Orison

~ a Meditation on Katherine Mansfield,
in the south of France

A bell calls on sleepy air
resonant
with late afternoon

sheep click & clack
over cobbles
the smell of fleece
hangs on the hour

an olive tree taps
against glass –
through twig and leaf
there is sea, bright
beneath a blaze of sky

the page on the desk
is blank, the pen
a burden to the hand –
she lifts it
draws in breath
…………..will again
until the final line

.

© Helen Lowe
~ published in Takahe 62, 2007

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

On Friday, I featured an interview with Mary Victoria, author of the recently released Oracle’s Fire and the Chronicles of the Tree trilogy, which you can read in full here.

And Mary’s publisher, Harper Voyager (Australia) very kindly provided a copy of Oracle’s Fire for giveaway as part of the interview, the recipient to be drawn from amongst those who commented.

The draw has now beeen drawn and the winning commenter is: Cassie.

Congratulations, Cassie!

And thank you to everyone who read the interview as well as commented—I am very glad that numbers visiting suggest you enjoyed it.:)

On Wednesday 9, the Christchurch poetic community enjoyed a long-awaited launch—in this case for Barbara Strang’s The Corrosion Zone (HeadworX), which was published earlier this year but had its launch deferred by the February 22nd earthquake.

But the creative and celebratory, as well as other aspects, of Christchurch life are starting to pick up, so it felt good to be going to a launch again. Doubly good in this case, since Barbara asked me to give the launch speech for her book—and being asked by another writer to help launch their work into the world is a great privilege.

There’s been a slight delay, but for today’s post, I thought I’d share what I had to say, together with a few photos of the event.

—

Launching The Corrosion Zone

Launch audience

“As I said on my blog on September 20, when Barbara kindly allowed me to feature Indigo as my Tuesday Poem, I initially approached The Corrosion Zone with mixed hesitation and anticipation. Although the collection is new, I was aware that I had already encountered several of the poems as works-in-progress when we were both part of the Friday poetry group.

So the hesitation was because I feared over-familiarity, the anticipation because I know just how good a poet Barbara is.

As I also said then, all hesitation quickly disappeared as soon as I immersed myself in the collection. For there are indeed some very fine poems within these covers and several sequences, such as the poems about Barbara’s younger brother, Andrew, that were completely new to me.

I think it is no secret that this is a collection where many of the poems deal with very personal subjects: the unraveling of a marriage and then it’s dissolution, including the loss of one home, with all its associations of relationship and family, and relocation into a new environment. There are also poems about loss of family members, with one sequence focused around Barbara’s father, his life and death, and another centered on the suicide of her youngest brother, Andrew.

Speaking the "good words"

There is a clear chronological sense to the sections within The Corrosion Zone, effectively charting these events. “On Godley Head” traverses both the sense of unease in Barbara’s marriage and the loss of Andrew. “Hearts” charts the marriage break up; “Postures of Falling” is primarily about its aftermath although the section also incorporates the sequence on Barbara’s father. Finally there’s “Open Home” – but I shall return to that section of the book later.

Marriage break up and suicide, loss of home and loss of family members – these are among the biggest human traumas outside of war and cataclysmic disaster. Although we may not, as individuals, have vigiled on all these emotional shores, most of us will have traversed some—and understand that each one, on its own, is a psychological and emotional “major” for any individual to deal with.

Those of us who are also poets will know the risk that these sorts of experiences give rise to: that of the “diary entry” poem — verse as an emotional outlet and outpouring, therapeutic perhaps, but rarely good poetry. The poet is too close to the material, the hurts too raw for objectivity and clarity.

