Freedom Fighters in Their Youth I Have Known
Writing fiction is hard work. Writing fiction about your past and the past of others is even harder. Writing non-fiction about the fiction written about your past and the past of others you know might probably be the hardest of all - I'm not sure as I've never done that, but I have written an introduction to a magnificent piece of work by a good friend of mine who has. That book to which I have written the introduction is being launched at the Art Shop on Tuesday. It's called Gangsters and Guerillas and is akin to the cliche Freedom Fighters or Terrorists. My introduction is called, "An Introduction to Gangsters and Guerillas."
I have known many Freedom Fighters in my time and while I did time, and I have known them at various times throughout their lives and while some of them were also doing time. Many of them have also known me. I bring this up because there is a study in the London Review of Books, which reviewed my books when they came out, which comes to the conclusion that those who I would know and respect as Freedom Fighters were always considered to be Terrorists by authority figures in their lives. This study was conducted by a Ronnie Flanagan lookalike which undermines his credibility immensely. I have promptly thrown all previously owned copies of books of this author's that were in my house out and I suggest you do the same. I wouldn't go so far as to order anyone to burn his books as I am not Martin McGuinness, although I do know him and he knows me.
While the obvious conclusion of this study would be similar to one drawn when it is pointed out that serial killers have a pattern of torturing and killing small animals when they are children, I feel, since I know many Freedom Fighters and have known them for a long time, what this study proves is that those people who would defend their communities so selflessly are natural born rebels.
I also know many PLO comrades and they too are natural born rebels, heroic fighters of Freedom. I hope that one of them writes a book on the fiction of the PLO and I can write the introduction, drawing on my vast knowledge of the reality of the situation. Until then, the new book with my introduction can be purchased at Eason's and other fine outlets.
www.fannygarrison.com
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