This little fellow is the “Middle Earth”, aka New Zealand, version of the “fantail”, also known as piwakawaka (also tiwakawaka, amongst other variations) in Maori.

Fantail; credit, B Miller

The fantail was one of the mythological companions of the Maori demi-god, Maui; is often encountered in the bush, but also in domestic gardens, especially before rain; and is believed by some to be a harbinger of death if it flies into the house (this may or may not be connected to its role in the Maui cycle.)

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth.

In the case of Butterworth, although it is a place in The Gathering Of The Lost, it derives its name from a character, Jan Butterworth—who was so named because she won the “Tuckerization” contest I ran as part of celebrating publication of The Heir Of Night.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into both the world building, and on days like today, the backstory to the world building. 😉

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Butterworth:  a village in southern Aralorn

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“She rode into Butterworth as the poplar leaves became gold tinted. The village had an alehouse as well as a forge, with a crumbling stone tower on the edge of the nearby chestnut woods. “Although only owls live there now,” the girl who was sweeping the alehouse step told Malian, before bringing her a tankard of cool brown beer and filling the trough beside the step with water for the cob.”

~ from ©  The Gathering of the Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 53 — The Solitary Tower

Last week, I posted a few links to interesting articles around the traps. One was Cheryl Morgan’s Woman’s Hour on SF – A Train Wreck

The reason why the Woman’s Hour was a train wreck, according to Cheryl, was because apparently the pundits tried to tell us that women don’t write Science Fiction. My first response was: where do these people come from–Cloud Cuckoo Land? Cheryl’s response is more in-depth and reasoned, but I have been thinking about it since then and just for the record, thought I would do an off-the-top-of-my-head list of the names of women Science Fiction authors I know of. (I am going to stick to novelists as if we launched in short stories I suspect we would run into next week! 😉

Many of them are taken from the post and comments from my Thoughts On Space Opera: Women Authors from last year. But not all–there are a few new ones.

So here goes, leaping in:

• Ann Aguirre
• Catherine Asaro
• Margaret Atwood
• Elizabeth Bear
• Lauren Beukes
• Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Lois McMaster Bujold
• Octavia E. Butler
• CJ Cherryh
• Julie Czerneda
• Kim Falconer
• Elizabeth Friedman
• Mary Gentle
• Mira Grant
• Nicola Griffiths
• Ursula Le Guin
• Karen Healey
• Nalo Hopkinson
• Tanya Huff
• Kameron Hurley
• Jean Johnson
• Gwyneth Jones
• Nancy Kress
• Louise Lawrence
• Karin Lowachee
• Anne McCaffrey
• Maureen F. McHugh
• Vonda N. McIntyre
• R.M. Meluch
• Sharon Miller
• Elizabeth Moon
• Lisanne Norman
• Andre Norton
• Jody Lynn Nye
• Marianne de Pierres
• Laura E. Reeve
• Justina Robson
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• C.J. Ryan
• Eluki Bes Shahar
• Mary Shelley
• Sherwood Smith
• Sheri S Tepper
• James Tiptree, Jr
• Karen Traviss
• S.L. Viehl
• Joan Vinge
• Connie Willis

So who’ve I missed? I’m sure there are many.

And although I note that the ‘experts’ on the Woman’s hour programme tended to focus on women writers in the television and big screen movie game, and that is not my area, I do note:

• Leigh Brackett co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back
• Jane Espenson, who worked on the Battlestar Galactica, Caprica and Torchwood tv shows
• Mimi Leder directed the wonderful Deep Impact
• Melissa Mathison wrote ET
• Fran Walsh wrote for Dead Alive and King Kong; Philippa Boyens also worked on the latter film

So do women write science fiction? Unquestionably, yes, we do.

And to all those who say not—“Helen says bollocks to ya.” (To quote from Sliding Doors. 😉 )

Introduction:

I am currently running a blog “mini-series” titled “Here’s SpecFicNZ-Christchurch” in which my fellow SpecFicNZ-Christchurch authors introduce themselves using a series of  common headings:

Here’s Who: a short, first person introduction to the writer
Here’s Why: the writer writes speculative fiction
Here’s What: an example of the writer’s work
Here’s Where: you can find out more about the writer and their work—and I really hope you will!

Today I am very pleased to introduce Cat Langford as this week’s guest.

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Here’s SpecFicNZ–Christchurch: Featuring Cat Langford

Cat Langford

Here’s Who:

I am a writer of fantasy with science fiction elements, and vice versa. My first published story (The Wrong Camera) is based solidly within the Steampunk genre, and was released as part of the Tales from the Archives podcast and eBook series. Tales from the Archives is edited by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, and all the stories in the podcast are set in the world of their Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels.

