Helen Lowe's Blog, page 36

Just Arrived: “Tumble” by Joanna Preston

Very recently (11 May), Australian-born but Canterbury-based poet, Joanna Preston, won the Ockham NZ Book Awards’ Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry, 2022.

The Award was for Tumble (Otago University Press, 2021), which is Joanna’s second collection. Her first, The Summer King, was also published by Otago University Press (2009) and won both the inaugural Kathleen Grattan Award (2008) and Australia’s Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize (2010.)

I love The Summer King and am a huge admirer of Joanna’s po...

Q&A Thursdays Reprised #4: Lindsay’s Question

Currently I’m reprising a Q&A series from 2019, which began on March 31  — and today’s refeatured question came from Lindsay.

UK/AU/NZ

Lindsay: Which Battles Did You Research When You were Writing The Siege of the Camp? (Ed: In Daughter of Blood, The Wall Of Night Book 3.)

Helen: Well, I did a LOT of research, I can tell you that — most of which never made it into the book but was pretty fascinating stuff. Some of it was on pre-modern warfare generally, not just sieges, although I gradually hon...

In Memoriam: Patricia McKillip, 1948 – 2022

I have learned with great sadness of the passing of renowned Fantasy author, Patricia McKillip, on May 6.

LocusMag has an obituary, here, that charts her literary contribution, and OregonLive also features her career, here.

What I would like to celebrate today is how much I love her work and the extent of her writing’s influence on my own. Whenever I get asked about writers I admire, Patricia McKillip is always on the list — and what we love, as I know I’ve said here before, we generally aspire ...

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

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 alphabetical ...

“It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged…”

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged’ — that the more point-of-view characters and settings a book contains, the bigger, and longer, it will be.” 

~ Helen Lowe

“Enough said,” she thinks, and digs a little deeper, getting to grips with the denouement of WALL #4 and The Wall Of Night series.

Only to reflect that this is both meant to be a blog centered on authorial reflection (as well as anything else, really) and the opening salvo for the week. So, OK, then…

This truth was first made concret...

What I’m Reading: “ANZAC Diary: A Nonentity in Khaki”

I hoped to run this post for ANZAC Day last week, but couldn’t quite finish the book and muster the required posting energy in time — a shocking confession, I know! I mean, where is the commitment?!

Such appalling authorial revelations aside, I have mustered the energy and resolve to produce the post for this week, so without further ado, let me speak to you, gentle readers, of ANZAC Diary, subtitled A Nonentity in Khaki, which came highly recommended by the same friend that loaned me a reading ...

On Supernatural Underground Now: What Makes A Hero #3 — Commitment

My 1 May post is live on the Supernatural Underground blog — and yep, it *is* #3 in the What Makes A Fantasy Hero post series.

From Installment #1, The Call, followed by #2 Circumstance, I’m now onto Commitment, which I do think is a goodie, honing in on the classics (Frodo, Ged, Morgon of Hed), as well as diving into newer works. Something for everyone, I hope.

Here’s part of the opening salvoes, just to get you started:

“The call, circumstance, and commitment, are not standalone elements: t...

Q&A Thursdays Reprised #3: Sandy’s Question

Currently I’m reprising a Q&A series from 2019, which began on March 31 with Phoebe’s Question.

I have, however, inadvertently made a liar out of myself, because although I said I was following the original order, in fact I missed a whole bunch of Q&A’s when I went to Sam’s question last time. O-o!

Every question is standalone, though, so in the final analysis it won’t matter a jot if I mix things up a bit. So I may do that  bit more in future — but for today, I’m reverting to the original order...

ANZAC Day: April 25

ANZAC poppy

ANZAC Day commemorates the Australia New Zealand Army Corps that was formed to fight in World War One, in general, and the landing at ANZAC Cove that marked the beginning of the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, in particular — which makes this the 107th anniversary of that event.

New Zealand’s death toll in WW1 was immense: proportionally (i.e. as a percentage of total population) one of the highest of any country involved in the war. Perhaps because of this, it has become one of NZ’s two...

Q&A Thursdays Reprised #2: Sam’s Question

Currently I’m reprising a Q&A series from 2019, which began on March 31 with Phoebe’s Question. And I hope you also find both Q’s and A’s of enduring interest, justifying the reprise.

Today, I’m refeaturing Sam’s question.

UK/AU/NZ

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The Daughter of Blood & WALL Series Q&A (Reprised): Sam’s Question

Sam: When Daughter Of Blood first came out you posted some deleted scenes. Any chance of more of those to come?

Helen: The deleted scenes were fun—but the book evolved in a way that moved beyond the...