M. L. Buchman

About M. L. Buchman

USA Today and Amazon #1 Bestseller M. L. “Matt” Buchman has 70+ novels, 125 short stories and 50 read-by-author audiobooks. PW declares of his Miranda Chase action-adventure thrillers that: “Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead will clamor for more.” About his military romantic suspense: “Like Robert Ludlum and Nora Roberts had a book baby.” He is also the editor of Thrill Ride – the Magazine.

A project manager with a geophysics degree, he’s designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, solo-sailed a 50’ sailboat and bicycled solo around the world … and designs quilts. After four decades in the Pacific Northwest, he and his wife presently live on the North Shore of Massachusetts. Find out more at: www.mlbuchman.com.

BOOKS:

Osprey (Miranda Chase #13), coming September 26, 2023

Nightwatch (Miranda Chase #12), 2023

Skibird (Miranda Chase #11), 2022

Lightning (Miranda Chase #10), 2022

Start the Chase: A Miranda Chase Origin Story Collection (Miranda Chase #9), 2021

White Top (Miranda Chase #8), 2021

Havoc (Miranda Chase #7), 2021

Chinook (Miranda Chase #6), 2021

Raider (Miranda Chase #5), 2021

Ghostrider (Miranda Chase #4), 2020

Condor (Miranda Chase #3), 2020

Thunderbolt (Miranda Chase #2), 2019

Drone (Miranda Chase #1), 2019

Your biggest literary influencers:

James Clavell, Ayn Rand, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Herman Hesse and Arthur C. Clarke … to name a few. Throw in Suzanne Brockmann, Susan Wiggs and Laura Kinsale, then we’re up and rolling!

What readers will take away from your books:

That the individual can triumph against incredible odds. That if one constantly seeks moments of joy and humor, they’ll find them. And to never underestimate anyone, man or woman. 

What is your ideal target audience?

40+ year olds, 60-75% female, advanced reader

Target thriller authors: Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Jack Carr, Brad Thor, Mark Greaney

If you had to describe your book as a cross between two well-known books, what would you say?

If Temperance Brennan from Bones stepped in for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.

My military romances have been described as: “If Robert Ludlum and Nora Roberts had a book baby, it would be named Buchman.”

The book that changed your life:

Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged completely altered how I look at the world. She states that it is up to the individual to look after themselves above any cost and it’s up to society to follow or fail. She forced me to think about that, and I chose to believe something slightly different. By holding to the highest standard I can in my writing, by shining a light on what is possible, is how I can best serve both myself and others. (And Martin Gardner’s The Annotated Alice taught me the value of humor under all conditions.)

Tell us about the protagonist in your latest book, and who would play her or him if they made a movie out of your book?

From the first day, Miranda Chase has been Natalie Portman. Miranda is a slight woman of great power, who does not realize that about herself. Her life is shaped by her parents’ deaths aboard an airplane crash in her youth — the disaster of TWA Flight 800 when a Boeing 747 exploded in mid-air and fell into the waters off Long Island, New York. From that day, her autistic “special interest” has been plane crash investigations, and nothing but plane crash investigations. Now the world’s specialist in military air crashes, she and her team constantly struggle to keep the world safe from terrorism (foreign and domestic), political warfare, and worse. Now imagine the totally chill Natalie Portman from 2018’s Annihilation and her fragility on-the-edge stance in Black Swan, stepping into the fray with all that emotion burning just below the surface …

If your protagonist could befriend any character from literature, who would he or she choose?

Miranda Chase is often compared to Mr. Spock and Sherlock Holmes for her attachment to scientific method and the problems she has understanding emotions as an autistic. They are the ones she would be comfortable with. But who would she befriend if she dared? Perhaps Irene Adler, the woman who bested Sherlock. Adler is wild and dangerous, but she is also vibrantly alive in ways that Miranda would admire and wish for herself. What Miranda doesn’t understand, of course, is that her teammates stick so close because she already embodies that.

If you could write a retelling of any book and put your own spin on it, which book would you choose and why?

There’s an old joke about Melville’s Moby-Dick; or The Whale in the Broadway musical Wonderful Town: “It’s … about this whale.” I first waded through that book in fifth grade, adventure on the high seas constituted most of my reading that year. I’ve reread it since as an adult. I’ve read about the symbolism. I studied it wondering if there was something wrong with me in not loving it. If I were to rewrite any of the “great books”, it would be that one. I’d make it an action-adventure — about a whale.

Your favorite literary character:

Cussler’s Dirk Pitt and Al Giordano, sure. Alvin from an obscure book by Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, read that many, many times. But the one who altered everything about me and taught me that there was pure joy in reading was Buck, the dog hero of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild. That such joy could come from such tragedy and hardship utterly changed my eight-year-old self’s dismissive attitude toward anything beyond the works of A. A. Milne. I’ve never read it again, for fear I’d ruin it. It’s also the only book, other than Winnie the Pooh, that I still have from my childhood. The ending remains crystal clear in my head as do the tears of joy I wept at the time.

ARTICLES & REVIEWS:

“The convoluted, multifaceted plot makes the resolution of the mystery even more satisfying. This will appeal to technothriller fans, readers who like strong female protagonists, and Buchman’s many fans.”
– Booklist, Miranda Chase #1, Drone, starred review on Booklist (15 starred reviews for M. L. Buchman)

“Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead will clamor for more.”
– Publishers Weekly, Miranda Chase #1, Drone

What I Did With My Degree in Geophysics // Authors on the Air (2/2023)
A great chat with his friend and superfan Pam Stack for her radio network.

“Escape Rating: A. Five Stars! OMG just start with Drone and be prepared for a fantastic binge-read!”
– Reading Reality, Miranda Chase #4 Ghostrider

Booklist, The 101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years
M. L. Buchman placed 2 titles on that list, The Night Is Mine and Hot Point. He then earned a Top 10 of the Year the very next year for Heart Strike.