Perhaps a part of my trepidation on first opening The Corrosion Zone was fear that the collection would founder on poems of this kind. The poet, editor, and critic, John O’Connor, has specifically addressed this risk in his consideration of the book and I would like to share his words with you:

“[The Corrosion Zone primarily] … deals with … two occurrences that had as profound an effect on … [Barbara] … as it is possible to have … [and many] of the poems were written fairly shortly after the events they draw on. It is amazing to me that this was possible. Usually a long time is necessary from traumatic events before sufficient distance can be gained to allow focused writing to take place. … This isn’t a matter of technique – although that necessary distance may be expressed in technical terms – rather it’s a matter of emotional control, of spiritual maturity … “

John’s conclusion is that Barbara has managed to pull this difficult feat off:
“… she has … managed … to turn the facts of heartache and grief into quite luminous poems. They work, they work at times as well as poems can work …”

Those of you who know John O’Connor and the exacting poetic standard he sets, will understand that this is high praise indeed.

Barbara Strang Reading from "The Corrosion Zone"

I heartily endorse both the praise and the conclusion—Barbara has pulled it off. The collection traverses difficult emotional terrain yet it is never indulgent—but rather spare, wry, and poignant in its understated reserve.

“Yes,” you may say, “but still—surely The Corrosion Zone must, as a collection that focuses on grief and loss, prove attendingly difficult to read?”

To which I reply: Not so. Not in my opinion. Yes there is grief and loss—how not?—but that is by no means all that The Corrosion Zone is. It is not even the greater part of what it is.

So what is it?

.

The collection begins with unease in the poem On Godley Head, where:

“Once we two
forged a path
through untouched forest”

but ends wondering:

“Can we hold hands
and love the wreck
of this land, the skeleton.”

Here we have layers of meaning, an amalgam of poetic subtlety and mystery, while in First Summer, the lines are more direct:

“The opening of
the new century …

… when we hoarded secrets
and bank balances …

… the summer when
I asked questions
and you & I
no longer added up.”

And again, in Breaking Point:

“The easterly hustles in …

ragged clouds flee …

Over the road
concrete trucks rumble
machines claw down trees.”

The un-ease remains, but the reader then experiences the collection’s first transition, into the gentler sequence around Barbara’s brother, Andrew. Loss and grief is there in the lines, as in Reading Andrew’s Poems:

“I read the words this morning
of one whose summer did not come”

and in Back in the garden with cabbage tree flowers:

“Now you’re deep in the soil
at Deborah’s Bay

there is nothing to see
on the port green hill” …

… Unwinding the clock work
finding the escape
wheel – if we could.”

But I think there is something much more here than just grief and loss. These poems are a testament: to Andrew, as in the poem Fatigues:

“Often in Dunedin I notice
a tall young man
who looks like you

But also, I feel, to Barbara. And to relationship: eldest sister; youngest brother. They’re about love:

“If you had asked me

You could have come to stay …

… I’d have rescued you
like an injured bird
kept you in the airing cupboard
till you’d recovered”

And there are many poems with layers, not least Old Pet in the “Postures of Falling” section:

“Molly is not sleek any more
she is middle-aged
and shows it …

… she is past her best
I know it

…

She lies all day in the garden
Her rusty coats blends with the weeds
I hardly notice her.

She and I
in the large backyard –
and only me to miss her.”

Understated, spare, poignant – as much because of what the poem does not say, as what it does.

There are many other observations I can make in praise of The Corrosion Zone, including Barbara’s acute observational eye for detail, particularly of the natural world, which pervades the poem. And the many wonderful lines, like those that conclude the poem Indigo:

” … Indigo
a blue as
deep as your eyes,

the lashes a flight of geese
on the last stripe of blue as the
sky plunges towards night.”

Often though, the key to a collection can be found, not in the opening poems or mid-part lines, but in the closing sequence. In this sense, I feel that the final section “Open Home” unlocks our understanding of The Corrosion Zone.

It is here, I believe, we find the poems that epitomise The Corrosion Zone ‘s theme of transition, as in Between the Acts:

“Putting it behind,
the old house …

… pulling down the blinds
lingering in the
stillness between
the acts”

and Open Home:

“I looked out the windows
and saw for the first time
flickering branches in the sun …

…

I opened the doors
and stepped out,
measured during a long breath
the bird-filled quiet.”

