Ah—thank you to Bookman Beattie for his very warm welcome to the world of blogging over on Beatties Book Blog.  I love reading your blog, Graham, and hope to send through more of the post material and interview links “soon.”

It’s another cold, wet, miserable Sunday—perfect weather for reading and blogging. Due to getting the blog up and running this week, as well as sticking with the programme for writing Gathering (The Wall of Night Series, Book Two), I have fallen a little behind on the reading. Which means I’m still reading Trudi Canavan’s The Ambassador’s Mission, whereas normally I would have expected to be well finished by now.

But I’m close—and I have to say it’s exactly the kind of Fantasy fiction I enjoy, so it’s easy to get into the story and race along once I do get a  few moments with the book. There’s not just the magicians (& not only in the Magician’s Guild city of Imardin, but also in, or from other lands) with their varying forms of magic—and a Rogue wizard to hunt—but also the overlapping thieves’ world. I have always loved thieves’ worlds in Fantasy and have encountered some wonderful thief characters and worlds over the years: from Tamora Pierce’s Upright Man, first encountered in Alanna: the First Adventure; PC Hodgell’s Tai-tastigon in Godstalk, and more recently Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora.

What thieves’ or magician societies have you particularly enjoyed in your SciFi-Fantasy (SF-F) reading?

Once I’ve finished The Ambassador’s Mission, the SF-F “to be read” list is still looking very high. That is because I am hoping to read all the shortlisted books for both the Hugos and the Mythopoeic Awards. I’ll definitely be reading for the Hugos, because this year, for the first time ever, I am registered for Worldcon and so am eligible to vote.  So I feel I have to read the nominated books. And I always read as many as I can of the Mythopoeic Award finalists because I have loved so many competition winners  over the years.  From books like the very first winners, Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave and Joyce Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain, in 1971 and 1972 respectively, through favourite books and authors such as Orson Scott Card’s Seventh Son (1988), Patricia McKillip’s Ombria In Shadow (2003) and Robin McKinley’s Sunshine (possibly my favourite vampire book—paranormals, magic and baking!) in 2004, and Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys (gotta love that title, don’t you?)

Anyway, you can check out the list of previous Mythopoeic winners for yourself, here. And feel free to let me know if there’s any of your favourites there.

As you will see, the 2010 Mythopoeic Award finalists are:

Children’s:

Kage Baker, The Hotel Under the Sand (Tachyon)
Shannon Hale, Books of Bayern consisting of The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Forest Born (Bloomsbury)
Grace Lin, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown)
Malinda Lo, Ash (Little, Brown)
Lisa Mantchev, Eyes Like Stars (Feiwel & Friends)

Adults:

Barbara Campbell, Trickster’s Game trilogy consisting of Heartwood, Bloodstone, and Foxfire (DAW)
Greer Gilman, Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales (Small Beer Press)
Robert Holdstock, Avilion (Gollancz)
Catherynne M. Valente, Palimpsest (Spectra)
Jo Walton, Lifelode (NESFA Press)

Sadly, in terms of “so many books to read: so little time” there is only one overlap to the Hugo Awards, and that is with Catherine M. Valente’s “Palimpsest.” So Palimpsest is definitely there on my reading table, and in a quick skim of the back cover blurb I am intrigued to see the story described as a “lyrically erotic spell …”  But I’m starting with the Kids/YA books first and currently have Kage Baker’s The Hotel Under the Sand and Grace Lin’s Where the Mountain Meets the Moon on the table.

And I will post my personal winner here before the Mythopoeic Society make their final announcement—but I won’t be able to do that with the Hugos, given that I’ll actually be voting on that one.

Just for all those NZ readers, if you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the finalists for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, it’s because I’ve already read ’em. I even nominated a couple and am definitely going to be voting. But you can check out the 2010 list of finalists  here. In the Best Novel: Adult and Young Adult categories, in particular, I’d love to know which books you personally have loved reading.

And this means that I should have done my “It’s Friday!” post yesterday. But I was so excited about the green comet, and envious of all you Northern Hemisphere folk who can just go outside in the dark pre-dawn and see it for yourselves (maybe), that I decided to post about that instead.

So now it’s Saturday and so I’m going to tell you about “What I’m Working On” and “What I’m Reading” today, instead. Easy!

What I’m Working On: Books & Blogs, Pretty Much!

