Release Date: 02/12/10
BOOK BLURB:
Mira Fedor and her friends stand in the eye of the hurricane. Everything is in flux and nothing is as it appears to be. Mira's pregnancy seems to be proceeding at an inhuman pace and the sedate acceptance of this state of affairs by her biozoon, Insigna, is as much an irritation as it is comfort. It seems clear that the extropists' procedures have had an unforeseen effect - but will her child be more than human? Or less? Meanwhile, the galaxy-wide conspiracy that has plagued the Orion League for so long is blown wide open. The conspirators stand unmasked, but is there time to prevent their carefully laid plans coming to fruition? And even if there is, how many of the Orion Worlds will pay the price for their leaders' blindness? The pieces are all in play; all that remains is for each side to commit to its end game. But there's one question nobody has thought to ask: will god play by the rules ...?
REVIEW:
Whilst I wasn’t originally a fan of Mariannes Sentients of Orion series, its really starting to grow on me as he Dunesque series continues to grow apace with the characters pregnancy. It’s fast paced, the characters rounded and Marianne always has a trick up her sleeve to keep the reader guessing as to whats going to happen as she cleverly manipulates what you’re seeing like a talented word magician.
It’s beautifully written, the dialogue is crisp and the pace is the thing that really keeps you glued to the last page as she knows how to excite and calm the reader down. Finally add a great overall plot to the tale and you know that it’s going to give you something a little special which makes this a serious series for a new generation that will continue to build as well as maintain a hard hitting pace. Great stuff from this antipodean author.
Release Date: 20/09/10
BOOK BLURB:
The Glitter Rose Collection features five short stories by Marianne de Pierres – four previously published and one new story. Each copy of this limited edition print run is signed and presented in a beautiful hardbound cover, with internal black and white illustrations.
The Glitter Rose stories are set against the background of Carmine Island (an island reminiscent of Stradbroke Island, Queensland) where a decade ago spores from deep in the ocean blew in, by a freak of nature, and settled on the island. These spores bring fierce allergies to the inhabitants of the island. And maybe other, more sinister effects. As we follow Tinashi’s journey of moving to and settling into island life, we get a clearer picture of just what is happening on Carmine Island.
Glitter Rose is named after the glitter rose dusks that happen at certain tides on the island – when the last of sunset has fallen, a strange phosphorescence can be seen on the sands of the beaches. Colourless at first, it rapidly changes to a “carpet of tiny, shining, rose-coloured grains” as the sky darkens.
REVIEW:
Brought together in this compendium for the first time, a collection of short stories that helped to launch Marianne’s writing career which demonstrate beautifully the talent behind her work.
All appeared in print in various compendiums over the years and yet when you read them back to back you get an eerie sense of beauty as well as the lovingly crafted characters that inhabit this world. Each individual tale builds upon the previous making it pretty hard to put down and whilst this offering is quite short there is a bonus title at the end that demonstrates an almost Poeish twist to the author that allows the reader to wonder where her talents end. A seriously delightful collection and one that I can’t recommend enough to the reader. Great stuff.
(For more details on where to purchase please see the authors own website.)
BOOK BLURB:
Araldis is still under occupation by hostile forces, and with the Orion League of Sentient Species seemingly unable - or unwilling - to help, Mira Fedor is forced to turn to the mercenary captain, Rast Randall, if she is to save her planet. But while Rast's contacts may be free of political constraints, what they lack in red tape they more than make up for in ruthlessness. As some of their hidden strategies are revealed, others become even more opaque. Why have the philosophers of Scolar been targetted? How far does the Extropist influence extend into Orion space? From Lasper Farr, the Stain War veteran and ruler of the junk planet Edo, to the Sole initiates at Belle Monde to Rast herself, everyone is pursuing their own agenda. But are they really separate goals? Or are events rushing to a single, terrifying conclusion ...?
REVIEW:
Having been a fan of Marianne’s from her first series (Plessis) I really wanted to get to love her first novel in this series (Dark Space) but was a little upset with the slow pace that it originally set which put me off reading the other novels. With the second it picked up pace and got me interested again and with this titles release you can understand why the whole thing was so slow as with the sheer pace and exuberance within you needed the background to fall onto to keep everything on an even keel. As you’d expect with Marianne, the writing is full of twists and turns, the characters jump out of the pages and you can see each combative maneuver in your minds eye with amazing HD clarity.
Add to the mix vivid landscapes that are almost photographic and the novel written from various Points of View and it’s a novel that very much ticks all the right boxes for me as a reader. I am sorry that I doubted the writing within the first book, and I would recommend this to other readers. But do as I did, read the earlier titles in order to get the full impact from the series to date.
Release Date: 02/12/10
