INTERVIEW - Helen Lowe, author of The Gathering of the Lost
I'm very pleased to be chatting to Helen Lowe, the award-winning New Zealand author of The Gathering of the Lost, and the only woman to be shortlisted for the prestigious David Gemmell Legend Award for 2013.
Helen, welcome to the blog. Tell me a little about your journey to being a writer.
Pretty much ever since stories were first read to me I wanted to be a storyteller, and as I recall I was around eight years old when I first started writing and putting on plays with my siblings and friends. As a teen I was writing poetry, short fiction and novels, and had a number of short stories succeed in open competition before university studies and career intervened for a time.
But then I started waking up at night and thinking: “Why aren’t I writing? I should be writing!” So one day I put all my ideas for stories and half-finished manuscripts out on the floor and told myself: “Just pick one and finish it!”
That story was The Heir Of Night - the first novel in The Wall Of Night series - and although a subsequent Junior fiction novel, Thornspell, was my first book published—and I’ve also had a considerable body of poetry and some short fiction published as well—from that moment I have never looked back. And of course last year, The Heir Of Night won the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer, which was quite a moment for that manuscript picked up off the floor a few years back.
What is your novel 'The Gathering Of The Lost' all about?
The Gathering Of The Lost is the second novel in THE WALL OF NIGHT series and picks up the story five years after The Heir Of Night leaves off.
Just to quickly outline the basic premise of THE WALL OF NIGHT series (which is a quartet), it’s classically-conceived epic or high fantasy. The Wall of Night itself exists on the world of Haarth and is an environment of shadow and conflict that the Derai Alliance garrisons against an aeons-old enemy. So far, so usual – but part of the reason I chose this classic theme is because I wanted to explore how the Derai, who believe themselves to be champions of good, are in fact divided by prejudice, suspicion and fear. I also wanted to address the notion that it is what people actually do, rather than what they believe about themselves, that really makes for “good guys” and “bad guys” – as well as how circumstances may have a bearing on that equation. Another less usual element is that the Derai are alien to Haarth: they have imposed their war and their enemy on the indigenous inhabitants, which adds a cultural dimension to the conflict.
The two main characters are Malian, the Heir to the warrior house of Night, and Kalan, a friend who was thrust into a confined, temple life because of his magic powers. At the end of the first book they had fled the Wall of Night and disappeared into the wild back country of Haarth. For five years they have been believed dead, but now, in The Gathering Of The Lost, Malian’s enemies are on the hunt and the adventure shifts from murder amidst the alleys and islands of the River city of Ij, to insurgency along wild marches patrolled by the Emerian knights.
The story is one of magic and adventure, roof top pursuits and forced marches by night, tourneys and springtime love; it’s also a story of thousand-year-old riddles, hidden identities, and a quest for weapons of power.
At another level, the story is about Malian and Kalan’s friendship, and whether their interests, after five years’ separation, remain as aligned as they were in The Heir Of Night. Other tensions revolve around whom, in a world of conflicting ambitions, either of them can truly trust. In Malian’s case, given her great power, the question may even be whether she can trust herself—as well as just how much she is prepared to sacrifice, including Kalan, to fulfill her duty to the Derai and save Haarth.
It’s a complex work—so as you can imagine, I’m thrilled that it is has just made it through to the shortlist for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy (published in 2012.)
How did you first get the idea for it?
Ursula Le Guin (in her wonderful book on writing, Steering The Craft) said “The world’s full of stories, you just reach out.” But I don’t think there is ever just the one idea.
So in terms of THE WALL OF NIGHT series, I had the vision of a dark, wind-blasted world from a very early age, a vision that was undoubtedly influenced by the Norse myths. I was living in Singapore at the time, and I definitely think the swiftness with which night fell there, almost on the equator, helped the prevailing idea of “darkness” to take hold.
But the spark that ignited The Heir Of Night story in particular was an image of Malian scaling the wall of an ancient ruined keep. That first imagining came with its instant backstory of what her life was, and why . . . So although the genesis of the idea lay with the world, it was the evolution of Malian’s character, with a host of others quickly following, that sparked the actual book.
The Gathering Of The Lost opens out the world and the story from the first book, and I had the opening scene of the first chapter in my head for quite some years before I actually wrote it. The scene is spring, and rain, and the first faint greening of willows as two of the characters, the symbiotic Heralds of the Guild, ride from one city of the River to another (Ij): “because the whole world rides to Ij in the springtime.” But in terms of where that idea came from—as Ms Le Guin also suggests, it was in the air and I just reached out.
What was the greatest challenge in writing The Gathering Of The Lost?
I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, and I completed The Gathering Of The Lost during the period of major earthquakes that shook the city between September 2010 and December 2011, with over 10,000 discernible recorded earthquakes, and major destruction and loss of 185 lives in the February 2011 ’quake. The damage included major loss of infrastructure, including no domestic sewer for 10 months, a boarded-over living room wall, and incidences of ‘liquefaction’ after each major quake.
