Three Questions with Van Heerling. My Guest Today is Claude Bouchard.

Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level. 

Today we welcome Claude Bouchard author of Vigilante, The Consultant, Discreet Activities  and several others stories you probably should be reading. I have had the pleasure of conversing with Claude via Twitter and Facebook. Fasten your seat belts... this should be a good one. 

VH: If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be and why?

CB: I would abolish egos. Without egos, common courtesy would become the norm, bullying would disappear, wars would cease to exist, the list is endless. If people didn’t have those pesky egos, there would be nothing urging them to put themselves before others. Nobody would even think of cutting ahead, be it on the road or in the supermarket checkout line because there would be no reason to do so. Backstabbing, lying, cheating, etc would all become obsolete as there would be nothing to gain from such actions.

If, for some reason, ego abolishment was impossible, my second choice would be to rule the world as the all powerful master. :)

VH: If you knew the exact date of your death down to the minute, what would you change about your life starting tomorrow?

CB: I would re-arrange my schedule to make sure all enjoyable events and activities such as trips and parties took place before my death and would push unpleasant ones like doctors’ appointments, hospital stays and the like until after my death.

VH: If a zombie virus took over the world, how many days do you think you could last before you were infected? And what would you do to postpone the inevitable?

CB: In consideration of this question, I’d like to go back to the first one, forget about that ego thing and opt for the all powerful master thing instead and do some major zombie virus butt-kicking.

Next, we should move on to the second question which explicitly foresees my knowing exactly when I would die. By applying simple math, I could determine the number of days asked here by counting how many days there would be between, a) my date of death and, b) the date the zombie virus took over the world. Without these specific dates, performing such a calculation becomes quasi-impossible though I suspect the likely answer to be somewhere quite close to 42.

As to what I would do to postpone the inevitable, I’m doubtful destiny, which was so clearly established in all of the above, can be changed but, just for fun, I’d consume rum cocktails for their medicinal benefits and, as always, wear my trusty battle helmet.

VH: Claude you are the first to intermingle the questions and with such grace. As for your abolishment of egos... it reminds me of a quote, "Desired fame is caused by a cancerous Ego. Boy, do I need Chemo.” This one is mine. Sheesh... there is that pesky ego again!

Thank you Claude.

Vigilante
Book 1 of the Barry/McCall Series". . . hits you like a hook to the liver, and addresses the timeless issues of murder, revenge, and the human yearning for justice . . . a witty thriller, full of passion and suspense . . . virtually impossible to put down." -- John Locke, New York Times best-selling author


 Montreal . . . the long, hot summer of 1996. . . 

. . . and in the dark of night, moving like a shadowy wraith, a vigilante prowls the city's streets.

The targets of his bloody rampage: the worst of the worst. 

Murderers. Gangbangers. Rapists. 

Six months. Sixteen murders. The harried police are still without a clue . . .

. . . until the day they receive an email from the assassin himself.

Lieutenant Dave McCall, head of Montreal's Special Homicide Task Force, needs help to crack the secrets of the killer's taunting message. He calls on an expert--Chris Barry, who runs a security firm specializing in computer communications. 

Together, McCall and Barry launch a grim quest to track down a man who preys on predators--an urgent quest to bring this remorseless killer to justice.

But whose justice will prevail: theirs--or the vigilante's?

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The Consultant  
Book 2 of the Barry/McCall Series

"Chris Barry is back and better than ever." - Jessica Subject, Mark of the Stars

The friendly takeover of CSS Inc. leaves computer executive Chris Barry unemployed, very wealthy and pleased with the situation.

But the hiatus is short-lived...

As a result of his involvement in the recent Vigilante investigation, Barry is approached by Jonathan Addley and invited to joinDiscreet Activities, a government agency of the clandestine variety,

Accepting, he promptly takes on his first assignment under the guise of an IT consultant, to investigate possible links between a local import business and the murder of its MIS director.

As he discovers the firm is being used to import narcotics, his cover is blown and things get personal, spurring him to show that murderers, drug lords, biker gangs and kidnappers are no match for...

...The Consultant
 
"...I have no doubt that Clint Eastwood, in his prime, would have bought the rights to play the lead in movie version of The Consultant." - Dee Marie, author, Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy

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Discreet Activities  
Book 6 of the Barry/McCall Series

Note: Though this is the sixth book of the series, it can be read first as no crucial plot elements of the previous installments are revealed therein. It is possible that some readers may subsequently feel obliged to go back to the beginning of the series withVigilante and onwards but that's okay.

"Bouchard is quite simply one of the only authors I know who can throw me for a loop with the last line of his novels." - Amber Norrgard - Co-host of TweepNation

As a result of information gathered via electronic surveillance by intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Canada, a budding terrorist organization, the Army for Islam or AFI, is suspected of planning an attack, its target possibly NYC, Burlington, Vermont or even Canada's famed Montreal.

When four foreign students from Pakistan with known ties to the AFI's Montreal cell arrive in the area on New Year's Eve, Discreet Activities' head, Jonathan Addley, along with Chris Barry and other DA consultants are more than willing to take on the additional workload.

After two of the DA team members die violently in an AFI related suicide-bombing, the job becomes getting revenge on those responsible for this Holy War...

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I was born in Montreal, Canada, where I still reside with my spouse, Joanne. I completed my studies in human resources, accounting and management at McGill University and worked in various management capacities in the fields of HR and finance for a handful of firms for what seemed like decades, because it was. I should also mention I love pizza, but who doesn't and, in my opinion, nothing rocks more than cooking on the grill.

My first stab at writing was in 1995, the result being my first novel, Vigilante. This was subsequently followed by The Consultant (1996) and Mind Games (1997), all of the same series.

Professional obligations and other creative interests led me away from writing for a number of years but I found myself busy at the keyboard in 2009 with The Homeless Killer after having finally published my first three novels. I then followed up with 6 Hours 42 Minutes in 2011, also part of the Barry/McCall Series born from Vigilante. In July 2011, I released ASYLUM, my first stand-alone novel and Discreet Activities, my sixth Barry/McCall crime thriller was published in January 2012. I think I'm really starting to like this writing thing.

Besides writing, editing and promoting my work, I also spend some artistic energy with my five guitars, oil paints and watercolours. Other passions include cooking (big time with fine wine to go with it, of course), reading, traveling and working out just enough to stay fit. It should also be noted that following several years of practice, I now excel at being cat furniture for Krystalle and Midnight, or so they tell me.

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Need more Claude Bouchard?

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