by Hilary Plum
“[ ]” incorporates found text from apologies offered by American and British governmental and military officials in response to detainee abuse scandals, primarily Donald Rumsfeld’s statement regarding Abu Ghraib; it also includes excerpts from statements made by former prisoners at Guantanamo, especially the “Tipton Three,” and text from reports on or statements about other incidents in the so-called global war on terror.
Some events described in “Mounir” are based on events related in chapter six of Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (Vintage Books, 2005), in particular his quotations from the testimony of Mohamed Salam. This novel as a whole is indebted to Fisk’s work.
“Sam” is indebted to Dexter Filkins’s “Letter from Islamabad: The Journalist and the Spies,” New Yorker (19 September 2011).
Among the many sources drawn on, I wish particularly to acknowledge: William Finnegan, “The Kingpins,” New Yorker (2 July 2012); Alex Gibney’s 2007 film Taxi to the Dark Side; Charles Glass, “The Warrior Class,” Harper’s (April 2012); Alma Guillermoprieto, “Mexico: Risking Life for Truth,” New York Review of Books 59, no. 18 (22 November 2012); Margarita Karapanou, Rien ne va plus (1991; trans. Karen Emmerich, Clockroot Books, 2009); Jeremy Scahill’s extensive reporting on private military contractors and on covert warfare, particularly as featured on Democracy Now and in the Nation.
•
Many editors and agents refused this novel, yet its search for a publisher couldn’t have ended better. I am grateful to Rebecca Wolff, and to all those whose work sustains Fence.
Strawberry Fields has benefited from the generosity of great readers. Especial gratitude to Zach Savich, Pam Thompson, Youssef Rakha, Sarah Blackman, Lindsay Turner, Daniel Torday, Peter Dimock, Sam Allingham, Jenn Mar, Caren Beilin, and Karen Emmerich.
After the years the composition and publication of this book required I find myself in a life different from that in which I began. I wish to note the grace through which I have been allowed passage. Thanks are due to many: those named above and others still.
© 2018 Hilary Plum
All rights reserved
Cover image by Juliet Goodman
11.6 x 15.9 inches at 300 dpi
Published in the United States by Fence Books
Science Library, 320
University at Albany
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
www.fenceportal.org
This book was printed by Versa Press
and distributed by Small Press Distribution
and Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934073
ISBN 13: 978-1-94-438003-8
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), businesses, or events is coincidental. If this work refers to historical events and figures, it is in a fictitious manner; the references and narratives in the pages that follow are products of the author’s imagination and not to be mistaken for fact.
the fence modern prize in prose
Hilary Plum, Strawberry Fields
Ottessa Moshfegh, McGlue
strawberry fields
hilary plum
fence modern prize in prose