Helen Lowe's Blog, page 7

More on “You Never Know”

My Thursday 27 February post—in which I shared the inauspicious beginnings of Moby Dick, which is now regarded as a Great American Novel and classic literary work—has prompted a more personal reflection on the theme of “you never know.”

During the round of interviews that accompanied publication of The Gathering of the Lost, one of the interviewers questioned why I wrote fantasy fiction if I wanted my work to endure.

The “blue” UK cover

I didn’t know Moby Dick’s rags-to-riches history at the ti...

More on Supernatural Underground

On Monday, I shared my latest post on Supernatural Underground, which is #2 in a “Great Leaders of Speculative Fiction” series.

I’d also like to share some of the other great posts featured on Supernatural Underground:

Amanda Arista celebrated the month of February 14 and Valentines Day with a take on Why Romance?

While Kim Falconer continued her series on literary Adaptation — Authors’ Response To External Pressures

Meanwhile, in ‘From the Backlist’:

Merrie Destefano discusses Why People Lik...

On Supernatural Underground — Great Leaders In Speculative Fiction #2

It’s March — and you know what that mean! Yesss indeed, preciousss, time for a Supernatural Underground post.

In this case, it’s Instalment #2 of my 2025 post series on Great Leaders In Speculative Fiction, subtitled ‘Where to Find ‘Em and Why They Rock.’

So I’ve rocked on up with Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, and — because I couldn’t pick between ’em for leadership chops — both Dalinar Kholin and Kaladin Stormblessed.

Stormlight #1

Do I have a favorite? Well, although I heart both of...

“You Never Know” — More on “Moby Dick”

On Monday, I celebrated the opening of Moby Dick, which is generally regarded as a ‘Great American Novel’ and one of the literary classics.

Now, that is. Because it certainly wasn’t that way in the author, Herman Melville’s, lifetime.

Moby Dick was first published in 1851, and although it received some positive notice in the UK, American reviewers were generally hostile. At that time, it was a commercial failure and was out of print by the time of Melville’s death in 1891.

According to that org...

Celebrating Openings: #1 — “Moby Dick”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged…”

Nope, not starting with that one, although it is indubitably one of the great opening lines. And it is fairly universally acknowledged that a tale’s opening most reach out and grab the reader, hauling them headfirst—and with enthusiasm, i.e. no kicking and screaming—into the story.

This post series is going to look at some of my personal favourites, starting with the classics. But not Jane Austen’s classic, or ‘not this day’, anyway.

Today, I’m taking ...

Meet Parannis: Meet the Minor Players in “The Wall Of Night” Series

UK/AU/NZ

OK, now we’re really back into things, because it’s already time for instalment two in the “About The Characters” series, for 2025.

Just to run over the “Meet the Minor Players” drill it focuses on the minor (or more correctly—sometimes anyway—“more minor”) characters in The Wall Of Night series because:

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ Helen Lowe
(from my Legend Award Finalist’s Interview, 201...

“Why I Write Fantasy”: From The Backlist

Yep, time for a “from the backlist” post — and this quote from a 2012 post on (then) genre site SF Signal still feels evergreen.

Now no more, alas…

The subject, as per the title, centered on why I write Fantasy (as opposed to any other class of fiction) in general and epic fantasy in particular. It went something like this:

“The reason I want to celebrate epic fantasy is fairly straightforward: I love the genre…I love big, sweeping, adventurous stories where there’s a lot at stake and what’s at ...

A Riff On Monday’s Tove Jansson Quote

By way of a reminder, the quote was:

“It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent…” ~ Tove Jansson, 1914 – 2001

Although it is not “a truth universally acknowledged”, I often post a quote when I’m particularly busy beavering on WALL and don’t want to lose momentum.

And that was the case on Monday — but I do really love this quote, so I hope it put a spring in your step, not only on Monday but for the rest of this week.

As for “not tiring”, “never losing interest”...

A Tove Jansson Quote for Your Monday

“It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent…”

~ Tove Jansson, 1914 – 2001

Tove Jansson (Finland) is best known for her Moomintroll childrens’ series, but some of her adult works, such as The Summer Book, are also very highly regarded — including (or is that ‘particularly’?) by me.

It’s February 6 — Celebrating Waitangi Day!

O-o: I pretty much forgot that it was a blogpost day and Waitangi Day today — until now, which is rather late in the day. But still the day, so it’s not (quite) a mea culpa after all.

Bay of Islands from Waitangi — where Te Tiriti was signed

True confessions, I do lose track of the days sometimes, when I’m deep in the writing, and have been known to miss catchups with friends as well. Which is definitely mea culpa territory, although it’s never intentional.

Anyway, back to February 6 and Waitang...