Conversations

Going to the shop
to buy more lemons
the wind riffles my hair

tells me a dirty joke
gleaned from old papers
blown along the street

we laugh together
are still laughing
when I walk home

put the lemons
into an azure bowl

winter sunshine
across the window sill

put the rest
into a lemon cake
on a Kosta plate

chrysanthemums
brushed around the rim
by an unknown hand

a message in a rare language –
until today,
untranslated.

© Helen Lowe

Published in The Christchurch Press, 2009

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Last week I was the guest editor on the Tuesday Poem Hub, where I featured “VA Hospital Confessional” by US poet Brian Turner, from his 2010 collection Phantom Noise (Bloodaxe.) You may read the poem and my commentary by clicking here.

But because “VA Hospital Confessional” is very much war poetry, today I thought I’d post one of my own poems, which is possibly the quintessence of ‘domestic’ poetry. Both themes, I feel, have their place, and need to have their place, if poetry is to be an art that is part of the fabric (the ‘textured tapestry’, of course! ;-)) of our lives.

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.

Robin Hobb; photo by Alex Ogdan

You may recall a while back, when The Gathering of the Lost Blog Tour was in full swing, I hinted that there might be one more stop on the tour, but it was all very much in the process of evolving at that stage.

Well, now it has fully evolved and I can finally share the very exciting news that I am to appear on the Reddit social news website’s Reddit Fantasy page this week in an “Ask Me Anything” q&a hosted and facilitated by Fantasy author Robin Hobb — who has already talked about it on her own blog here.

In terms of what and where for those who are interested, the session will begin at 8 pm, this Wednesday 16, United States Central Time.

This means that I will be live Thursday 17 at:

2 am, UK time

3 am French time

11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time

1 pm, NZ time

I also believe you may have to register to participate on Reddit, whether asking questions in the ‘live’ session or reading my replies to what others have asked at some later stage–but I am hoping that that I shall see at least some of you there, to ask me some questions and see what questions Robin has to put to me as well. on Reddit Fantasy, Wednesday 16 May at 8 pm, United States Central Time.

I haven’t had a lot of time for reading lately because ‘there’s been  a lot happening’ with both trying to get some traction on writing the next book in The Wall of Night series and doing all the necessary and very important publicity around release of The Gathering of the Lost. Running-just-to-stand-still time, that’s for sure.

But in amongst all of that, I have still managed to read and thoroughly enjoy Jane Higgins’ The Bridge, which is future dystopian SFF for YA readers—although I feel it will appeal to discerning readers of all ages.

And I’m not the only person who thinks it’s  a great read: The Bridge won the Text Prize in 2011 and is currently shortlisted for the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards.

Both very well deserved successes imho.

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I also recently finished reading Kristin Cashore’s latest YA Fantasy, Bitterblue (featured under “Just Arrived” here), which I also enjoyed. In fact  it may just be my favourite Kristin Cashore yet—yes, even though one of those previously read titles was Graceling.

And there is the possibility of an interview with  Kristin Cashore sometime in June—so watch this space for that.

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So how about you? What are you reading and enjoying right now?

Vanda Symon

Recently I was privileged to have the opportunity to talk with Dunedin crime author and interviewer, Vanda Symon, on the NZ Society of Authors’ “Write On” show on Otago Access Radio.

It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to do an indepth interview, so I hope you will enjoy the scope of Vanda’s questions—and my replies, of course!

(Plus, for those of you who are not New Zealanders, our famous ability to reduce what for most of the English-speaking world is 5 vowel sounds down to around 2.5… 😉 )

To listen to the interview, please click Here.

(There’s a short intro but the interview begins about 1.5o minutes in.)

Children’s illustrator and author, Maurice Sendak, perhaps best known for the children’s picture book, Where The Wild Things Are died on May 8, aged 83.

The New York Times has run a full obituary, Here.

Not surprisingly, there are other tributes across the world, including in the Washington Post and the Guardian.

Farewell, Maurice Sendak: however much Where The Wild Things Are and your other work may carry on, you will be greatly missed.

I clicked through on to SF Signal last night—a regular blog stop for me these days and perhaps worth checking out if you haven’t already—and saw that they had a new ‘Mind Meld’ up—on the oh so fascinating topic of Book Trailers!

And there are some equally fascinating commentators, including my good friend and fellow author, Mary Victoria—carrying the banner for the Antipodes and the ladies!—as well as E.D. deBirmingham,  Cooper Moo and Mark Teppo, all from The Mongoliad project, Scott Sigler, and Simon Spanton of Orion Publishing.

I think there are some very interesting points-of-view included and the only sector I feel is clearly missing is that of Paranormal Romance—because I know my writing colleagues, the very savvy ladies of the Supernatural Underground, have considerable experience of book trailers!

But still, this latest Mind Meld is well worth a read—if only to see the amusing trailer from Neal Stephenson and the team at The Mongoliad project!

You can check it out Right Here.

(And if you’re so minded, do leave a comment!)

USA

Two new reviews have come in for The Gathering of the Lost.

