Misfits Making Mayhem in Chicago

Bay of Plenty writers James Morcan and Lance Morcan’s international conspiracy thriller, The Orphan Trilogy is set in Chicago at the site of the Pedemont Orphanage, where 23 orphans acquire the skills to become stealthy, cold-blooded killers.

James Morcan tells Gapers Block, a Chicago-centric web publication, about how the city’s famed work ethic influenced the decision to begin the story here, and to discuss whether any Pedemont Orphanage alums will be seen skulking around Chicago corners in the near future.

“Being a New Zealander, so much of America was foreign to me at first, but Chicago instantly felt familiar and friendly. I visited Chicago on my travels not long after leaving high school in the late 1990s. I remember arriving via Amtrak at Chicago’s Union Station at about three a.m. and waiting in the Loop for the sun to rise. I remember seeing the city slowly awaken and then swarms of people arriving for a new day’s work. This experience remained vivid in my mind for some reason, and it inspired a sequence in The Orphan Factory (book two in the series) where Nine, our lead character, is running through the city centre at dawn.”

The trilogy’s first novel, The Ninth Orphan, is being developed as a feature film.

The father and son (James) writing and filmmaking team are authors of Fiji, an historical adventure, published in 2011.