Glitter Rose by Marianne de Pierres

Hardcover • 121pp • RRP AUS$35
ISBN 978-0-9804841-7-5
Cover art by Anna Repp, design by Amanda Rainey
Published September 2010

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.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction by Trent Jamieson
  • Glimmer-by-dark
  • Moon Flowers at the Ritz
  • The Flag Game
  • Mama Ailon
  • In the Bookshadow

Visit the Glitter Rose website to find about more about the Glitter Rose collection and the process of creating the book.

Reviews

Strange, deep, and haunting.

The stories in Glitter Rose will challenge you, and you may find some of the remarkable and vivid imagery creeping into your subconscious. I definitely recommend this worthwhile collection. Just be aware that these may look simple, but they’re not casual reading. You’ll need to bring something to the table, too.

Geek Speak Magazine, Issue 8

Glitter Rose is small hardcover that’s compact and gives off the vibe that it’s elegant and reliable. Pierres’s prose is similar: it’s concise, fast-paced, and quite atmospheric.

Bibliophile Stalker

I loved this quartet: the stories are quietly intriguing, evoking a sense of dread, being creepy and sinister without being exactly horrific… I am a keen supporter of ebooks and I am about to get my first ereader however there is something to be said about books that come in such a wonderful package such as this which beautifully envelopes what is great content

The Book Smugglers

The collection has lovely writing, first of all, and a nuanced and mature sense of characterization, by which I mean that people have mixed and ambivalent motives and aren’t all one thing or another, and the journey the narrator makes through the four stories is complex and felt, to me, true to the human condition. It also has a strong sense of place, and I am picky about sense of place. It is clear to me that the author knows and understands her landscape and how landscape flows through and changes people.

Kate Elliott

This collection of short stories paints an evocative picture of a strange new environment, against which the corruptions and frailties of its characters are laid bare.

Scoop Magazine

The character’s are complex and the scenes visually stunning. Truly spec-fic at it’s best. If your not a fan of short stories- and honestly I never usually read them,Glitter Rose can also be approached as a small novel the quartet flows together adding a new dimension with each part almost with a chapter feel.     Twelfth Planet Press has done a marvelous job with the presentation and the artwork in between each story, just holding it make’s you feel that you have something special and truly you do.

Cels – Confession of a Booky Monster

The prose is beautiful and simple with none of the stories being over written, each is self contained yet also part of the bigger picture that is Tinashi’s time on the island. It’s a joy to read and will take you on a journey that is well worth the time.

I can recommend this collection to anyone – it’s beautiful and written so well, I’m hard pressed to find anything at all I didn’t enjoy about it. If you’ve not read anything by Marianne de Pierres then this is a good place to start, and even if you have you need this in your collection – it’s exceptional.

Walker of Worlds

The prose throughout the four short stories is powerfully beautiful and evocative, with what description there is of the island and the spores being sufficient to bring the world to life without spending pages and pages in world building – something that there really wouldn’t be much space for in the short story format. I can see myself revisiting these stories time and time again…

The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader