Me and Nolan Chase:
A Q&A, Lonesome Place reviews, EQMM
A Lonesome Place for Dying received a starred review from Library Journal!
“Chase debuts his lonesome, reflective lawman with this well-written, complex case. Fans of Craig Johnson’s Longmire will enjoy.”
Pretty nice.
Also a very generous blurb from bestselling author Melinda Leigh:
“Fans of Craig Johnson and CJ Box will enjoy Nolan Chase’s debut novel. A Lonesome Place for Dying is a slow burn mystery that builds to an explosive finish.”
My story “The Barguzin Sable” comes out in the March/April issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, pretty much the gold standard for short crime fiction.
I wrote a short piece for the EQMM blog about detective novels that take place out of town (i.e., outside of the detective’s normal environment).
I have a story in The Killing Rain, this year’s Left Coast Crime anthology, edited by Jim Thomsen and with a forward by Megan Abbott. The cover is terrific…
Me and Nolan Chase: A Q&A
Who is Nolan Chase?
An author who lives in the Pacific Northwest, whose novel A Lonesome Place for Dying, the first in a series about Blaine police chief Ethan Brand, comes out in May from Crooked Lane Books.
And who is Sam Wiebe?
The author of the Wakeland series of Vancouver-based PI novels, the latest of which is Sunset and Jericho, and whose standalone crime novel Ocean Drive comes out in April (Canada) and September (US).
Are these the same person?
They are.
So what are you trying to pull?
Nothing. I just haven’t worked out how to coexist with my pen name.
John D MacDonald called using a pseudonym “taking your pants off while wearing a mask.” Yet George Eliot thought a pen name gave all the benefits of literary ‘fame’ (a dubious concept, like jazz bass player fame, or pro wrestling referee fame) with none of the drawbacks.
Why use a pen name?
I’m known as an author of Canadian PI novels, neither of which is a help in international book sales. I don’t feel I write particularly ‘Canadian’ books, but I do feel I write Vancouver books, and these fall somewhere between the US and UK styles.
A Lonesome Place for Dying is in the vein of the Longmire and Jesse Stone series, set in the US, featuring a smalltown cop. Nolan Chase writes those kind of books.
So strictly a publishing decision?
No, it’s creative, too. I like reading a lot of different stuff—PI novels, procedurals, westerns, presidential biographies, Victorian women’s fiction, horror. I don’t look down on any of it.
Wakeland is kind of an everyperson, particular in many respects but not superheroic, and the books are socially-minded.
Ethan Brand is more idealized, in the Travis McGee mold, and the books are community-minded. (These distinctions allow an awful lot of bleed, thankfully).
So different influences?
Absolutely. Chandler and Ross Macdonald, Walter Mosley, Sue Grafton, and the whole PI lineage inform the Wakeland books. So does west coast hardcore and jazz.
Nolan Chase is influenced more by Larry McMurtry and John D MacDonald, Patsy Cline songs, etc. A different headspace.
And what about Ocean Drive?
It’s a standalone crime saga—multiple characters on either side of the law. It’s about violence and dead end jobs, gangs and the ports. It takes place in White Rock/South Surrey.
I’m confused.
Think how I feel!
Every book is its own constellation of meanings and influences. I’m really proud of both Ocean Drive and A Lonesome Place for Dying. They’re both creative risks—there is no guarantee when you write something it will get published, let alone find an audience. Each book has the better part of a year invested in it. In that sense, writing is pretty reckless behavior.
Can you sum up the difference between these?
Ocean Drive is something like Fargo, in its combination of idealized setting and multiple character stories and depiction of violence.
A Lonesome Place for Dying is more like Longmire in that it’s a character-driven small town detective story.
And Wakeland is its own thing.
Speaking of Wakeland, my Ellery Queen story “The Barguzin Sable” features Wakeland. And book five is in the works…more news on that soon.
Pre-order A Lonesome Place for Dying here
I hope you enjoy one or both of them.
Sam, fantastic, you're giving me so much great reading, I look forward to this v. much. Congrats!
Very cool! Looking forward to the new genre and to a stand-alone reflecting the Vancouver crime of today.