Yesterday, after I posted about the green comet, I worked on Gathering (The Wall of Night Series, Book Two), where I am still revising Part 2. “Still” because a lot of this past week has been taken up with getting this blog up and running—the posting part is not too difficult (I am a writer, after all) but the techie background stuff of getting the blog page to look as much like my website as possible, and to link through to the website in a seamless way, has required extra help.

This help has come in two parts. Firstly in the form of my friend Fitz who designed my Helen Lowe and Thornspell websites and did a re-design so it would fit in with the blog page look. The second major assist has been from another good friend, Joff, who is very much a webbie guy and got in there and “re-engineered” the blog theme to fit my needs and get the website marry-up running smoothly. And by the way, answered all my “blogs-for-dummies” questions with great patience and good humour—because sadly, although I would not describe myself as a technophobe, (I can definitely learn “how to”, but—) it’s not really my “thing”, so the learning curve is always pretty steep. But I think we’re getting there!

Joff and Fitz also have their own websites/blogs, so if you want to know more just click on their names and check them out. And if you leave a comment, tell them I said to say “hi”.

Now, back to revising Part 2 of Gathering. Yesterday I got through 17 pages, which may not sound like  a lot, but often is. This is because revision is not necessarily a strictly linear process. A big part of revision is continuity, so often you have to go back and check what a character said or did before (or even who, exactly, said or did what), and “before” can be 5, 6, even 10 chapters back. Frequently I then have to make changes in both places to keep things in synch—and also work my way ‘forward’ to where I ended up, making sure that the changes stay good all the way through.

There can be a lot of these sorts of considerations when you’re revising a first draft, because with the first draft you’re always working with material that was “just written”—where the most important thing is just getting the ideas and the characters and the flow of the story down there on the paper (ok, e-paper, but you get my drift) . And it’s fun and it’s wild and it’s exciting, but yeah, sometimes there can be a little bit of mopping up to do, both with the sequencing of the action—not just what happens, but where it happens, and how—but also with the characters. Very often the way I originally envisage a character and start writing them will change and evolve in response to the action of the story and the other characters they encounter, so I also need to go back and ensure that the character remains consistently the same person throughout.

Don’t get me wrong, characters can change and they definitely do, but there has to be a rationale for that change in the story, an evolution that the reader can understand and “buy” (in my “book” anyway). In fact, you could probably say that continuity is one of the things I pay a lot of attention to in my writing . Pace is really important, too, and something I also pay pretty close attention to right from the get-go.

I think that’s enough for one post, so I’ll leave  “what I’m reading”—squeezing in between the writing and the blogging!—for tomorrow’s post. And hey—enjoy your weekends. 🙂

I know, it sounds like a comic book superhero, doesn’t it?

But it’s real and it’s official name is “Comet McNaught (C/2009 R1)” (which is pretty boring, let’s face it—do these astronomers have no imagination?) and if you’re in the northern hemisphere it is currently visible in the extreme northern sky in the early morning. Word is, it may even be visible to the naked eye if the sky is dark enough. So get up early and take a look.

Those of us down here in the southern hemisphere (officially, that’s “downunder”) will have to make do with the photos. You can see a wonderful photo and also “read all about it” in far more detail on the Bad Astronomy blog, in  the  post Actually, if You’re A Comet It *Is* Easy Being Green.

So go check it out and read about solar winds and what actually does make this particular comet such a beautiful green. And as Phil Plait, the “Bad Astronomer” says: “This comet promises to be a good one, so if you get a chance, go out and hunt it down.”

That’s you, Northern hemispere-ites: you’ve got your marching orders. Get up early and go check it out!

The Seagull (Court Theatre)

On Wednesday night I went to see Chekhov’s play, The Seagull, which is being put on at the Court Theatre, in the historic Arts Centre. I knew that The Seagull was one of Chekhov’s most famous plays, but although I studied The Cherry Orchard and Platonov/Wild Honey at university I realised, as I took my seat, that I really had no idea of The Seagull story.  But sometimes that is the best way to find out what the play is about, by actually sitting through it!

Nonetheless, it was with considerable amusement that I realised that the play was—to an extent—about being a writer and the writing life (obviously, being a Chekhov play, there was a LOT more to it than that).  And given the equally amused “aside” glances of my friends as the writer Trigorin went through his second act monologue on this very subject, elements clearly still rang true after over a century.

