International Gemmell Legend Award nominee update with Helen Lowe + 3 book giveaway (INT)

Remember a while back we asked epic fantasy author Helen Lowe about being long listed for the International David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy (in the epic-heroic genre, published during 2012.)? Well, she is back to let us know how she did! (original post)

Cheers, Helen! Last time we talked you were on the long list for the International David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy (in the epic-heroic genre, published during 2012.) So of course we want to know if your book “The Gathering of the Lost” made the short list? 
Helen: It did! And I can tell you, Sharon, that I was Really Very Excited when the news came through. There was definitely a “happy dance’ and maybe an air punch or two – but I’m not sure I should either confirm or deny on that last point! J I’m also tremendously grateful for all the support I’ve had to get this far toward – as one reader put it – “becoming Legend.” 

Have you experienced any benefits by being one of the finalists?
Helen: It’s too early to know with respect to sales, but I got a lovely email of congratulation from my US editor, who I think was almost as excited as I was, and a gorgeous bunch of spring flowers from my publisher here in NZ as well. And a definite ‘yes’ to the more attention, with lots of requests for interviews and guest blog posts – but there was never any question that I was coming back to ismellsheep after our fun chat when The Gathering Of The Lost was longlisted! 

Also, I am very glad to have the opportunity this shortlisting represents, and the flow-on opportunity for increased publicity to get the word about the series out to more people. To help that along, my US publisher is doing a .99c special deal on the e-book to celebrate the shortlisting. I believe that will run right through until September 30. (It’s US only though, so my apologies to international readers.)

amazon buy link for $.99 The Gathering of the Lost

What is the next step in the award process?
Helen: The next step is that voting is now on to determine the winner –and as we all know from Highlander, there can be only one! So it is all very intense as well as exciting! The deadline for voting is also 30 September, and the result will be announced on 31 October, as part of this year’s World Fantasy Convention, which again is very exciting. 

If ismellsheep readers would like to vote, these are the steps: 

i) Click on the following link: Legend Award 2013 Shortlist 
or here: http://www.gemmellaward.com/page/the-legend-award 

ii) Then click again in the circle above the author name and book you wish to support: for example, 'Helen Lowe - The Gathering Of The Lost'

iii) Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "Vote" button.

Again you are the only woman author in the finals. If you win will you be the first woman to win the Gemmell Legend award? (Helen was the first woman to ever win the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer)

Helen: That’s right, Sharon. To be fair, it’s only the fifth year of the awards, but so far no woman author has won the Legend Award from their inception, and when I won the Morningstar Award (for Best Fantasy Newcomer) last year, I was the first woman to win both that particular award, and either of the two award categories for books. (The third award, the Ravenheart, is for cover art.) 

I’m also the only woman on either of the two book award shortlists this year, which does tend to underline the perception that epic fantasy is a male domain. I’m not convinced though, that the perception is accurate. I know a great many women who, like me, love epic storytelling and read widely in the genre. Women authors are writing great epic fantasy as well, and if the correspondence I am getting is an indicator, are being taken seriously by readers of both genders. At the end of the day, the reason I write epic fantasy is because I love it—and I hope that comes through in the storytelling. As an author, all I can do is write the very best books I am capable of and hope that readers will judge my storytelling on its merits.

Thanks for checking in with us and good luck!

Helen: Thank you, Sharon – it’s always a pleasure to be here on ismellsheep. I would love to give something back to your readers, so I thought I’d do a giveaway of all three of my published titles, Thornspell, The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost – all signed, of course, and fully international. J 'Helen Lowe - The Gathering Of The Lost', then scroll down & click 'vote': done!)

my review of Heir of Night

my review of Gathering of the Lost

my review of Thornspell

Wow, what an extremely generous giveaway! I've read all three of these books and this is a fantasy lovers dream giveaway!

About the Author:
website-blog-twitter

Helen Lowe's first novel, Thornspell, a critically praised retelling of Sleeping Beauty, was published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in September 2008. Thornspell was a Storylines Notable Book 2009 and won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel, Young Adult 2009; Helen also won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent in the same year. Helen Lowe lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, and writes fantasy and sci-fi novels, poetry, and short fiction.

GIVEAWAY

Helen is offering one reader all three of her books signed

International

This contest will be open till the end of the voting period Sept 30th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gemmell Legend Award Nominee: Helen Lowe

Gemmell Legend Award

Helen Lowe writes epic fantasy, a tough genre for women to break into, but she did when her debut The Heir of Night won the international Gemmell Morningstar Award 2012 for Best Fantasy Debut. She also has the distinction of being the first woman to ever win a Gemmell writing award. 

Now, one year later, book 2 The Gathering of the Lost has been nominated for the international Gemmell Legend Award. 

I invited Helen here to tell us a little more about the Gemmell Awards and what this means to her.

Sharon: Congrats on being long listed for the Legend! Tell our readers a bit about the Gemmell awards.

Hi Sharon—thank you for having me back on ismellsheep and for the congratulations: I’m still feeling a little giddy from seeing The Gathering of the Lost come out on the long-list [fans self!]

