Michael Slade is a collaborative literary pseudonym used primarily by genre novelist Jay Clarke,Barber, John. "Faster! Higher! Stronger! Oh, and way gorier, too!" The Globe and Mail January 16 2010. pR16. Retrieved May 1 2026. most frequently in collaboration with John Banks. Clarke and Banks developed the pseudonym with Richard Covell in the early 1980s when shopping around the murder mystery novel Headhunter which was written by all three of them. Although multiple authors have worked in tandem under the pen name "Michael Slade" Clarke has also contributed enough solo work that the pseudonym is generally referred to as his primarily.Michael Slade | Penguin Random House Canada Retrieved May 2 2026.
Fourteen of the novels published under the Michael Slade persona, between 1984 and 2009, comprise the "Special X" series in which various high-profile crimes are investigated by members of the fictitious Royal Canadian Mounted Police Special External Section.Davidson, Dan. "Too much sex gets in the way of story."Whitehorse Daily Star Vol. 99 No. 127 p24 July 2 1999. Retrieved May 1 2026. Slade has been described as "Canada's first international mainstream horror novelist."Spence, Bob. "Canada has novelist in mainstream horror." Standard-Freeholder February 19 1988. p12. Retrieved May 2 2026."An Evening with Michael Slade." The Vancouver Sun March 8 2012. pC5 Retrieved May 2 2026.
Background Vancouver-based lawyers Jay Clarke (born May 28, 1947) and John Banks (born June 30, 1947) began to collaborate on commercial fiction in the early 1980s following an economic downturn caused by cuts to the Legal Services Society in British Columbia. Collaborating with Richard Covell, also a lawyer, the team wrote Headhunter, which was first published in England in 1984.Zwarun, Suzanne. "Trio of Vancouver lawyers unleashes horrific serial killer." Calgary Herald September 1 1985. pF7. Retrieved May 1 2026."The gorier the better." The Leader-Post Regina December 31 1992. pC6. Retrieved May 1 2026.Dafoe, Chris. "Bloodthirsty murder, they wrote." The Globe and Mail May 15 1998. pD4. Retrieved May 1 2026. Clarke, Banks, and Covell, who shared a law practice and a collective "32 years and 60 murder cases" between them,Durrell, Robert "Books." North Bay Nugget Yr. 79 Vol. 24 p26. July 13 1985. Retrieved May 2 2026. were inspired by the success of fellow lawyer-turned-author William Deverell's recent debut, Needles.Inwood, Damian. "Lawyers guys behind the Sladists." The Province June 23 1996. pB32. Retrieved May 2 2026.Barber, John. "Faster! Higher! Stronger! Oh, and way gorier, too!" The Globe and Mail January 16 2010. pR16. Retrieved May 1 2026.
Before publishing Headhunter, Clarke and Brown had considered using the mononym DeClerq (a surname that would later be assigned to a recurring character in the Special X series). Clarke credits his wife, Lee, with devising "Michael Slade" impromptu: "Michael's a Biblical name - it has a certain sensitivity, I've never met a woman who didn't like it. And Slade: he's tough as nails."Wyman, Max. "A corpus of corpses." The Vancouver Sun April 18 1998. pF9 Retrieved May 2 2026. By the time the second Slade novel, Ghoul was being reviewed in 1988, the Vancouver Sun reported that Covell had left the writing team and that Lee Clarke had replaced him;Boei, William. "A bloodbath, and we're not spared the sordid details." The Vancouver Sun March 12 1988. pD5. Retrieved May 1 2026. Clarke has subsequently collaborated with his daughter Rebecca.Giles, W. Mark. "Slade finds plenty of thrills in own life." Calgary Herald November 26 2005 pF3. Retrieved May 2 2026.Michael Slade | Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Authors | WWEnd Retrieved May 2 2026.
Bibliography RCMP "Special X" series Headhunter (1984) Ghoul (1987) Cutthroat (1992) Ripper (1994) Evil Eye (1996) Primal Scream (1998) Burnt Bones (1999) Hangman (2000) Death's Door (2002) Bed of Nails (2003) Swastika (2005) Kamikaze (2006) Crucified (2008) Red Snow (2009)
Stand-Alone Works Change (2000)
References
External links Special X Official site for Michael Slade Michael Slade at Penguin Random House Canada