Yasmyn and Kaitlyn Interview Marianne de Pierres

Marianne De Pierres

Some time ago, I reviewed Burn Bright on this web site. Here's a link to it: http://suebursztynski.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/burn-bright-by-marianne-de-pierres.html

If you haven't read this series, hopefully the review and this interview will tempt you to give it a go. 

Retra, who becomes Naif, lives in the Puritanical community of Grave, from which she escapes to find her brother, who has gone to the island of ever-night, Ixion, where teenagers party all night and hardly sleep at all. The only problem is - what happens when you're too old? 

In the tradition of Great Raven author interviews, I would like to welcome my guest bloggers, Yasmyn and Kaitlyn, members of my book club, who requested to interview the wonderful Marianne De Pierres, whose book Burn Bright has been on our Literature Circles lists for two years now. They told me they would love to go to Ixion because of the lively club scene! I'm not sure if this is what Marianne intended, but I can see the appeal to teens. Away you go, ladies!

Y/K: Hi, our names are Yasmyn and Kaitlyn and for the last couple of weeks we have been reading Burn Bright. We are very intrigued by your book and we would love if you could answer a few questions.

MDP: Hi Yasmyn and Kaitlyn  - thanks for interviewing me! Best wishes Marianne

Y/K:What inspired you to write this book?

MDP: It was a combination of a number of interests. I was fascinated by the concept of humans not needing to sleep, and I love Gothic architecture - to add to that, I had been reading about the lifestyles of nocturnal animals. Suddenly this mysterious world sprang into my mind. The more I thought about it, the more compelling it became

Y/K: What are all the names of the badges and what do they look like?

MDP: If you go to this page on the website you can see the gang badges and what the look like: 

http://www.burnbright.com.au/extras/badges/

Y/K: What are your 2 favourite Ixion names? Ours personally are Naif and Suki.

MDP: Suki is definitely one of my favourites, but I must admit I love Lenoir. It sounds so good when you say it!

Y/K: What was Brand looking for or doing when she attacked Krista-Belle and Retra/Naif?

MDP: Brand had developed an attraction for the Young Ones (which was forbidden!). While she fancied Krista-Belle, it was also about spiting Lenoir and showing her followers she didn’t care for his rules

Y/K: What do the Night Creatures look like?

MDP: You know they are quite hard to describe – they are very primitive. Something like this: 

Y/K: Why did you choose Latin as a 2^nd language?

I’m not quite sure actually. It seemed to fit with the Gothic feel of the novel. Also, Yunyu tends to play with language in her music. I knew she’d have fun with Latin. **SB: Yunyu is a musician who composed a song, Angel Arias, which is mentioned in the book, You can actually buy it on marianne's web site!**

Y/K: Where did you get your inspiration for the title?

MDP: Burn Bright was easy – it was in my mind from the start. Angel Arias was picked out by my editor because of the song in the story. And then we threw around ideas for Shine Light until we agreed on one.

Y/K: Why was Modai so affected by Leyste’s death?

MDP: Like any species, they have a capacity to show preference and develop intimacy towards others of their kind. Leyste was once his brother.

Y/K: What are some of the things we can look forward to in the next book, Angel Arias?

MDP: Angel Arias reveals a lot about Grave and Naif’s life there. It has the answers to many of the questions Burn Bright poses – but it also throws up new questions which are answered in Shine Light. 

Thanks very much for the great interview, Marianne! To anyone who hasn't read this series, what are you waiting for?

Things To Come - The Next Big Thing And Others

I have been invited by George Ivanoff to take part in the Next Big Thing in which writers talk about what they're doing. I though it was next Wednesday, but George tells me it was supposed to be yesterday, so some time soon, tomorrow if I can, I will answer the questions and post it here.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to an interview with Marianne De Pierres by Yasmyn and Kaitlyn, which should come soon, and one with Stephanie Campisi, whom I invited to do a Next Big Thing, but who will instead do it as an interview here, as her blog is really dedicated to book reviews and essays about books. I will be sending along the questions, but Stephanie is away for a few days. It's that time of year! :-)

Marianne De Pierres Visits My School

Actually, it happened last year, soon after Supanova, but Marianne has just blogged about it and also added Karyn's book trailer to the page, so here's  the link. It was a ŵonderful visit. Marianne spoke to my Book Clubbers in our interactive whiteboard room. She spoke about what was then a new book, Burn Bright, which some of them had read and loved already and showed them the official book trailer, which had had music composed especially for it. There were also slides of Marianne herself, including one of her with actor John Rhys Davies, who, despite playing Gimli the Dwarf, is a BIG man. Thing is,  Marianne is a very tall lady and in this picture she was taller  than him! She did say she was wearing heels, but I suspect she is at least his height.

Marianne, who was delighted with Karyn's trailer(what's not to like?) kindly offered her a copy of the third book in the Night Creatures series when it's out, so I had better find the library's copy of the second volume, Angel Arias, for Karyn to read first.