I have lived in three vastly different island nations: my native New Zealand, England, and Japan. I made the questionable decision to move from Wellington to Christchurch shortly before the earthquake swarm of 2010–11. I hold a BSc in Biology, and a Diploma in Publishing. By day I am a science editor.

As a reader, I like science fiction, and love fantasy. Most of all, I love those special places where the two genres meet.
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Here’s Why:

Like many others, I was drawn to SFF as a reader because of the “what if” nature of the genres. Also, I was exposed to SFF culture as a child and therefore never saw it as “strange” or “too geeky”. My mother is a life-long science fiction fan, so I was brought up on a steady diet of Star Wars and Star Trek. When I reached my pre-teen years I discovered fantasy, first through the Chronicles of Narnia and then through The Hobbit. I quickly moved on to longer works such as The Belgariad by David Eddings. I decided I wanted to write epic fantasy when I was a mere 13 years old.

It has been a long road. I spent far too much of my youth thinking about writing fantasy stories rather than doing. But I now have the discipline and dedication to pursue my dreams, and it will only be a matter of time before you see me in print.
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Here’s What (Excerpt):

Here is a sample of The Wrong Camera, published under my previous name Catherine Ford:
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“The Wrong Camera (© Catherine Ford)

“Do you take me for some kind of fool?”

Blythe took a step backward. “Please, sir, I don’t know what you mean. I just came to pick up my photographs.”

“I know why you are here. First time photographer, my foot! How did you do it?”

“I honestly don’t know what you are talking about! May I have my photographs?”

Mr Evans reached into a pigeon hole behind the counter, pulled out a paper-wrapped parcel, and threw it at her feet. Blythe picked up the parcel and ran out of the shop.

When she got home, she went straight up the stairs to her room. She sat at her desk, and took a moment to compose herself. The sound of the cabbage tree scratching lightly at her window soothed her with its familiarity. Then, catching her lip between her teeth, she opened the parcel.

The photographs inside were small and rectangular. Blythe only needed to look at the top one to see what Mr Evans had been shouting about. It should have been a picture of Christ Church Cathedral, and indeed it was, but it was not the same Christ Church Cathedral that she had photographed. The top half of the picture showed empty sky. All of the spire and some of the tower lay on the ground in a large pile of rubble. The damage shown in the photograph was far more extensive than the damage of the 1888 earthquake, several years earlier. The spire had only lost its tip then. The scene in the photograph, however, was heartbreaking. And of course, not real.”
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Here’s Where:

Visit my website or find me on Twitter or Google+

You can read the first chapter of my fantasy novel in progress, Symmetry Breaking, if you sign up to my newsletter. You can find the newsletter sign-up form on any page of my website.

You can listen to The Wrong Camera here at The Ministry Of Peculiar Occurrences website, or buy the short story in eBook format from Amazon or Kobo or your favourite eBook retailer.

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The “Here’s SpecFicNZ–Christchurch” series will continue posting every Wednesday for the next four weeks.

Portrait of Betty Curnow

Betty Curnow hangs

in the gallery

looking a bit stiff.

She’s been in the picture

since nineteen fifty four

when Henderson laid her out

on canvas.

The light fell at such precise

angles in those days

but really she hasn’t changed:

her hair still so severe

pulled back in a bun

her arm forever

lying across that table

with a half-finished fag

between her fingers.

Climb down, Betty,

I want to say. Get out

of that dowdy red frock

untie your hair. Breathe

the warm night air.

© Nick Williamson

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This week, as part of the ‘poetry in response to a work of art’ (aka ‘ekphrastic) Tuesday series, I am delighted to welcome fellow Christchurch poet, Nick Williamson. To view the image, click here on “Portrait of Betty Curnow.”

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Poet’s Note From Nick Williamson:

This poem, Portrait of Betty Curnow, was written after viewing a painting of the same name by Louise Henderson at the Christchurch Art Gallery. It was of interest to me because Betty Curnow, wife of the poet Allen Curnow, had been a friend of my mother and I had known her when I was a child. Henderson had painted her in 1954, in the cubist style, as a Spanish dancer. I didn’t much like the rendition, the way Henderson had ‘laid her out on canvas’, and I wanted Betty to be able to escape from the painting to be her true self, of which I had a vivid memory.

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About The Poet:

To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.

On March 20 I welcomed you all to the world of the BookSworn, 16 of the newer international Fantasy-SF authors.

One of the things I said we’d do on the BookSworn site is discuss writing in the fantasy genre—and I currently have a Mother’s Day post up celebrating three characters whom I consider to be among the great “moms” of SciFi-Fantasy.

