Michael Slade
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Michael Slade (b. 1947, Lethbridge, Alberta) is the pen name of Canadian novelist Jay Clarke, a lawyer who has participated in more than 100 criminal cases and who specializes in criminal insanity. Before Clarke entered law school, his undergraduate studies focused on history.[1] Clarke’s writing stems from his experience as a practicing lawyer and historian, as well as his extensive world travel. He works closely with police officers to ensure that his novels incorporate state-of-the-art police techniques.[2] Writing as a team with a handful of other authors, Clarke has published a series of police procedurals about the fictional Special External Section (Special X) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His novels describe Special X protagonists as they track down fugitives, typically deranged murderers. Four other authors have contributed under the name Michael Slade: John Banks, Lee Clarke, Rebecca Clarke, and Richard Covell. Despite the collaborative nature of the books, Jay Clarke is the predominant voice in their writing. Currently, Jay and his daughter Rebecca write under the Slade name.
Slade's novel Ghoul is on the Horror Writers Association's recommended reading list.[1] His work is published by Penguin.
Fans of the series are referred[citation needed] to as Sladists, a play on the word sadist.
According to a recent report[2] on horror movie website Arrow in the Head, Headhunter has been optioned for a movie by Brightlight Pictures, set to be written by Wil Zmak and directed by Patrick Lussier.
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[edit] Writing style
Slade writes novels on three concentric levels. At the center of each story is a whodunit or howdunit. Around that is psychological horror, through which Slade ventures into the supernatural without leaving the real world. Police procedure is the outer level.[3] Many of his plots are tied to historical events in the Lower Mainland and include substantial lessons in geography or history. Slade puts a great deal of research into his writing, and each novel includes a bibliography.
Some critics have noted that Slade writes extremely graphic scenes, many involving gory descriptions of violence.
[edit] Special X series
As of 2006, Slade has written twelve novels in the Special X series.
- Headhunter (1984)
- Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pursue a serial murderer who decapitates victims in Vancouver and taunts the police with images of the severed heads. The novel lays the groundwork for what would eventually become the Special X series. Slade focuses on the fear of decapitation, gender politics, the history of the North West Mounted Police, and the legacy of criminal insanity passed between generations.
- Ghoul (1987)
- Cutthroat (1992)
- Special X members investigate a series of linked murders in San Francisco and Vancouver, leading to criminals based in Hong Kong. The Special X organization takes shape as it will continue in subsequent novels. Slade's subject matter in this novel includes human evolution, genetic manipulation, cryptozoology, and Chinese culture.
- Ripper (1994)
- Special X investigates a series of murders perpetrated by a killing team in Vancouver. Elements of the novel include the conjuring of occult forces, Jack the Ripper, and the Golden Age mysteries of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr.
- Zombie (aka. Evil Eye) (1996)
- Shrink (aka. Primal Scream) (1998)
- Special X investigates similar murders in Vancouver and the wilderness of northern British Columbia. The story continues events from Slade's first novel, Headhunter. Slade focuses on First Nations culture and history in relation to European-Canadians, as well as the legacy of sexually abused children.
- Burnt Bones (1999)
- Special X investigates murders orchestrated by a criminal mastermind in and around the islands between British Columbia and Washington State. The story centers on Scottish and Roman history, Stonehenge, and a modern crimefighting technique known as geographic profiling.
- Hangman (2000)
- In Vancouver and Washington State, Special X pursues a murderer who plays a grisly game of Hangman with victims’ bodies. The story is a harrowing tale of revenge that recounts the history of hanging as a form of state-authorized execution.
- Death's Door (2001)
- The psycho hunters of Special X find themselves embroiled in a case that involves a stolen mummy and a snuff film ring. A horror-thriller, the novel involves some heinous individuals, as well as lessons in Egyptology, the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock, and transgressive film.
- Bed of Nails (2003)
- Swastika (2005)
- The novel is a grim tale of a modern-day psycho whose connections to the last days of Adolf Hitler are slowly unfolded in parallel plots in which elements of the Third and Fourth Reichs meet Nazi and American post-war weapons technology secrets, psychopathic murders in a secret mine shaft, and a recent case in which the RCMP brought down a killer whose modus operandi included a swine farm.
- Much of the plot inspiration for this novel is derived from The Bell, a device that the Polish researcher Igor Witkowski has claimed was a top secret Nazi anti-gravity device.
- Kamikaze (2006)
- Crucified (2008)
[edit] References
- ^ "Through the Past...Darkly". (October 2005). Rue Morgue #51.
- ^ Vincent, Bev. "Mountie Noir". (2002). Cemetery Dance #39.
- ^ "Through the Past...Darkly". (October 2005). Rue Morgue #51.
