Roy Scranton - War Porn

“This book is truly unique—true in its fidelity to fact, unique in the depth of its empathy. In prose that rises to aphoristic, coruscating brilliance, Iraq vet Roy Scranton has painted, in words, the equivalent of Goya’s war etchings. A rare and genuine masterpiece.”

“A harrowing novel of the Iraq invasion and occupation, WAR PORN exposes the dark heart of that war for all to see. Brilliant and stark, WAR PORN is that rare book that demands to be read out of sheer significance—a stunning accomplishment.”

“Roy Scranton’s four years of service in the U.S. Army lend his work an undeniable authority, but it’s his ability to address multiple sides of the conflict that proves exceptional, coloring his fiction with a rare empathy.”

“[ War Porn is] a different kind of Iraq War novel, for sure, but it’s not just that. It’s an expression of Scranton’s philosophy about telling new, different stories as a means of survival.”

“A kaleidoscopic view of war experience… Scranton’s literary skill and fierceness of vision make him a stout antagonist for anyone who wants to take him on.”

“[A] fierce debut… Scranton delivers a poetic sensibility and a staccato writing style, and the result is a no-holds-barred amalgam of plotlines that is especially tragic given all that we now know about the wrenching mess that is today’s Iraq.”

“Scranton’s provocative debut novel lucidly captures the fractured perspectives of war. Scranton writes with honesty and authority about a complicated clash of weapons, politics, and culture. [ War Porn ] is an unflinching, and sometimes difficult, examination of humanity during wartime.”

“An uncompromising look at the trauma of war.”

Roy Scranton is the author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization , and co-editor of Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War . He grew up in Oregon, dropped out of college, and spent several years wandering the American West. In 2002, he enlisted in the US Army. He served from 2002 to 2006, including a fourteen-month deployment to Iraq. After leaving the Army he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree at the New School for Social Research, then completed his PhD in English at Princeton.

Copyright © 2016 by Roy Scranton

“Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction” from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF WALLACE STEVENS by Wallace Stevens, copyright © 1954 by Wallace Stevens and copyright renewed 1982 by Holly Stevens. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

“The Dragon” by Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayyati, translated by Farouk Abdel Wahab, Najat Rahman, and Carolina Hotchandani, from IRAQI POETRY TODAY © 2003 by Modern Poetry in Translation. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

“Panegyric for Abu l-Fadl Muhammed Ibn al-Amid” and “Panegyric to Kafur on joining his court” by Abu at-Tayyib Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Mutanabbi al-Kindi, translated by A. J. Arberry, from POEMS OF AL-MUTANABBI © 1967 by Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used ficticiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

Published by

Soho Press, Inc.

853 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

Scranton, Roy, 1976–

War porn / Roy Scranton.

ISBN 978-1-61695-715-5

eISBN 978-1-61695-716-2

1. Iraq War, 2003–2011—Psychological aspects—Fiction. 2. Combat—Psychological aspects—Fiction. I. Title

PS3619.C743 W37 2016 813’.6—dc23 2016011288

Interior design by Janine Agro, Soho Press, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

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