Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War
"These stories aren't pretty and they aren't for the faint of heart. They are realistic, haunting and shocking. And they are all unforgettable. Television reports, movies, newspapers and blogs about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have offered images of the fighting there. But this collection offers voices-powerful voices, telling the kind of truth that only fiction can offer. What makes the collection so remarkable is that all of these stories are written by those who were there, or waited for them at home. The anthology, which features a Foreword by National Book Award winner Colum McCann, includes the best voices of the our wars' generation: Brian Turner, whose poem "Hurt Locker" was the movie's inspiration; Colby Buzzell, whose book My War resonates with countless veterans; Siobhan Fallon, whose book You Know When the Men Are Gone echoes the joy and pain of the spouses left behind; Matt Gallagher, whose book Kaboom captures the hilarity and horror of the modern military experience; and nine others. "--
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I have yet to read the themed anthology that wasn't a little good, a little bad and a lot of in between. It's something I just expect now. After the last couple I read, I thought I was done with them, but here comes another one that catches my attention: Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War. I'm not sure why I wanted to read this. I hoped I could get something out of it, maybe a sense of great humanity. But really, another themed anthology, and one written entirely by soldiers? I don't know why, but it seemed a recipe for subpar writing.
I was wrong. Yes, Fire and Forget shares some commonalities with other anthologies of its class, and there are definitely works in here that I myself would've never included, but as a whole, this collection is above average. There are some really powerful and wonderfully written stories here. The authors of these tales give such a clear picture of the desperation and confusion that can cloud a person when returning from military service. Most of these stories are not so much about what happened “over there,” but about what happens after all that. A common element in many of these is a loss or gain of specific senses. It's done so well that I did not doubt the veracity of many of these author's stories, the things they have seen, and the world they have entered. Their stories contain more truths that I personally I know as a human being than any other report out of Afghanistan and Iraq has shown me, and therefore I believe them.
Particularly stellar stories were written by Andrew Slater, Colby Buzzell, Mariette Kalinowski, Phil Klay, and Siobhan Fallon. There were several other well-written pieces as well, and for a themed anthology of only fifteen stories, Fire and Forget is by far the best of its kind I've read to date.