The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe

If Night falls, all falls.

Helen Lowe’s début novel Thornspell was a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story from the Prince’s point of view. The Wall of Night trilogy is a more traditional epic fantasy, though it contains a dash of science fiction and a unique setting that sets it apart from the usual swords-and-sorcery fare.

Set in the world of Haarth, the titular Wall of Night refers to a mountain range that is garrisoned by the warlike Derai clans. Made up of Nine Houses in all, the Derai defend the Wall against that which lies beyond: the demonic Swarm. Destructive and cunning, the Swarm is only held at bay by the constant vigilance of the Houses, particularly the House of Night. But there is internal strife within the Houses that threatens to weaken the Wall: schisms between its people, feuds within... Read More

The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe

Every Avalanche Begins with One Stone Falling...

The Gathering of the Lost is the second installment in Helen Lowe's THE WALL OF NIGHT quartet, the first being The Heir of Night, in which we were first introduced to the story's protagonist: Malian, the rightful heir to the House of Night, the first of the Nine Houses that garrison the mountain range known as the Wall. Malian's people, the warlike and indomitable Derai clans, have defended the Wall of Night for generations against that which lies beyond it: the demonic Darkswarm. Though the defences have held for countless years, the Darkswarm have now breached the Wall and found their way into the world of Haarth, spreading their propensity for strife and unrest throughout each city they come across.

The previous book told of how Mal... Read More

Thornspell by Helen Lowe

As much as I love reading fairytales, there's always the sense that I'm only getting half of the story. There's never any character development, explanations on where those magical artifacts come from, or why the bad guys act so villainous beyond the fairly rudimentary: "they're evil." In fairytales, things just happen, with little or no back-story.

Which is why I've always appreciated authors who consider the missing pieces to any fairytale and fill them accordingly with their own ideas. Donna Jo Napoli has built her career on this technique, with wonderful fleshed-out fairytales such as Spinners and Zel, retellings of the Rumplestiltskin and Rapunzel stories, among others.

And now Helen Lowe gives similar ... Read More

Rebecca, who lives in New Zealand, recently met with NZ author Helen Lowe to discuss the release of Ms. Lowe's second novel The Heir of Night (first novel in her series The Wall of Night). Read Rebecca's reviews of The Heir of Night and Helen Lowe's children's novel, Thornspell.

REBECCA: What was the first glimmer of inspiration that you had that eventually led to The Wall of Night? To be more specific, one of the book’s major ideas is that of the Wall and the Houses that live there, whose task it is to guard Haarth from the Swarm. What was the thought-process behind the concept of the Wall?

HELEN: My very first inspiration came when I was about nine years ol... Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:
Got any personal news to share?
Ian Tregillis: This is shaping up to be a busy summer for me. In June, I submitted my fourth novel (Something More Than Night) to Tor.  In July, my first novel (Bitter Seeds) debuted in the UK, and a week later my second novel (The Coldest War) came out here in the US. And I just finished reviewing the copyedits for my third novel (Necessary Evil). I'm attending two conventions in August. Bubonicon in Albuquerque (yes, New Mexico's local convention is named after the bubonic plague!) and Worldcon in Chicago.



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Five of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:
Got any personal news to share?
Sarah Beth Durst: My next YA novel, Vessel, comes out from Simon & Schuster/McElderry today. It's about a girl who lives in a harsh desert land and is destined to sacrifice herself so her clan's goddess can inhabit her body... but her goddess never comes. It recently received a starred review in Kirkus. (Yay!) Also, I sold three new books! They're my first books for adults: The Lost, The Missing, and The Found, and I'm really excited about them. Also recently, a bunch people in California parked a car on Mars, took some photos, and send them back, which I'm claiming as personal news because I stayed up late to watch it. Actually, I think Curiosity on Mars counts a... Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:
Got any news to share?
Steven R. Boyett: I'm excited that I will be reading at the opening weekend of San Francisco's massive Litquake festival, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2-3 PM. I usually record these things, so it will be on the media page of my blog soon afterward. In my mortal guise I'm also a semi-famous DJ, and I'm also hugely stoked that I'll be DJing the Litquake/Litcrawl closing party at  Read More