Marianne de Pierres

Writer, reader, thinker

Some of you may remember that Dr Thea Boshoff wrote her PhD thesis about my Sentients of Orion series. Her thesis is entitled: 

Crafting positions: representations of intimacy and gender in The Sentients of Orion.

Well, Thea just contacted me to say that she’ll be presenting a paper called *The Aliens of Orion* at a conference in Lisbon. The main theme of the conference is what it means to be human. Thea’s paper shows how the progression in my depiction of aliens reflects a progression in the nature of humanity.

Here is the poster from the conference. Giant lobsters. What is not to love?

Wish I could be there!

Marianne de Pierres

It’s me! Flamingo freak.

So, some updates from the trenches. After four and a half years, I’ve submitted my PhD. The title is Fem-punk Futures: Posthumanism, Gender, and Identity in Contemporary Women’s Science Fiction. The thesis is a case study of three fem-punk novels and my own new novel, A Once and Future Past.

I wanted to publicly thank a few people. I was about 52 when I embarked on this journey, and I was worried that I was too old to be doing it – for what gain, I wondered, other than a love of learning, and a challenge. I’m still not sure about the answer to that, but I have loved every minute of it.

So a big shout out to my wonderful sister, Nicci; my equally wonderful son, Marcus; and my supervisors, Nat Collie, Jo Robertson, and Veny Armanno who guided me through. Jane Stadler also gave me a good old shake up in the early days about what it took. I also want to wave to, and hug, my uni colleagues: Kaylen Jorgenson, Amber Gwynne, Jason Nahrung, Meri Sara, and my beautiful twin, Isobelle Carmody. You are what made this such a wonderful experience: all those coffee breaks, lunches, panicked messages, notes on my computer screen…

What comes next is unknown, but that’s kinda good.

I didn’t get into the interview stage for the Fulbright Scholarship. It was so disappointing, as I thought my application was pretty decent. But the competition was intense.  Now I’ve recovered from the news, I know I will find a way to write about Colonel Thorn. My friend’s tell me I can be very determined when I want to be. Lol. So, hell or high-water, his story will be told!

I hope at some time in the future I can work as a Creative Writing lecturer, helping to guide the next generation of creatives. But if that’s not mean to be, something else will come along.

For now, I’m going to attend to life, do my sessional tutoring, apply for jobs, finish a novel, coach basketball, and hang out with my friends.

So that’s me… what’s your news?

Marianne de Pierres

Marianne de Pierres is an author and academic

So today I pressed send on my Fulbright submission to write the book about Colonel Thorn. It’s been almost a year since I began to put it together. Whatever happens, I’ve learned a lot. It definitely took a village to get over the line and there are many people I’d like to acknowledge.

Firstly, thank you to my referees Dr Kim Wilkins, Dr Bronwyn Lea, and Dr Ros Petelin. Writing references for these kind of applications is time consuming and usually lands on your desk when you least have the time to do it. They were all gracious and encouraging, and Ros even found a colleague to give me feedback on the project statement.

Dr Jess White was simply amazing. She gave me ideas on how to track down host invitations, performed several edits on the project statement, and just made me feel like I could do it. Without Jess there would have been no application. She is the bomb! She and Dr Amber Gwynne (who thankfully found my dangling modifiers and stamped on them!) also suggested talking to Dr Murray Pomerance, a visiting Canadian scholar, who opened his address book and connected me all his New York colleagues. It was a collegial and generous act.

Colleagues of his, contacted colleagues of theirs, and the email tree grew until I was finally introduced to Professors at NYU and Pace universities who liked my project and were happy to support it. To say I felt elated was an understatement.

I want to thank my son Marcus and my sister, Nicci, who have been with me from the start: reading, encouraging, and suggesting. Marcus also went through the online form and double checked it and saved me from submitting something that was incomplete (I’m a shocker at reading forms properly).

And lastly, thanks to all who have patiently listened while I have rattled on about my Colonel Thorn story and the Fulbright for so long. It has been an obsession for a few years, and one way or the other I WILL write the book.

So now… lets finish this damn PhD!

Over and out.