After less than a year in business, new North East publisher Myrmidon Books has had a title longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007, making it the youngest company ever to achieve that honour. Literature North East speaks to Myrmidon co-founder Anne Westgarth.

What was the idea behind setting up Myrmidon?
Edward Handyside and I set up Myrmidon. Neither of us has a background in publishing, although Ed is actually the author of a non-fiction book on leadership in the workplace. Ed's background is in manufacturing consultancy; mine in English teaching. We are both passionate about books and felt we could couple this passion with Ed’s business knowledge to establish an exciting new fiction publishing house in the north east of England. And so far it’s been a wonderful journey! Our first title, Bulletproof Suzy by Ian Brotherhood, was published just under a year ago and our third title, Tan Twan Eng’s The Gift of Rain, has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007. We are really proud to be the youngest publishing house ever to be longlisted.

Where does the name come from?
It actually has no particular significance. We spent a lot of time thinking about names but most of those we liked were already taken!

How many titles did you launch with?
We launched our first title, Ian Brotherhood’s Bulletproof Suzy, on 23 August 2006, then Thirteen, by Sebastian Beaumont, was published on 16 September.
 

Tell us about your catalogue. Is there such a thing as a typical Myrmidon book?
A typical Myrmidon title has an engaging plot, well-drawn characters and polished prose. Aside from that, Myrmidon titles don’t fit into a pigeon-hole. We don’t look for books which belong to a particular genre or follow the trends created by bestselling novels. We publish books we love. A look at our first five titles demonstrates this.
 
Bulletproof Suzy is a gripping tale, related in Suzy’s own ‘street-speak’, which drags the reader into the violent world of Suzy and her gang of ‘Little Ladies’. It’s hard to categorise so let me summarise what it’s about: when Suzy’s recently estranged friend is found brutally murdered Suzy swears she’ll get revenge – but the police consider her to be the only suspect and there’s a new gang on her patch who are after her blood. Thirteen by Sebastian Beaumont is perhaps best described as a psychological thriller. The protagonist is a taxi driver working the night shift in Brighton. Exhaustion leads to him experiencing shifts in his perception of reality and as the story progresses neither he nor the reader is entirely sure what is real and what is not.
 
Tan Twan Eng’s The Gift of Rain is, of course, our Man Booker-longlisted title. It’s a beautiful and haunting story set in Malaya at the time of the Japanese invasion. Philip Hutton, an old man at the novel’s opening, receives an unexpected visitor who is linked to his past. He unfolds his story to her, and to us, and we learn of the friendship he shared with his sensei (his aikido teacher and mentor) and the devastating discovery that forced him to choose where his loyalties lay and risk all to protect those he loved.
 
The Painted Messiah by Craig Smith is a real page turner. It’s a thriller set mainly on the streets of present-day Zurich, but there’s also a back-story set in first century Judea. A legendary portrait of Christ, allegedly painted from life and granting the gift of immortality, resurfaces leading to an ‘edge-of-your-seat’ race to gain possession. It’s been likened to a Robert Ludlum novel and has received rave reviews from readers. And Samantha David’s I Married a Pirate is a romantic comedy which could be broadly categorised as chick lit, although the heroine is a decade older than is typical in that genre and the romantic hero, the Pirate, is more Danny DeVito than Johnny Depp! It’s highly original and very funny.

 
What was it like getting the news that The Gift of Rain had been longlisted for the Booker?
Getting the news that we had been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize is not something I’ll forget in a hurry. Lois Tucker from Colman Getty, the PR company who handle the prize, had recently emailed me and when she phoned and identified herself I said, ‘Oh, Hi! I got the email you sent. Thanks.’ And she said, ‘Oh, right, actually that’s not what I’m phoning about. I’m phoning to let you know that your book The Gift of Rain has been selected for the Man Booker longlist. Congratulations!’ I had been checking the official Man Booker Prize website on and off all day, and had an email alert set up, but the phone call caught me by surprise! And what a wonderful surprise it was!
 

How did you pick up the title?
The literary agents Gregory and Company sent the manuscript of The Gift of Rain for our consideration shortly after we opened for business and we just loved it. Apparently it had been doing the rounds for two years and had been rejected by every major publisher.
 

William Hill are quoting The Gift of Rain at 14:1. Will you be having a bet yourself?
Well, no, I’ve got no plans to do so!

And what have you got coming up next?
Coming up we have Mrs Lincoln by Janis Cooke Newman, a fictionalised autobiography of Abraham Lincoln’s wife, who writes from the lunatic asylum where her son has had her committed; Gladiatrix by Russell Whitfield, historical fiction about female gladiators; and Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost, a spoof sci-fi novel. So, as you can see, we don’t look for any particular type of novel, just great stories and great writing.

The Man Booker shortlist will be announced on 6 September and the winner on 16 October.