Helen Lowe's Blog, page 65

“The Father Of Octopus Wrestling” by Frankie McMillan — Launched!

Last Saturday, Frankie McMillan’s The Father Of Octopus Wrestling (Canterbury University Press) was launched at Scorpio Bookshop here in Christchurch.

The event featured a great turnout and an Octopus cake — with a very nice introduction by Catherine Montgomery, the publisher at CUP, and the official launch speech by fellow-author, Tracy Farr, who really seemed to “grok” Frankie’s work. It was particularly nice to have Catherine Montgomery cite my July 8 post on Frankie’s prior book, My Moth...

This Month On Supernatural Underground: Year of Romance in Fantasy #7 — A “Beauty & the Beast” Riff in Julian May’s Saga Of The Exiles

Yep, we’re up to No. 7 — I’ve now posted seven installments in my #YOR #RIFF Year of Romance in Fantasy Fiction series on Supernatural Underground.

The series featured is Julian May’s Saga of the Exiles quartet, which begins with The Many-Colored Land. Although there are many characters and romances in the series, I’ve chosen to feature the author’s particular take on “Beauty & the Beast” with the love story of Katlinel and Sugoll.

So if you’re enjoying the series already or would like to kno...

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” series — Meet Hylcarian

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 simultaneously...

A New Book By Frankie McMillan: “The Father of Octopus Wrestling And Other Small Fictions”

‘Every story is like a sky rocket we haven’t seen before – flaring and sparkling in unexpected ways.’ ~ Lloyd Jones

—

Recently, I shared my reading enthusiasm for Frankie McMillan’s My Mother and the Hungarians (Canterbury University Press, 2016.)

So I’m thrilled to learn that Frankie’s latest work, The Father of Octopus Wrestling, is due for release very soon, on Saturday 31 August. I shall definitely be heading along.

A Geography Of Haarth: Wall Of Night (Updated)

The Wall of Night Series map; artist Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. Each locale is accompanied by a quote from the relevant books where the place occurs.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost. Now the series has resumed to ensure the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Nigh...

A Little Hellebore Magic

Last week, author Kate Forsyth and I were having a little tweet exchange on the magic that is the winter-flowering hellebore, so I thought I’d share some of the photos, together with a little more information, here as well.

A mix of red and deep pink colours…

I always refer to all hellebores as “winter roses”, but in fact that’s not correct. There are two main types: “Helleborus niger” (black hellebore), the actual ‘winter rose’ (aka ‘Christmas rose’), and “Helleborus orientalis”, which is tr...

About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” series — Meet Hirn

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 simultaneo...

What I’m Reading: “Book Of Colours” by Robyn Cadwallader

A few weeks back, I started a series of posts on books I acquired in a recent “book browse and buy binge” (BB&BB), which also incorporated that other stalwart of book acquisition, the Airport Read (AR).

A Geography Of Haarth: Towers of Morning

The Wall of Night Series map; artist Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. Each locale is accompanied by a quote from the relevant books where the place occurs.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost. Now the series has resumed to ensure the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Nigh...

This Month On Supernatural Underground: Year of Romance in Fantasy #6 — Friends and Lovers in Maggie Stiefvater’s “The Raven Boys”

Over on Supernatural Underground, I clicked over into August with another Year of Romance (#YoR) in Fantasy Fiction (#RIFF) post—this month featuring Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys quartet.

(Although strictly speaking, the post focuses chiefly on Book #1, the titular The Raven Boys, and #2 The Dream Thieves.)

The theme of the post, and a major aspect of the books, is “friends and lovers”, i.e. when love and pairing off occurs within a group of friends.

Keen to find out more? Then head on...