Otago Harbour, from the peninsula

For five years, I lived on the Otago Peninsular, which I think is one of those very special places, with tremendous natural beauty and scenery.

The Pyramids

So yesterday I revisted a few of my favourite haunts, including a walk out to Victory Beach via the Pyramids.

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Detail of the Pyramid formation

The tide was in so the paddle wheel of the SS Victory, wrecked on this beach in the 19th century (although I believe without loss of life, the very good news), was not visible in the surf.

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Approach to Victory Beach

But it remains a very beautiful spot.

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On the beach

And on return journey I checked out the cottage where I used to live–still looking good!

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Once, a writer's cottage

Just taking a little time out from the Blog Tour to talk about what I’m reading right now—I have just picked up Robin Hobb’s City of Dragons, the third novel in her “Rain Wild Chronicles.”

This book continues the story begun in Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven—and further develops the Rain Wild world first encountered in the “Liveship” trilogy:

“Once, dragons ruled the Rain Wilds, tended by privileged human servants known as Elderlings. But a series of cataclysmic eruptions nearly drove these magnificent creatures to extinction. Born weak and deformed, the last of their kind had one hope for survival: to return to their ancient city of Kelsingra. Accompanied by a disparate crew of untested young keepers, the dragons embarked on a harsh journey into the unknown along the toxic Rain Wild River. Battling starvation, a hostile climate, and treacherous enemies, dragons and humans have begun to forge magical connections, bonds that have wrought astonishing transformations for them all. And though Kelsingra is finally near, their odyssey has only begun …

… Now the dragons must plumb the depths of their ancestral memories to help them take flight and unlock the secrets buried in Kelsingra. But enemies driven by greed and dark desires are approaching. Time is running out, not only for the dragons but for their human keepers as well.”

I am looking forward to finding out what surprises lie across the Rain Wild river in the ancient dragon/elderling city and the extent to which the “Live Ships” dragon, Tintaglia, comes back into the story.

USA

UK/AUS/NZ

The latest stop on The Gathering of the Lost Blog Tour is with Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences afficionadoes and fellow Voyager US authors Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris at “The Shared Desk”—with a guest post on my love of adventure in storytelling and the overlaps I see between epic fantasy and steampunk:

“I was delighted when Pip and Tee asked me to stop by here at The Shared Desk:  not least because when I read the rambunctious, rollicking opening to their Phoenix Rising, the first in the The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, I thought, ah—now here are a pair of storytellers who share my own love of an adventurous tale!

This of course got me thinking, because although the Wall series is epic fantasy, steampunk is a genre I have loved since first reading Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates—and I have been a keen follower of Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Girl Genius Online for quite some time now… “Adventure, romance, mad science”—what could be better? Unless, of course, it is “adventure, romance, and ‘strange magic!’”

To read on, click here.

It’s been a quiet time for reviews—but then two came though in the same twenty four hour period!

US

UK

So here they are: an in-depth look at The Heir of Night — recently shortlisted for the Gemmell Morningstar Award, here — from Paul Weimer of SF Signal. You can read it here

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USA Cover

UK/AUS/NZ

And a review for The Gathering of the Lost from SFFANZ reviewer Simon Litten — here

This interview is not officially a stop on the Blog Tour, but is part of the launch of The Gathering of the Lost.

My fellow Orbit author, Ian Irvine, is also releasing an epic fantasy novel now: Vengeance, the first in his Tainted Realm series—and my UK editor, Jenni Hill, suggested an “epic fantasy interview swap.” So that is exactly what we have done!

My interview of Ian Irvine is up first and you can read it now on the Orbit blog. And next week, Ian will interview me, again on Orbit. All good fun–and a nice “extra” to the Blog Tour. 🙂

To read the interview and find out about Ian and Vengeance, click here.

And don’t be shy: do leave a comment! I am sure Ian would love to hear from you.

USA Cover

UK/AUS/NZ cover

For today’s stop on the Blog Tour I’m stopping in at FSF Entertainment Site, ismellsheep, where Katie and Sharon have put together an excellent—and occasionally amusing!—set of questions for me to answer.

I also get theme music, which I think is awesome! And moon pies by way of virtual hospitality—excellent!

And Kiwi readers, take due note: I even got in a mention of the All Blacks—which just goes to show that bookish type or not, you may be able to take the gal out of the King Country, but you can never quite take the King Country out of the gal! 😉

But anyway, I think you’ll find the interview is worth a look: there is some new material and also a few more giveaways.

Just click HERE.

Ithaca Conversations:

The Trojan Shore

Tonight, the wind blows bitter
from the stony heights
beyond the city, gusts
at the thousand cook-fires,
lifts dust and grit from the plain,
driving through tent flaps
and into eyes, rank
with the stench of a siege camp –
combined sweat, wounds and excrement
assault every sense, beat at him
where he stands apart,
one more shadow on the beach,
one hand pushed hard
against his black prowed ship
while his eyes strain towards
the long horizon, strive
to see beyond it to the forsaken wife
and unknown child, to the island
hidden behind rising wind and wave –
lost, all lost now, abandoned
for barren conflict
along the Trojan shore.

(c) Helen Lowe

Published in JAAM 2008

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Currently, we in the Tuesday Poem community are celebrating our second birthday with an evolving poem on the topic of “the sounds of  a birthday.”

You can check out the work in progress on the Tuesday Poem hub, here—as well as the Tuesday poem on each individual poet’s site via the side bar.

The Heir of Night UK

I am thrilled to announce that The Heir of Night, The Wall of Night Book One has been nominated for the UK-based Gemmell Awards in the Morningstar Category for Best Fantasy Newcomer. You can see the official notice here.

And as the Gemmell Awards are reader voted, I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who voted for The Heir of Night: Heir thanks you—and indeed, so do I!

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I am also delighted that Frank Victoria has been nominated in the Ravenheart Category for Best Fantasy Artist for the cover art for his wife (and my friend and fellow author) Mary Victoria’s novel,  Oracle’s Fire (Harper Voyager Australia.)

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And Aaron Briggs, the son of friend & fellow Supernatural Underground author, Kim Falconer, has also been shortlisted for the Ravenheart Award for the cover of Kim’s novel Journey by Night.

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A good day for a little Southern Hemisphere celebration. 🙂

I did an initial write up of the real time launch for The Gathering of the Lost the following day, on April 4, here.

UBS as people gather

And there was a far more official write up on Beatties Bookblog on Saturday here.

I am not going to say a lot more words here except to reiterate what I said in Wednesday’s post—that it was a great evening and just such a nice feeling to celebrate with so many good friends—76 of you in all if I counted right—and the more so after everything life has thrown at us here in Christchurch over the past 18 months.

SpecFicNZ-ers

But since a picture is held to speak a thousand words, here are a few more for you. 🙂

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Checking out the book

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Poets

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Time for speeches

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Dr Stachurski launching the book

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Even the author has some fun!

Andrew Robins, 2nd speaker

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And of course, signing books ...

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& taking time to talk

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USA Cover

UK/AUS/NZ cover

Just a reminder that the current stop on the Blog Tour is with Mary Victoria, friend and fellow author of The Chronicles of the Tree trilogy.

Those of you who have read Mary’s series will guess that she is a reflective and insightful reader as well as writer—and she has definitely asked some thoughtful questions about The Gathering of the Lost and Wall of Night series.

So do drop by—and maybe even leave a comment for me or Mary.:)

You can read the interview here.

The Tree

But after you’ve read the interview, why not check out Mary’s Dictionary of the Tree—if you like world building it makes for intriguing reading and there are some beautiful illustrations as well.