Helen Lowe's Blog, page 266
March 12, 2012
The Tuesday Poem: "Angelfish" by Bernadette Hall
Angelfish
We're flying over Australia.
Below us is the desert. In the desert
there's a wound which is water
which is a tear with white salt round
the edges which is a little liquid gateway
as hard as marble should we hurtle
into it. There's a road, a reddish snake-line
that crosses the continent that's shaped
like an angelfish. The words are trying
to imitate the world as it imitates
itself, sand wrinkles like frozen sastrugi,
cloud shadows like black poppies
on the red ground. The brain...
March 11, 2012
15 Days — & Counting Down To "The Gathering of the Lost"
US cover
UK/AUS/NZ cover
Only two weeks to go now until the The Gathering of the Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two is published and officially "out there" in the USA & Canada, Australia and New Zealand! (The UK release day is 5 April.)
I am going to have some more information about Publication Day and festivities around the launch for you on Wednesday (so 'watch this space'!), but in the meantime I am posting a series of excerpts from the book, and today's extract is from the opening of Part 3, ...
March 10, 2012
Celebrating Friends' Successes
Perhaps this blog post should just be "celebrating friends" because friends, after all, are pretty important in this life. But in fact the title is correct: what I am specifically celebrating is friend' recent successes, and more specifically again, those enjoyed by fellow writers.
Because recently several friends-in-writing have enjoyed some good 'wins.'
Firstly, I've mentioned the Gemmell Awards a couple of times, here and here, mainly in terms of The Heir of Night's nomination for both the
March 9, 2012
Are You A Robert Jordan Fan? Then You May Want To Turn The Wheel of Time …
How many years has it been since "The Eye of the World", the first novel in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series came out? I think it was 1990—and now my New Zealand publisher, Hachette, are counting down to the release of the final instalment to the Wheel of Time series on 8 January 2013 with a grand giveaway of 4 x Ultimate Wheel of Time Prize Packs to Robert Jordan readers.
The giveaway competition is current (it commences 28 February; I am just a little behind the 8 ball!) and runs until ...
March 8, 2012
What I'm Reading: "The Prince of Soul And The Lighthouse" by Fredrik Brounéous
I am a little embarrassed at how long it has been since I've done a "What I'm Reading" post. If you're wondering whether that means I haven't been reading much then you're quite right—I haven't. In fact you might say my recreational reading has almost ground to a complete halt. Obviously I hope this trend will reverse again soon, because one of the reasons I'm a writer (I believe) is because I was an avid reader first—and there is never enough time to read all the wonderful books that are...
March 7, 2012
19 Days — & Counting Down To "The Gathering of the Lost"
US cover
UK/AUS/NZ cover
Counting today, there are now 19 days until the USA & Canada, Australia & New Zealand release day for The Gathering of the Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two.
(The UK release day is 5 April.)
To mark the countdown, I am posting a series of excerpts from the book, and today's extract is from the opening of Part 2, The Northern March:
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from The Gathering of the Lost(c) Helen Lowe
Chapter 11, The Wolfpack
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"Carick was cold, tired, and a long time past fear. He had been...
March 6, 2012
On Writing …
'On writing' … now how's that for a portentous "I'm-currently-a-writer-in-residence-don'tcha-know" type post title?
But to be honest, I couldn't think of a better way of summarising it, so thought: "what the heck—portentous and pretentious it is!" I hope you will forgive me … (No, don't answer that!)
So what about writing, then? Well, you see, one of the very good things about being a writer and having the internet (along with all the totally bad things, ie "time suck, big time" et al) is that ...
March 5, 2012
Tuesday Poem: "Finland " by Victoria Broome
Finland
She returned to Finland with her children
wrapped tight against the ice of the night.
So blue their throats ached.
It was a return to the old times, familiar pain,
the first crack of a river in thaw, black haunting
of spindly trees, skeletal white morning sky.
Air so sharp it sliced their hearts with grief.
Her family never sent the gold they had promised,
her husband bought book after book
that would not feed them.
Her children became jewelled possessions
lining her soul with love like the map o...
March 4, 2012
22 Days — & Counting Down to "The Gathering of the Lost"
US cover
UK cover
Only 22 days left now to release day for The Gathering of the Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two.
To mark the countdown, I am posting a series of excerpts from the book, and on Thursday 30 I featured an excerpt from the Prologue.
Today it's an extract from the opening of Part 1, The Festival of Masks:
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from The Gathering of the Lost(c) Helen Lowe
Chapter 1, The Road to Ij
Spring came to the River in a flurry of blustering winds and driving rain that turned the local roads into...
March 3, 2012
Book Giveaway Draw
Because there ended being a reasonable degree of interest, both in specific books and generally, as promised I have done a draw for the book giveaway and used Random Number integer.
And the result is:
Echo City: Anita
Julian Comstock in 22nd America: Lisa (not 'Lisa Eden'—sorry!)
Land of Hope and Glory: Simon
Seven Princes: Daniel
The Scarab Path: Persia Rose
And because I don't have a book for everyone this time—I wish I did!—I am going to offer a signed cover flat for The Gathering of the Lost...
