Putting up the shutters on public contact — but still writing.

Update:

With Covid-19 cases increasing every day here in NZ, the government yesterday announced an immediate shift to Level 3, moving to Level 4 and full lockdown except for essential services at 11.59 pm, Wednesday 25 March, for four weeks.

Basically this means everyone who is not in an essential business or service should be isolating in their own home as soon as possible, but definitely from that point. The intention is to prevent exponential spread of infection and the NZ health system being overwhelmed, and to save lives.

I 100% support the decision by the government for all of the above reasons, but I know it may be very tough for many people. So my thoughts are with you all—as well as with all those internationally who are dealing with the pandemic in similar or other ways.

In NZ, I really hope we can step up to staying home and keeping part, and get through this together. Kia kaha, New Zealand: stand strong together by standing apart.

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I know many of you are already dealing with the Covid-19 corona virus in your own countries, and that in some of those countries it is overwhelming health services. Over the weekend New Zealand moved to Level 2 of a four level process, with some public health professionals arguing that we should already be at Level 4: Lockdown if we are to avoid being overwhelmed.

In short, we live in fairly frightening times, especially—although by no means exclusively—if we have family members or friends who are among the most at-risk groups. At such times it’s really important to look out for each other as best we can, but also to heed the public health advice.

Currently in New Zealand that’s to avoid all unnecessary social contact, including working from home where-ever possible and avoiding non-essential travel. Those over 70 and in high risk health groups are being advised to self-isolate in their home environment regardless. For those wanting to know more, and why it matters, there’s a really good article here on The Spinoff:

What Does “Level Two Mean — And Why Does It Matter?

I believe the graphic, in particular, really encapsulates matters—and puts the knife’s edge we’re all teetering on clearly in perspective.

In terms of what I can do within those parameters, as a writer and ordinary-person-on-the-suburban-rear-lines at such a time, the obvious one is to keep writing—which I am doing and shall continue to do. There is, after all, a book and a series to be completed. In that sense, I guess working from home and staying put is “business as usual” for a writer.

In terms of also being a family member and a friend, as well as part of a wider community, I am maintaining contact with family members but also working with six to eight friends who live in the same community to establish an email/phone support network. The idea is to keep each other updated re our status in terms of work and health, and to provide support if required in terms of picking up groceries or prescriptions. If and when a community-wide lockdown is implemented, we may also look at doing our updates via skype  or something similar (assuming the internet holds up to all the additional use.) In our case, we also have elderly neighbours so will be making sure they have our number to call at need.

And that’s pretty much it. Although the potential economic fallout from this pandemic is also quite scary, along with the health consequences, all we can do is hang in there and do our best to look after ourselves and others, even if a great deal of it must be at armslength or via the internet.

Wherever you are, I know you’ll be trying to do your best in whatever the current situation is. So be as careful as you can out there, and as safe and well as it is possible to be.

Worldbuilding is central to the art and craft of writing Speculative* Fiction but it never pays to lose sight of the real world. 🙂

In this case the sun rises out of the Southern Ocean, which is part of the immensity of Te Moananui A Kiwa: the great ocean of Kiwa, aka the Pacific. In this case, the sunrise is off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island (Te Wai Pounamu — The Waters of Greenstone), making it among the earliest places in the world to see the new day. The birds on the shingle banks are parekareka, the NZ spotted shag (a species of cormorant): scientific name Stictocarbo punctatus.

The sun rises out of the Southern Ocean…

A little bit of world and worldbuilding inspiration for all our weeks. 🙂

*Speculative Fiction: Although I would argue that all fiction is speculative, 
the specific term is now applied to the literature of Science Fiction, 
Fantasy and Horror in all its diversity and excellence.

Last week, I let you know that I was currently reading Teresa Frohock’s Carved From Stone And Dream (Los Nefilim #2) — and now I’ve finished reading so it’s time to share my thoughts!

