Helen Lowe's Blog, page 29

Thirty Years: Wow!

Recently, author Kate Forsyth was asked how long it took her to write a book. This is her answer:

“It depends on the length of the book & on what challenges are thrown up by each story … One of my books took thirty years of writing, re-writing, discarding it, resurrecting it, re-writing it again…”

Needless to say I found this immensely reassuring, at the same time as I was thinking, “thirty years: wow!” Then again, the WALL world has been with me for at least that long (in fact, it’s longer), bu...

Reflections on Writing As Vocation

Two Mondays ago, I posted on the book booty that came my way over the holiday break, including Haruki Murakami’s Novelist As A Vocation.

Unfortunately I haven’t yet had a chance to dip further into the book’s series of collected essays, but the whole notion of writing as vocation put me in mind of some reflections that I posted some years ago — and am revisiting today.

On Writing As A Vocation

In 2010, Zadie Smith published her Rules for Writers in The Guardian newspaper, one of which was:

“Don’...

Fun With Friends: Photo #1 From Marion Drolsbach

Toward the end of last year, I was delighted to be visited by Marion Drolsbach, who translated The Heir of Night (The Wall Of Night #1) into Dutch.

Marion Drolsbach, translator extraordinaire

As well as being a professional translator, Marion is also a dab hand at photography, so over the next while I’ll be sharing some of her photos, taken at one of Canterbury’s braided river mouths.

All in the spirit of continuing the “inside Middle Earth” theme that I kicked off in my New Year’s Day post on...

“The Buried Giant” by Kazuo Ishiguro: Book Booty Reprised…

…chiefly because I forgot one of the holiday season arrivals last week! Too many books in too short a space of time, clearly.

The omitted book is The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro, which was first published in 2015.

First edition cover

I recall it being a little bit contentious at the time (among some readers, anyway) because of the way it bridged the fantasy and literary fiction genres. Not surprisingly, I’m interested to read it to find out more, and am only sorry it’s taken this long to get...

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Murn

USA

The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist’s Interview, 2013

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alphabeti...

Book Booty! AKA What The Holiday Season Brought Me…

When it comes to holiday season booty, my haul was decidedly bookilicious. I’ve already mentioned AK Wilder’s much-awaited Curse of Shadows arriving immediately pre-Christmas.

Now, here’s what Santa, along with various other friends and wellwishers, have brought–and bought!—me since:

Something Old:

Dogside Story by Patricia Grace (first published 2001.) Those who visit here regularly probably already know I’m a Patrica Grace fan. Yes, right from here very first book, Mutuwhenua: The Moon Sleeps....

The 10 Most-Read Posts of 2022

I had hoped to get the “ten most-read posts” roundup to you before the old year rolled over into the new, but it was not to be. However, 2023 is still very young, so ’tis not (I feel!) too late to share them now. I do hope you agree!

The year is yet new…

Last year, the posts grouped reasonably neatly into four themes, but 2022 was more diverse in terms of what you, as readers, were focused upon — with one exception.

 

Once I began my review, it very quickly became apparent that the one subject...

On Supernatural Underground Now: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, one and all!

And yes, I’ve posted a Happy New Year on the Supernatural Underground, too, it being the first of the month and all.

I’ve taken a chillax approach and posted some “inside Middle Earth” pics that I hope visitors will enjoy. The two photos shared with you here are by way of bonus New Year goodness.

Both trees featured are pohutakawa (Metrosideros excelsa), but the first photo features a tree with relatively unusual yellow flowers, whereas the red is both more common an...

“Australia Post” — A Poem

On Monday, I mentioned receiving a parcel from AK Wilder, enclosing a gift of her books Crown of Bones and Curse of Shadows.

Since Kim resides in Australia, the envelope bore the legend “Australia Post” — which of course reminded me of my poem of the same name.

Hence sharing it with you today: enjoy!

—

Australia Post

The location on the postmark
looks Aboriginal –
a smudged box number
provides no assistance.

I search for you in the gaps
between internet
and dog-eared telephone books,
the drift...

Look What’s New — “Curse of Shadows” from AK Wilder

Look what I found in my post office box on Christmas Eve — an initially mysterious parcel stamped “Australia Post” that turned out to contain two beautiful hardback books: Crown of Bones and Curse of Shadows by AK Wilder.

Respectively, they’re Books One and Two in Kim’s Amassia series, and although I read Crown of Bones in e-format when it first came out, Curse of Shadows was only just published on 6 December.

So it’s literally hot off the press — and arriving at the perfect time for holiday re...