Transition, yes, but also a sense of continuity, as in The Wait:

Over the channel
this morning
you can see them

the godwits on the spit

…

The sand is high this year
the sun needling the fog
as they wait

for a signal,
the days to draw in
the constellations
to configure.”

Transition, continuity — but at the end there is something more again when we take The Mount Pleasant Bus:

“… The sunset plays over us; the details of our lives fall away. Aiming for home, I am being taken on a longer journey.”

Yes, I think: yes. Unease and transition, love and continuity—in the end The Corrosion Zone as a whole is a testament: to being here and being human.

But most of all, I believe, it is a testament to Barbara.”

I am very pleased to have received The Alloy of Law because as I said on Wednesday, here, I hope to be interviewing Brandon Sanderson about this new Mistborn series in early December. But I can’t start reading until I’ve finished my first pass proof for The Gathering of the Lost, which I have to admit is going more slowly than I had hoped.

So in the meantime, I shall just have to share what the back cover has to say:

“The three hundred years since the events of Mistborn have reshaped Scadrial. Ever taller towers race for the clouds, railways as well as  canals criss-cross the land. But this is still a land of magic …

[So far, so good.]

… but even as science reaches new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy still have a role in this reborn world. In the Roughs, the wilds beyond the cities, magic is a crucial tool for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn with both Allomancy and Feruchemy powers. Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. He must assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house, or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the open plains of the Roughs.”

I will confess to having had a wee peek inside and been delighted to find that the opening chapter reads very much as a western, only with the Allomancy and Feruchemy magic—and since I have a sneaking fondness for westerns, the combination with fantasy is something I’m looking forward to getting into. There are maps as well, two rather splendid ones from another quick peek inside, so plenty to look forward to—once the proofing is over with and done.

—

Giveaway Reminder: Don’t forget that the giveaway for Oracle’s Fire runs until midnight on Sunday 13, so there’s plenty of time for you to get your comment in—just remember that the comments have to be posted on my interview with the author, Mary Victoria, here.

Introduction:

Completing a book is a big deal; completing three books and a series, is a very big deal. And Mary Victoria, with writing in her family and a background as a digital animator at WETA working on that movie—yes, I do mean The Lord of the Rings—brought the very best credentials to completing her epic, Chronicles of the Tree fantasy trilogy.

Nor has her debut series gone unrecognised. The first novel, Tymon’s Flight, was a finalist for two awards this year: the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel and the UK-based Gemmell Morningstar Award for for Best Fantasy debut. In addition, a recent review of Tymon’s Flight in the UK-based Fantasy Book Review concluded that:

“Tymon’s Flight is a fantastic read … This is the best novel I have read this year and it is very easy for me to recommend this story, not just to fantasy readers, but to readers of all genres.”

High praise, indeed. So I am sure you will understand why it is with such great pleasure that I welcome Mary back to ” … on Anything, Really” to discuss the third and concluding novel in the Chronicles of the Tree, Oracle’s Fire.

The Interview:

Helen: Mary, in August last year, when we first talked together (on Plains FM) you had just officially launched Tymon’s Flight, the first book in the Chronicles of the Tree series. Earlier this year, on February 16, we met again to talk about Samiha’s Song, here on the blog. And now you have just launched the third and final book, Oracle’s Fire—in what feels to me like the twinkling of an eye since that first interview! But how does it feel to you?

Mary: Helen, it feels the same to me. In fact, the past year is a blur! I wrote the final instalments of the series back to back, in twenty months, while at the same time launching the first two books. After what felt like a very short hiatus, it was time to concentrate on the release of the third. My head is still spinning! But I am pleased with the result. Basically, I wrote the books I wanted to write and am happy to see all three titles out there.

Helen: No spoilers, of course, but what can you tell readers about how this story builds on Samiha’s Song? What can they expect?

Mary: Readers can expect to have most of their outstanding questions about the series answered (while perhaps finding more to ask, but that’s the joy of a story.) The third instalment of any trilogy is all about closure. That said, I’ve never been one for pat solutions to problems, so don’t expect everything tied up with a neat bow!

