Hi All Y’all,

The year is slipping by and I have a few appearances coming up. Hope to see some of you at one of my upcoming workshops or conventions!

Marianne xxxx

Writing Speculative Fiction – SOLD OUT!

Who: Marianne de Pierres

Where: NSW Writers’ Centre

When: Saturday 23 July, 10am-4pm
Cost: Full price: $180; Member: $125; Conc Member: $110
Level: All

Award-winning science fiction author, Marianne de Pierres, will conduct a comprehensive workshop on writing speculative fiction. Participants will learn how to amass the right tools for world building; how to create convincing worlds that are authentic, logical, and original; and how to effectively blend the sub-genres of speculative fiction to create more exotic stories. …..

Lord Mayor’s Writers in Residence

Women of Action: the new wave of crime and thriller fiction – Friday 5 August 6-7pm, Brisbane Square Library

Join authors Marianne Delacourt and L.A. Larkin in conversation with Amanda Bacchi about creating dynamic female central characters in crime and thriller fiction. In a genre that often depicts women as victims or side-kicks, these authors are turning the tables. How do their lead characters’ lives reflect those of the authors? This event is ideal for crime fiction and thriller lovers, aspiring writers, and anyone who will enjoy an evening with two highly entertaining authors.

World-building – creating authentic fictional worlds

Worldbuilding – Place as Character

Saturday October 8 @ 9.30am–3.30pm
Rockhampton Library, 230 Bolsover Street, South Rockhampton

QWC Members $65
QWC Member Concessions $59
Full Price $110
Concession $99

Oz Comic Con – Sydney and Perth

 Panels on Saturday and Sunday of each convention.

Jamie Marriage

Jamie Marriage is an internationally published Australian cyberpunk author with a taste for the dangerous and obscene aspects of life. His work ranges from the sarcastic to the satirical. Links to his work can be found atwww.JamieMarriage.com

Australia and New Zealand are home to some of the greatest dark fiction writers the world has to offer — disturbed minds firing out shots of madness into the night. Maybe it’s our isolation from the rest of the world: island nations so far removed from the rest of society; mountainous landscapes; bone-dry deserts; and endless oceans the perfect breeding ground for horrors and monstrosities unknown.

Comprising of two dozen twisted tales, ranging from emotionally haunting pieces such as Martin Livings’ Boxing Day (a story that examines one Australian household’s traditional form of ensuring the hierarchy) to the purely creepy Carlington Black’s The Urge, where changes in the atmosphere start changing people, either physically, mentally, or both, At The Edge has something for every lover of the dark and macabre.

Every author in this collection has their own voice, their own story to tell, their own fright or ghast to let loose upon the reader. Some such as Jodi Cleghorn’s The Leaves No Longer Fall and AC Buchanan’s And Still The Forests Grow Though We Are Gone predict environmental catastrophes that we may already be facing, making these stories much harder to bear.

Others simply hold up a mirror, demonstrating that the things in our own heads are the things we should fear the most. The most eloquent of these is Joanne Anderton’s Labyrinth inspired tale of goblins and misplaced wishes, Street Furniture, and AJ Ponder’s corrupted story of the demons that hide within the stories we read, BlightSight.

At The Edge is an anthology that is best read in a well lit room, preferably during the day when sleep is far off. Each author has their own way of worming into your subconscious, nesting behind your eyes, and not letting you forget that while the things that scare you might not be real, that doesn’t mean they should be ignored.

At The Edge

Edited by Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray – Published by Paper Road Press

Marianne de Pierres

I’m super excited to announce that the Tara Sharp series is being re-released by the Deadlines imprint of Twelfth Planet Press. To go with the re-issue of the first three books, the new novel (book 4), will be out in November 2016.

But right now you can pre-order SHARP SHOOTER’s new edition through Amazon or Twelfth Planet Press.

It is being released on May 23rd 2016.

TPP have re-packaged and re-edited the entire series. SHARP SHOOTER has had some tweaking done to it, and brand new material will be inserted into book two, SHARP TURN.

As part of the re-packaging, Cathy Larsen has designed an absolutely kick ass cover. I particularly love the colours, which are reminiscent of a blue sky and ochre dirt of the Australian landscape.

Cathy, as some of you know, has been designing for Penguin for many years, including being the cover artist for Isobelle’s Obernewtyn series.

The Tara Sharp site will have some re-design work done to it also, to fall in line with the new look. Currently, it features some designs we had originally planned to use, and changed our minds about. They were great, but we feel the new ones represent the look we want.

This is the first time the books have been released internationally (outside Australia and New Zealand), so please help us spread the word by writing an Amazon review, or simply recommending them to a friend. We hope the rest of the world has as much fun hanging out with this Aussie girl as we do.

Thanks for you patience, and welcome to new era of Tara’s life!