Helen Lowe's Blog, page 58
April 28, 2020
What’s Coming Up
Posting on a Wednesday, you may be thinking, when its been Monday and Thursday for a few years now: whats up with that?
What, indeed? But with a few things coming up I fancied doing an extra post to herald them.
The Supernatural Undergound Obviously therell be a Supernatural Underground post on 1 May, in which Ill continue my Worldbuilding in Fantasy series check in over there, but also here, to find out which Fantasy, and fantastic, world Im featuring next month. 
April 26, 2020
What I’m Watching: “Noughts & Crosses”
The TV series
Im not a big small screen viewer, but one thing about LockdownNZ (or anywhere else for that matter, I imagine) is that in lieu of going out you (i.e. one, aka me!) end up falling back on home-based entertainment options. So Ive found myself checking out TV series that are either new here or which Ive been meaning to get around to for a while. In a way, as shall be made clear, Noughts & Crosses ticks both boxes.
And since the show also fall into the speculative fiction quadrant,...
April 22, 2020
About The Characters: Meet the Minor Players in “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Jaras
UK/AU/NZ
The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:
I think its the presence of the smaller characters that makes a story, creating texture around the main points of view.
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now Im continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood in...
April 19, 2020
Reflections On Writing the Long Form & WALL#4 Progress…
5% inspiration
I usually write my blog posts at night after the main writing (i.e. working) day is done, but that also often means that Im feeling tired and a bit blah by the time I start the post.
Unless its been a really exceptionally positive and inspirational day with the main writing that is, but in the spirit of creativity being 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration those days (or nights!) really dont come along that often. And since I want to post on the main writing (mw or emdubbya 
April 15, 2020
Just Arrived: “Underland” by Robert Macfarlane
Just before lockdown cut in (although in fact post is still an essential service) a new book arrived on my TBR table.
This one is Underland by UK author, Robert Macfarlane. Ive been aware of the author for quite some time via Twitter, noticing his tweets regarding etymology and aspects of the natural world, all of which are always fascinating.
So I was naturally intrigued when his latest book, Underland, subtitled A Deep Time Journey, was published last year, to considerable public attention....
April 12, 2020
Bubble Fare (aka Autumn Fare)
Last weeks starring Bubble fare.
Bubble Fare might be another way of saying Bubble Babble, in hopes of avoiding Bubble Trouble (nods to the esteemed memory of Margaret Mahy), but of course tis Bubble Babble with a very specific focus, i.e. lockdown food creations.
April 8, 2020
About The Characters: Meet the Minor Players in “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Jan Butterworth
USA
The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:
I think its the presence of the smaller characters that makes a story, creating texture around the main points of view.
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now Im continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood in alphabetical...
April 5, 2020
Writing In A Time of Corona Virus: NZ Lockdown Week 2
Lockdown, Week 2
Two weeks ago when I did my first Writing In A Time of Corona Virus* post, NZ was on its way into full lockdown in an effort to get ahead of the Corona Virus curve before we went down the same path as Italy or Spain. Although we have a public health system, as a small country we faced a very real risk of that system being overwhelmed once the first cases of community transmission began to appear.
So the government made the decision to go into full lockdown and were currently...
April 1, 2020
On Supernatural Underground Now: Worldbuilding In Fantasy #3 — Seanan McGuire’s Ghost Roads
This year on Supernatural Underground Im celebrating the wondrous and wonderful worldbuilding of Fantasy literature with a closer look at some of my favourite worlds.
For April 1, Ive honed in on contemporary paranormal fantasy very much set in this world with the worldbuilding tour-de-force that is Seanan McGuires Ghost Roads series, comprising Sparrow Hill Road and The Girl In The Green Silk Gown.
If you like ghost stories and Americana, urban fantasy and powerful worldbuilding then head on...
March 29, 2020
What I’m Reading: “Network Effect” (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells
Its been a while (8 October 2018) since I shared how much Id enjoyed the first Murderbot novella, All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells (published by Tor.) Since then, Ive had the opportunity to read and equally enjoy three more Murderbot novellas.
So I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to read an uncorrected proof copy of the first of a new Murderbot trilogy, this time in full novel version, ahead of its publication date of May 2020.
Dear readers, I was not...
