Helen Lowe's Blog, page 245

Abhinav Jain & A Guest Author Series on The Importance of Names in Speculative Fiction

As I mentioned in my round up on September 17, here, I have not been doing so many guest post gigs recently, but I was delighted to receive an invitation from book blogger and reviewer Abhinav Jain to particpate in a new guest author series on his “Sons of Corax” site.

Mostly because the topic addresses a subject that is a really important part of my Fantasy (as I hope my guest post will attest.) To quote Abhinav:

“The topic is how the names of characters and places and other things within thei...

Tuesday Poem: ‘sewing the world’ by Kerrin Sharpe

sewing the world

my mother’s head

was full of stitches

she waited in the

deep forest as featherstitch

with other small birds

here she sang rickrack and

braided herring bone rivers

here she used chain stitch to

grow mountains here she sat

weaving stitch wheel oceans

to roll out waves

but there are white gaps

between smocking pirie street

and the cross-stitched church

where she married

if I follow the

red wool down woodwood

street it appears as

running stitch in the

napier earthquake

her hat shops are only

tacked to...

Stargazing

MOA Observatory at Mt John

I spent this last weekend at Mt John Observatory, the University of Canterbury astronomical research facility, on a stargazing expedition organised by the University of Canterbury’s Alumni & Development office.

Needless to say it was interesting and informative: I got to look at and through a variety of telescopes, as well as seeing stars(!), experiencing the amazing location, and enjoy briefings from a number of the people associated with the Mt John Observatory, inc...

“Fun With Food”—A Few Photos

Beetroot soup, River Cottage style

You’ve probably picked up from the blog & Twitterverse that I’m a bit of a “foodie”—here’s a few recent photos by way of evidence!

Bake day--hurrah!

Enjoy.

The Magic of The Gift: Thank You, Christchurch Irish Society

In my recent post for “A View From Here: A View From Christchurch” for the Aotearoa at Frankfurt Blog Carnival, I alluded to some of the less-than-easy aspects of living in post-earthquake Christchurch.

Summed up in a few words, disasters of the magnitude that happened here are never over when the earth stops shaking (or whatever the natural or man-made equivalent is in the case of other disasters in other places.) That is only the beginning and the really hard yards come afterward: surviving,...

Spring Fever Is Well & Truly Here—With the Poetry In Performance Spring Season 2012

Joanna Preston

I said yesterday that it must be spring because events were bustin’ out all over, with a post on NZ Speculative Fiction Blogging Week following hard on the heels of Suffrage Day.

And lo and behold, into my inbox popped the panui (notice) for the Canterbury Poets’ Collective, Poetry In Performance Spring Season 2012.

Brian Turner

And I have to say, it’s a great line-up! If you are in Christchurch for any/all of the evenings it would be well worthwhile popping along for a listen and...

It’s Aotearoa-New Zealand Speculative Fiction Blogging Week!

Yup, it must be spring because things are happening all over, with Suffrage Day yesterday—although that, of course, is historical!—and NZ SpecFic Blogging week having commenced on Monday 17 and running through until Sunday 23.

Sponsored by SpecFicNZ, the idea of the blogging week is that bloggers everywhere post on NZ speculative fiction topics all week. As it says on the SpecFicNZ blog:

“Post to your blog in that time, and whether it’s a snippet of SF poetry, or a self-indulgent squee about th...

Today is Women’s Suffrage Day in Aotearoa-New Zealand

Kate Sheppard Memorial (still there, post quakes!)

Yes, on this very day, in 1893, New Zealand women achieved the vote.

New Zealand was not only the first country in the world to grant women suffrage “at all” (although I believe the state of Wyoming in the US granted women the state legislature vote in 1869), but granted it to all women, regardless of age, class or race. (Quite right, I hear you cry, but also understand that was not always the case.

“Canterbury had an integral part to play in th...

Tuesday Poem: A Podcast Interview With Rhian Gallagher, Author of “Shift” & Winner of the NZ Post Book Award for Poetry 2012

Rhian Gallagher

As my Tuesday Poem feature today, I am linking to my recent Women on Air interview with poet, Rhian Gallagher, author of the poetry collection, “Shift.” Rhian recently won the NZ Post Book Award for Poetry 2012, again for Shift.

To listen, and also hear Rhian reading ‘Under the Pines’ and ‘Gaze’ as part of the interview, click HERE.

Then either click on the ‘Play’ icon, or download the MP3

You may also read my post on her NZ Post Book Award win, here.

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For more re Shift, Rhian, and...

What I’m Doing: A Quick Round Up, Plus Around the Traps

Well, one thing I am clearly doing as you will know from my two update posts from last week, here and here, is working on Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Series Book Three. Be assured, that shall continue ‘until it’s done’ and I will bring you the occasional up date from time to time–but JanB says I am not to ‘tease’ you, so I shall try not to do that either!

I have not been doing so many guest post gigs recently, but I do have my current series “Fun With Friends” on SF Signal, which co...