Out of Left Field (21 page)

Many books and movies have told the stories of the soldiers who fought in Vietnam. Maya Lin’s beautiful memorial in Washington, D.C., honors the 58,000 American men and women who died in the conflict. But what happened to the war resisters—and the women who went with them—once they crossed the border into Canada? What was life like for those who came home? I often write novels to explore questions I can’t answer.
Out of Left Field
is no exception.

I also wrote this book to honor my cousin, Marine Corps First Lieutenant Edwin Augustus Keeble, Jr., a helicopter pilot who was killed while rescuing wounded soldiers, and our family friend, Army Lieutenant Robert C. Ransom, Jr. (“Mike”), who died of wounds suffered near Quang Ngai. Their deaths changed my life. I became politically involved, joined peace marches, and worked for anti-war candidates. I have been haunted by the Vietnam War since the Sixties. In 2004, when our government launched a second war in Iraq, I decided it was time to write this story.

For Further Reading

Books for Young Adults:

Myers, Walter Dean.
Fallen Angels.
New York: Scholastic, 1988.

Qualey, Marsha.
Come In from the Cold.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Qualey, Marsha.
Hometown
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995; ebook version, Untreed Reads Publishing, 2014.

Schmidt, Gary.
Okay for Now
. New York: Clarion Books, 2011.

Schmidt, Gary.
The Wednesday Wars.
New York: Clarion Books, 2007.

General Interest and Background Reading:

Brown, Edward Espe.
The Tassajara Bread Book
. Berkeley: Shambala Press, 1972 (Sixth Edition)

Featherling, Douglas.
Travels By Night: A Memoir of the Sixties
. Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1994.

Giametti, A. Bartlett.
A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giametti
. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books, 1998.

Gittlin, Todd.
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage.
New York: Bantam Books, 1987.

Marchant, Fred.
Full Moon Boat: Poems
. St. Paul, Minnesota: Gray Wolf Press, 2000.

O’Brien, Tim.
The Things They Carried
. New York: Broadway Books, 1998.

Obst, Lynda Rosen (Editor), and Kingsbury, Robert (Designer).
The Sixties: The Decade Remembered Now, by the People Who Lived It Then
. New York: A Random House/Rolling Stone Press Book, 1977.

Ransom, Robert C., Jr.
Letters from Vietnam
. (Private Printing, 1968)

Shaughnessy, Dan.
Reversing the Curse: Inside the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006.

Acknowledgments

“Advocacy is a team sport,” my aunt Janet Whitehouse used to say. So is writing a novel. A stellar team, capable of smashing a home run out of the park, has supported me during the writing of this book. Thanks to the wise writers who contributed wisdom, keen editorial suggestions, and support through the novel’s long journey: Eileen Christelow, Janet Coleman, Pat Lowery Collins, Susan Goodman, Lisa Jahn-Clough, Karen Hesse, Lisa Papadametriou, Wendy Watson, Nancy Werlin, and Ellen Wittlinger. Special thanks to my colleagues and students at Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program, for their enthusiasm and insights. I am also grateful to Jacqueline Briggs Martin, as well as to Phyllis Root, Hollis Shore, and the writers at the Whole Novel Workshop in Honesdale, PA, who encouraged me during some rocky times. My friend and colleague Jane Resh Thomas advises her students to “write what haunts you.” This novel is my response to that wise suggestion.

My writing professors at Sarah Lawrence College, Grace Paley and Harvey Swados, taught me that it is possible to combine writing with social activism. I understand more about the courage and commitment of Conscientious Objectors from two men who took the brave and controversial step of applying for (and obtaining) C.O. status while serving in the military: our friend Peter Hagerty, a Naval officer, and the poet Fred Marchant, an officer in the Marines.

I appreciate Nick Burrage’s assistance with questions about Massachusetts Estate laws. Thanks also to Milson Fialho and his team for their dedicated help behind the scenes. I couldn’t do this work without you.

Our friends Henry and Judith Fuller often opened their Cape Breton home to us. They introduced us to the music, wildlife, and culture of Nova Scotia. On those trips, my husband and I witnessed the incredible tides of the Bay of Fundy, saw an endangered right whale on a whale watch, and listened to foot-tapping Celtic music in church basements and dance halls. We met wonderful people, but the Canadians in this novel—like all the other characters—are invented.

Thanks to my family and to the many friends who share our passion for baseball. A full round of The Wave for Jack Burrage, Red Sox fan extraordinaire, for help with baseball schedules and pertinent readings. Rosie and Peter Shiras, who lived long enough to see the Sox win their first World Series in 86 years, drew me to the game with their infectious enthusiasm. We have enjoyed sharing games and baseball stories with ardent fans Jane Harwell and Dan Whittle, Maura Stokes, and David and Mimo Riley. My dear departed friend Ellen Levine and I talked baseball, writing, teaching, politics, and life throughout the writing of this novel. I miss her more than words can say. I send deep gratitude to Marsha Qualey, whose novels about Vietnam and its lasting effects are an inspiration. I appreciate our many conversations about this era.

Thanks to my agent, Ginger Knowlton, for her unwavering support, and to the folks at Untreed Reads for their commitment to the project. Most of all, I belt out a chorus of “Sweet Caroline” for my husband, John, whose medical knowledge, keen editorial eye, and love of the game were essential to this novel’s creation.

And now: Play ball!