Helen Lowe's Blog, page 37
April 17, 2022
A Book Quote for Easter Monday: from “Chocolat” by Joanne Harris
One of the many fascinatinging aspects of Joanne Harris’s magic realism novel, Chocolat, is that although it’s often perceived as being a foodie tale with a strong dash of “pagan” mythologies drawn from a wide range of cultures such as Aztec, Inca, and Roma, the narrative arc is grounded in the Western Christian calendar.
The story begins on Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, and continues through the six weeks of Lent, to reach its denouement at Easter.
The arc is illustrated and expressed through...
April 13, 2022
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Machys
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...
April 10, 2022
The Wall Of Night #4 (“The Chaos Gate”) Update: April 2022
A WALL #4 update.
I’ve checked back, and found I was correct last Thursday: I had pencilled in a The Wall of Night #4 (WT: The Chaos Gate) update for April 7. Although there have been a few mini updates, in the three months since I made that commitment, on January 6.
At that time, I advised that “there’s still a large part of the denouement to write.”
Currently, the writing continues apace and the end sequences are coming together. Essentially, the story now comprises only two narrative arcs, w...
April 6, 2022
No Update Today, But…
…there is a photo!
I am “pretty sure” (without actually checking), that I promised a WALL #4 (working title, The Chaos Gate) update today.
But I’ve been so-oo busy writing the book (that’s the best possible reason, right?!), that I ran out of time to put together an update.
The short version is “still writing”, but I’ll strive to bring you a little more detail on that and get it posted Monday.
In the meantime, the weather here has been so wild and windy, that I thought I’d share this photo of so...
April 3, 2022
On Supernatural Undergound: “What Makes A Hero?” #2 — Circumstance
April 1 may have come and gone, but I did post my second instalment in the “What Makes A Hero?” series on Supernatural Underground.
What Makes A Hero? (Lyra Belacqua)
You may recall that I kicked things off last month with “the call”? This month I’m discussing the importance of circumstance—with reference to works of Fantasy fiction, of course. 
Continuing on from last month, you may notice that I’m using examples from The Wall of Night and Thornspell, as well as other works. The reason, of cour...
March 30, 2022
Q&A Thursdays Reprised #1: Phoebe’s Question
2019 already feels like an age ago—although it’s not so long in the life of the “…on Anything, Really” blog—and one of the WALL related features that year was “A Month of Q&A Thursdays.”
Basically, I invited readers to post in questions, and some of you did. 🙂 They were such great questions, too, that I really feel they merit another look, hence initiating this refeature.
I’ll be interested to know what you think of them, if you wish to leave a comment or @ me on Twitter: @helenl0we
In terms of ...
Q&A Thursdays: Reprised
2019 already feels like an age ago—although it’s not so long in the life of the “…on Anything, Really” blog—and one of the WALL related features that year was “A Month of Q&A Thursdays.”
Basically, I invited readers to post in questions, and some of you did. 🙂 They were such great questions, too, that I really feel they merit another look, hence initiating this refeature.
I’ll be interested to know what you think of them, if you wish to leave a comment or @ me on Twitter: @helenl0we
In terms of ...
March 27, 2022
Wrapping Up The Worldbuilding, For Now — BUT…
You may recall that when I embarked on this worldbuilding sequence early in the new year, I quickly discovered that I had already done a great many worldbuilding posts over the life of this blog: O-o.
The Wall of Night Series map; artist Peter Fitzpatrick
Since then, I’ve refeatured the most significant ones here, and also here, as well as pulling others into a recent listicle and reminded readers and followers about the delights of A Geography of Haarth.
In terms of new material, I lauded the w...
March 23, 2022
Kim Falconer on Supernatural Underground: Series or Standalone?
KimFalconer
The latest post on Supernatural Underground by my friend and fellow SU author, Kim Falconer, is titled:
What Readers’ Want — Series or Standalone?In order to share your perspective on What Readers’ Want, you can either leave a comment for Kim, or click on the poll.
A few readers have reported problems opening the poll link, but I accessed it via Firefox and was able to do so, by opening it in a new tab.
As mentioned, though, comments will work, and I’m sure Kim would love it if you ...
March 20, 2022
Just Arrived: “Maus” by Art Spiegelman
Well, it’s taken a while, but my very own copy of Maus, subtitled A Survivor’s Tale, has finally arrived. I understand the work was originally published in two parts, I believe subtitled My Father Bleeds History (1986) and And Here My Troubles Began (1992), respectively.
As you’re probably all aware, in early January, a country school board in Tennessee removed the book from its curriculum, allegedly for reasons of content and age appropriateness.
Given this is the only graphic novel to win th...