Rebecca Fisher has reviewed Gathering for Fantasy Literature under the heading: “Immensely Satisfying Sequel.”

You can read the review in full Here.

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UK/AUS/NZ

And The Otago Daily Times (NZ’s oldest independent newspaper, I believe) has also weighed in with a review, in this case under the headline “NZ Author Does The Trick With Fantasy.”

The review was by Dr McKinney.

You can read the review online Here.

Today I am the guest editor for the Tuesday Poem Hub where I have featured VA Hospital Confessional by US poet, Brian Turner, from his second collection Phantom Noise, which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize in 2010.

And I have even written a commentary!

So I would love it if you clicked through to The Tuesday Poem and read the poem—and maybe the commentary. And perhaps, if you really felt moved by the spirit, even left a comment. 😉

Click to Read VA Hospital Confessional by Brian Turner, Here

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Also, by clicking through to the Hub you get to read all the really great poems by other poets in our international Tuesday community, all featured in the blog’s side bar.

During the recent Blog Tour, the question of ‘influences on story’, particularly in relation to world building, came up a few times. And there is at least one interview still ‘out there’ (ie not published yet) where I specifically get asked about living in the country that has, as  result of the Sir Peter Jackson films of The Lord of the Rings (and now The Hobbit) become synonymous with Middle Earth.

For any fan of epic fantasy, Tolkien’s Middle Earth has to be one of the definitive fantastic worlds. As a fan of epic fantasy growing up in New Zealand though, I always conceived Middle Earth, especially the Shire, but also regions such as Rohan, as very much rural England. A far cry from New Zealand’s alpine South Island and a North Island that ranges from the arid central desert to the semi-tropical north—or so I thought until The Lord of the Rings (LoTR) films were made here.

Given that New Zealand is a fairly small country, there are now very few parts of the country that cannot lay a claim to being part “Middle Earth,” from Hobbiton to the Black Gates of Mordor.

And recently, a friend passing through town said (something like):  “You know that part in Heir, where Malian and Kalan cross the river into Jaransor and there’s rose briars and thorn scrub on the hillside, and thyme growing wild beneath their horses hooves? I couldn’t help thinking, ‘that does seem a lot like Central Otago.’”

And, of course, it is—although not the part that filmgoers will immediately recognize as Rohan from the early sequences in The Two Towers (LoTR2). But fairly close by, all the same. “So”—my friend then demanded—“does this mean that all of the Jaransor landscape is pretty much Central Otago?”

To which I had, reluctantly, to say “no.” There were several other real-world landscapes that influenced my concept of Jaransor. For example:

“She walked on alone to the edge of the trees, staring out over wild terrain to the west and the steep, bush-clad heights bathed in evening amber, and was struck again by the immensity of the land, and a sky that held nothing except the falcon’s hovering speck.”

In this scene, what Malian sees is very close to the view from the heights of Australia’s Great Dividing Range—a very long way from both both Central Otago and Rohan, in Middle Earth. But all world building in my fantasy is an amalgam: of real places that I have seen; of places I have not seen but imagine from written descriptions, still photos, and film; as well as places from history that I can only visualize as they may once have been.

Sometimes vision may be inspired by an account, but more often it is simply by the idea of what a place was or might have been.

Jaransor by PJ Fitzpatrick

Ultimately there is the purely fantastic—the leap of imagination that can springboard from the wild thyme underfoot of Central Otago, to vistas seen from the Great Dividing Range, to ruined towers which have shadows that exist out of time, in a chain of hills that may themselves be sentient and drive the unwary mad…

I suspect that Tolkien’s Middle Earth evolved from a similar amalgam of the real through to the purely imaginary. But it is undoubtedly very special, as a writer of fantasy fiction—and epic fantasy, what’s more, in the case of The Wall of Night series—to live and write within the landscapes in which the film versions of The Lord of the Rings were so vividly imagined.

I have very much enjoyed having friend and fellow author, Nicole Murphy, as my guest this weekend, discussing “When the Heroine Swoops In To Save The Day.”

If you haven’t read her guest post already then check it out immediately below this post, or just click Here.

It certainly got me thinking how much I loved Tarzan as a kid, particularly all the Johnny Weissmuller re-runs that seemed to replay endlessly early on Sunday afternoons. There seemed to be a neverending run of them but now I learn that there were only 12 that starred him—yet a aforesaid, they seeemd endless.

Or perhaps he was the Tarzan who stood out, so that he is the one I remember amongst what may have been many others—who knows?

As a young teen I read most of the Tarzan books as well, finding them very different to the films, particularly in terms of the characters of both Tarzan and Jane. Reading the books also introduced me to the adjective “dusky” in conjuction with the word “maiden.”  I do remember puzzling over what exactly the author might be meaning to convey… but worked it out through context!  😉

Speaking of heroines swooping in to save the day though, found a nice quote re The Heir of Night lurking out there in the Gemmell Award discussion in interweb land:

“Ms. Lowe … gracefully parts from tradition with the way she addresses gender – positively and effortlessly.”

How about that then–a bit of alright, I thought!