As I also shared last week, I’m both a friend-in-writing of Teresa’s and a fan of her writing, which I’ve discussed previously in the following posts:

Miserere — An Autumn Tale

The Los Nefilim Novella Trilogy

On the Supernatural Underground: Year Of Romance #8: Endless Love in Where Oblivion Lives

So onto the most important question first: did I enjoy it? And the answer is, perhaps not so surprisingly: Yes, I definitely did — enough to finish reading it (from about a third of the way through, gulp!) in one evening sitting. (Yep, I had reached “point non-plus” with my own writing for the day! 🙂 )

The Los Nefilim Storyline

Just to give a quick outline, the Los Nefilim series commenced with a series of three linked novellas (Los Nefilim) set in pre- Spanish Civil War Barcelona. The central premise of the series is that the eternal conflict between angels and demons is  largely played out on the human plane between foot-soldier armies of nephilim, the hybrid offspring of human pairings with angels or demons respectively. (The ‘nefilim’ of the series title is simply the Spanish form of ‘nephilim.’) The nefilim are not immortal, but are eternally reborn to serve in the war-without-end between heaven and hell. For this reason, the nefilim’s maxim, “Watch for me” is both invocation and prayer, farewell and blessing, but may also be a curse if spoken to an enemy or betrayer.

In Teresa Frohock’s story, begun in Los Nefilim, the cosmic conflict both mirrors and intersects Spain’s descent into Civil War. The main character, Diago, is unusual for a nephilim in that he is of both demon and angel descent, although he has chosen to serve with an angel-aligned cohort of nefilim, led by Guillermo. The other main characters include Miquel, Diago’s husband and Guillermo’s second-in-command; Rafael, Diago’s son, whose mother was also an angel; Ysa, Guillermo’s daughter and heir-apparent; and Jordi, Guillermo’s half-brother and the antagonist who wishes to usurp his leadership of the Spanish nefilim.

The Los Nefilim story continued in the first of three novels, Where Oblivion Lives, at the very outbreak of the Civil War, with the action split between Spain and (Nazi) Germany. The recently released Carved From Stone And Dream is the second of the novel trilogy and brings the reader forward six years, to 1939 and the end of the Civil War, when the Republican government’s forces are effectively defeated and fleeing Spain and the reprisals of the Nationalist (rebel) forces of General Franco.

My Thoughts On The Story

Given Where Oblivion Lives ends in 1933 and at the beginning of the Civil War I was surprised,  on reading the back cover, to learn that the Carved From Stone And Dream story had leapt over the six years of the Civil War to the Republican defeat. Huge events took place during this period so I was curious to see how Teresa would handle the time jump without suspending my disbelief (or in this case, belief 🙂 ) as a reader.

Needless to say, being Teresa she did it in masterly fashion, by means of a prologue of dispatches that swiftly bring the action from 1936 to 1939 and the flight of Republican adherents: both their troops (which include Guillermo’s Los Nefilim) and civilian refugees. I also reminded myself, in the spirit of my current worldbuilding post series on Supernatural Underground, that Los Nefilim is not about the Spanish Civil War as such. Rather, the civil conflict forms the backdrop to much of the worldbuilding, particularly the intersection of the paranormal and human worlds. But the main story is about the paranormal conflict and Diago’s endeavour to reconcile his demonic and angelic heritage. Secondarily, it’s also about the conflict between Guillermo and Jordi, with control of Los Nefilim, but increasingly the fate of the human world, at stake.

Nonetheless, the aftermath of the Civil War plays an important part in framing the paranormal story, from Diago and Guillermo’s flight through the Pyrenees, the dreadful conditions of the camp where Spanish refugees were interned in France, the often-eroded loyalties of the defeated, and the imminence of World War 2, which is this story is being orchestrated by Jordi in alliance with the German nephilim. In Carved From Stone And Dream Miquel in particular is tested by the brutality of the the fascist-aligned regime Jordi is orchestrating, as well as by the attempt to raise an army of fallen angels.

The heart of the Los Nefilim story is always the relationship between Diago and Miquel, and their relationship as parents with their son, Rafael. The latter in particular, now fourteen and on the cusp of adulthood, plays  a more prominent part in Carved From Stone And Dream with his insight into his own song (aka nefilim power) influencing a deeper understanding of Diago’s own.

When I featured the  Year Of Romance #8: Endless Love in Where Oblivion Lives post on the Supernatural Underground, I wrote that: “If challenged to come up with a single adjective to describe Diago and Miquel, the word would be “fidelity.” In Carved From Stone And Dream the quality of fidelity extends beyond their personal relationship and immediate family, to choices about where they stand and what they are prepared to do to survive the darkness of the Civil War and the about-to-break storm of World War 2.

