Sci-Fi & Fantasy meets Western: webcomic Peacemaker has it all!

Acclaimed Australian author, Marianne de Pierres, and award-winning comic artist, Brigitte Sutherland, have teamed up to produce a new and exciting online comic. Entitled Peacemaker, the web-comic combines the supernatural, the futuristic, the Wild West and the Australian landscape in an exotic blend of storytelling.

Peacemaker introduces readers to park ranger, Virgin Jackson, and US cowboy, Nate Sixkiller. Dead bodies, missing spiritualists, an imaginary eagle and a wholly psychotic businessman, Joachim Spears, are just some of the things that force the two into an uneasy alliance to save Park Western from being closed. Trapped in the heart of a sprawling Australian super city, Park Western is the only piece of natural landscape left in the entire country, and Virgin will do anything to preserve it.

Marianne de Pierres has won awards for her science fiction and crime novels and  had her work adapted for RPG and animation. Peacemaker is the result of Marianne’s long term romance with Westerns, which started many years ago when her father gave her a copy of Light of the Western Stars by Zane Grey. It was only a matter of time before she wrote one herself.

Brigitte Sutherland’s award-winning comic art has featured in numerous anthologies across the world. Brigitte recently released her first creator-owned graphic novel, The Adventures of a Homunculus. Peacemaker allows UK–based Sutherland to share the beauty of the land she  grew up in while indulging in high adventures starring a sassy heroine!

Peacemaker is available for download from de Pierres’ website www.mariannedepierres.com/peacemaker. There are plans for a limited edition soft-cover to follow. It is published under de Pierres’ own branded creative co-op, MDPWeb.

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Sorry for the absence friends; have had a very disrupted but enjoyable month doing Burn Bright booky stuff. You can read about my Melbourne Tour exploits over at the Burn Bright blog.

Now I’m back to some solid writing, working on Too Sharp!, edits of Angel Arias and beginning Blaze Dark. So plenty to do!

Interspersed are some upcoming blog and interviews. I’ll be over at Book Chick City for their Women of Science Fiction event and also at We Love YA Blog, Fragments of Life, Adventures of a Bookanaut and ReelSwellBlog.

Burn Bright has been garnering a bunch of lovely reviews, but I was particularly pleased when this nice review popped up unexpectedly for Dark Space this week.

I’m disappointed that I’ll miss the Aurealis Awards later this month (two books nominated this year: Mirror Space and Transformation Space) but I’m equally pleased to be speaking at a charity night at my boys school that evening to raise money for the Mrs Fowler Foundation. My son’s chemistry teacher had a terrible accident leaving her weelchair bound and the school is raising money for the equpment she needs to be able to live at home again. I’m really glad to be able to help. So make sure you have a great night at the AA awards for me!

I think that’s all the news. Don’t forget to check out the new MDPWeb YouTube channel. My most recent upload is the Teen Video competition that Random House are running. Create a 90 second book trailer and win a $1000 cash. It has to be for one of a selected group of books and Burn Bright is among them.

Lastly, I’ll be announcing the secret project that I’ve been working on very soon. I’ll give you a hint by saying that it’s to do with my Peacemaker series. How’s that for annoying!

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Been watching with interest as the Western genre has a mini resurgence. Right now True Grit is getting rave reviews for the Coen Brothers. In fact, some are saying it’s their best work. I’ll be heading out to see it soon myself.

Then of course there’s the eagerly anticipated Cowboys vs Aliens starring Olivia Wilde, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, which is due to hit cinemas in July this year.

Naturally, this makes me very happy because I’m penning my own Western mash up entitled Peacemaker. The genre hasn’t had a chance of a proper revival since the frontier days when men were men, and women weren’t nothin’ but a saloon girl or a spoiled rancher’s daughter. I’m really excited about the idea that as creators we now get a chance to re-imagine a new kind of Wild West, and one probably, in some ways, closer to the reality of what was.

There is so much to love about the Western, not the least of which is the land as a character in its own right. Then there’s the irresistible blend of heroes and romance which is peppered with questions about societal values and personal morality, And finally, of course, there’re the horses. What’s not to love?

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Thought it was time for a ‘Writing the Novel’ update. Angel Arias, bk 2 of the Night Creatures trilogy has been an interesting beast. Book 1 centered around the world of Ixion which was darkly glamorous and exciting. Bk 2 is the story of the main character’s return to her home, the sinister and oppressive Grave. There is no velvet and lace and mind altering substances here; it’s more coffins and misery and dangerous underground journeys – an altogether different worldbuilding mindset.

I’ve surprised myself by my choices with it – writing scenes in mausoleums and funeral parlours; my characters having to steal clothes from the dead. Interestingly, not my normal resonances, and yet absolutely right for the story. The process of novel writing is so fascinating in terms of what it reveals to (and about!) the author.