In essence, Oracle’s Fire finishes plot threads started in books one and two, particularly in Samiha’s Song, though some points were naturally foreshadowed from the very beginning in Tymon’s Flight. Questions about Tymon and Samiha’s fate, about the nature of their world and the magic underlying it … all these issues are clarified. There should be a few surprising reveals, a few laughs, a few tears. But as I say, I’ve worked to keep a sense of openness in play. I don’t like endings that reek of artificial finality – if someone was to tell me, “Mary, I love this trilogy but I want another three books to explain more about the world of the Tree”, I would consider my job done.

Helen: Coming into the third book in the story you have quite a few plot threads and also characters—many in quite different locations—to manage. Was that a challenge?

Mary: Yes, because I only had a limited quantity of pages in which to portray the struggles of a diverse set of characters. I chose to do so by means of poetic, rather than absolute realism. That is, I chose efficiency over exhaustiveness, paring down the action to essentials. I had a ‘big’ story and one book to wrap it up in, so it seemed the way to go. But I enjoyed the challenge. For one, I think it made me a better writer: I had to decide what was important, then throw it out to concentrate on what was most important. (I’ve stolen that saying from my grandfather, by the way – he always used it as a life philosophy, but it applies even better to storytelling.)

I could have done it all differently, of course, and stretched the action out over another two or three books. But I like the richness and denseness that results from this method. The downside to stretching out action over multiple tomes is that it often feels ‘bloated’, with nothing really happening for chapters on end.

Helen: I think we’ve all read a few of those “bloated” books! In terms of the Tree trilogy, Tymon was the dominant character in the first book, and Samiha in the second. This book focuses more on Tymon again, but Jedda, the Grafter, Noni, and antagonists such as Wick also have considerable point-of-view time. But was there any character that emerged with a stronger than expected “voice” in this final book? Or a personal favourite character?

Mary: Jedda was one of my favourites. I enjoyed writing her as I identified strongly with her, emotionally. She likes to be thought of as a hardheaded pragmatist, but she’s a mystic underneath it all: she wants to love and be loved. I found Jedda’s progression fascinating. No other character in the series draws so wide an arc, from being wounded and selfish through to real heroism. That’s not an easy row to hoe.

Other characters developed over the course of the book in ways that surprised me, though I had a fair idea of what would happen to them at the outset. One was Bolas; another was Noni, whom you mention. These are secondary characters without much ‘face time’: their chapters had to be particularly pithy. They responded to the challenge by developing unique voices of their own.

Helen: Noni was definitely one of the characters that developed in a very positive way for me in Oracle’s Fire. I also enjoyed one of your new characters, Zero, rather a lot. But one of the story elements that strengthened as the series progressed is how science ‘as we know it’ underpins much of the fantasy world building: for example, the nature of Sap. Was it always your intention to blend the scientific and the fantastic in this way, or did the scientific element evolve through the storytelling?

Mary: I’m glad you liked Zero, I had fun with him, too! The element of ‘science fiction’ was intentional, though the specifics evolved in the telling, of course. One of the underlying themes of the series is the importance of the scientific method. The Argosians have turned their backs on science, or rather sought to put breaks on it, keeping some advances in technology while rejecting others. More importantly, they hate that method of open-mindedly examining the facts available and reaching conclusions based on logic (Galliano’s approach.) They require their science to fit preconceived notions of the truth, rather than allowing science to help form their truth.

You mention the Sap – and what is the Sap, exactly? If the reader begins asking that question by the end of book three, we’re getting somewhere. That’s the second important theme in the books: the role of so-called magical or spiritual knowledge. The point is, in the world of the Tree at least, those two types of knowledge – scientific and spiritual – don’t need to be contradictory. By ‘spirit’ I also mean instinctive, emotional understanding, a way of leaping straight to the truth without passing through logical steps.

Helen: To what extent has the spiritual philosophy of Samiha’s testament and the Oracle’s teaching in the Chronicles of the Tree been influenced by your Baha’i background?

