Grant Patterson
Bio
Grant is a retired law enforcement officer and native of Vancouver, BC. He has also lived in Brazil. He has written fifteen books.
Stories (85/0)
Why Do Cops Shoot?
Before I decided to dedicate myself to writing, my career was in law enforcement. I spent seventeen years in the Canada Border Services Agency, Canada’s border cops. I saw a lot of transition in my time at the border, and the greatest change was the introduction of firearms to our toolkit.
By Grant Patterson4 years ago in The Swamp
Mexico: To Be, Or Not to Be?
On a dirt road in the Sierra Madre, the LeBaron family met its terrible end. Nine women and children in a convoy, riddled with machine gun fire, then burned, victims of Mexico’s ruthless drug cartels. But, unlike so many tens of thousands of other innocent victims of these bestial organizations, there was something about them that caused people to take notice.
By Grant Patterson4 years ago in The Swamp
Thoughts on 'The War Game'
Tonight, I watched The War Game, the BBC’s eerily advanced take on nuclear war, a granddaddy of Threads, now almost 55 years old. Several years before even I was born, the filmmakers managed to pose what still remains the central, existential question of our age: What the hell do we do with ourselves, now that we are stone-age people, with space-age weapons?
By Grant Patterson4 years ago in The Swamp
The Writer's Mania
What makes a person a writer? It’s a seemingly esoteric question, but I think it matters. So many people these days call themselves writers. One sees them clicking away in every Starbucks on the planet. I see them, and so do you. But I only watch some of them. The ones who hunker down, and do not look up.
By Grant Patterson5 years ago in Journal
Canada, Exposed
Some people were surprised at the results of Monday’s Federal Election, when Justin Trudeau’s Liberals retained power, albeit in a minority government. I have to say, I wasn’t. Many would ask, how could a man so awash in scandal, so obviously shallow, so egregiously out of his depth, be re-elected?
By Grant Patterson5 years ago in The Swamp
I'm an (Ex) Officer - Ask Me Anything
I’m an author and freelance writer now, but for 17 years I was an officer with the Canada Border Services Agency. My career started at Vancouver International Airport, before I transferred to the Peace Arch land crossing to spend the rest of my career. Despite the fact that there's actually been a reality TV show set at my work, most people still appear to know fuck all about how borders work. Here’s a few of the common questions I got asked by travelers I dealt with:
By Grant Patterson5 years ago in Criminal
Mother Corp Makes the Case for Her Own Extinction
Sometimes, it's hard to let go of a national icon. All countries confront this problem, in one way, shape, or form, eventually. And now, in 2019, Canada comes face-to-face with a reality it has long dreaded. We no longer need the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
By Grant Patterson5 years ago in The Swamp
Bereft of Real Solutions, Climate Hysteria Becomes a Children's Crusade
Scenes from the Climate Emergency: One: I was teaching at a prep academy for immigrant kids, whose parents want to ensure they get into good schools. It was the day of the "Global Climate Strike," which, as it occurred on a sunny school day, was surprisingly well-attended. One of my students approached me before class and asked, clearly worried, if the world was going to end in twelve years.
By Grant Patterson5 years ago in The Swamp
Identity: It's Complicated
I got thinking about one of our age's main obsessions the other day: The obsession of identity. We're constantly talking about identity: racial, sexual, economic, cultural. As the cult of identity grows, the concern for individualism recedes. People are no longer judged on their unique character, but on their demographic.
By Grant Patterson5 years ago in The Swamp