BURN BRIGHT By Marianne De Pierres. Random House Australia, 2011

Review first published on January Magazine

I have a history with this author. When we first met, at a writers’ workshop at Aussiecon 3, she had submitted 4000 words of adult cyberpunk and I had submitted the same amount of YA fantasy. In the end, my YA novel got 60,000 words in and froze and Marianne became a well-known and highly respected author of, first cyberpunk, then space-based SF for adults.

Now she has entered my territory with her first YA novel, Burn Bright and it is very, very good.

The heroine of Burn Bright, Retra, is a Seal. That doesn’t mean she loves swimming but that she lives in a sealed enclave, one whose lifestyle would make the Puritans look like hippies.

When Retra’s brother, Joel, runs away to Ixion, island of teenage pleasure, where young people party all night (there is no day there), Retra’s family is punished. Unable to stand it any more, Retra flees to Ixion herself, to find her brother.

She finds out a lot of other things too. And one question everybody on Ixion asks sooner or later is: what happens when you get too old?

I enjoyed this, not only because of the storyline but because the heroine grows. She has always been strong, deep down, preparing herself for the pain she will feel from her obedience strip when she escapes, but the girl who arrives at Ixion is meek and easily shocked. As the novel goes on, Retra – who eventually takes the Ixion name “Naif” – is able to show her strength and courage to look after her new friends. Ironically, her Seal discipline is a help.

This is the first of a series, so be prepared for it to end at a dramatic moment.

Recommended.

A Super(Nova) Weekend

Who would have thought I could get so much out of a whole weekend in the dealers' room? I usually like to go to panels, but I had a dealers' room pass and let's face it, I was at Supanova to promote my book. I could have paid for a regular ticket, but Wolfborn was my priority.

At the table, I finally put a face to the name of Sarana Behan, a publicist, and met some of her colleagues at Random House. Michael Pryor was also there for a while on the Saturday, nice to see him. Michael is going overseas, so won't be at either Swancon or Continuum. I snarled a little in sheer envy when he said he was going for research - why can't I travel for research? - and he joked about writing guides to the resorts of the South Pacific, which needed research as well...

Promotion went very well. We only sold three copies of my book on the Saturday, but lots of people wanted signed bookmarks and posters, so hopefully they will buy books later. A lovely lady who has since found this web site and introduced herself as "Sheep Rustler", made my day by saying she and her daughter had both read and loved the book. There was a librarian from Aquinas College who took a poster signed to the kids and some bookmarks to hand out to them. If they don't have the book already, they'll get it now, because why put up a signed poster if the kids can't borrow it? :-) Sarana kept saying, "You can go now if you like", not wanting me to give up my weekend, but every time I was about to get up, I had another person or group wanting me to sign something. A girl could get a really swelled head from something like this, although the real ego booster is when they BUY the thing! ;-)

Yesterday Sarana had moved my seat to the other side of the table, facing the Dymock's stall and that was much better. Every time someone stopped at the stall to sign up for the newsletter or take some flyers and bookmarks, Sarana would say, "Do you like werewolves? There's this one, and the author is over there if you want her to sign for you..." and send them over to me. And whenever I persuaded them to buy, they'd say, "Can I actually get this book?" and I'd point to the pile at the Dymock's stall, where it could be found easily, saying, "Right over there." That worked well and by lunchtime we'd sold seven. (We sold a lot more during the rest of the day). Admittedly two were to a couple of young ladies I had met at the tram stop in town on the way to the con. Three friends were travelling to Supanova. Two were dressed as Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent and were delighted when I recognised them. Their third friend wasn't in costume, but I think intended to be, later. (She bought a copy of my book) In fact, they had all been changing as the day went on Saturday and had brought another change of costume.

This is something I think is wonderful about these pop culture expos, something we no longer have at most regular fannish conventions (except, as far as I know, Nullas Anxietas, the Discworld con, where every other person is in costume). The place is overflowing with people in hall costume. I think I'll take something to Swancon, even if it's only a caftan, cloak and veil, to look vaguely mediaeval.

In the course of the con, I met Nat from Of Science And Swords bookshop, who said he recognised me as a customer and I said with a smile, "Yes, and you still don't have any copies of my book!" Before the con was over, we'd discussed me coming in for a signing. His boss did say, "Look, I'm sorry we don't have your book, but local distributors all want you to buy a minimum $500 worth of books" and of course, they're a small business - a VERY small business, located in an expensive city arcade. I get that, totally - and I feel better about it now I know why.

But the ladies at RH said they should call the company anyway and they'd get some suggestions for a cheaper distributor. So hopefully, that will work out. Fingers crossed! As long as I was there I asked them if they could check out "Sword At Sunset" which may have to come from the US, because our students are starting to read Rosemary Sutcliff and I don't have the sequel to the Eagle Of The Ninth Chronicles. Fortunately, they're all into buying from the US, so if it's available they should be able to get it for me.