If you’re already a Los Nefilim reader then I’m sure you’ll enjoy Carved From Stone And Dream. Publishers Weekly certainly did, awarding it a prestigious starred review. Similarly, if you like well researched, well crafted historical fantasy then I think the entire Los Nefilim series is definitely worth checking out.

As for Los Nefilim #3, like other readers of the series, I shall be watching for it. 🙂

The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alphabetical order, of course!

(The quotes, together with the covers, indicate the books in which the character appears.)

—

Isperia Katran:  a Master of the Academy of Sages in the River city of Ij

Those around Prince Ilvaine stirred again, but he simply nodded, as if the heralds’ formal words were no more than he had expected. “All these matters shall be addressed.” A gesture drew in the woman to his immediate right, her face humorous and deeply lined above the gold robe of a Master Sage. “May I introduce my kinswoman, Isperia Katran, who is a Master of the Academy.”

~  from © The Gathering Of The Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two: Chapter 8 — The Demonhunter

Away back on December 9 I did a Just Arrived: Books, Books, Books post and have since reported back on three of the four books featured:

Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield 

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

Which leaves Teresa Frohock’s recently released Carved From Stone and Dream and Behrooz Boochani’s No Friend But The Mountain still to go. Not too bad going, I feel, when sandwiching the reading in between my own writing.

As you know I’m a fan of Teresa’s writing, which I’ve discussed previously in the following posts:

Miserere — An Autumn Tale

The Los Nefilim Novella Trilogy

On the Supernatural Underground: Year Of Romance #8: Endless Love in Where Oblivion Lives

So with Carved From Stone and Dream now out there in the world — and the wild 😉 — you won’t be surprised to learn that I’m reading it Right Now! So watch this space for my thoughts (“terribly important” and all that. 😀 )

I’m not sure that No Friend But The Mountain will automatically slot into the next place though, for two reasons.

Firstly, I’ve offered it to someone else to read and review, and secondly, three other books have elbowed their way onto the TBR table:

The first is an advanced reading copy of Network Effect by Martha Wells. Yep, that’s right, the first novel that’s following the quartet of Murderbot novellas, which I really liked. Since it’s due out very soon, too (in May I believe) I’m keen to give it some blog time on or around that date.

The second is Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children Of Edward 1 by Kelcey Wilson-Lee (2019), a non-fiction history of the lives of Edward 1 of England’s five daughters that survived to adulthood.

And just by the way, isn’t that cover just drop-dead gorgeous? I love the richness of the colours in it, which make me think immediately of Robyn Cadwallader’s Book Of Colours. As you know, I’m an instant starter for historical writing of all kinds, so am itching to get into this book. With International Women’s Day only yesterday, too, it seems like a great time to start reading about women who were significant in their day but whose memory history has largely erased.

The third books is by fellow NZ writer (I believe NZ!) Tamsyn Muir. It’s her (again I believe) debut novel, Gideon the Ninth (the Locked Tomb series), which was much anticipated by the specfic reading world and is a recent finalist for the Nebula Award.

I’m further intrigued because of two very different sets of (verbal) reader feedback on the book: one who said they found it “snort-out-loud” funny and duly snorted out loud in innumerable cafes and roadstops around the country; the second who considers the central relationship inherently abusive and many of the characters fundamentally cruel. Two very different views, huh? So unsurprisingly, along with the Nebula nomination (for which, very well done to the author) I’m keen to read and make up my own mind.

Plenty to keep me going in those moments of downtime from my own writing—which, being an avid reader, is all good where I’m from. 🙂

In A Traveller’s Guide To Haarth #2, a missing archive for the Twelve-Sided Room, plus associated alarums and warnings, led to a call for an agent-at-large to be dispatched. Today’s illustration may give the curious an inkling as to why…

Interplane & Cross-Void Travel Agency Agent-At-Large
Art Credit: PJ Fitzpatrick

This year on Supernatural Underground I’m celebrating the wondrous and wonderful worlds of Fantasy literature with a closer look at some of my personal favourites.

This month, I’m checking out the great Ursula Le Guin’s seminal Earthsea.

To find out more about why I heart her worldbuilding, click on:

Spellbinding — A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

The focus is on A Wizard of Earthsea because as the first book in the series it’s where all the founding worldbuilding takes place.

So far with this post series, the focus is on the art and craft of building more than the world itself, although it’s not possible to completely separate one from the other. Needless to say, as with CS Lewis in last month’s feature, I consider Le Guin a master of the worldbuilding art.

