True to his style thus far, Douglas Bland begins this next chapter with a run-on sentence which manages to be both clumsy and offensive: Will Boucanier looked out the small window as the Air Creebec Dash 8 made its long, slow approach into Chisasibi, an unattractive Cree Village of some 3,000 souls on the La … Continue reading 8-Bill the Pirate…._sigh_
7-al-Queda Style!
Okay enough talk about offices and ID cards. It’s time for the big meeting! "The room was arranged as usual for morning prayers. Name cards ranked in a never-changing order sat with parade-ground precision down each side of the long, dark, rectangular table. This odd habit always amused Ian-these people know each other, he thought. … Continue reading 7-al-Queda Style!
6-We’re having the adventure _where_?
In the novel’s first chapter, Alex Gabriel’s raid on Petawawa is broken up by several other scenes. One of these is the raid on CFB Halifax where Fred McTavish is tragically killed, but several other cuts take us to NDHQ where a CF staff officer gradually becomes aware of the growing crisis. In the interest … Continue reading 6-We’re having the adventure _where_?
5-Respect Mah Authoratah!
According to Douglas Bland, Alex Gabriel is a leader. Not just a leader, a manly, heroic leader. A natural. Only he can lead the native uprising, and he knows this because The Elders told him so, while he listened in rapt silence without raising a single question or concern. Bland is quick to assure us … Continue reading 5-Respect Mah Authoratah!
4-How bad can you be?
One of the first things that happens as the raid goes down is the arrival of an MP (Military Policeman) carrying out a routine patrol. Luckily, the oddly-named Steve Christmas is on the ball! “A hiss from Christmas’s radio broke the silence. “Headlights approaching,” whispered Villeneuve. “How many…what speed?” “Looks like a single, a … Continue reading 4-How bad can you be?
3-Meet Alexander Gabriel pt 2
So now we know that Capt Alex Gabriel is a full-blooded (?) Algonquin and rising star in the CF who got the mystical blessings from ‘The Elders’ telling him that he would one day lead an Indigenous rebellion. This didn’t lead him to immediately quit the army and start training this as yet unseen Native … Continue reading 3-Meet Alexander Gabriel pt 2
2-Meet Alexander Gabriel pt 1
Part of the problem with Douglas Bland’s writing is that he’ll break up the action to dump a ton of information onto the reader. These moments, typically referred to in writing as ‘an exposition dump’ are possibly a holdover from Bland’s time in the military, where a great deal of his work likely would have … Continue reading 2-Meet Alexander Gabriel pt 1
1-Tonight, we raid Petawawa!
I want to begin this deconstruction with a fairly simple and straightforward example from the start of the book. As I mentioned before, part of this novel’s appeal is that its ugly conclusions can be excused by the expertise of its author. It’s not racist! This guy’s a professional! He’s just telling it like it … Continue reading 1-Tonight, we raid Petawawa!
So what’s going on here? [Start Here!]
‘Uprising’ by Douglas Bland is a Canadian novel about a race war between Indigenous people and the rest of Canada in which a combination of gratuitously evil rebels and cartoonishly incompetent government results in the destruction of the country itself. The author Douglas Bland is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Canadian Armed Forces who … Continue reading So what’s going on here? [Start Here!]
Putting Down Uprising 