Hello Canada,

I’d like to introduce you to my first novel, an action thriller called True Patriots. It will be published by Dundurn Press at the end of February.

Remember the East-versus-West bickering during last fall’s election? The arguments seem trapped in a perpetual cycle, resurfacing every few years. What if things got really out of hand the next time? I mean really, really got out of hand. That’s the premise of my novel.

I started writing the story in 2012, beginning with tensions from the FLQ crisis and the last Quebec referendum and transplanting them to modern-day Alberta. At the time, Canada seemed to be turning away from a noble, inclusive idea of itself and towards something smaller: an ideological colony inspired by white nationalism and the U.S. Republican Right.

True Patriots tells the tale of the dark, desperate, final days of a referendum for an Alberta that is fed up with their lot in Confederation. With their plans to export their oil and gas perpetually stymied, the premier has called a referendum for separation from Canada. The novel follows two strangers, drawn from both sides of the Two Solitudes, who reluctantly confront the escalating domestic terror that an ascendant political class is more than willing to use to secure victory.

I would love to show you my novel and to meet you at an upcoming book signing that will be announced soon.

Cheers,

Russell