LOL Well, it’s a pet peeve of mine when people tell me I don’t exist. Like it’s just me, the Yeti, Bigfoot and the Boogey Man all sitting around drinking beer in some bar that never was or something.

Wonder if Layne might like to have a heart to heart with my Barbies from when I was a kid. Oh, and Ken too. He’d have plenty of stories to tell, if you know what I mean…

Yeah, thanks for clearing things up for me, @Layne. I appreciate it. I’ll have to go tell my libido now.

Sheesh. And then gays and lesbians wonder why I don’t hang with them more–online or in real life.

I’m not a lesbian, and I’m not straight, and I’ll never be either.

But thanks for telling me I don’t exist. I’ll definitely take it under consideration. /sarcasm

Actually there were quite a few conscientious objectors during World War II and naturally enough some of them were gay. For a couple of high profile examples, see the composers Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten, both of whom wrote anti-war pieces for the re-dedication of Coventry Cathedral in 1962. Britten’s partner Peter Pears, who sang one of the lead parts in his War Requiem, was also a conscientious objector.

To me the attitude doesn’t seem an anachronism at all.

Huh?

THIS is why real gay people have so many problems: the fence stragglers. Look, people who are gay are gay from day one, period. People who are “heterosexual mostly” aren’t gay they’re just jumping on the bandwagon of sexual experimentation and it gives all the rest of us a BAD name. Bisexual has no meaning: either you’re gay or you’re not.

Pick one.

http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/hidden-conflict-the-highs-and-lows-of-historical-glbt-war-fiction/

I also must say thank you for raising specifically military-related GLBT issues – in my ignorance, I hadn’t cottoned on to some of the questions you mention. Thought-provoking indeed.

Anne B

Thank you for serving. I can’t imagine putting up with the bullshit of DADT.

Thanks again!

I read the book. And from a gay man’s point of view, I don’t totally agree with the “Not to Reason Why” review. But I guess that’s just a cultural difference when it comes to how these things are communicated.

I don’t totally agree with the Beecroft review either. But then again, all that soothing prose only makes gay men like me yawn. And I try to stay away from “coitus” as much as I can, because every definition of “coitus” I’ve ever read is “the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman.” I prefer sodomy :), speaking as a man who has been in love with other men. I guess I see things (flaws?) you probably wouldn’t see. It is what it is.

Overall, I liked the book and would recommend it to other gay friends of mine, but in exactly the opposite way you did here. And I’d warn them first about “coitus.”

I hope to pick up more Alex Beecroft works as soon as I have room in my book budget. :)

Just a couple of corrections to your critique of Jordan’s story, hope you don’t mind.

The word “Man” isn’t meant in the hippy-ish “oh, cool, maaan” way of the 60′s but is a brusque and accurate manner of speaking to another person, especially one under your command.

“What the devil are you up to, man!” “For god’s sake, man, buck up!” etc etc.

It’s true that the majority of officers would be upper class, but there are instances of officers breaking through the ranks – haven’t read this story in the book yet so I don’t know the circs of Darnell’s rise, of course – but if he WAS lower class, it makes sense why he’d call ANYONE Sir. Think Sharpe who had a chip on his shoulder because he was lower class than the men he was commanding. Probably a slip, though.

The ebook version is available at Amazon for the Kindle and at All Romance eBooks in multiple formats (PDF, HTML, prc, epub).

However the statement “All outward appearances show a happily married, monogamous, heterosexual soldier, which is mostly what I am” confounds me. The word “mostly” is…disturbing. Perhaps I’m too old fashioned or out of touch with the new century – maybe the “mostly” slipped in unintentionally – but there is no such thing as “mostly” married or “mostly” monogamous – it’s like being “a little pregnant”.

And what I didn’t say but am doing so now is this: I respect you so much for who you are as a person and the service you gave as a vet. Thank you for all that you did.

Also, I totally second the Alex Beecroft rec—she’s an amazing writer!