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A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill
“Witty dialogue, lively characters, and a shrewd political awareness of the times” award-‐winning novelist, Marele Day
Media kit Media interviews and images TJC | 02 8904 0822 | 02 6684 7946 | www.tjc.com.au Trudy Johnston | 0402 485 902 | [email protected] Pantera Press, P.O. Box 357, Seaforth NSW 2092 Australia p 02 8003 4499, [email protected], www.PanteraPress.com
MEDIA RELEASE
Rave reviews for historical crime fiction at its best -‐ A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill -‐ the first in a series, a perfect summer holiday read and Christmas gift. Gripping, beautifully-‐written and meticulously-‐researched: it details the extraordinary Proto-‐Fascist and Communist movements in 1930s Australia.
"A Few Right Thinking Men is …a cut above much Australian crime. It's well researched and atmospheric, with a brisk pace, colourful characters and charming period dialogue." The Age, Pick of the Week "It takes a talented writer to imbue history with colour and vivacity…. a devilish sense of humour helps buoy the novel’s more historic roots… It is rare to find such an assured debut as A Few Right Thinking Men." Laurie Steed, Australian Book Review
Meet ‘Rowland Sinclair’, the central character of A Few Right Thinking Men. He’s an artist, a gentleman, charming, wealthy, young, educated and a major magnet for scandal. We follow Rowland Sinclair through the very real events that surrounded the rise and demise of multiple extreme right-‐wing movements across NSW, a little known but crucial episode in Australia’s history. Laden with historical facts, riots, plots and murder, this book gives the reader a colourful insight to the political volatility of the time. This debut novel by Sulari Gentill, published by Pantera Press, has had critics raving. Set to the backdrop of the 1930s and Australia’s Great Depression, the story is about art, money, crime and treason. Rowland’s adventures continue when its sequel, A Decline in Prophets, is released in July 2011.
“I found I didn’t need to fictionalise the events of the era, the facts were fascinating and ludicrous enough,” says Sulari Gentill. “What I have done is weave the personal story of Rowland Sinclair (a product of my imagination) into the extraordinary events of the early 30s.” A Few Right Thinking Men is a rich, cinematic historical crime novel based on an intriguing and under-‐reported time in Australia’s history – the rise of both Fascism and Communism in the 1930s, which posed a direct, tangible threat of revolution and violent social upheaval. A character-‐driven novel, the three protagonists in A Few Right Thinking Men eloquently symbolise the irreconcilable positions taken by a young nation beset by fear and both economic and political crisis. Set in urban Sydney and rural Yass, the narrative explores the issues pressing Australians 80 years ago and the human impact of discrepancies in power and economic imbalance, issues still relevant today. Through the eyes of Rowland Sinclair we experience Australia’s psyche during the Depression, and gain a real feeling for the earnestness of the men involved with the political charge of that era. “Compared with both Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher and the works of Jane Austen, A Few Right Thinking Men holds appeal for literary lovers, historians and the wider crime novel audience and we know that when the sequel is released next year, Rowland will have many fans,” says Pantera Press co-‐founder Alison Green. Hot on the heels of her Rowland Sinclair series, Sulari Gentill will be releasing Chasing Odysseus in early 2011, the first in the new exciting Hero adventure series for young adults. Full of daring heroes, ancient myth and peril, the fall of Troy, Amazons, and Odysseus’ voyage home, it is an adventure tale that parallels the rapidly shifting boundaries of today’s world for young people. “In only one year we will have seen three fiction titles released by Sulari Gentill. We are delighted that one of our new novelists is quickly springboarding from ‘debut’ to ‘established’ author and is being recognised for her mastery of the writing craft, astute characterisation and compelling narratives,” adds Alison Green.
Sri Lankan born and now based in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains (she has a farm growing French truffles), Sulari Gentill has had a rich and multi-‐faceted life. Initially studying astrophysics then embarking on a successful career in Law, she later decided to follow her passion in writing novels, and already has been offered a Varuna Fellowship, commended in the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ 2008 Jim Hamilton Award and long-‐listed for the Hachette/QLD Writers Centre Australian Manuscript Development Program for fiction writers. Launched in 2010, Pantera Press scours the country for Australia’s next Tim Wintons, Kate Grenvilles or Maggie Aldersons, fostering the best of Australia’s new literary talent who create well-‐written, riveting reads with strong narrative and engaging characters. Three fiction and three non-‐fiction titles have been released in the past six months, with two books going into reprint and Simon Benson’s Betrayal becoming a best seller. In partnership with major book distributor Simon & Schuster Australia, Pantera Press Is destined to become a major independent publishing force in Australia and New Zealand. With its mantra of good books doing good things™ Pantera Press has developed innovative financial and philanthropic models. These mean authors have more support than ever for their writing (a 50% profit share instead of royalties), and philanthropic programs, such as The Smith Family’s Lets Read initiative, will receive a financial boost to help combat illiteracy at the earliest stages. Since 2008, Pantera Press has also sponsored the coveted Walkley Awards for excellence in newspaper feature writing. Pantera Press is a family business, teaming passion and love for literature with solid business expertise, the backing of major distributor Simon & Schuster and support from a growing stable of some of Australia’s finest publishing industry talents. A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill is out in all good book stores RRP $29.99 | ISBN 978-‐0-‐9807418-‐1-‐0 | www.PanteraPress.com
Media interviews and author/cover images: Trudy Johnston | 02 8904 0822 | 02 6684 7946 | 0402 485 902 | [email protected] | www.tjc.com.au
ABOUT SULARI GENTILL: Sulari Gentill lives and writes on a small farm in the foothills of New South Wales’ Snowy Mountains. Somehow, she feels like she has always been a part of this place, but that’s not entirely true. Sulari was born in Sri Lanka. She travelled through several continents and time zones before she was two years old.