(Liquefaction is when the ground turns to slurry that is forced to the surface and in this case flooded large areas of the city leaving thick black silt in its wake.) So finishing the book under those conditions was a “major.” It is also one of the reasons why being shortlisted for the Legend Award means a great deal, because it is this book, The Gathering Of The Lost, that is my personal testament to having endured and lived through those times.
What does it mean to you to be the only woman writer shortlisted for such a prestigious award? Why do you think women still need to struggle so hard for recognition and acclaim?
Kate, I am absolutely thrilled that The Gathering Of The Lost has made it to the shortlist for the Legend Award, but I am also disappointed, given there were so many women authors on the longlist, that I am the only one listed in either of the two book award finals, the Legend or the Morningstar. But I am very glad that there is at least one woman there—and I hope that this year’s result is a “blip”, because I believe that women read and appreciate the epic genre, women are writing great epic fantasy, and if the correspondence I am getting is an indicator, are being taken seriously by readers of both genders.
Another reason I am really pleased that The Gathering Of The Lost is on the shortlist is because the main character is female, and although that is not unprecedented, it is still relatively rare in epic fantasy.
In terms of the second question, I am not really sure that I fully know the answer to “why”, or whether women authors struggle to the same extent across all genres. I do think, though, that what happens in literature will inevitably reflect wider cultural and social trends, and that although there has been a great deal of positive change in society over the past half century and more, there is still a long way to go in terms of the status of women. So it is probably not surprising that the same forces also play out in the world of literature and it is therefore important to keep reevaluating and pushing the boundaries.
But I also think that as an author, all I can do is write the very best books I am capable of and hope that readers will judge the story on its merits, not on the gender of the author’s name. The reason I write epic fantasy is because I love epic fantasy—and I hope that comes through in the storytelling.
What are your plans for the future?
Right now, I am finishing Daughter of Blood, (THE WALL OF NIGHT Book Three) and then still have WALL 4 to write. After that, a great deal will depend on the success of the series with readers in terms of whether anyone out there wants more “Helen Lowe” – but I know that I have plenty more ideas for characters and worlds, so fingers crossed that readers want to see them written!
In terms of what I write, the one thing I am sure of is that I don’t want to write to a formula, and I do want to continually grow and develop my storytelling, so there is scope for the “new” in every sense of the word.
In terms of the immediate future and the David Gemmell Legend Award, if readers want to read my Morningstar essay on influences and “why Fantasy” from last year, it’s here. And if they would like to vote, the link is here (but don’t forget to click on “vote” to complete the process.)
Thank you very much for having me on your site, Kate—it’s a great pleasure and an honour to be here.
Helen, welcome to the blog. Tell me a little about your journey to being a writer.
Pretty much ever since stories were first read to me I wanted to be a storyteller, and as I recall I was around eight years old when I first started writing and putting on plays with my siblings and friends. As a teen I was writing poetry, short fiction and novels, and had a number of short stories succeed in open competition before university studies and career intervened for a time.
But then I started waking up at night and thinking: “Why aren’t I writing? I should be writing!” So one day I put all my ideas for stories and half-finished manuscripts out on the floor and told myself: “Just pick one and finish it!”
That story was The Heir Of Night - the first novel in The Wall Of Night series - and although a subsequent Junior fiction novel, Thornspell, was my first book published—and I’ve also had a considerable body of poetry and some short fiction published as well—from that moment I have never looked back. And of course last year, The Heir Of Night won the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer, which was quite a moment for that manuscript picked up off the floor a few years back.
What is your novel 'The Gathering Of The Lost' all about?
The Gathering Of The Lost is the second novel in THE WALL OF NIGHT series and picks up the story five years after The Heir Of Night leaves off.
Just to quickly outline the basic premise of THE WALL OF NIGHT series (which is a quartet), it’s classically-conceived epic or high fantasy. The Wall of Night itself exists on the world of Haarth and is an environment of shadow and conflict that the Derai Alliance garrisons against an aeons-old enemy. So far, so usual – but part of the reason I chose this classic theme is because I wanted to explore how the Derai, who believe themselves to be champions of good, are in fact divided by prejudice, suspicion and fear. I also wanted to address the notion that it is what people actually do, rather than what they believe about themselves, that really makes for “good guys” and “bad guys” – as well as how circumstances may have a bearing on that equation. Another less usual element is that the Derai are alien to Haarth: they have imposed their war and their enemy on the indigenous inhabitants, which adds a cultural dimension to the conflict.
The two main characters are Malian, the Heir to the warrior house of Night, and Kalan, a friend who was thrust into a confined, temple life because of his magic powers. At the end of the first book they had fled the Wall of Night and disappeared into the wild back country of Haarth. For five years they have been believed dead, but now, in The Gathering Of The Lost, Malian’s enemies are on the hunt and the adventure shifts from murder amidst the alleys and islands of the River city of Ij, to insurgency along wild marches patrolled by the Emerian knights.
