Hey you!

Are you a teen blogger? Are you an avid reader, who’s keen to write reviews? Do you have a burning desire to share your thoughts with the world??

Our team of fab writers at Burn Bright would love you to join them and have your say about all things Teen and YA fiction!

If you’re 20 or under, love YA books, and have time to commit to regular contributions, drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you!

This is not a paid position, but your writing will be out there in the online universe for all to behold and admire. You’ll be able to build a writing CV and an audience at the same time. So, wotcha waiting for? Drop us a line and send us an example of your work. We’re looking for opinion pieces, book reviews, or ‘how to’ snippets. Keep your sample to approx. 500 words. Any multimedia over 2meg must be submitted via youSENDit.

If you’re selected to join our busy bunch of bloggers, you’ll also score tasty Burn Bright goodies, including bookmarks, stickers, and other groovy stuff.

We look forward to hearing from you!

[Submissions close: 1 August] via the contact form: https://www.burnbright.com.au/contact/

Marianne knows how you love to read about interesting characters in strange places, so she’d like to invite you all to try out her newly released scifi/western webcomic called Peacemaker. Enjoy meeting the main character, Virgin Jackson. Virgin has plenty of attitude and doesn’t know when to back off! But she’s equally matched by cowboy, Nate Sixkiller.

Marianne hopes this will be a success so she can develop a comic for Burn Bright as well.

Peacemaker issue 1 is available for download from this linkhttp://www.mariannedepierres.com/peacemaker/ for .99c AUD. Rated PG.

Enjoy!

Belinda gives us a sneak peek at what the Angel Arias is about:

And April Mary Hobson sent us her school newsletter piece after Marianne’s visit to her school in Newcastle.

Marianne has spoken at a lot of schools in the last couple of months, including last weekend at Voices on the Coast in Maroochydore. Here is some feedback from one of Marianne’s talks to the students at Moorebank HS in Sydney. This was reprinted from their school newsletter. If you’d like Marianne to speak at your school, contact Dorothy Tonkin at Random House Australia.

On the 23rd of March 2011 the author Marianne de Pierres came to visit some English students in years 9, 10 & 11. She came to talk about her new book which is her first book for young adults called ‘Burn Bright’. She talked about how to get into writing and what is the best way to start writing. She explained how her ideas for her short stories came around and told us that anything can start a story. She read a chapter from her new book and then told us that the story is based around her feelings from her childhood life at boarding school. The visit was really enjoyable and I cannot wait to read her book ‘Burn Bright’.

Shannon Yr 9

I really enjoyed the author visit. It was highly interesting to go and even though the trailer didn’t work it was fun watching what did work. Her story is unique and interesting and she explained a few concepts we weren’t sure about in the book itself. She told us how being an author is the best job in the world (which I agree with) and how she first got into it. She also told us how to get noticed if you wanted to start writing (which I found informative). I’m really glad Marianne de Pierres came to Moorebank High and we got to speak with her and buy her autographed book, Burn Bright!

Kelly Yr 9

On Wednesday the 23rd March students from year 9, 10 and 11 were invited to hear a guest author: Marianne de Pierres. Marianne has just published her first YA novel Burn Bright but she is well known in the book industry for her speculative fiction series Parrish Plessis and the award winning Tara Sharp humorous crime series (under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt.) Marianne was happy to stay at the end to talk to interested students and sign copies of her novel.

Mrs Tierney Teacher Librarian

Marianne de Pierres is a riveting speaker. She described to us how her own experiences had paralleled those of her character, Retra, in her debut youth fiction, Burn Bright. She gave us a fascinating insight into the everyday life of an author; the work hours, the people she meets and even the places she goes. She joked that she doesn’t have to bother with dressing, preferring to lounge around at home in her pyjamas writing. Her visit was both enjoyable and persuasive, especially to the students who hold an interest in literature.

Lisa and Nik

There’s been some wonderful reviews for Burn Bright the last few weeks so we thought we’d share some with you. But firstly, if you’re not on the Burn Bright Facebook page, then go and join. You get to hear everything there first! (click the links to read the full reviews)

Lyndsey at Goodreads: “It’s eerie and untraditional.”

Nice Girls read Books: “Burn Bright is absolutely raw and intoxicating. Set in a world of dark intrigue and deadly secrets, the book offers non-stop twists and turns with a brilliant lead character!”

Precious at Fragments of Life: “Burn Bright is an imaginative and shocking dystopian novel that will pull in readers with its intensity and wildness. I loved the heightened danger, craziness, suspense and subtle romance.”

Cotton Candy: “… an epic sci-fi/fantasy realm that is full of sinister and mysterious characters that you don’t know who to trust. Compelling, intriguing, and utterly fantastic.”

Book’d Out: “Burn Bright is an intoxicating and edgy adventure.”

Random Acts of Reviewing: “I was really impressed with this book, and hope that the next book in the series is not far away as it was thoroughly enjoyable.”