For a time, her family settled in Lusaka, Zambia, where she learned to speak English. She was six years old when she arrived in Australia. Sulari grew up, or at least grew older, in Brisbane where she built cubby houses in the mulberry trees by the Brisbane River, embarked on various ill-‐conceived schemes of adolescent entrepreneurship and attended her local school. She set off to the Australian National University in Canberra to study Astrophysics because the stars had never ceased to fascinate her.
Imagine her disappointment when she realised that her professors thought stars were simply balls of gas, described by mathematical formulae, rather than the mythological, literary bodies described by the poetry of Homer and those who came after him. Sulari decided that she was perfectly happy with the story of Orion, and would leave it to others to analyse the gaseous masses that made up his constellation. And so she became a lawyer. A series of accidental opportunities then saw Sulari end up as a corporate counsel in the water and energy industries. It wasn’t a bad life, and the legal profession is certainly not completely divorced from the production of fiction. Indeed Sulari now looks at her legal career as an apprenticeship of sorts. After a number of years however, clauses, codicils and amendments no longer held the same allure and Sulari found herself strangely restless – not exactly unhappy, but increasingly aware that this was not what she was meant to do. In 1997, Sulari and her husband, Michael, purchased a small farm outside Batlow in the Snowy Mountains. Of course being a town of 1500 people, Batlow doesn’t have a lot of call for corporate lawyers, so Sulari worked away for a couple of years, primarily in Tasmania, on the disaggregation of the Hydro Electric Corporation. Returning home, she founded a consulting company with a few friends, which allowed her to telecommute quite happily with only the odd trip interstate. Sulari was also appointed to the boards of a couple of environmental management authorities, which saw her travelling widely through rural NSW. Around then, Sulari and Michael planted a trufferie on their property which inevitably cemented their image amongst Batlow locals as “mad blow-‐ins”. They have now had a successful harvest of A-‐Grade French Black Truffles…though the opinion of the locals probably hasn’t changed. So, busy with truffles, a business, a persistent love of painting and two wild colonial boys, Sulari managed to ignore the feeling that there was something else she was supposed to be doing…until 2007. It was then she had an idea for a YA series and found a friend who was willing to write with her. The floodgates were opened. Suddenly Sulari found herself literally carried on a torrent of ideas, and excitement and sheer joy in the creative process. Writing is as natural as breathing now and the consequences of stopping would probably be as dire. For Sulari, the most unexpected and delightful thing about her newfound passion is the literary partnership the Rowland Sinclair series has given her with her husband. Michael is an historian, with a particular expertise in the proto-‐fascist movements of the 20s and 30s. His historical insight and her creative intuition have found a wonderful common ground in this fascinating part of Australia’s past. The future is now about writing, exploring other genres and stories, and happily revisiting the characters who have already become old and beloved friends. There will be other things of course, but in the middle of it all is writing.
ABOUT PANTERA PRESS Pantera Press has published 6 books already in 2010 – fiction and non-‐fiction. Political bombshell, BETRAYAL by Simon Benson is already into re-‐print. Hot new novelist Robin Baker’s Killing Richard Dawson is being strongly reviewed. Nowhere Man by John M. Green is already in re-‐print. The unique WHY vs WHY series (Nuclear Power and Gay Marriage) has received widespread media coverage. Debut novelist Sulari Gentill’s A Few Right Thinking Men is attracting great attention, including ‘Pick of the Week’ reviews. With its mantra of good books doing good things™ Pantera Press has also developed innovative financial & philanthropic models for running its business. These mean Australian authors have more support than ever for their writing, and philanthropic programs, such as The Smith Family’s Let’s Read initiative, will receive a financial boost to help close the literacy gap & to encourage the joys of reading at the earliest stages. Since 2008, Pantera Press has also sponsored the coveted Walkley Award for excellence in newspaper feature writing.
BEHIND PANTERA PRESS... Pantera Press was founded by the Sydney-‐based Green family whose kitchen table was their board room. What they passionately debate around that table is an unusual mix of… business, the arts and philanthropy… Pantera Press teams passion and love for literature and philanthropy with solid business expertise, the backing of major book distributor Simon & Schuster and support from a growing stable of some of Australia’s finest publishing industry talents. Alison Green, with a background in
psychology, business strategy & marketing, has been working full-‐time running Pantera Press for the last two years. It was Alison’s creative vision that spotted how the Green family’s trio of passions, business, the arts & philanthropy, could be brought together so uniquely. It was Alison who excited the whole family into starting Pantera Press. John Green (Alison’s father) has 35 years in business, with some of Australia’s biggest companies as a company director, investment banker and lawyer. (For many years, John was also on the board of publisher, UNSW Press. In fact, in the 1970s, he helped save the Press from being closed down.) John is also a well-‐known business writer, with his pieces having appeared in publications such as Business Spectator, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review and Company Director. Garnering rave reviews from critics, John’s debut novel NOWHERE MAN is an edge-‐of-‐your-‐seat thriller set in the midst and aftermath of the global financial crisis. His next novel (Born to Run, out August 2011) is about the leadup to the US Presidential election with a female Hispanic candidate as the hot favourite.
Pantera Press’s first 6 books, only released in 2010, are already making their mark:
BETRAYAL – The underbelly of Australian Labor Simon Benson The political best-‐seller that everyone is talking about ALREADY INTO RE-‐PRINT!!
A Few Right Thinking Men Sulari Gentill Historical crime fiction at its best
Killing Richard Dawson Robin Baker A slow-‐burn, black comedic thriller
NOWHERE MAN John M. Green The thriller that predicted the future...twice!
WHY vs WHY Innovative flip-‐sided books – experts duelling 2 sides of hot topics:
NUCLEAR POWER
GAY MARRIAGE
