Helen Lowe's Blog, page 41

Reading Older Books: “The Grandiflora Tree” by Shonagh Koea

As mentioned on November 22, it was May 17 when I commenced this Reading Older Book series, with the promise of reporting back to you on four older books.

Today it’s the turn of the fourth and last book mentioned that day, The Grandiflora Tree by fellow NZ author, Shonagh Koea.

First published in 1989, The Grandiflora Tree was also Shonagh Koea’s first novel, although it followed a collection of short stories (1987.)

The Grandiflora Tree is very much what I think of as “personal” fiction. I def...

On Supernatural Undergound – Magic In Fantasy #12 and “The Wall Of Night” Series

Yes, it’s December already—words I type with something of a gulp and that feeling of wondering where the year has gone?!

It’s been quite a year, too, especially on the Covid front. Here in NZ we’re facing a far more uncertain future, with the new “traffic light” system that becomes operational on Friday resulting in the inevitable spread of Delta (and doubtless Omicron in short order) throughout the country.

All of which makes it hard to look forward to the imminent festive season and advent of...

Noting A Few “Contact” Hiccups :-/

The hosting provider for my website and blog is currently initiating changes with respect to my webmail service, and somewhere in the midst of all of this, problems with webmail routing has ensued.

“Surprise! (Not!)” you may all well cry, and I can assure you that “I hear ya”, loud and clear. I am currently working to resolve the issue and am hopeful that it will be fixed very soon.

In the meantime, if you have contacted me via my webmail recently, please be patient — your email has not been los...

Dragonfly: aka The Magic of Nature

Recently I was visiting a friend and discovered this upon her windowsill. Isn’t it beautiful?

I have never seen a dragonfly this large up close before, and at first I wasn’t quite sure it was real. My friend is a very “crafty” person, you see, so I wouldn’t 100% put it past her powers to create something at this level of detail.

The more closely I looked, though, the more certain I felt that it was real. The detail and intricacy were just too, you know, real.

My next uncertainty was whether or ...

Reading Older Books: “These Lovers Fled Away” by Howard Spring

It was May 17 when I commenced this Reading Older Books series, with the promise of reporting back to you on four older books.

Two of the five have already been reported upon (Amazons II and Maquis), and several off-course substitutes have snuck onto the reading tracks:

Prodigal Summer
The Periodic Table

So I thought I should “hurry up already” and get the posts for the outstanding two, These Lovers Fled Away by Howard Spring and The Grandiflora Tree by Shonagh Koea, to the masthead in short ord...

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

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...

What I’m Reading: “Akin” by Emma Donoghue

Just over eleven years ago, I read and enjoyed Room by Emma Donoghue—so I’m somewhat amazed it’s taken me this long to read another of her novels!

I read Akin immediately after Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table, which turned out to be interesting because they are “akin” in a number of ways. Perhaps I should say “strangely interesting” because there is no real, substantive connection between the two works, but the overlaps between them were fascinatingly coincidental for me as a reader.

Levi’s The...

From The Blog Backlist: Writing Epic Heroines — The Princess & Others In “Thornspell”

Two weeks ago I posted from the backlist on “Writing Epic Heroines” in the WALL series. This is the companion post, from July 30th 2015, in which I like at the princess and others in the fairytale retelling of Thornspell.

Enjoy!

(Note: I’ve bumped “About the Characters” to keep the Heroines posts sequential — but only until next week: watch for it then. )

—

Writing Epic Heroines: The Princess & Others In Thornspell — from July 30th, 2015

Last week I discussed Writing Epic Heroines, mainly in...

Reading Older Books: “The Periodic Table” by Primo Levi

I picked up the Penguin Classic version of Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table (195 pp) in Wellington’s Marsden Bookshop, just prior to Christmas 2020, and was fascinated by the idea of using the periodic table to chart the course of a life.

And because the author was a chemist, as well as having lived through some of the 20th century’s most turbulent times, including surviving Auschwitz, I thought it would appeal to the science-and-history aficionado in my life.

A view in which I was mistaken, as ...

On Supernatural Underground Now: Magic In Fantasy #11 — The Magic Next Door

The year and my Magic in Fantasy series on the Supernatural Underground are both rocking on — and this month’s focus is “The Magic Next Door”, or alternatively, Magic in the Everyday…

Yep, I’m talking the staple of the urban fantasy, paranormal urban fantasy/romance, and magic realism quadrants of the genre.

The three books I’m focusing on this month are:

Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling Sunshine by Robin McKinley The River Midnight by Lilian Nattel

All three weave their ...