Mary: The influence is extensive. One of the key points of Baha’i thought is that truth is one, no matter where you find it. There are many paths to it… and the characters in my stories certainly follow many and divergent paths! I wanted to avoid cookie cutter notions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, and made a point of turning judgmental notions on their heads. That doesn’t mean the books lack a moral centre, however. Quite the contrary.

The main point underlying the ideas of both Samiha and the Oracle is that creation is continuous. There may be rhythms and lifecycles to it, worlds dying and worlds beginning, but the creative spark never goes away. In those circumstances, you don’t talk about ‘the saved’ and ‘the damned’. You talk about renewal, change, growth. That’s the real Judgment Day, if you like. Sometimes renewal is painful, but it doesn’t mean the world is ending! It means old habits are ending, old ideas are being shed to make way for something new and necessary.

Wow, that was a mouthful, wasn’t it. Don’t get me started on the philosophy…

Helen: OK, I won’t! But this does bring me to another important aspect of Oracle’s Fire. Like the series, it is epic in scope, dealing with world changing events in the Tree universe—but unlike many similar fantasies, war is not your story’s primary focus. Would you agree, in fact, that the war that occurs is peripheral to the central story? And do you feel that this is in any way a new trend in epic fantasy?

Mary: Yes, I consciously sidestepped the ‘great war’ scenario so common in epic fantasy – nothing is solved here by military might. War is an unavoidable part of the scenario, of course, because the Saint is bent on launching his Crusade, but the important action, the world-changing action, happens elsewhere. That’s something I feel very strongly about. If you’re going to draw a parallel with old tales, this story is Moses leading his people out of Egypt rather than King Arthur re-conquering Britain.

I don’t know if it’s a new trend in fantasy, however. Ursula Le Guin already followed that route in the ‘Earthsea’ books, achieving her ‘world changing circumstances’ by means of very personal, emotional quests. War is counterproductive to those sorts of stories, really.

Helen: Are there any other authors, besides Le Guin, whose writing you feel is complementary to the style of story you have explored in the Tree series?

Mary: Let’s see – probably slightly ‘older’ writers, like Peter Beagle, Naomi Mitchison, and Mary Renault. I’m not comparing styles here, but I’m certainly fascinated by similar story themes. Those were writers concerned, like Le Guin, with describing changing worlds and attitudes, the passing of the old and the arrival of the new… whether it’s a fantastic universe that loses its magic, or the final days of a mythical beast, or the death of one culture and the triumph of a another. What we lose and what we gain in that process. Ends and beginnings.

Helen: Your husband, Frank Victoria, has designed the covers for all three books and you have dedicated Oracle’s Fire to him. But were there challenges as well as rewards in working so closely together?

Mary: Strangely enough, none at all! I kept waiting for what people told me would be the inevitable frictions of working with one’s partner on a creative project … but actually, Frank was a dream to work with. He immediately knew what to do for each cover, and his ideas were spot on. Oh, except for that idea of putting Samiha in a chainmail bikini. (Just kidding…)

Helen: And finally, where to from here?

Mary: Another project! I’ve begun a new novel and I’m very excited about it, but won’t say more right now – I get a tad superstitious about spilling the beans on a story too early in the day. I will say however that it isn’t epic fantasy. I had the yen to try something completely different (to misquote Monty Python.)

Helen: Mary, I think all your readers will know to look forward to something intriguing and thought provoking even if it isn’t epic fantasy. I shall certainly look forward to talking with you about the new work here, at some stage in the future.

Mary: Thank you immensely Helen, I’d like to take you up on that offer. It’s been a real pleasure chatting to you about the Chronicles of the Tree!

—

About the Author:

Mary Victoria was born in 1973 in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. Despite this she managed to live most of her life in other places, including Cyprus, Canada, Sierra Leone, France and the UK. She studied art and film and worked as an animator for 10 years before turning to full time writing. She now lives in Wellington with her husband and daughter. Her first book, Tymon’s Flight, was released by HarperVoyager in August 2010. The sequel, Samiha’s Song, was launched in February 2011—and the concluding novel, Oracle’s Fire, is newly out. In a year of exciting news for the Chronicles of the Tree, Tymon’s Flight won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Professional Artwork and was a finalist for Best Novel. Tymon’s Flight was also a finalist for not one but two Gemmell Awards: the  Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Debut and the Ravenheart Award for Best Cover.

