Doug PollardLindy Cameron launches Clan Destine Press
DOUG: Before I went away I interviewed the author, Kerry Greenwood about her new book: “Out of the Black Land”. That is being published by a new publishing house which is just about to launch called: “Clan Destine Press” and I have the proprietor who is an author, herself, on the line now – Lindy Cameron – good morning, Lindy.
LINDY: Good morning, Doug, how are you?
DOUG: I’m very well, thank you. Now, starting your own publishing house – ooh, that’s a - - -
LINDY: I know.
DOUG: - - - big jump?
LINDY: M’mm, m’mm. Yes, it’s pretty crazy really.
DOUG: It is – m’mm, I thought the publishing world now-days was taken over by huge conglomerates?
LINDY: I know – well, that’s why I’m doing it. Precisely why I’m doing it.
DOUG: Because certain books aren’t getting published?
LINDY: Yes. Certain books aren’t getting published, certain authors are being restricted on – you know, what they can write and not being allowed to take a few risks and be adventurous.
DOUG: So, you decided to set-up your own label, so to speak.
LINDY: [indistinct] yeah – yeah, my own ‘record’ label [laughs] in my basement.
DOUG: In your basement - - -
LINDY: Yeah.
DOUG: - - - well – you know, particularly with the Internet now-days niche is everything, I think. What niches are you hoping to fill with the kinds of books you publish?
LINDY: I’m hoping to – well, not fill a niche – just concentrate on genre fiction - - -
DOUG: Right.
LINDY: So it means I won’t be publishing literature with a big “L”, not the sorts of books that automatically get - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LINDY: - - - considered for the Miles Franklin although that’s not too wild-a-thing to - - -
DOUG: No – but you’re not going to go out looking for what a friend of mine once called “at”?
LINDY: No, no. Not at all.
[laughs]
LINDY: I’m looking for readers, mostly - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LINDY: - - - and it seems most people enjoy crime, historical novels, science fiction, speculative fictions – urban fantasies are a really big thing at the moment - - -
DOUG: Yes?
LINDY: So, I’m doing all the genre fiction. Concentrating on that.
DOUG: We’ve already spoken on this programme to Kerry Greenwood about: “Out of the Black Land”, that’s one of the first books - - -
LINDY: It is.
DOUG: - - - historical fiction set in Egypt. I’ll skim over something for the moment, called: Dougal’s Diary. Because some people call me “Dougal” when they’re in a bad mood with me - - -
LINDY: [laughs]
DOUG: We’ll come back to that in a moment. You’ve published a book of your own, as well?
LINDY: Yes. Yes – well, this is a book that I’ve had out before with one of the big-name publishers - - -
DOUG: M’mm, m’mm?
LINDY: - - - and it didn’t do very well. Mostly because what happens with the big publishers, if you are not a big name yourself and this is most authors in Australia fit the category you get about 2-week’s worth of attention once the book’s out. To – you know, promotion and publicity. That sort of thing.
DOUG: M’mm.
LINDY: Then they go on to the next thing. This book of mine which was my fifth novel a couple of years ago, didn’t do what I had expected it to do and so I thought, well, I’m about to publish the sequel as well and this book: “Redback” is not out there anymore, either – and that’s as a consequence of not doing very well the first time ‘round. It’s not the book’s fault and so I thought, I want to publish the sequel as well so I’ll go back and re-publish the first one. It’s an(sic) espionage, spy – action – page turning thing so – yeah, that’s the main reason for that.
DOUG: It’s called: “Redback”.
LINDY: Yep.
DOUG: The Redback(s) – let me read from your press release, here:
[reads]
“The Redbacks are a force to be reckoned with - - -”
LINDY: M’mm.
DOUG: So, they’re a hostage retrieval team?
LINDY: Yes. They’re a bunch of ex-soldiers lead by a woman, Bryn Gideon who was the only female to come close enough to make the S.A.S. and she’s the leader of this group of well-knit soldiers. They’ve all their own expertise, of course - - -
DOUG: Of course.
LINDY: - - - and they’re all good friends as well. It’s their job to go in and rescue hostages from situations where they might’ve been taken by rebels – which is how the book opens – m’mm - - -
DOUG: Right; so, it’s a kind of cross between “International Rescue” and the S.A.S.?
LINDY: - - - yes [laughs]
DOUG: If I can put it that way – but with a woman in charge - - -
LINDY: Exactly.
DOUG: - - - this time?
LINDY: Exactly.
DOUG: I guess that comes from being a lesbian and a feminist, putting a woman up front?
LINDY: Absolutely. There’s no reason why they can’t be up there.
DOUG: A lot of countries don’t let women go into combat, do they?
LINDY: That’s true. No.
