Helen Lowe's Blog, page 240
November 12, 2012
Tuesday Poem: “is anybody in there?” by Johanna Aitchison
is anybody in there?
The sun hits the tips of waves in Lyall Bay, the big wing, your
sunglasses as you fly into Wellington again. The blow of water,
the salt salt water, would taste like lips after chips & chips.
In the last two years you’ve taken to tearing out pages of your
diary and sending them off in screwtop white wine bottles.
You drop them in rivers, the names of which you forget almost
immediately on hearing the splash.
Your mother says, ‘you should brush your hair.’ You say, ‘I’m
33.’ She ru...
November 11, 2012
In which the author is drowning in paperwork…
Happy Monday!
Yes, dear readers, paperwork of the most mundane and boring, but also pressing kind, alas—and since, despite my best efforts, I did not get it done on the weekend I needs must carry on today rather than doing my usual Monday morning post for you.
And then when the paperwork is done, I fear I really should update my blog… 
(Whether I do or not remains another question, however!)
But in the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, why not check out some of the short fiction I have p...
November 10, 2012
Fun Stuff: Trying the New—I Make A Floral Wreath
Every now and then it’s good to try something new, especially in the creative field—so recently I signed up for a wreath making evening with local floral artist, Kim Chan.
I was a little diffident, because manual dexterity is not my strongest suite, but in the end I was quite pleased with my creation for the evening.
But what do you think—will my wreath pass muster?
Here it is in all its splendour. 
November 9, 2012
A Saturday Writing Quote from Marcus Fabius Quintilianus
“Write quickly and you will never write well. Write well, and you will soon write quickly.”
~ Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, 65 A.D.
—
Needless to say, I take great comfort from this quote. 
November 8, 2012
“Shutting Out A World of Digital Distraction”
Yesterday I said in my “Just Arrived” post on Courtney Schafer’s novels The Whitefire Crossing and The Tainted City, that one of the great things about the internet is the way it enables me to connect with other writers internationally.
While that reamins true, I also think the internet and social media are as much a curse to writers as they are a boon. I saw this article by Carl Wilkinson in The Telegraph and the thrust of it really resonated, as I feel that creativity requires concentrated t...
November 7, 2012
Just Arrived: “The Whitefire Crossing” & “The Tainted City” by Courtney Schafer
One of the great things about the internet is that it facilitates communication with fellow authors, even those on the far side of the world. As a new author myself, I particularly enjoy getting to meet other new authors in the same field—and someone I have gotten to know recently via Twitter, FantasyReddit and Abhinav Jain’s guest author series, is Courtney Schafer.
Courtney and I enjoyed each other’s posts in the “Names: A New Perspective” series, and then discover...
November 6, 2012
World Fantasy Awards 2012
The World Fantasy Awards were announced at the conclusion of the World Fantasy Convention on Sunday evening in Toronto (that’s our Monday morning, NZ and Australian time.)
Probably the most interesting aspect of the result from my point of view was that this must be almost the first major international award Jo Walton’s Amongst Others was nominated for that it did not win.
I am fairly certain, too, that the “Best Novel” category winner, Lavie Tidhar’s Osama is a smaller press publication–not th...
November 5, 2012
Tuesday Poem: “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester” by Rupert Brooke
(Cafe des Westens, Berlin, May 1912)
Just now the lilac is in bloom,
All before my little room;
And in my flower-beds, I think,
Smile the carnation and the pink;
And down the borders, well I know,
The poppy and the pansy blow . . .
Oh! there the chestnuts, summer through,
Beside the river make for you
A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep
Deeply above; and green and deep
The stream mysterious glides beneath,
Green as a dream and deep as death.
— Oh, damn! I know it! and I know
Ho...
November 4, 2012
About the Sir Julius Vogel Awards
Last week—wearing my book blogger’s hat—I received advance publicity that the nomination period for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards would be opening on 1 January and running through until 8 pm on 31 March 2013.
Just to get in the spirit and for those of you who may not know, here’s a little background about the awards:
About the Sir Julius Vogel Awards:
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards are a reader-voted award made annually under the auspices of SFFANZ, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Association of New Ze...
November 3, 2012
“Just now the wisteria is in bloom…”
I enjoyed the wisteria photo yesterday so much—just as I am enjoying ‘the real thing’ in my garden right now—that I thought I’d share a couple more pics with you.
"Just now the wisteria..."
"...is in bloom..."
'...all before my little room..."
Words: Adapted (very slightly) from Rupert Brooke’s “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester”, 1912
Photo credit: J. Church
