BookView Review

Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.

Recently, we talked to M.K. Pachan about his writing and recently released Stampede City (A Detective Cam Clay Novel, a taut, grounded, and emotionally honest procedural (read the review here).

How often do you read? 

I read every day. I suppose my favorite time of the day to read would be just before going to bed, but I am also one of those people that carries a book with him every where he goes. 

How do you select the names of your characters?

For the most part, I just name them as I go along, and they are called whatever I am thinking at the time. In fact, several characters were renamed since the first draft of my first novel Revoked. The best example for that would be my main character Cam Clay. He had a different name as I worked on the first draft of Revoked, but I changed it to honor of my nephew Cameron Pachan. At the time, Cameron was seventeen years old and was suffering from leukemia and when he recovered with such strength and dignity, I wanted to honor him in a small way to let him know I am proud of him.

Do you Google yourself?

Don’t we all? Yes, out of curiosity of what others would see if/when they did the same. I did learn some interesting things about myself, such as my discovery that my books are available in far away places like China and Europe, which I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

How did you decide which form or genre was right for you?

I write within the same genre that I enjoy reading – crime fiction and police procedural. My career as a Correctional Officer and Parole Officer and the connections I have made within that working life has helped me get the details right.

What authors do you like to read? What book or books have had a strong influence on you or your writing?

Some of my favorites are the masters of the crime fiction genre – Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Mark Billingham, Stuart MacBride, and Peter Robinson are a few examples. Also, it is exciting to discover a new writer to put on my list.

What’s more important: characters or plot?

I am a character-first writer and reader. Although the first important plot element in any crime fiction story is the crime that is committed, for me it is more about how these crimes change the police detectives that are tasked with solving it and how violent crime can affect the entire community. When we think about the great writers in the crime fiction genre, we think about Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, or Ian Rankin‘s John Rebus, not necessarily all the crimes those characters have solved over the past thirty years.

Tell us some more about your book.

The main premise of Stampede City is the gang lifestyle and its correlation to family dynamics. Other themes that are explored are alcoholism, homelessness, and how police officers and those closest to them are still able to function despite the ongoing danger and trauma of their working lives. 

The setting is present day Calgary, Alberta. It is summertime; a hot and dry July with the Calgary Stampede celebrations ready to get started. It is a police procedural within the crime fiction genre. It is intended for adult audiences and includes extreme violence, a little bit of nudity, a few naughty words, as well as some humor mixed in. I hope readers will enjoy it. Here is the back of the book blurb:

As the Calgary Stampede kicks off the biggest party of the year, a young man is brutally murdered in broad daylight in his quiet neighborhood.

Cam Clay, a seasoned detective with the Violent Crimes Division of the Calgary Police Service, is called to the scene to investigate. The victim has been shot execution-style in his driveway – a crime Clay and his colleagues initially chalk up to a hit by a local gang. But when conflicting evidence is unearthed and more bodies start to pile up, it becomes clear that a new player in town is trying to take over the streets of Calgary.

At a time when Clay is trying to manage his rocky love life, his father’s declining health, and his troubled relationship with his son, it’s just one more headache that he doesn’t need. 

And then he finds himself in the crosshairs of crime boss Simon McKeegan, whose explosive threats endanger not only Clay, but the Stampede celebrations and the entire city of Calgary.

Tell us a little about how this story first came to be. Did it start with an image, a voice, a concept, a dilemma or something else?

For Stampede City, I had worked out the ending first and then I had to figure out how to get there. It was the exact opposite for Revoked, where the opening scene was the most vivid image prior to starting to write.

Which scene, character or plotline changed the most from first draft to published book?

When I was working on the first draft of my first novel Revoked, I had added a character named Jazz Breslow who I thought would just be a minor character – a couple of scenes and she would be gone. I soon learned that I enjoyed writing about her and her role kept expanding. That continued with Stampede City, and by then she had morphed into perhaps my most important character other than Cam Clay.

What’s next for you?

I am currently working on two projects. The first one is the third installment of the Detective Cam Clay series. In this one, Clay and his team are tasked with finding a solution to the brutal crimes of a familiar adversary. Also, I am working on a stand-alone story about a teenage high-school soccer star whose entire world is turned upside down when his older brother is killed in action while serving in the military. 

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