DOUG: Which has always struck me as rather odd.
LINDY: Yeah.
DOUG: I mean, they may not be able to carry the weight of equipment – some may not be able to carry the weight of equipment, men have – but that’s because they’ve brains to carry with them as well.
LINDY: Exactly.
[laughs]
LINDY: I think too many of the men are worried what might happen when a woman does have a gun in her hand [laughs]
DOUG: I have heard some very bad military jokes about: yes, you can only give a woman a gun three weeks out of a month - - -
LINDY: Exactly, yeah.
DOUG: - - - and so-on-and-so-forth.
LINDY: Yes. That’s also why they wouldn’t let them be pilots – and astronauts.
DOUG: Astronauts.
LINDY: Astronauts, yeah.
DOUG: So that’s your book and as I say, we have talked before about “Out of the Black Land”, what’s: “Dougal’s Diary” about?
LINDY: “Dougal’s Diary” is about the first year in the life of a cat from the cat’s point of view. Now, I know this sounds odd, to fit into the genre fiction mix – m’mm – but everybody loves cats and I had the opportunity to publish this charming little book so I thought, well, that’s what Clandestine Press will be. Genre fiction and cats.
DOUG: [laughs] Am I detecting a theme here, because if I read Kerry Greenwood right she’s pretty much of a cat fan, too?
LINDY: She is. Yep, yeah.
DOUG: So, you’re obviously a cat lover?
LINDY: I am a cat lover as well. Most people I know are, I know there are a few exceptions – you know, there’s something terribly wrong with them - - -
[laughs]
LINDY: - - - but that’s not to say – you know, later on I might publish a book about an alpaca or something?
DOUG: That’d be an interesting twist.
LINDY: [laughs]
DOUG: I don’t think we’ve ever had an alpaca hero. You might even get a movie deal out of that?
LINDY: Yes [laughs]
DOUG: You know, you never know. You’re about to officially launch Clandestine Press?
LINDY: Yes.
DOUG: You’ve Tony Wheeler from the – the founder of “Lonely Planet” coming along to do that.
LINDY: I have. I am so honoured that he’s not only agreed to but he’s able to ‘cause in fact when I asked him to do it he was on his way back from London on something like a 28-stop trip in a small plane, home – and that’s something he’s never done before which is pretty amazing, that Tony can still find things he hasn’t done before on this planet. But – m’mm, so – yeah. I was lucky that he was going to be in town and able to do it.
DOUG: Your launch is coming up on Saturday, isn’t it?
LINDY: Yes. Saturday at six o’clock.
DOUG: At Bell’s Hotel (and Brewery).
LINDY: Yeah, in South Melbourne.
DOUG: In South Melbourne and obviously, that’s going to be a bit of a knees-up for you?
LINDY: I hope so, yeah [laughs]
DOUG: One more thing I wanted to ask you before I let you go, you’re a “Sisters in Crime” national co-convenor. What is: Sisters in Crime?
LINDY: Sisters in Crime is a literary group, small-L literary group because we specialise in crime fiction – obviously – there’s about five, 600-members. Australia-wide. We read, talk about – explore, promote – anything to do with women’s crime fiction - - -
DOUG: M’mm, m’mm?
LINDY: We started because in the olden days there weren’t that many women crime writers in Australia and those that were weren’t getting much publicity. So as readers ‘cause even back then I was a reader not a writer, we decided that what was needed was an organisation to raise the profile of it. Back then, there was about – this is 19-years ago, there were about five, working women-crime writers in this country one of whom was Kerry Greenwood and she’s still going strong. But we now have probably, close to 40 and it’s not all down to our doing. But simply the fact that we were raising the profile, having events and getting it out there that yes, it’s wonderful thing for Australian women and ‘do more of it’ – yeah, so we’re up to – next year we celebrate our 20th anniversary.
DOUG: Wow.
LINDY: We have events in Melbourne, regular events. Where we invite authors along and interview them or put them on panels and make them talk with each other, have debates and it’s the most fun you can have when you’re having fun [laughs]
DOUG: I’m glad you caught yourself in time, there.
[laughs]
DOUG: Well, thanks very much for joining us, Lindy. The best of luck with your launch - - -
LINDY: Thanks, Doug.
DOUG: - - - and the best of luck with the business.
LINDY: Thank you very much.
DOUG: That was Lindy Cameron, there. She’s launching her new business: Clan Destine Press. Half-past 6, Bell’s Hotel on Saturday – that’s over in South Melbourne; in case you’re scratching your head and wondering where else you might’ve heard of Lindy Cameron her earlier crime series featured the Richmond-based lesbian private eye, Kit O’Malley. You might want to look-out for those if there’re any of those still in print.
