Helen Lowe's Blog, page 244

Book Review: “The Hydrogen Sonata” by Iain M Banks — Reviewed by Andrew Robins

Review: The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks (Orbit, 2012; 517 pp.)

Reviewed by: Andrew Robins

I am a fan of Iain M Banks and the Culture “universe”, so it has been a rare treat for me to get the opportunity to read and review a second Culture novel this year. (The first was Surface Detail.)

The Hydrogen Sonata has some flaws as a story (in my opinion), but once I recognised these and accepted them, they did not really detract much from my enjoyment while reading.

The Culture is a very rich back d...

Just Arrived: “Seven Wonders” by Adam Christopher

Yesterday was one of those days—you know, when you open up your post office box and find a little yellow card inside. But rather than being a stern warning for bad on-the-field behaviour, you take it inside the post office and exchange it for a parcel. And not always, but quite often, the parcel is a book.

Happiness!

And so it proved to be yesterday. I handed over my little piece of yellow card and the kind lady behind the counter gave me a parcel—and the book therein was Seven Wonders by Ada...

A View from Here: My View As A Writer

This is the fourth and final post in my “A View from Here” series, put together as part of the Aotearoa Blog Carnival.

The carnival itself is intended to celebrate New Zealand literature and letters, given New Zealand is the official guest country at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year

In “A View from Aotearoa-New Zealand” I talked about geographic isolation and New Zealanders as migratory birds, heading outward to the world even if we also often return. I believe New Zealand writers also tend to...

Tuesday Poem: “The stars, Natasha” by Tim Jones

The stars, Natasha

Natasha, fundamentals are strong,

key indicators steady.

Leave your books, Natasha,

let your computer

draw patterns on its screen.

Walk with me through the heavens.

Along cold orbits

the spendthrift stars

squander their assets on light.

The World Bank

is unamused; the IMF

is noting down their names.

So take my hand

let’s drift away

into the cosmic background.

.

©Tim Jones

First published in Boat People (HeadworX) 2002

Reprinted in Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand (Interactive...

What’s Happening This Week: 1 — 7 October

Monday, Monday — and time to think about what’s on the to-do list, here on the blog and/or on other sites for the rest of the week…

First and most obviously, writing Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three, which is — of course! — an “every day” task and very much in the spirit of John Steinbeck’s book quote yesterday (right here.)

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Later today, once US eastern standard time clicks on over into 1 October (around 5 pm) I’ll be posting on the Supernatural Underground, since the first of t...

What’s Happening This Week

Monday, Monday — and time to think about what’s on the to-do list, here on the blog and/or on other sites for the rest of the week…

First and most obviously, writing Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three, which is — of course! — an “every day” task and very much in the spirit of John Steinbeck’s book quote yesterday (right here.)

—

Later today, once US eastern standard time clicks on over into 1 October (around 5 pm) I’ll be posting on the Supernatural Underground, since the first of t...

A Writing Quote for Sunday — Courtesy of John Steinbeck

“Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished you are always surprised.”

– John Steinbeck

.

John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. You can read the accompanying citation here and his Wikipedia entry, here.

“Fun With Friends” on SF Signal — An Interview with Jane Higgins

Jane Higgins

The fourth interview in my “Fun with Friends” interview series has recently posted on Hugo Award-winning site, SF Signal.

The series comprises a monthly interview with fellow SFF authors from Australia and New Zealand, focused around 5 questions on “who they are” and “what they do” in writing terms.

This interview is with YA speculative fiction author, Jane Higgins, right HERE.

Please do click through to take a look—and help me keep the international spotlight on antipodean SFF by no...

What I’m Reading: “Zoo City” by Lauren Beukes

I’d heard so much about this book, which won the Arthur C Clarke Award for Science Fiction in 2011, that it is very nice to be able to get into at last.

And so far, at between a third to half the way through, I’m enjoying the premise, which is that people who fall by the wayside in terms of (mainly) “crime”, end up with an animal familiar by way of “punishment.” The South African setting is interesting, although as someone who has never been there I have no way of assessing authenticity—but th...

A View From Here: A View From Aotearoa-New Zealand

On September 15, submissions for the 5th and latest instalment of the The Aotearoa Blog Carnival closed. The carnival is part of celebrating New Zealand literature and letters as part of New Zealand being the official guest country at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year—which of course is happening 10-14 October, i.e. very soon: w00t to all those Kiwis who’re going to be there!

The theme for the 5th instalment of the Carnival is “A View From Here” and as I said in my post of September 13, I do...