You can find out more about Mary and her writing here.

—

About the Giveaway:

Mary’s publisher, HarperVoyager (Australia), has very kindly donated a copy of Oracle’s Fire to be drawn as a giveaway from amongst Australian or New Zealand commenters on this interview. The giveaway will remain open until 12 midnight, Sunday 13 November, with the winner announced on the morning of Monday 14. Just leave a comment to go in the draw—and don’t forget to check in Monday to see if you’ve won. The draw will be made by Random Number Integer.

On Sunday I posted that:

“I’m very pleased to have been asked to participate in an SF Signal Mind Meld on the subject of the advantages of character, as opposed to technology/sense of wonder driven stories in SciFi.”

I am now even more pleased to tell you that my mind has been duly melded and the post is now live on SF Signal under the title You Gotta Have Character, addressing:

“What are the advantages of character driven science fiction stories over stories that emphasize technology and sense of wonder? Can you provide some examples of stories that deliver both in a satisfying way?”

OK–so you want to know whose minds I’ve been melded to? Well here, in the order we appear in the post, are the Melders:

• Lyda Morehouse
• Heather Massey
• Helen Lowe (That’s me, folks! Oh, you knew that already—oh well, never mind!)
• Lynne Thomas
• Judith Tarr
• Daniel Abraham (whom you’ll recall I interviewed here very recently.)

Now you’d better head on over right now and check it out, here.

As those of you who visit regularly will know, my most recent interview was with The Dragon’s Path and The Long Price series author, Daniel Abrahams, here.

.

And I am pleased to let you know that I will be posting my hot-off-the press latest interview, which is with Mary Victoria, author of The Chronicles of the Tree, about both her series and recently released final novel in the trilogy—Oracle’s Fire—this Friday. I’m just putting the finishing touches to the interview now, but as always with Mary, it’s shaping up as an interesting conversation.

.

I am also very excited to announce that Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn and more recently Stormlight novels, and also the writer chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, has agreed to an interview, which all going well should run in early December. The interview will most likely focus around his new Mistborn novel, Alloy of Law—although you never can tell where an interview might go!—and his publisher Gollancz has indicated that there might be giveaways. Either way though, ‘watch this space’ for the interview.

The Wait

Over the channel
this morning
you can see them

the godwits on the spit
in a wiry huddle
like greyhounds in waiting.

kuaka eastern bar-tailed godwit

The sand is high this year
the sun needling the fog
as they wait

for a signal,
the days to draw in
the constellations
to configure.

The commonest of the migratory arctic waders

The moa, giant eagle,
you outlasted them,
you saw a nameless river
sweeping by basalt cliffs

and the first men
swinging through the channel
in a long canoe.

Then tall vessels
and small, you saw
their shrouds shiver in the wind

you saw them cross the bar,
heard the retort of axe
and scream of fire.

Flocks often fly in long lines or chevrons, emitting
a clear excited kew-kew

Over the channel
this morning
you can see them

like arrows
aiming
for the sun.

.

(c) Barbara Strang

~ published in The Corrosion Zone, HeadworX, 2011

Reproduced here by permission.

—

On September 20 I featured, Indigo, another poem from The Corrosion Zone, here, and discussed how much I had enjoyed the collection.

I am featuring The Wait today for several reasons. One is that there are so many fine poems in The Corrosion Zone that I am pleased to have the opportunity to share my enjoyment of them with blog readers. And  The Wait is a very fine poem, capturing Barbara’s unique eye for detailed observation of and interest in the natural world. It also captures what I believe to be two of the themes of The Corrosion Zone as a collection, which are transition and continuity—in this case, both geographic and temporal.

