by Melodie Campbell
A funny thing happened on the way to the crime book: it
became a comic sci-fi spy novella.
That’s the frustrating thing about being a fiction
writer. Sometimes you don’t pick your
characters – they pick you.
I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, when…no,
that’s not how it happened.
It was far worse.
“Write a spy novel!” said the notable crime reviewer (one of
that rare breed who still has a newspaper column.) We were yapping over a few drinks
last spring. “A funny one. Modesty
Blaise meets Maxwell Smart, only in modern day, of course.”
“Sure!” I said, slurping Pinot by the $16 glass. After all, crime is my thing. I was weaned on Agatha Christie. I had 40 crime short stories and 5 crime books published to date. This sounded like the perfect 'next series' to write.
And I intended to.
Truly I did. I tried all summer.
I even met with a former CSIS operative to get the scoop on the spy biz (think
CIA, but Canada – yes, he was polite.)
Wrote for two months solid. The
result was…kinda flat. (I blame the
Pinot. Never take up a book-writing dare
with a 9 oz. glass of Pinot in your hand. Ditto good single malt. THAT resulted in a piece of erotica that shall
forever be known under a different name…
But I digress.)
Back to the crime book.
I started to hate it.
Then, in the middle of the night (WHY does this always
happens in the middle of the night?) a few characters started popping up. Colourful, fun characters, from another time.
They took my mind by siege. “GO AWAY,” I
told them. “I’m trying to write a crime book!”
They didn’t. It was a
criminal sit-in. They wouldn’t leave
until I agreed to write their tale.
So the modern day spy novel became a futuristic spy novel. Modesty Blaise runs a bar on a space-station,
so to speak. Crime in Space, with
the kind of comedy you might expect from a descendent of The Goddaughter.
Two more months spent in feverish writing. Another two in rewrites. Then another, to convince my publisher that
the project had legs.
CODE NAME: GYPSY MOTH
is the result. Yet another crossing the
genres escapade.
Written by me, and a motley crew of night visitors.
Now hopefully they will keep it down in there so I can
sleep.
CODE NAME: GYPSY MOTH
“Comedy and Space Opera – a blast to
read” (former editor Distant Suns magazine)
“a worthy tribute to Douglas
Adams” (Cathy Astolfo, award-winning author)
It isn't easy being a female barkeep in the final frontier...especially when you’re also a spy!
Nell Romana loves two things: the Blue Angel Bar, and Dalamar, a notorious modern-day knight for hire. Too bad he doesn't know she is actually an undercover agent. When Dalamar is called away on a routine job, Nell uncovers a rebel plot to overthrow the Federation. She has to act fast and alone.
Then the worst happens. Her cover is blown…
The Toronto Sun called her Canada’s “Queen of Comedy.” Library Journal compared her to Janet
Evanovich. Melodie Campbell got her
start writing standup. She has over 200
publications and nine awards for fiction.
Code Name: Gypsy Moth (Imajin
Books) is her eighth book.