The story is one of magic and adventure, roof top pursuits and forced marches by night, tourneys and springtime love; it’s also a story of thousand-year-old riddles, hidden identities, and a quest for weapons of power.
At another level, the story is about Malian and Kalan’s friendship, and whether their interests, after five years’ separation, remain as aligned as they were in The Heir Of Night. Other tensions revolve around whom, in a world of conflicting ambitions, either of them can truly trust. In Malian’s case, given her great power, the question may even be whether she can trust herself—as well as just how much she is prepared to sacrifice, including Kalan, to fulfill her duty to the Derai and save Haarth.
It’s a complex work—so as you can imagine, I’m thrilled that it is has just made it through to the shortlist for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy (published in 2012.)
How did you first get the idea for it?
Ursula Le Guin (in her wonderful book on writing, Steering The Craft) said “The world’s full of stories, you just reach out.” But I don’t think there is ever just the one idea.
So in terms of THE WALL OF NIGHT series, I had the vision of a dark, wind-blasted world from a very early age, a vision that was undoubtedly influenced by the Norse myths. I was living in Singapore at the time, and I definitely think the swiftness with which night fell there, almost on the equator, helped the prevailing idea of “darkness” to take hold.
But the spark that ignited The Heir Of Night story in particular was an image of Malian scaling the wall of an ancient ruined keep. That first imagining came with its instant backstory of what her life was, and why . . . So although the genesis of the idea lay with the world, it was the evolution of Malian’s character, with a host of others quickly following, that sparked the actual book.
The Gathering Of The Lost opens out the world and the story from the first book, and I had the opening scene of the first chapter in my head for quite some years before I actually wrote it. The scene is spring, and rain, and the first faint greening of willows as two of the characters, the symbiotic Heralds of the Guild, ride from one city of the River to another (Ij): “because the whole world rides to Ij in the springtime.” But in terms of where that idea came from—as Ms Le Guin also suggests, it was in the air and I just reached out.
What was the greatest challenge in writing The Gathering Of The Lost?
I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, and I completed The Gathering Of The Lost during the period of major earthquakes that shook the city between September 2010 and December 2011, with over 10,000 discernible recorded earthquakes, and major destruction and loss of 185 lives in the February 2011 ’quake. The damage included major loss of infrastructure, including no domestic sewer for 10 months, a boarded-over living room wall, and incidences of ‘liquefaction’ after each major quake.
(Liquefaction is when the ground turns to slurry that is forced to the surface and in this case flooded large areas of the city leaving thick black silt in its wake.) So finishing the book under those conditions was a “major.” It is also one of the reasons why being shortlisted for the Legend Award means a great deal, because it is this book, The Gathering Of The Lost, that is my personal testament to having endured and lived through those times.
What does it mean to you to be the only woman writer shortlisted for such a prestigious award? Why do you think women still need to struggle so hard for recognition and acclaim?
Kate, I am absolutely thrilled that The Gathering Of The Lost has made it to the shortlist for the Legend Award, but I am also disappointed, given there were so many women authors on the longlist, that I am the only one listed in either of the two book award finals, the Legend or the Morningstar. But I am very glad that there is at least one woman there—and I hope that this year’s result is a “blip”, because I believe that women read and appreciate the epic genre, women are writing great epic fantasy, and if the correspondence I am getting is an indicator, are being taken seriously by readers of both genders.
Another reason I am really pleased that The Gathering Of The Lost is on the shortlist is because the main character is female, and although that is not unprecedented, it is still relatively rare in epic fantasy.
In terms of the second question, I am not really sure that I fully know the answer to “why”, or whether women authors struggle to the same extent across all genres. I do think, though, that what happens in literature will inevitably reflect wider cultural and social trends, and that although there has been a great deal of positive change in society over the past half century and more, there is still a long way to go in terms of the status of women. So it is probably not surprising that the same forces also play out in the world of literature and it is therefore important to keep reevaluating and pushing the boundaries.
But I also think that as an author, all I can do is write the very best books I am capable of and hope that readers will judge the story on its merits, not on the gender of the author’s name. The reason I write epic fantasy is because I love epic fantasy—and I hope that comes through in the storytelling.
What are your plans for the future?
Right now, I am finishing Daughter of Blood, (THE WALL OF NIGHT Book Three) and then still have WALL 4 to write. After that, a great deal will depend on the success of the series with readers in terms of whether anyone out there wants more “Helen Lowe” – but I know that I have plenty more ideas for characters and worlds, so fingers crossed that readers want to see them written!
In terms of what I write, the one thing I am sure of is that I don’t want to write to a formula, and I do want to continually grow and develop my storytelling, so there is scope for the “new” in every sense of the word.
In terms of the immediate future and the David Gemmell Legend Award, if readers want to read my Morningstar essay on influences and “why Fantasy” from last year, it’s here. And if they would like to vote, the link is here (but don’t forget to click on “vote” to complete the process.)
Thank you very much for having me on your site, Kate—it’s a great pleasure and an honour to be here.
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