Guest Post: Marianne de Pierres

So many ideas were running through my head when I wrote Burn Bright. So many feelings I wanted to capture. Some of them were based on my wonderful teenage memories. My first party, my first school dance, my first visit to a nightclub - all those moments of adrenalin and excitement.

But there was the other side as well. Going to boarding school, feeling alone, deserted, unhappy, scared, unsure.

That’s why, I think Burn Bright is a book of such contrasting emotions. It reflects that mixture of uncertainty and promise that I once felt, and to some degree what I see my teenage sons going through now.

The world of Ixion is both glamorous and sinister, just as the real world can be. It’s populated by scary creatures and strange authority figures who are not what they seem. But it’s also about new friendships and lost relationships, loyalty, and finding people you can relate to.

Add the window dressing of a volcanic island in perennial darkness, secret underground tunnels, magnificent deserted churches, beautiful clothes of lace and velvet, bats, and a headstrong pirate, and you have an exotic story that (hopefully!) makes you hold your breath. Burn Bright will keep you wondering right until the very end. It’s a story I put my heart and soul into!

Learn more about Marianne and her work at mariannedepierres.com.

Burn Bright is published by Random House, March 2011, $18.95