill people, in the Southern Realms of Haarth.

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‘The woman smiled thinly. “It’s true that Barrowdun and Hillholt are as likely to raid each other as stand together. But what preys on our farmsteads and hu...

Just Arrived: “The Disestablishment Of Paradise” by Phillip Mann

Phillip Mann is a fellow New Zealand-based writer, and author of the prior The Gardener and A Land Fit For Heroes series.

The Disestablishment Of Paradise is his first new novel since 1996 and reads, from the back cover, as what I would call “biological” or “ecological” science fiction. But it is definitely science fiction, with the synopsis focusing on human settlement of space.

Here’s what the back cover synopsis says, in full:

“Something has gone wrong on the planet of Paradise.

The human sett...

Great Fantasy Courtships: Intercedents, Masks, Gifts, Choices, & Magic on the Supernatural Underground

The 1st of the month (US time) is my regular guest post day on the Supernatural Underground—and last month you’ll recall I celebrated release of the mass market edition of The Gathering Of The Lost in the UK with a post on its particular style of epic: High Romantic Fantasy.

This month I continue the romantic aspect of that theme with a post that covers intercedents, masks, gifts, choices, & of course magic with a post on Great Fantasy Courtships:

“…You know the sort: where girl/boy sees/meets...

Tuesday Poem: “Au Charbonnage” by Laurice Gilbert

Au Charbonnage

November 1880

Dear Theo

I am drawing again.

Here is a sketch of

The Colliery,

the miners’ tavern at Laeken,

It is in good repair

don’t you think?

The miners are poor

and in need of salvation.

I have given them

my money, my clothes,

my food

and God’s word.

The converts are

elusive and I’ve

lost a bit of weight.

.

© Laurice Gilbert

Published in My Family& Other Strangers, 2012

Reproduced here with permission.

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As I noted in last week’s Tuesday Poem post, I am currently running a series of poems in res...

Here’s Another Photo of My Cat…

Yes, Easter Monday and April Fool’s Day both falling at once seem an excellent time for that great tradition of authorial blogs—’here’s (a/another) photo of my cat.’

This, for those who don’t know, is Iggy, Ignatz when he’s in trouble, aka known as “the Igster”—who is now in his 21st year as part of the authorial household.

For more on the tradition of writer’s blogs and photos of pets, check out my first And Here’s The Cat post. But really, you should just blame John Scalzi.

Later today (NZ...

Last Call for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards: Nominations Close Today!

The Sir Julius Vogel Awards, New Zealand’s awards for excellence in science fiction and fantasy (from the previous calendar year) are given annually by SFFANZ.

The nomination period is open from 1 January to 31 March 2013 —yes, that’s right, that closing date is today, folks, so if you haven’t got your nominations in yet, it’s down-to-the-wire time!

Anyone may nominate and I’ve posted previously on the Sir Julius Vogel Award nomination process, which is well worth a look if you’re thinking abou...

“Fun With Friends” On SF Signal: I Interview Ian Irvine

My regular “Fun With Friends” interview has now posted on SF Signal — and my February March guest is Ian Irvine.

Mainly we’re talking about Ian’s new novel Rebellion, but also about his writing generally — and with 29 novels to his credit, there is plenty to talk about! — but check it out and see for yourself:

Fun with Friends: Helen Lowe Talks with Ian Irvine

As always comments are welcome.