When award-winning author Gordon Kirkland was writing his new novel, Crossbow, he turned to Pitt Meadows Fire Department for help.
Assistant fire chief Brad Perrie lent his expertise for a scene Kirkland was writing that involved a burning building.
“It’s one of the nice things about living in a small community,” said Kirkland. “When an author gets stuck, he knows he can turn to someone close by for help. When you are writing a novel, you don’t want someone reading it who knows about something like fires and firefighting to say that what you have written is not the way things happen in reality.”
It’s something Kirkland learned from his friend -– bestselling mystery author Ridley Pearson.
Pearson’s fact-checking for one of his books created a method for crime solving that has been used by the Seattle Police Department to close two homicides.
Crossbow, Kirkland’s seventh book, is best described as a marriage between Fargo and the darker passages of the Old Testament. It’s the first full-length novel for the Pitt Meadows resident.
“Brad Perrie was a great help, and very willing to give me his time to answer my questions,” Kirkland added. “I really want to thank him for that.”
Kirkland presented Perrie last week with one of the first copies of Crossbow, where he thanks him for the help in the acknowledgements at the front of the book.
Kirkland however wanted to do a little more and came up with a unique way to show his appreciation. The fire chief in Crossbow is named Perry Bradley.
Crossbow is available on Amazon.