In terms of the awards, they were established to honor heroic fantasy author David Gemmell who passed away in 2006. There are three classes of awards, all named after his books: the Ravenheart is for cover art, the Morningstar is for the best newcomer, and the Legend Award is for the best novel, published in the preceding calendar year, in the epic, heroic, or high Fantasy genres.

One of the reasons it’s so exciting for me to see Gathering on the list is not just because I've made it into the open category, but because there are so many other fabulous authors present whose work I've “hearted” for some time—the wonderful Robin Hobb, Steven Erikson with his Malazan series, Juliet Mckenna and Trudi Canavan, to name just a few! Alternatively, as my partner Andrew would put it, I’m now in the ring with some “heavy hitters.” :) 

Sharon: How does a book make it to the short list for voting?

Once the longlist comes out, every step thereafter is by “audience voting”—so for The Gathering Of The Lost or any other book to make it to the shortlist, it will have to be “voted in.” A further round of voting will then commence for the overall winner—who receives a battleaxe as the award, just by the way! How awesome is that—although I imagine you wouldn't want to drop it!

“But seriously,” a big part of the Gemmell Award process is to get readers and lovers of the genre discussing and discovering new books, all as part of celebrating the genre. The voting provides an incentive to do just that, which is enhanced for those books that make it to the shortlist. As for winning… Ooh la la! 

Sharon: The Heir of Night (book 1) won the Gemmell Morningstar, and now The Gathering of the Lost has been nominated for the Gemmell Legend. How does this feel as an author? Can we see a pic of the Gemmell Morningstar award you won?

You can indeed see a copy of the Morningstar and here it is: it’s “shiny.” <G>  

You know, I do sometimes reflect on the relationship between writing and awards and ‘why they matter.’ Arguably, at one level they don’t, because the reason I write—and I imagine it’s pretty much the same for other authors—is because of the delight of storytelling, and because the stories are just there “in the air” and demand to be told. And sometimes you get the occasional ‘message in a bottle’ that lets you know you have connected with a reader; that he or she loved your story, which is what it’s all about.

Yet when I found out I had won the Morningstar it was just such a buzz, not just knowing “my story” had won an international award, but realizing people I had never met must have cared enough to vote for it.

And because writing is essentially a very solitary occupation–I sometimes refer to it as ‘the loneliness of the long distance writer’— winning an award like the Morningstar is a tremendous affirmation that you are, through those solitary scribblings, connecting with people around the planet. It’s the ‘message in a bottle’ scaled up a hundredfold, which is amazingly motivational and humbling at one and the same time!

Another aspect to the Morningstar win that was “kinda cool” was that I was the first woman to win either of the Gemmell book awards, the Legend or the Morningstar. In terms of the Legend Award, Juliet Marillier and Kristen Britain have both made the shortlist before—and given the number of fine women authors on this year’s longlist, 2013 may see a breakthrough to ‘take the axe.’ So in the spirit of the battleaxe: let the games continue! 

Thanks to Helen for stopping by. 

Want to help Helen make the short list for voting? 

It is as easy as one-two-three! Go to the voting site and click in the circle above The Gathering of the Lost, then scroll down and hit Vote and you are done! (The order of the list changes every day so you may have to look near the bottom of the very long list.) 

link voting page

Voting closes on July 31, UK time.

If Night falls, all fall . . .

In the far north of the world of Haarth lies the bitter mountain range known as the Wall of Night. Garrisoned by the Nine Houses of the Derai, the Wall is the final bastion between the peoples of Haarth and the Swarm of Dark—which the Derai have been fighting across worlds and time.

Malian, Heir to the House of Night, knows the history of her people: the unending war with the Darkswarm; the legendary heroes, blazing with long-lost power; the internal strife that has fractured the Derai's former strength. But now the Darkswarm is rising again, and Malian's destiny as Heir of Night is bound inextricably to both ancient legend and any future the Derai—or Haarth—may have.

Tarathan of Ar and Jehane Mor, ride into the great city of Ij in time for it's grand Festival of Masks. But soon after their arrival they witness a terrible slaughter as their fellow heralds are targeted an assassinated. They must flee for their lives across the city as they discover Swarm agents at work as they attempt to destabilise the entire River Cities network for their own ends. And five years after her great flight from the Derai Wall, Malian remains hidden to those who seek her. But she has not been idle. Her goal is to muster all Derai magic users that have fled into exile rather than face destruction. Only by uniting against the Swarm menace can they hold their own against the dark tide and she has hunted down every rumour of their presence. And she has developed her own powers that the Swarm must learn to respect ? and to fear. For Malian won't see her people fall to a dark tide of twisted magic as demonic forces subvert a way of life.

About the Author:

email-website-blog

Helen Lowe's first novel, Thornspell, a critically praised retelling of Sleeping Beauty, was published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in September 2008. Thornspell was a Storylines Notable Book 2009 and won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel, Young Adult 2009; Helen also won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent in the same year. Helen Lowe lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, and writes fantasy and sci-fi novels, poetry, and short fiction.

