Advance praise for Katey Schultz’s
FLASHES OF WAR
“This is a brilliant, unsettling, and disturbingly beautiful book…Writing of this degree of commitment and integrity is living evidence of the power of fiction to tell the truth about reality.”
– Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, author of The Watch
“Katey Schultz has written an amazing book. What emerges from these stories is a chorus of voices—American, Afghan, Iraqi—and this chorus enlarged my sense of the experience of a war that has defined an American decade. Flashes Of War is the work of a bold, ambitious, and brilliant young author who is writing stories few others in American fiction have really yet tackled.”
– Doug Stanton, author of New York Times Bestsellers Horse Soldiers and In Harm’s Way
“…precise, finely wrought metaphors and evocative images that linger long after you turn the page.”
– Fiction Writers Review
“The title of this fine book may lead us to believe we’ll see the war in the Middle East in tiny, fragmentary bursts of the sort that come to us in nightmares, and this book indeed bursts in small ways throughout, in tight narratives, in arresting images, in brilliant searches into the distresses of the human heart, but Flashes of War is so much more than that. This is a book about the whole war, the soldiers on both sides, the civilians on both sides, the consequences for everybody involved before, during, and after. This book, maybe more effectively than any in a long time, pleads with humanity to end war once and for all. Read this book, and seek peace.”
– Mike Magnuson, author of Lummox, The Evolution of a Man
“Flashes of War is fierce and beautiful, a collection of finely honed stories that hit with the bite of a bullet. It’s a read you can’t put down. Hoozah for Schultz, a brave new talent on the literary scene.”
– Claire Davis, author of Labors of the Heart
“Schultz…takes characters and possesses them. The result is a hyper-realist approach...the net effect of all these stories is that the reader cannot help but ask the big questions about war...Schultz has made an effort to avoid proselytizing, a good choice...she seems to follow the advice of Vietnam veteran and acclaimed author Tim O’Brien, who said that real war stories have no moral. Instead, she has collected the evidence, placed it before us, and left us to arrive at our own conclusions.”
– Review in Hot Metal Bridge
“These are people stories. Read them.”
– The Vestal Review
“Whether in the heat of battle in Iraq or ‘safely’ at home in an American suburb, these tales are startlingly personal and expose the hearts, minds, and often weary spirits of the characters. Schultz writes crisp, unassuming prose and uses stunning imagery to illuminate otherwise foreign—and even not-so-foreign—hardships.”
– Bookslut
“Remarkable for someone who has never donned a military uniform.”
– David Abrams, author of Fobbit
FLASHES OF WAR
Short Stories by Katey Schultz
FLASHES OF WAR
Short Stories by Katey Schultz
Apprentice House
Loyola University Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Copyright © 2014, 2013 by Katey Schultz
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher (except by reviewers who may quote brief passages).
First Edition
Printed in the United States of America
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-934074-85-5
EBook ISBN: 978-1-934074-37-4
Cover design by: Samantha Garvey
Published by Apprentice House
Credits
“That Sunday Morning Feeling,” “Checkpoint,” and “Pressin’ the Flesh” published in Future Cycle Flash and the Future Cycle Flash Anthology.
“Just the Dog & Me” published in Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine.
“WIA,” “MIA,” and “KIA” published in War, Literature and the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities.
“While the Rest of America’s at the Mall” shortlisted for Fish Publishing International One-Page Fiction Prize.
“Into Pure Bronze” (published as “Kabul Stadium”) in Talking River Review.
“Getting Perspective” published in Connotations.
“Homecoming” published in Dunes Review.
“Amputee” published in Ars Medica.
“While the Rest of America’s at the Mall,” “With the Burqa,” and “Just the Dog & Me” published as limited edition letterpressed broadsides by Gold Quoin Press in collaboration with the students of Bradley University.
“Home on Leave” published in Hot Metal Bridge.
“KIA” reprinted in Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine (England).
“While the Rest of America’s at the Mall,” “With the Burqa” and “The Ghost of Sanchez” reprinted in Afghan Scene Magazine (Afghanistan).
“The Quiet Kind” was reprinted in Serving House Journal.
Acknowledgements
I extend my sincerest gratitude to the following organizations, their staffs, and board members who supported the completion of this book through fellowships, residencies, and teaching opportunities: Interlochen Center for the Arts (especially Mika Perrine and Matthew Wiliford); North Carolina Humanities Council along with Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities; Jentel Foundation; Fishtrap (especially Barbara Dills) and Imnaha Writers’ Retreat; The Warehouse Sessions at Studio 7; Madroño Ranch: A Center for Writing, Art, and the Environment; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; The Island Institute of Sitka, Alaska; 49 Alaska Writing Center; and Prairie Center of the Arts.
Several people reviewed early drafts of the manuscript for accuracy. I would like to thank Shannon Huffman Polson (Captain, US Army Aviation, 1993-2001) for assistance understanding military branches and divisions of power, as well as use of Denali Arts 229; Sergeant First Class Warren Bockhol for weapons accuracy and his descriptions of a Forward Operating Base; Karen Button (former war correspondent) for answering countless questions and steering me toward resources on Middle Eastern culture; and Doug Stanton for Horse Soldiers and his support of this work. I would also like to thank my agent, John Sibley Williams, and my copyeditor, Mike Magnuson.
I owe a debt of gratitude to the faculty of the Pacific University MFA in Writing Program, most specifically Judy Blunt (for verbs), Pete Fromm (for teaching me to relax), Claire Davis (for precision, passion, and abandon), Jack Driscoll (because one sentence announces the possibility of the next), and Shelley Washburn (for encouragement). And to two of my earliest creative writing teachers, Ms. Wood and Professor Hashimoto, who planted the seeds without which this would never have