By the end of yesterday I'd been invited to be a guest speaker at the Melbourne SF Club mini-con next month. Nice! Promote promote promote! Mind you, some of the members have already bought copies at Nova Mob the other night, which was great.

I had a chat with Marianne De Pierres, author of the very good YA novel Burn Bright, who kindly offered to come talk to my book club about a week after the holidays. There won't be time for anyone much to read the book before then, so far only one has read it because we've only just got it, but I will buy some more so they can read it afterwards. I don't have her adult SF in my library,but this one is an excellent start for them and there's a sequel to come.

That's something nice to tell my dearest book clubbers at our meeting first day back!

Terrific weekend! Makes me feel somewhat better about the fact that the Melbourne Writers' Festival doesn't want me this year for their Youth Day.

Supanova and Me

I don't normally go to Supanova. There are only so many "pop culture expos" you can go to in a year. I've been attending Armageddon with my friend and workmate Jasna and her son Chris, because it's generally cheap and has guest speakers I want to hear. Peter David was there a couple of years ago, the author of those lovely novels about King Arthur coming back and running for Mayor of New York, then becoming President of the US and having a whole lot of fantastical adventures while he's about it. He also did some Trek novels, but that's not why he was invited either - he's gone into graphic novels! There are actors as well and last year we went to hear Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, though the poor sods had to compete with a very noisy event going on in another corner of the hall. They managed well, I should say. They must have had to put up with a lot of weird stuff in the course of attending conventions.

This year, though, I'm also going to Supanova, because my publishers at Random House asked if I'd like to come along and promote Wolfborn. There will also be the delightful Michael Pryor, who wrote those gorgeous steampunk novels I've reviewed on these pages and Marianne De Pierres, who is actually on the con's guest list, but will presumably pop over to the table at the dealer's room as well. I'll be there from Saturday afternoon, after coming from my mother's place, and spend all day Sunday as well, except I'm going to the one-man Lord Of The Rings at the Comedy Festival late Sunday afternoon, so will have to leave by about three.

Anyone want to come and get their copy of Wolfborn signed? Better still, buy one, for a family member or friend if you have your own? :-) Plenty to see and do, even once you've been to the Random House table.

There are going to be some fabulous writers and actors there - more writers, in fact, than at Armageddon - though I'm not sure if I'll get to see any of them except Marianne, because the Random House bunch will probably just get me a dealers' room pass. That's fine. I have Swancon only a week later and there will be plenty to see and do there - and, yes, my book to promote and Fantastic Planet will be bringing copies, so I don't have to lug them myself.

And then off to the one-man Lord of The Rings!

Wolfborn - lots of happy-making stuff

It finally came out officially on December 1st, although the shops had it before then. I wandered into Dymock's in the city, where I had been told they would be getting it in, and offered to sign any copies they had. "Yes, please!" said Zoe, the lady at the special orders counter, and her manager brought twelve copies out. I then offered bookmarks to go with them, because the bookmarks counter has been cleared for Christmas wrapping. This offer was happily accepted and then I had another thought: since the counter usually used to put advertising bookmarks was being used for wrapping - why not give away a few signed bookmarks with the first few wrapped gifts? Zoe liked that idea too, so I signed a dozen bookmarks for those. Nice!

Tomorrow I will be going to another Dymock's, at Southland in Melbourne, to do a book-signing, and see how that goes.

Meanwhile, the reviews and interview offers continue - very nice! George Ivanoff reviewed it in Literary Clutter, the blog connected with Boomerang Books,AND did an interview, there was, of course, the very first one in AsIf, written by Tehani Wessely, teacher-librarian extraordinaire, editor, reviewer and former ASIMite. There is a fabulous one in ReadPlus and Tehani has done a very nice extra review for Fiction Focus.

But two especially exciting promos - a wonderful rave review on Marianne de Pierres' blog,Burn Bright, by reviewer Belinda Hamilton, not to mention the lovely interview.The other bit of excitement came the other day when one of my students looked up from her Dolly Magazine and said, "Miss, your book is in this!" You really know you've scored when you get a mention in Dolly - think of the thousands of girls who read it, not to mention quite a few boys. For any of them who might be reading this, Wolfborn has lots of adventure and a touch of romance. Well, it has to - it's based on a story that was one of a bunch of tales with romantic elements, not just the standard "mediaeval romance" which might not be what we think of by the term, although it often is.

The nicest thing of the lot is the reason why I couldn't get extra copies from the publisher to hand out at my school book launch on Monday and will have to buy a few at full price: the book was out of stock. I'm told it has already gone into reprint. After a week! Okay, it just means shops have bought up big for Christmas. There could be returns afterwards. I hope not. Fingers crossed!