On the PEACEMAKER front, I had a lovely and unexpected email from a descendant of Sam Sixkiller offering some background information for the novel. I was delighted with this and am really looking forward to reading it. The series (2-3 books) is now being looked at by the publisher and I hope to have some news by the end March.

And you can standby for some wonderful news on the Tara Sharp series. Can’t share quite yet, but SOON!

Below are some images that will give you an idea of how my mind is drifting between different kinds of worlds and stories. I LOVE my job.

Angel Arias resonance

Tara Sharp resonance

Peacemaker resonance

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Webby love this week has brought this truly wonderful review of Glitter Rose from Walker of the Worlds, and an interview I’ve just done with The Fringe. There was also an interview floating around with a Cairns-based paper/magazine but I haven’t see that one.

Other than that, I’ve been working on Angel Arias and fiddling around with some other bits and pieces. I had a sudden urge today to read some biographical  background on Carlos Castaneda. I read his books years ago and for some inexplicable they threw themselves back at me today. I’m trusting this to be significant in some way and am running with it.

I think it might have something to do with where I’m taking the storyline of Peacemaker - which, btw, has gone back to my agent again. This time I’m hoping the sample is long enough to send on to my publisher. My narrative unveils a war between occult forces, and I think Castaneda is demanding face time in there somewhere. I’ll keep you posted. No doubt Mistress Muse will reveal all in due course.

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I’ve spent the week working concertedly on the Angel Arias - book two the Burn Bright series or The Night Creatures trilogy as I think it is going to be called. The larger part of this novel takes the main character back to her home in Grave. What I hadn’t thought about was the fact that she’d be spending some time at the beginning of the book on a pirate’s island. It never fails to fascinate me how the things you set up in stories take on their own life – and from there grow their own catastrophes and triumphs. The pirate’s island, which until now I’d hadn’t thought about in much detail, has suddenly become a world of wonderful test and turmoil.

Meanwhile, my Peacemaker sample is nearly ready to go back to my agent and hopefully on to my publisher. I’m already very close to this story, which is a nice feeling. It’s like a friendship almost…

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Firstly, thanks to Anne Bishop for sharing her plans for the future, the huge amount of hits on Anne’s post are proof of the love and interest her books arouse in readers.

Thanks also to those that came to say hello at the Victoria Point A&R book signing yesterday. Stephenie and Kevin were wonderful hosts – I do love visiting their shop. Unfortunately we were competing with a tiny tots contest or some such thing. The Bayside Bulletin were terrific in promoting the event and supporting local authors.

I’ve done a little work on Peacemaker over the weekend and I’ll report on that, and my Angel Arias progress, tomorrow when I’m in full writing groove.

For now… enjoy Sunday and value your loved ones.

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I was doing my weekend work on Peacemaker and passages kept stopping the narrative from where it was going. Not de-railing it exactly, but making it take longer than a mere ‘a’ to ‘b’ as-the-crow-flies type of journey. That was because the minor characters started having things to say. Sometimes in first draft, I find that the minor characters can be fairly quiet and they get noisier on subsequent drafts. When they start having a presence in first draft it can be a really good sign for me. It tends to mean the story is much closer to my front brain than normal and easier to tap.

It’s times like these I wish I could just sit for a couple of days and let it pour out but that is not the way of things, young grasshopper. I’ll just hope that the next time I sit down to work on it the front-brain magic is still there.

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Well, nearly. I’m going to the Powerhouse museum in Sydney next week to shoot a segment for an SBS doco and we’re on location in the replica space shuttle. Not only that but I’ll be there with Sean Williams – two little SF writers together. How cool! Kaaron Warren and John and Birmo should be there as well.

Meanwhile I’ve been having a lovely time dividing my writing energy between Burn Bright 2 (currently called Angel Arias) and Peacemaker. Creating always puts me in a good mood.

Had some lovely reviews of Glitter Rose which I’m collecting over at the Glitter Rose site for those who might be considering buying the book.

Most fabulous news of the day though, is that my advance copy of Sharp Turn (the second Delacourt book) arrived in the mail. You can see a picture of it here.

Now if only I wasn’t getting a sore throat, it would be a perfect day…

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I had a brainwave about Peacemaker yesterday and can’t wait to write it in. Been thinking about Virgin’s personality and how I want her to be different to Parrish Plessis and some of my other strong female characters. Essentially, Virgin is capable and strong but she’s also an introvert. Prefers her own company and isn’t interested in sharing too much of herself. Knowing this, it then became apparent to me who she would hook up with for … you know … company. Of course you’ll have to read it to find out. But in the meantime…

It’s time to update the play list and I totally love this song. Interesting to compare the two versions though. When The Skids are younger the vocals seem purer, but when they’re older the delivery is way more heartfelt.

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