Another reason that I have asked Barbara’s permission to feature The Wait today is because tomorrow The Corrosion Zone is to enjoy its long awaited, but earthquake deferred, launch—and as I said in Sunday’s post, I am delighted to have been asked by Barbara to officially launch the book.

For those of you who can make it along, the event will start 5.30 pm at the Christchurch Polytechnic Students’ Association venue at 5 Madras Street, on the Christchurch Polytechnic campus.

The launch will be followed by the CPC event with Bill Manhire, Steve Thomas, and Dina Durrer (with $5 entry for this event; Barbara’s book launch is free.)

—

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

And we have globe artichokes—wOOt! 🙂

But right now I have my first coffee for the working week in hand and am already into a day that involves:

* a meeting with WALL series map artist, Peter Fitzpatrick, to adjust the map for The Gathering of the Lost

* my SF Signal ‘Mind Meld’ on character to finish and send through

* my launch speech for Barbara Strang’s The Corrosion Zone to complete as well

* the blog interview with Mary Victoria on Oracle’s Fire to put together

* plus chasing down an Earthquake Commission cheque for emergency works that seems to have gone astray

* and sorting through the usual 101 emails that arrive of  a Monday morning!

* And yes, indeed — somewhere in all that, the first pass proof of The Gathering of the Lost to get underway!

Right now, I’m thinking that I can’t have worked nearly hard enough over the weekend—but that otherwise the situation is tracking pretty much as usual. And maybe I can use squeeze in another cup of coffee—which had better be black and strong!—before that map meeting! 😉

Jaransor; art by Peter Fitzpatrick

First Pass Proof for The Gathering of the Lost

First and most importantly, the First Pass Proof for The Gathering of the Lost has just come through. While this means that I have to stop working on Daughter of Blood (The Wall of Night Book Three) and my Rue short story from the Thornspell ‘verse until the proof done, overall I think this is Good News.

That is because First Pass Proof means that the book is in production and rolling fairly inexorably toward publication—which as you may recall is 27 March—and that is something that makes me really happy; even happier given how many of you have been kind enough to let me know that you loved The Heir of Night and are waiting impatiently for Gathering!

—

So what else is happening?

Reading Oracle’s Fire and Forthcoming Interview with Mary Victoria

You may recall that I spoke some good words for my friend Mary Victoria at the launch of her third-in-series, Oracle’s Fire, two weeks back, here. Since then I have been steadily reading the book (but no spoilers!) and getting ready to interview Mary on the blog—if not this week then I hope next. So watch this space …

—

.

Launching Barbara Strang’s The Corrosion Zone (HeadworX)

You may also recall that on September 20 I featured Indigo, from Barbara Strang’s new collection The Corrosion Zone, as my Tuesday poem—and spoke very positively of my experience of the collection, here. The official launch of The Corrosion Zone was—like many events—put off by Christchurch’s February 22nd and then June 13 earthquakes. So I am delighted that the collection is now being launched as part of the Canterbury Poets’ Collective (CPC) Spring Reading Season (also deferred from its usual autumn slot because of earthquakes.) And honored to be asked by Barbara to give the official launch speech.

So when and where: this coming Wednesday, 9 November, starting 5.30 pm at the Christchurch Polytechnic Students’ Association venue at 5 Madras Street, on the Christchurch Polytechnic campus.

The launch will be followed by the CPC event with Bill Manhire, Steve Thomas, and Dina Durrer (with $5 entry for this event; Barbara’s book launch is free.)

—

SF Signal: Mind Meld

I’m also very pleased to have been asked to participate in an SF Signal Mind Meld on the subject of the advantages of character, as opposed to technology/sense of wonder driven stories in SciFi.

This should be running this week and obviously I’ll let you know when it’s up, but in the meantime, you can check out a few of October’s Mind Melds:

Books That Authors Recommend to Their Friends

The Most Interesting Societies in SF/F

Mainstream Authors Who Should Be Writing Genre Novels

Fun, huh? I’m looking forward to being part of it all.