Or perhaps—the lowering reflection—writers are just not very original in their relationship to their art and the writing life is in itself a well-worn trope? (Scary thought!)

But if you want to hear the details of that particular discussion for yourself, you will have to go and see the play—the Court staging was excellent, with subtle and powerful performances from all the central characters. And although the dramatic approach Chekhov effectively pioneered in The Seagull has now become mainstream, it is still possible to see how the subtleties within the play, and the prevalence of subtext, were ground breaking—and established Chekhov as one of the pre-eminent modern dramatists.

Or if Anton Chekov’s The Seagull is not playing in a theatre near you, get a copy of the play and have a read.  I think it will repay the effort.

I have just heard from the wonderful Anne Aitkenhead, the product manager who imports and supports Thornspell at Random House New Zealand (and Anne has been marvellously supportive over the past eighteen months)  that:

Thornspell will be out here in paperback on July 2—perfect for some winter school holiday reading!

It was very exciting, as an author, to have my first book come out in hardback, which Thornspell did under the Knopf imprint. And it is a beautiful book. I just love it and always will. But the paperback edition, which is being published under the Yearling imprint (it’s still Knopf, but just a different “label”), is also beautifully presented. And again—very exciting to see some of the excellent reviews that Thornspell received, from publications as prestigious as Kirkus, Booklist and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, featured inside the cover.

You can read more about Thornspell, including excerpts from the book and many of the reviews, on the Thornspell website, here.

But I’ll include some of the reviews inside the cover right here:

“A quiet hero anchors this nicely crafted blend of fairy tale and dreamscape . . . .  A very human and nevertheless magical drama. Thoughtful and understated.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Lowe brings the fairy tale to life, adding both complexity and a believable hero, as well as an Aurora who’s more than just a “sleeping beauty.”  This is a fun retelling with much to offer readers.” — School Library Journal

“This “Sleeping Beauty” retelling skilfully expands the basic story of the uninvited guest seeking revenge into a full-blooded tale of ambition and romance . . . . The charming modifications hang together nicely with the traditional elements of the story, and romance readers as well as fairy tale aficionados will delight in this deft handling of the tale.” — The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

And Frances Grant in Canvas (the New Zealand Herald) wrote:

“Lowe gives what might have been yet another fantasy quest story a darkly imaginative and sensual dimension as her hero fights his way between his world and the strange faerie realm.”

Hurrah—it’s Tuesday and that means a Tuesday poem.

And as of today I am officially part of the Tuesday Poem Blog, initiated by NZ writer and poet Mary McCallum, where up to 30 poets from NZ and internationally post poems (either one of their own or another poet’s) on their blogs every Tuesday. The 30 poets also take turns for selecting and posting the poems that appear on the actual Tuesday Poem Blog site.  I interviewed Mary about the Tuesday Poem initiative last Saturday and you can listen to the podcast here (click on the play icon or download the mp3.)

Today’s poem is The Blue and White Tablecloth by Carolyn McCurdie, A Dunedin poet (the same Dunedin that I celebrated in my Tuesday poem last week, Rain Wild Magic.)

So go the Tuesday Poem—and now (rubs hands together!) time for my first “official” poem as a Tuesday poet.

I have decided to start with “something old” and also a poem that celebrates the tradition of women as poets.

The poem is “You know the place: then … ” by Sappho (6th century B.C.)

You know the place: then

Leave Crete and come to us
waiting where the grove is
pleasantest, by precincts

sacred to you; incense
smokes on the altar, cold
streams murmur through the

apple branches, a young
rose thicket shades the ground
and quivering leaves pour

down deep sleep; in meadows
where horses have grown sleek
among spring flowers, dill

scents the air. Queen! Cyprian!
Fill our gold cups with love
stirred into clear nectar.

Sappho
translated from the Greek by Mary Barnard

There is much speculation around Sappho’s life, but little is known with any historical accuracy, beyond that she lived on the Ionian island of Lesbos in the 6th century BC and was a poet of high repute. Only a very small body of her poetry remains today.