Book Review: The Gathering of the Lost (Wall of Night #2) by Helen Lowe

The Gathering of the Lost (Wall of Night #2)
by Helen Lowe
March 27, 2012
Tarathan of Ar and Jehane Mor, ride into the great city of Ij in time for it's grand Festival of Masks. But soon after their arrival they witness a terrible slaughter as their fellow heralds are targeted an assassinated. They must flee for their lives across the city as they discover Swarm agents at work as they attempt to destabilise the entire River Cities network for their own ends. And five years after her great flight from the Derai Wall, Malian remains hidden to those who seek her. But she has not been idle. Her goal is to muster all Derai magic users that have fled into exile rather than face destruction. Only by uniting against the Swarm menace can they hold their own against the dark tide and she has hunted down every rumour of their presence. And she has developed her own powers that the Swarm must learn to respect ? and to fear. For Malian won't see her people fall to a dark tide of twisted magic as demonic forces subvert a way of life.

If you haven’t read the first book in the Wall of Night series, Heir of Night, then I suggest you do that before reading The Gathering of the Lost. The Gathering begins 5 years after the end of Heir and I think it is important to understand what led the characters to where they are now. Like all fantasy there is a tremendous amount of world-building and it is best to start from the beginning. In my review of Heir of Night, I admitted Fantasy isn’t my genre. I did read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but that is the extent of my fantasy knowledge. However, I love The Wall of Night series because it is a fantastic story full of action, adventure and magic. The Gathering of the Lost is the second book in this eventual 4 book series.

Here is a synopsis of The Heir of Night written by the author. If you have read Heir, then you can skip this part. 

"In the far north of the world of Haarth, the alien Derai garrison the mountain range known as the Wall of Night against their aeons old enemy, the Swarm of Dark—an enemy they have been fighting across worlds and time. The Derai's cataclysmic arrival, several millenia before, threw up the Wall, which their Nine Houses have garrisoned with a series of central Keeps and outlying Holds.

When the story opens, the Derai remain a people under arms, but xenophobically isolated from the other peoples of Haarth. A society divided into warrior, priestly, and artisan castes, the Derai are also bitterly divided amongst themselves by the civil war that took place five hundred years before, setting brother against sister, warrior against priest, House against House. The civil war also culminated in a “night of long knives” that resulted in the loss of the Derai’s greatest power, the Golden Fire of the Keeps. This, together with discrimination against those with the Derai’s old magic powers, has considerably weakened the Derai’s ability to resist their ancient enemy.

In the beginning of HEIR we meet Malian, the daughter and Heir of the Earl of Night. She is only thirteen and has an adventurous nature and befriends Kalan, an exile from the House of Blood. Together they face a destiny that will require unbelievable sacrifice; the Derai Alliance is crumbling and no longer able to hold back the Swarm of Dark and “If Night falls, all fall”"

Now, onto The Gathering. While Heir was about the Deria and life on the Wall, this book is about the life and people of Haarth after the Great Cataclysm, a period of devastating natural disasters followed by civil war and the fall of the Old Empire. I don't want to discuss the plot of this book because there are a ton of revelations and twists that would ruin the first book as well as this one if you knew ahead of time. The unexpected events are one of the reasons I love this series so much. Pretty much what I could talk about is in the Gathering's blurb at the top of the post.

This story is richly layered with multiple story lines coming together and Helen’s depiction of this world is vivid and complete. I would swear this was a real place and the author lives there. We meet so many characters in this book it is almost overwhelming, but none of them feel frivolous.

The writing is exceptional and the clever weaving of a “hiding behind the mask” theme is impressive. I am in awe Helen’s ability to write a story of this scope and not have any plot holes or WTH? moments. This isn’t a light read by any means; every word counts, so if you skim you will miss something. At over six hundred pages this book is one you must give your complete attention to and be actively engaged, but the payoff is worth it. Helen does a good job of occasionally summing up what has happened so far, which is a great help to me because with kids running around I wasn’t able to focus sometimes and I needed that extra help to connect the dots. There is some romance, but it is a bitter-sweet. The Wall of Night series has enthralled me and I look forward to what other surprises are in store for Malian and the House of Night as well as the joy of Helen’s writing. Book 3 will be called Daughter of Blood.

U.K. covers

And it isn't just me who loves this series!
Heir of Night awards
Sir Julius Vogel Award for "Best Novel" for The Heir of Night
International Gemmell"Morningstar" Award 2012 for Best Fantasy Newcomer!


5 “face-stealing” Sheep

SharonS

About the Author:

website-blog-twitter
Helen Lowe's first novel, Thornspell, a critically praised retelling of Sleeping Beauty, was published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in September 2008. Thornspell was a Storylines Notable Book 2009 and won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel, Young Adult 2009; Helen also won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent in the same year. Helen Lowe lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, and writes fantasy and sci-fi novels, poetry, and short fiction.