I hope a little of ‘why ‘comes through in the post! Have fun with the reading thereof. 🙂

#YoW YearOfWorldbuilding

#WiF WorldbuildingInFantasy

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But while you’re on the Supernatural Underground, why not check out:

The Mermaids, Selkies & Sea Monsters post by Merrie Destefano, which is a blog tour and giveaway feature for Mermaidia, a Limited Edition anthology dedicated to all things mer.

Amanda Arista’s Year of Genesis: The Birth of A Character, sharing how the heroine of her new-out paranormal urban fantasy, The Truth About Night evolved through her earlier Urban Panther series.

Kim Falconer’s Where In Which World, looking at where we Supernatural Underground authors “place” our storytelling. Hint: this world, other worlds, & California! 😉 PLUS, there be maps & general map & worldbuilding goodness.

Go on, get with it: check ’em all out! 😀

USA

The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alphabetical order, of course!

(The quotes, together with the covers, indicate the books in which the character appears.)

—

UK/AU/NZ

Isolt:  a damosel of Normarch, in the southern realm of Emer

“And Annot,” said Raher. “You know, Brania’s cousin. And her friend, the one with the mousy hair.”

“Isolt,” Tibalt said. “Her family—” He paused, swallowing hard as they all looked at him. “Her family’s demesne, it’s not far from ours. In Wymark,” he added, as though it was important they understood that. No one said anything…

~  from © The Gathering Of The Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two: Chapter 18 — Vigil

When Markus Zusak’s Bridge of Clay came out in 2018, the publisher (Picador) described it as “the most anticipated book of the decade.” While such superlatives may be dismissed as “puff” or “hype”, in this case it had been thirteen years since The Book Thief, which took the reading world by storm and became an international best seller.

Writing a book of such magnitude and impact is a hard act to follow, so it’s not surprising Markus Zusak took the time to ensure the next book was what he wanted. (Although I note this is entirely an assumption on my part!) Admittedly, The Messenger was on our shelves in 2013, but it was a republication of a work (2002) that preceded The Book Thief.

Perhaps because of the time the author was prepared to give Bridge of Clay, it is very definitely not a reprise of The Book Thief. If comparisons were to be made, I would say it more closely resembles The Messenger, being set in (mostly) contemporary Australia. Otherwise it’s entirely its own book, and in my view of far greater emotional depth and breadth than The Messenger. (Although I liked that well enough, as per my post here.)

So what, you may be wondering, is Bridge of Clay all about… Well, firstly, it’s about a family, and about the ties that bind us together and the forces that tear us apart, not least love and grief, hope and fear, life and death. Yep, you’ve got it: this is in no sense a small book.

Bridge of Clay is also the story of the five brothers that are the children of this particular family and how they survive—or endeavour to survive—the death of their mother, Penny, and loss of their father, Michael. At which point I shall immediately point to one of the more obvious distinctions between The Book Thief and this book (besides WW2 Germany and contemporary Australia), which is that the former centered on an orphaned tween/teen girl, while Bridge of Clay is all about these five boys, stretching in age from tween to around twenty, and grounded in their various views of the world. The two central points-of-view, though, are that of Clay, the fourth brother, and Matthew, the eldest brother and main narrator.

This is not to say that there are no significant women characters in the book: Abbey Hanley and Penny Lesciuszko, Carey Novac and Claudia Kirkby, all fit that bill. None are ciphers in the scope of the story, either, which is also an account of first loves and second, about romance and loves that endure. Primarily, though, it’s the five brothers, the Dunbar boys, that are the core of the book.

Incidentally, Bridge of Clay is also a book about a menagerie of animals and about horse racing, about bridges and Michelangelo, but primarily, it’s a book about survival. So maybe, that being said, there is a nexis between The Book Thief and Bridge of Clay after all, if the reader digs deep enough.

I should also say that I found it much harder to get into Bridge of Clay than I recall with The Book Thief or The Messenger. I believe that’s because the story moves around a lot at the beginning, between the characters but also between past and present. I felt on the verge of giving up, when the the elements finally started to come together for me and from that point on (about a quarter to a third of the way through) I was hooked.

So my recommendation, if a reader should feel similarly, would be to persist. Because my final evaluation, on reaching the end, was: “Yeah, I really enjoyed that.” And if I wanted to encapsulate the book in a quote, I would actually go for the very last line:

“A Dunbar boy could do many things, but he should always be sure to come home.”

