(Disclaimer: I gave Richardson a short list of suggestions after an early read-through of a draft of this novel).

Writing fiction about motorcycles is a hard thing to pull off. First, you’ve got to actually know what you’re talking about, and most schlockmeister authors don’t know a thing about bikes. Second, if you’re writing a book about one-percenters or other unsavory characters, it’s hard to avoid Sons of Anarchy-style silliness. I’m happy to report that Running On Empty, Mark Richardson’s latest novel, avoids both those dangers.

If you pay attention to ADVrider, you might remember Richardson’s appearance on The Lowdown Podcast. His written work has also appeared in the ADVrider Journal printed magazine. Although most of Richardson’s writing has been about cars (he ran the Wheels section of the Toronto Star for years), he is an avid motorcyclist and has crossed North America twice on a DR600. Once, he even wrote a non-fiction book about it, and it’s pretty good.

Mark Richardson on his second cross-US journey on his DR600. Photo: Courtesy of Mark Richardson

Richardson’s latest fiction work draws heavily on his own experiences traveling the States on two wheels, and I think that’s what I like about it best. Running On Empty opens by weaving together the story of two characters; Zack, a stereotypical North American “biker” (scruffy, blue-collar, kind of shady, but not a gang member) and Grant (a wet-behind-the-ears new rider, who works as a sort of auto journalist/influencer). Zack’s a new character; Grant appeared as a secondary character in Richardson’s previous novel.

Both riders are headed to Sturgis on Harley-Davidsons for very different reasons when their paths collide in South Dakota. From there, the tale heads in a direction very unlike most biker fiction, which generally revolves around silly, made-up one-percenter gangs, with lots of gratuitous sex, drugs and violence. This book isn’t really like that; it’s more of a standard thriller, not unlike something you’d get in a Jack Reacher novel, but thankfully not that dumbed-down. There are no brawny super-fighters here, but also no super-smart former secret agents or anything else like that. Zack and Grant are average people; you probably know somebody like them.

At its core, the story revolves around Zack running from debts incurred from nasty, violent people in the present, while trying to sort out the mess of his past, when he was part of an extremist religious cult (also nasty and violent). I won’t spoil the entire plot here, but it has plenty of twists you don’t expect. And like I said, although it’s biker-focused, there’s no one-percenter stupidity here.

My favorite parts of the book are the description of Grant and Zack’s ride to Sturgis and then beyond to California to straighten out family ties that were destroyed by Zack’s past in the violent cult (shades of Waco, Texas for sure). The descriptions of riding through places like the Million Dollar Highway are accurate, and Richardson says that’s because he based them on his own experiences. The characters may be fictional, but the places and the bikes and the descriptions of life on the road are not.

This is Richardson’s second novel, and I hope it’s not his last. The end of the tale leaves a door open to future adventures, perhaps involving these characters again or using them to springboard new characters in a new book, like Richardson did in his last book. Maybe his next tale could be of somebody riding their ADV dreams, moving beyond the world of Harley-Davidsons and bikers? I think people would welcome a good novel along those lines, and he certainly has the travels to base it on, just like this book was based on real-life trips taken.

Running On Empty is currently listed on Amazon.com for $14.99 in paperback, $6.99 in Kindle e-book format for US customers. Canadians pay $8.99 for the Kindle e-book, or $19.99 for the paperback.

Richardson’s also launching a new non-fiction book right now, about the Trans Canada Highway. It’s called The Drive Across Canada, and if you like the fiction of Running On Empty or his earlier work Zen And Now, I presume you’ll like this one as well. It’ll be available in the US in June of 2025; see more here.