Yesterday’s grey and wet has carried on into today for a bleak, rainy Queen’s Birthday with a decidedly chill wind blowing in from the south (think the same as “north” if you’re in the northern hemisphere.)  A good day for staying close to home and doing a bit of a round up for the past week, in which I:

• Started this blog—and so far have kept to my resolution of posting, however briefly, every day.
• Celebrated the launch of the  Supernatural Undergound blog and also the launch of Helen McKinlay’s fourth book, Grandma Meets the Queen, in the best selling Grandma series.
• Went along to the Catalyst Open Mic poetry night—a once-a-month gig where mainly poets, but also storytellers and musicians “rave on” at Al’s Bar in the Central City. And it’s not just about the poets—there’s an “audience participation award” as well, won this week by my partner, Andrew. (Yup, he’s definitely the “live one” out there.)
• Interviewed poet and writer, Mary McCallum, initiator of the exciting Tuesday Poem Blog, for Women on Air, (Plains 96.9 FM)—the interview aired this Saturday and you can listen to it here (to listen: press the play icon or download the mp3 version.)
• Checked out the shortlists for both the Hugo and Mythopoeic Awards (so many great stories to read, so little time); and of course (most importantly of all)
• Kept writing The Gathering of the Lost (The Wall of Night Series, Book Two.)

And just to get the new week kicked off right, today I got two great emails:

• the first was from Tim Jones, asking if he could feature a poem from my Ithaca Conversations sequence, Homing, as next week’s Tuesday Poem on his Books in the Trees blog.  Tim selected Homing and another Ithaca Conversations poem, The Trojan Shore for  JAAM 26 when he was guest editor in 2008, so of course I am happy to see it featured again.
• the second was from Tracey O’Hara, Paranormal Romance author and blogger on the Supernatural Underground to say that her novel, Night’s Cold Kiss, has been shortlisted for a Romance Writers of Australia Romantic Book of the Year Award (a RuBY)  for a novel with romantic elements. Way to go, Tracey!

And last but not least, today being the official day: to the Queen—Happy Birthday!

Queen’s Birthday Sunday—it’s a long weekend here—has been one of those grey, wet, winter days and is just closing in for a dark, brooding sort of dusk. And I have to say that the weather exactly suits my mood, because after spending  most of the day doing more revisions on Part 2 of  Gathering, I popped over to Tor.com for a little R’n’R only to read (quoting Ansible) that Diana Wynne Jones has “chosen to stop chemotherapy treatment for cancer; her doctors fear that she has only months left to live.” You can read the full article here.

My mother died of cancer a few years back and I know that she, too, reached a stage where she felt it was the right thing to do to end any but palliative treatment. But it’s tough. Very tough: for the person’s who is ill, for their family, and for all those who love and value them.

I do not know Diana Wynne Jones, but I have known, loved and valued her work since my early teens.  The first book I recall reading was A Power of Three—and I loved it.  Within the next few years I read both Eight Days of Luke and Cart and Cwidder, which together are possibly still my favourite of all her books. But it is hard to say, because I don’t believe I have ever read a Diana Wynne Jones novel that I didn’t like and sometimes the book one likes best can depend on reading mood. And “Most Recently Purchased’ was The Merlin Conspiracy, which I feel is (again!) Diana Wynne Jones at her best.

So has Diana Wynne Jones been an influence on me as a writer?  The answer is  a resounding “yes.”  I love her stories and I love the way she tells her stories. In that sense she is an exemplar, for me, of what it mean to be a good writer.  But most of all she has given me many hours of pleasure as a reader and stories and characters that I have carried with me, like old and trusted friendships, for many years.

And what gift could anyone give you that is more than that?

Today is the first day of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend—so what better date to launch the fourth in Helen McKinlay’s “Grandma” series of children’s picture books: Grandma Meets the Queen

The launch was held in the Children’s Section of Borders Bookstore in Riccarton with a celebratory cake (chocolate—my favourite!) and “fluffy’s” (you know, the foamy ‘cappucino-style-but-sans-caffeine’ hot drinks) for the kids—and the gathering was enthusiastic and supportive.

I have been a fan of Grandma from her very first adventure Grandma’s Week Off , but having snuck home and read this one already, I think Grandma Meets the Queen may be the best yet.  So I am very excited to be interviewing Helen McKinlay for Women on Air this week and sharing  more about her—and Grandma’s—adventures with our listeners.

And there’s a special Grandma bonus with this book:  book purchaser’s will have Grandma’s secret marmalade recipe revealed to them. But for now—my lips are strictly sealed!