In terms of comparative reading, I would say that in addition to Markus Zusak’s two preceding novels, if you’ve enjoyed Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, Melina Marchetta’s Jellicoe Road, Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap, or Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, then you may enjoy Bridge of Clay, too.

—

Disclosure:
I read an an uncorrected proof copy, 579 pp, of Bridge of Clay, supplied by the publisher’s representative toward the end of last year because “she couldn’t believe I hadn’t read it yet.” But similarly to Deeplight (as posted here) I enjoyed it so much I bought a copy for one of my brothers, as a Christmas present.

Only known map [partial] of Haarth — I&CVT. Credited artisan: Peter Fitzpatrick

Memorandum

To: Office of the Grand Comptroller, I&CVT Central Records

From: Archive Assistant 4th Grade, 42Quil: Branch Library 727

Interstitial Date: [Error_Message: Interstitial date corrupted in message transfer.]

Subject: Warning! Misplaced Archive for Location: Twelve-Sided Room; Destination World, Haarth

—

Background:

Interstitial Date [Error_Message: Interstitial date corrupted in message transfer]: The Ultimate Secretariat of the Celestial Board of the Interplane & Cross-Void Travel Agency (I&CVT) resolved to update the Agency’s extremely popular Unknown Worlds guidebook series. Among the worlds scheduled for update, Haarth has long fallen into the Least Known class of I&CVT’s Unknown category.

The Ultimate Secretariat Directive of _[Error_Message: Interstitial date corrupted in message transfer]_ giving effect to the Celestial Board’s resolve, expresses certitude that the Haarth entry can be satisfactorily updated by a review of existing archival records.  The Directive explicitly states that the expense of dispatching an agent-at-large to complete an on-world familiarization is unnecessary, given access challenges and Haarth’s questionable reputation, and should not be undertaken.

The honour of retrieving, reviewing, and compiling the archival record for Haarth was assigned to Branch Library 727, given its location at the interstitial node providing the most direct access (assuming challenges allow) to destination world Haarth.

I&CVT Artist’s Imagining of Haarth Credited to PJ Fitzpatrick

Progress Report:

Work was initiated promptly and proceeded smoothly, consistent with Branch Library 727’s immaculate reputation, resulting in Guide Entry #1: The Tower of the Rose being completed early.

We regret to advise, however, that obstacles have arisen with respect to Guide Entry #2, the so-called “Twelve-Sided Room.” All archive retrieval requests were consistently denied and a retrieval mission led by Archive Assistant First Grade 33Slate failed to return. The subsequent Archive Search and Rescue headed by Archive Librarian 17Tome failed to locate any members of the retrieval mission but were able to confirm that all archival records relating to the Twelve-Sided Room have vanished from the 727 Stacks.

In addition, Archive Librarian 17Tome reports the manifestation of an anomaly in the Haarth quadrant of the Stacks, at or in immediate proximity to the coordinates for the Twelve-Sided Room. Although the Search and Rescue team judged it necessary to log their observations from a prudent distance, in order to avoid the fate of the earlier retrieval mission, all signs point to a Cross-void Disturbance. No further information is currently available and the Haarth quadrant of Stacks is now under lockdown, by Interdict of 727Branch-Librarian.

Recommendations:

The Branch Library Collective recommends that:

1. The lockdown of Branch Library 727’s Archive, Haarth Quadrant, by Interdict of 727Branch-Librarian be ratified and confirmed by the Office of the Grand Comptroller;

2. The Office of the Grand Comptroller immediately direct a Central Records Fire Team to investigate and map the anomaly, with a further remit to remedy or mitigate any enduring adverse effects, including undertaking a Zero-Field Reset of interstitial access to the Haarth Quadrant, as required;

3. Central Records urges the Ultimate Secretariat to urgently reexamine the business case for dispatching an agent-at-large to Haarth, in order to determine the source of the anomaly, recommend on the necessity of quarantine, and determine the fate of Archive Assistant First Grade 33Slate’s mission team.

Decision:

[To be recorded here by the Grand Comptroller, I&CVT Central Records.]

—

Transcribed Under Central Records Seal:
Status: Urgent
Access: Restricted
Authorisation: Central Recorder, First Class, Illustrious Discretion_1

.

© Helen Lowe