And yes, writing the post did make me realise just how few there are who feature as major characters. And yes again, even in books written by women. :-/

At any rate, do go on over, check it out and maybe even tell me the “great moms” I’ve overlooked. 😉

Celebrating Mother’s Day:  Three Great “Moms” of SFF

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Note: The post reprises an earlier feature from the Supernatural Underground, in 2011

“You need not expect to get your book right the first time. Go to work and revamp or rewrite it.”

~ Mark Twain, 1835 – 1910

As I posted recently, a great many people around the world have gotten to know New Zealand as “Middle Earth” in The Lord of the Rings films.

And since I am a Fantasy author living right here in Middle Earth, over the next wee while I thought I’d share a few images of “my” Middle Earth right here on the blog. First up was Tamaki Makarau, aka Auckland & environs.

Today’s images are from the King Country, to the south of Auckland and west of “The Shire.” 😉  It’s also an area where I did a fair amount of my growing up.

The first photo shows the landscape near the Haurua memorial, with the marae (Maori meeting house) in the foreground.)

King Country landscape, Huarua; photo by B Miller

This is a stream further to the south and west, in the Waitomo area:

Streamscape in the Waitomo area; photo by A Robins

With the entrance to a glow-worm cave:

Entrance to a glowworm cave; photo by A Robins

Complete with guardian “tuna”, aka eel—I love this guy!

Guardian eel, or 'tuna"; photo by B Miller

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the world building.

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Bridge of Boats:  a pontoon bridge in Ij, joining the Minstrels’ Island to Landward

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“They made their way through the throng of musicians, students, and festival visitors, eventually descending a zigzag path to the Bridge of Boats. The bridge was formed by pontoons of barges that connected the series of islets between Minstrels’ Island and Landward, a large island immediately to the north of the river port.”

~ from ©  The Gathering of the Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 3 — Revelry and Masks

Introduction:

A while back now, I did a giveaway for A Memory of Light the fourteenth and final novel in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series recently.  Sparked by commenters’ enthusiasm, and given the significance of this series within the epic fantasy canon, I asked long time SFF reader, Chris Whelan, if he would review the final three books in the series—all written by Brandon Sanderson in accordance with notes left by Robert Jordan.

Today, I have Chris’s review of Towers Of Midnight for you.

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Book Review: Towers Of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Orbit Books, 2011,  trade paperback edition, 941 pp) — Reviewed by Chris Whelan

The ending of any epic fantasy series always makes me nervous. I’ve seen it often enough in movies and TV shows – a great concept followed by a fantastic exposition and development, but an ending that just lets you down.

I therefore approached Book Thirteen of the Wheel of Time with a bit of trepidation. This is part one of two, concluding a series that has so many moving parts and characters that wrapping it all up elegantly and satisfactorily was always going to be a challenge.

First things first. It quickly becomes apparent that the ‘last battle’ that the series has been building towards is more going to be a ‘last war’. Massive armies are being assembled on both sides and preparation is underway for the countless battles that are expected.

In the south, Perrin finally comes to terms with being a leader and as he is forced to face off against what remains of the army of the Children of the Light.

In the far north, the dark armies sally forth as Lan raises his standard, while Mat makes his attempt to free Moiraine from where she is imprisoned in the Tower of Ghenjei.

And throughout, Rand uses his growing wisdom and power to bring the nations of the world together under the banner of the Dragon Reborn in readiness for the Last Battle(s).

By and large it’s a good read. It’s not quite as self-contained as any of the earlier books in the series – but that’s to be expected for what is basically the first part of a two part finale.

Tower Of Midnight is well structured and has some great battle scenes. It does face the problem of many epic fantasy series where the hero becomes so powerful s/he can defeat entire armies themselves. I did find myself asking: “why bother with all these armies when you’ve got one Dragon Reborn and some highly motivated magic users on your side?” The explanation is given and, yes, it’s sort of reasonable. Sort of…

One other niggle was the fact that this is the second book in a row where Mat and Tuom don’t encounter each other at all, despite marrying in book eleven. I suspect that’s just a side product of so many characters and so many other stories to tell.

But, overall, it’s a good book and a good read. The 900 plus pages flew by in a weekend, and most importantly, I kept wanting to read on and see what happened next.

At the end, my main reaction was: “thank goodness, the final book is out and ready for me to see how this all ends!”

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About the Reviewer:

Chris Whelan is a long time viewer, reader and occasional writer of fantasy and science fiction. He makes a living in middle management and lives, generally, with a glass of red wine somewhere to hand.